Up From Mormonism: Gloria Keeling

            Gloria Keeling grew up in Tooele, Utah; her dad was a bishop in the Mormon church.

            “Growing up, I really liked [church],” she said.  But, “I don’t think I understood anything [about Mormon beliefs] because they don’t really encourage you to question stuff.”  When she was in the Mormon church, Gloria didn’t question her beliefs; she accepted all the things she had always been taught.  But after she got married and moved away from Utah, the love in a mainstream Christian church caused her to lean in that direction.

            For a while, Gloria and her husband attended both a Mormon church and a mainstream Christian church.  Suffering from extreme depression, she even had to be hospitalized.  “A lot of Mormons do struggle with depression,” because the faith causes one to feel very guilty.

            “I just felt like I was going to hell,” Gloria said.  People would tell her that she was going to hell.  “I was hearing the truth [in the Christian church],” she said, “but I was really defensive.”

            Having always felt depressed and guilty because she believed she had to earn her salvation, Gloria was relieved by love and grace she found in mainstream Christianity.  The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints teaches that in order to get to the highest levels of heaven, one must do specific good works.  Mainstream Christians, however, believe that salvation is a free gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9).  To Gloria, this difference was huge.

            “[My emotional health] changed a lot because I felt love, and felt grace, because I didn’t have to do all these things,” she said.  Since Gloria pulled away from Mormonism, she has come to love her faith more and more.  As a mainstream Christian, she is more eager to learn—to pray and to read her Bible.  She likes her faith more now than she did as Mormon.

            Another difference that Gloria has noticed between Mormonism and mainstream Christianity is in the heart of church leaders.  Gloria’s father was a Mormon bishop, so she was familiar with Mormon church leaders at all levels.  She believes that local church leaders—lower down on the hierarchy—were deceived.  They sincerely believed and taught certain things, but they had been deceived.  Higher up, church leaders were dishonest, Gloria said, and they took advantage of people.  The Mormon church is rich and powerful, especially in the state of Utah.  Growing up, Gloria was lied to by her church leaders, but now she feels her church leaders—at any level—are never dishonest.

            Gloria did not tell her family that she had turned away from Mormonism for some time, but eventually when they would come visit it was hard to hide.  Although she was afraid of their reaction, it turned out that her fears were unfounded.  “They were very loving, and understood,” she said.  Now, she said, “They treat me good, but I’m still the black sheep of the family.”  Her sister is jealous of her freedom, because Mormons have so many strict rules—against coffee and things—but Gloria doesn’t have to earn her salvation.

            “You don’t need to feel guilty about [your mistakes],” Gloria says.  “God loves you and it’s by his grace you are saved.”

Faith, Hope, and Love

            1 Corinthians 13 is commonly known as the “love chapter,” and its last verse is one of the most famous verses in the Bible: “But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”  Love is an action and a decision, not an emotion.  Since Paul placed it above faith, some might say that works are more important to salvation than faith.  So it would seem, if we did not look at the context.

            Verse two in the same chapter is similar to verse thirteen—maybe not at first glance, but certainly when you study it.  “If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” 

First, Paul addresses hope.  If one had the gift of prophecy and knew all mysteries and all knowledge, they would be certain of the future.  Hope, according to Dr. Keith Krell, is a “confident expectation based upon God’s promises.”  If one knew the future or had knowledge to understand God’s promises fully, they would have even more sure hope than the average Christian. 

            Second, Paul addresses faith, “so as to remove mountains.”  This is a reference to Matthew 17:20; 21:21; and Mark 11:23f when Jesus told his disciples that if they had even a little faith, they could cause mountains to be cast into the sea.  In the context of these verses, it is clear that Jesus is speaking about faith to work miracles, not faith in him, initial faith, by which we receive grace, by which we are saved (Ephesians 2:8).  It is important to make a distinction between these two kinds of faith—or perhaps, more aptly, these two instances in which one must use faith—because one is essential to salvation and the other is not. 

            Lastly, in verse two, Paul addresses love, saying that without it, prophecy and knowledge (hope) and faith (“so as to remove mountains”) are worthless.  Now we can see the similarity to verse thirteen—faith, hope, and love, but love is the greatest. 

            One thing in verse two is clearer than in verse thirteen, however: the type of faith.  According to the context, the faith about which Paul writes in verse thirteen is faith to work miracles, not faith as it pertains to salvation.  So we can see that faith to work miracles and love are still not essential to salvation, whereas faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ is.  One can be saved through the grace of God without having faith to move mountains.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLEÒ, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.  Used by permission.