Latter Day Sinner

I use the term scripture loosely. When I started reading one of the first things my parents got me were Bible comic books. I think the brand was called Arch. I have a distinct memory of the battle between David and Goliath in soft pastels. I’ve been studying the Bible ever since. Over the years I’ve made many attempts to read the whole thing. At 13 I got halfway through Deuteronomy before I felt totally condemned by the law. I had a King James in Basic Training and earned a cross singing in the choir. The drill sergeants didn’t mess with my Bible or my Sunday worship. Reading the Bible got me through and that was my first successful attempt to go from cover to cover. The army and college didn’t go well, so I moved back to my hometown. In my twenties I did a lot of soul searching. I devoured the world’s religious texts. I decided that I needed to read the whole Quran, but it was daunting so I alternated chapter by chapter with the Tao Te Ching. This had a permanent effect on my theological outlook. Somehow “The Lord of the Universe” and “The Mother of All Things” became a single ultimate divinity. I talk about it as falling in love with the Quran, and I seriously considered converting to Islam. But I was introduced to the Book of Mormon before I made that leap and within a few years joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. So when I talk about scripture I usually include The Book of Mormon, The Bible, The Quran, The Tao Te Ching, and more often than not the Bhagavad Gita. I get to know them better every day and look toward the ultimate divinity that I can only see through the glass dimly.