The Metaphor of Mormonism By Thomas Fullmer

The metaphor of Mormonism is the metaphor of the restoration. A restoration is a kind of rebirth. The metaphor of Mormonism is therefore that of rebirth, which is a constant theme in the New Testament, as it is in myths of cultures world wide. The reported experience of Joseph Smith seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ, also known as the First Vision, although alien to modern, western civilization, is not unlike that experienced by a young man in a primitive culture in which the young man has a visit from a totem animal representing his god, a god formed out of the natural world the young man has already had experience with. It is that of the plains Indian visited by the white buffalo that talks to the boy and imparts wisdom to him. The result is a rebirth from childhood to manhood, and the boy is never the same again, often becoming a leader or shaman for his tribe. Who cannot doubt that Joseph Smiths experience of seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ (resurrected) changed Joseph Smith in a profound way. Had he not had the vision he would have continued on the unassuming, unexciting path of frontier farm boy. But with the vision came a mision and a purpose, it was in reality a rebirth, changing him from the person he had been, into the man who would restore the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth, translate the Book of Mormon, restore the priesthood of God, and establish the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on the earth. It was the beginning of his lifes adventure, which was far grandeur and more glorious than it would have been had he not had the vision. It is the classic hero adventure of ancient myth and legend

transported into modern times. This adventure culminated in his death at the hands of an angry mob at Carthage jail in Illinois. When he went to his death as a martyr for his cause, he went to his eternal life. The question then becomes: Did Joseph Smith have a literal vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ? Or was it a kind of metaphorical vision, in which he saw the God the Father and Jesus Christ (the divine) within him, If it is indeed the latter, is this what we need to do? Find the sacred and divine within ourselves, our own inner Christ? It so, how do we do this? I believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. The proof is in the Book of Mormon. In translating the Book of Mormon from an ancient record as written on gold pates, he was and is one of most brilliant theologians in the history of western civilization, and perhaps (in the Christian world at least) since Jesus Christ and his apostles walked the earth. In the very least, he was and is the greatest theologian that American has ever produced, and who should be respected and revered as such, not vilified. I believe that he was both prophet and brilliant theologian. I believe that he saw what he said he saw, did what he said he did in translating the Book of Mormon, and was who he said he was. I also believe that the things that he said were true and right in the eyes of God, and will be justified in its fullness when the Savior comes in His glory. This of course is a statement of faith, and cannot be proven. But without faith where is religion?

We basically have three choices for Joseph Smith:

1. He was a latter day Prophet, just like Moses or Isaiah of old. 2. He was a complete fraud, but still a brilliant theologian. 3. He misinterpreted his metaphorical vision as being real.

Ill leave it to the reader to determine what the reader believes.\Actually it does not matter which of these is true,, we merely need to understand its metaphor and live by that. Just as we should with the Bible. It does not matter if th Bible is literal or metaphorical it need only be understood and lived by its metaphor(s)

Given this, the eighth article of faith of the Mormon church which reads: "We believe the Bible to be the Word of God as far as it is translated correctly..." It may as well add "and understood" to read: "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated and understood correctly..." in telling his story,ing the official Joseph Smith story, three things are readily apparent in terms of the symbolism of rebirth:

1. The First Vision occurred early in the morning (the birth of a new day). 2. The first Vision occurred in the spring of 1820 (A time in which the world is reborn). 3. Joseph Smith was 14, which by Jewish tradition he would have been a made a man at age 13 through the bar mitzvah, another rite of passage or rebirth.

Indeed, Joseph Smith at age 14 is what Taoism calls Wu Wei, or the uncarved block,

ready for his life to be shaped and changed by the hand of God. Joseph Smiths story and life is rife with symbolism of rebirth. In telling his story, ,Joseph Smith explains that he read in Epistle of James that if he lacked wisdom, which he did at this point, he could ask God with real faith nothing wavering, and God would give him the wisdom and not upbraid. Joseph Smith, in early spring 1820, went to a grove of trees, near his home in Palmyra New York, to pray. Palmyra New York is in western New York, and at that time it was on the edge of the American frontier. In any case he prayed aloud for the first time, and explained how he is attacked by a force or being so powerful that it bound his tongue, darkness gathered around him, and it seemed to him that he would be destroyed. It were as if he were going through birth pains. This could be interpreted as a kind of death and what happened next as a kind of rebirth. In Joseph Smiths own words:

But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy, which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being- just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound (delivered from death and reborn as a new being to be able to see the divine). When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all

description, standing above me in the air. One of them spark unto me calling me by name and said, pointing to the other, "This is My Beloved son: Hear Him!"

