In the beginning

This is the section wherein I am supposed to recount the various things my parents taught me as a child. However, I do not know how to distinguish what my parents taught me from I picked up on my own or from other sources. Instead, I shall endeavor to describe the spiritual outlook of my youth.

I grew up in suburban Utah as a member of a devout, committed Mormon family. On both my parents' sides, church membership extends back many generations to the early days of the church. In my extended family, though, there are some that adhere to the church and some that do not.

I grew up with the church all around me. It was all that I knew. In high school I had some non-Mormon friends but the church still dominated everything.

I enjoyed the youth activities and all of the opportunities I had. It felt exciting to be part of a vibrant, growing organization. The church gave me my framework from which I understood life and my place in it. I felt confident that the church had the answers and that there was much depth and richness in it to explore.

I never had a singularly defining moment at which I knew the church was true. At one point I decided I needed to inquire of the Lord regarding the truthfulness of something. I received the impression "Why do you ask about that which you already know?

I felt confident that I had faith. I maintained that I had a testimony (whatever exactly that might be) and I bore it at times, particularly on my mission. I firmly believed that God would guide me and that he had a specific path laid out for me to follow.

I grew up with a strong literalist worldview. If something was described in the Bible or other scriptures then it was and had to be literally true. For example, a literalist view of Noah maintains that there was a worldwide flood and that Noah saved all existing animals on the ark. Any physical, scientific, or other evidence that conflicts must therefore be incorrect. A literalist recognizes symbolic meanings, but these are subsumed beneath the literal.

I was also firmly grounded in a black-and-white (binary) worldview. Little children are prime examples of this (at least in our Western society). I have observed extreme black-and-white thinking in all four of my children during their preschool to early school years. During this time, when they watch a movie or hear a story, the first thing they want to know is who are the bad guys and who are the good guys. Once that is established, then they can settle down to enjoy it. As they mature, particularly as their cognitive capacity develops, their worldview begins to admit more shades of gray. A black-and-white worldview serves an LDS missionary well; indeed such an approach is fostered by the mission structure and environment. If one is devoting great energy to converting others to one's beliefs, it helps to have a single-minded assurance of the superiority of one's beliefs.