Nobody is Saved Alone – The Zion Formula
The Weeping God of Mormonism
In the Book of Moses, revealed to Joseph Smith in 1830 as part of his revision of the Bible, we learn of the prophet Enoch, who was called to preach repentance to his people (social transformation). He ultimately does such a good job that the people are called Zion – the pure in heart – and are translated into heaven. Then Enoch in his conversations with God has an experience that shocks and amazes him and completely changes his concept of God: It came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people and he wept; Enoch asks God in amazement: How it is thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?
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The answer to Enoch’s questions reveal a concept of God, which Eugene England believes, is the essential foundation of all Mormon theology, one that makes Mormon theology radically different from most others. God’s power to remove sin (man’s inhumanity towards man and woman) and other causes of human suffering is limited. He can send prophets like Enoch to warn and preach repentance, and he can send his son to provide those who accept him with power to repent.
The apostle Neal A. Maxwell in his Ensign article Remember how merciful the Lord hath been explains that there is scriptural evidence of ‘touching lamentation from long-suffering Jesus’ for those whose choice is to reject him and what he offers: (1) is the imagery of Christ’s desire to gather God’s children as a hen gathers her chicks, and (2) the metaphor of the attentive and vigilant lord of the vineyard, who saddened by a disappointing harvest asks what more he could have done.
According to England, the weeping God of Mormon finitism creates a world for soul-building, which can only succeed if it includes exposure of our souls to the effects of natural law, as well as maximum latitude for us to exercise our agency as we learn how that universe works. Evil is a natural condition of such a world, not because God creates evil for soul building, but because evil inevitably results from agency fred to grapple with natural law in this mortal world.
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Exaltation is a corporate venture – nobody is saved alone
But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I required at their hands, but are full of manner of evil, and do not impart of their substance, as becometh saints, to the poor and afflicted among them; and are not united according to the union required by the law of the celestial kingdom. And my people must needs be chastened until they learn obedience, if it must needs be, by the things which they suffer (Doctrine and Covenants 105:2-4,6).
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Douglas Davies in Introduction to Mormonism argues that the ‘entire LDS theory of the individual within the total cosmos can be viewed as one of developmental shift from eternal intelligence, to personalized intelligence as a spirit child of God the Father, then as a human being and then as a resurrected being. Throughout this progression, the self is increasingly engaged in growing numbers of symbiotic relationships and responsibilities. The Mormon self must therefore be understood as interplay of community and agency: the self is more relational than essential despite the eternal nature of underlying intelligence’.
Davies believes that, in one sense, ‘it is easy to argue that Mormonism is radically individualistic, given its strong emphasis upon individual responsibility in the process of attaining salvation, but that would be a mistake because, as vital as that personal responsibility is, and as much as it may be advocated by church leaders, it demands a community of endeavour to achieve its goal. On the relational front, it is absolutely fundamental to appreciate that even a person’s ultimate salvation depends upon his or her relationship to someone else. It was common for early Mormon leaders to stress that nobody is ‘saved’ alone. Indeed, this is a distinctive feature of LDS theology – for exaltation is a corporate venture’.
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The Zion formula
And the Lord called his people ZION; because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them (Moses 7:18). ZION involves a dynamic change or transformation of heart (A), mind (C) and behavior (B). ZION may be seen as a context within which certain things can happen in a particular way, as for example the test of the marriage is when the going gets rough; the test of ZION is in the ability to practice our free agency in order to bless others.
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‘Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice (one mind); say that I was a drum major for peace (one heart); I was a drum major for righteousness (good deeds). And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that’s all I want to say’ (Martin Luther King, jr. 1968)
