I am a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I had only to hear the messages of the restored gospel to know they are true. I required no missionary discussions, no gradual enlightenment or period of personal turmoil, so my story may be somewhat unusual, though I believe it not to be unique.
When I first heard the story of the restoration as a university student, I was already deeply in love with my soon-to-be eternal companion. (Incidentally, my love for my dear wife has grown even deeper with the passing years.) Two aspects of the gospel particularly appealed to me: the glory of God is intelligence, and marriage is intended by God to be an eternal covenant between a man and a woman. These remain of unusual importance to me.
My faith is simple and unsophisticated. With Nephi, “I do not know the meaning of all things,” but this I do know of a certainty: God “loveth His children” (see Nephi 11:17). The beauty, complexity, and simplicity of molecular biology, which others have termed “the language of God,” only confirm what I long have known in my heart to be true. I remain deeply impressed by Paul’s prescient words on Mars’ hill: God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26).
There it is in a nutshell. The meaning of true religion, to me at least, is just that simple. We are all God’s children. There are no barriers of race, ethnicity, skin color, education, or anything else which can separate us from Him. All we are required to do is to bring to Him our repentant, contrite, and broken hearts. Nothing else is needed. All of His children may qualify for His supernal blessings. I glory in that simple truth.
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Alexander B. Morrison (Ph.D., Cornell University), is a native of Canada. Trained in nutrition and pharmacology (in which he earned a second master’s degree some nine years after the completion of his doctorate), Dr. Morrison was a professor and administrator at the University of Guelph, in Ontario. He also chaired the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee of the Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases in the World Health Organization and served as a deputy minister with Health Canada, in which capacity he oversaw issues of environmental and food safety.
Baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an adult, he served as a branch president, a bishop, a regional representative of the Twelve, and, from 1987 until he was given emeritus General Authority status in 2000, as a member of the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy.
Posted November 2010