In these words, Joseph Smith describes seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ. He goes on to describe what happened next. The important thing to note here is that when he was delivered out of the grasp of the enemy that sought his destruction, he was reborn. He became a new creature capable of seeing divine personages, whether those images were real or metaphorical does not matter. Of course, most who heard this story at the time rejected it, though there were may to claim divine visions at this time, and persecuted Joseph Smith for what he said he saw. A few, including his family, followed him and believed. But he never denied it, not even when faced with death as he was many times until he died at Carthage, Illinois in late June of 1844. He feared that if he did deny it, he would be damned by God. He carried his testimony to the grave, and like a true classical hero (One of whom was Jesus Christ), sealed his testimony with his death.

The visitation of the angel Moroni and coming forth of the Book of Mormon also shows this symbolism of rebirth. When the angel Moroni visited Joseph Smith over three years after the First Vision, he told him of a record on gold pates buried in the earth in a mountain near Josephs home, the Hill Cummorah. This record was to come forth from a stone box in the ground as if it had come from a tomb, and was reborn in these Latter Days opening the voices of those who had slept in the grave several millennia. This is symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, or Christs rebirth, in that Christ too came

forth from the grave and was reborn. In addition, the angel Moroni told Joseph Smith when he visited him that the gospel of Jesus Christ was about to be restored, reborn, and that this would come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, the second coming of Jesus Christ, when the whole earth would be reborn and receive its paradisiacal glory

For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that is, shall leave them neither root nor branch. Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming. (Joseph Smith 2:37-39)

Joseph was also told by Mornoi, in Josephs own words: 40In addition to these, he quoted the HYPERLINK "http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1? lang=eng" eleventh chapter of a HYPERLINK "http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1? lang=eng" Isaiah, saying that it was about to be fulfilled. He quoted also the HYPERLINK "http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng" third chapter of Acts, twenty-second and twenty-third verses, precisely as they stand in our New Testament. He said that that b HYPERLINK "http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng" prophet was

Christ; but the day had not yet come when they who would not hear his voice should be
c

HYPERLINK "http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng" cut off from among the

people, but soon would come. 41He also quoted the HYPERLINK "http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng" second chapter of a HYPERLINK "http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng" Joel, from the twenty-eighth verse to the last. He also said that this was not yet fulfilled, but was soon to be. And he further stated that the fulness of the b HYPERLINK "http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng" Gentiles was soon to come in. He quoted many other passages of scripture, and offered many explanations which c HYPERLINK "http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng" cannot be mentioned here. (Joseph Smith 2:40-41) The important thing to note here is that all of this refers to a rebirth of things, the gospel is restored through Joseph Smith, in a sense being reborn, before the great and terrible day when the Lord Jesus Christ would come again and the earth would be reborn. The symbolism is all about rebirth. The Book of Mormon is also rife with stories and symbolism of this rebirth. There is the story of King Benjamins people in the Book of Mosiah in which a whole people are reborn. Then there is the story of Alma the Younger in the latter part of the same book in which he was reborn. And then in Third Nephi when Christ visits the new world, there is the story in which all those dwelling on the American Continent were reborn, even after the whole face of the earth was changed and in a sense was reborn. Given all symbolism in early Mormonism and the Book of Mormon that surround this

issue of being reborn, can there be any doubt in the mind of a true believer of these things that they too must be reborn. I think not. Joseph Campbell said that a religion is ones world view. In addition, he said that we should not allow ourselves to get stuck in the metaphor of the symbolism of our own religion, and that doing so was the problem of our day. If the metaphor of Mormonism is that of rebirth, then how do we live our lives that we dont get stuck in the metaphor while still being reborn? Perhaps this is a question for the ages to answer, or for each of us to answer in his or her own way. Or has it already been answered by Jesus Christ himself, the Savior and Redeemer of the world, in that he has shown us the way in the Bible and Book of Mormon, and all we must do is to follow it if we will but do so.