A Conversation With Lindsay

This summer, I found myself volunteering at a small NGO in Colombia, where a group of Colombian, Venezuelan, and foreign volunteers came together to help Venezuelan refugees as they came into the country. I remember arriving in town and meeting all of the kind people I’d be working with, each of whom was absolutely phenomenal and cared deeply about the work we were doing. At the same time this was happening, one individual caught my attention as they were doing something I am deeply familiar with. She was getting ready for church. Not only that, but she’d be presenting the sermon; I was immediately excited to go, and I did. It was a beautiful service with passionate church members, moving hymns, and a thoughtful sermon that made me feel at home. It was a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS).

As we were in Colombia, everything was in Spanish, and we asked each other how we became acquainted with the language. In my case, I learned it at an Adventist university in Argentina, and in hers, she learned it for her mission in Mexico as part of the LDS Church. She also attends a religious school and is a Brigham Young University – Hawaii senior majoring in Intercultural Peacebuilding (so cool) with three separate minors. As we talked more about this, we grew to learn more about each other’s religious backgrounds, the similarities in our beliefs, the quirky challenges we have in religious colleges, and a whole list of thought-provoking questions. I recently connected with her again and asked if I could record a conversation with her. I have a shortened version of that conversation below and hope it will encourage more collaboration and understanding among our faiths.

Chris

How are you doing? How's Hawaii?

Lindsay

It's nice. It's very toasty right now. I will say I’m constantly sweating all the time. It's so humid, but school’s good. I’m in my second to last semester! How are you, though?

Chris

I'm good. You know, just hanging out here, and it hasn't been too cold yet. Hopefully, the temperatures will drop a bit more so we can fully experience fall. At this point, it's been a ‘will they- won't they’situation, and I'd love just to use one genre of clothing. That would be helpful to me. But also, I'm kind of scared about the upcoming winter and the actual cold . . . I also wanted to talk about our universities; what is the vibe of your university? How would you characterize it?

Lindsay

Yeah. Well, I really like the vibe of my university here. I go to BYU Hawaii. So obviously, it's one of the BYU schools, but I feel like it is pretty different from the other BYU’s because of its geographical location etc. So, since it's on the island, we have a lot of international students and I would say the school is very diverse. The vibe as you just walk around campus is really close-knit. There are only like 3000 students. And so it's small, close-knit, is diverse, and you get to be friends with lots of different people. So it's really nice.

Chris

I would say that's really similar to here!

Lindsay

That’s cool!

Chris

Do you think student ideas are generally different and diverse, too?

Lindsay

Well, since most of the school shares the same religion . . . even though we come from lots of different countries, there is kind of a given culture . . . but there are some things that are different. Like, I guess, even though I will say even though the school is really diverse, sometimes you get pockets of- I don't want to call it clicky- but people hang out with people from their own country sometimes.

Chris

That sounds very similar, and I don't know if I'd say that there are crazy differences because most people are coming from very similar religious backgrounds before coming here. But the interpretation of those religious viewpoints can vary pretty significantly . . . Do you think you see that there too? Or is it mostly just vibes across the board?

Lindsay

It's interesting you say that . . . People have different interpretations, but not anything crazy. One thing I thought of was- I think I had mentioned to you- but in our religion, we have sort of a health code, like you were saying about the SDAs, and there are certain things that you're not supposed to drink or eat. For example, a lot of people know that people from my church don't drink coffee. But in some Polynesian cultures, they drink kava- a ceremonial drink- and it gives you a little high, I guess. But they use it in cultural ceremonies when they're all gathered around, and they pass a cup around and you partake as part of the group. And so there's been debate over whether coverage is allowed under this health code or not, for cultural reasons, or if it shouldn't be. So there's little niche debates about that. It's not implicitly stated in the religion, so then people are like, ‘well, what do we do?’

Chris

Wow, every day over the past few weeks, I have found more and more things in the SDA Church that remind me of the LDS church. For example, I studied a bit in Argentina, and they have mate. Even though there is a belief held within Adventism that you should avoid caffeine, Adventists will drink it with their friends, outside, at the park, and they’ll just vibe with their mate, and it's great. I also got very into ‘mate culture,’and it's something that is extremely acceptable. Then, one day, I checked the content list on the package, and it said “cafeína”right there. I think there's a lot within these beliefs that are governed by culture. Even from the standpoint of a lot of Americans, especially younger Americans who identify as Adventists, many are beginning to see less and less value in avoiding coffee. So some younger Adventists, including people on our campus, will have coffee, even if it's in ‘secret.’Also, and this is a tangent here, I learned that the origins of the SDA Church included non-Trinitarianism and that is deeply interesting to me.

Lindsay

What is that?

Chris

Trinitarianism means that there's a Trinity that makes up the ‘Godhead,’which is made up of the bodies of the ‘Father,’Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, who are all equal and one. That’s the current viewpoint in the SDA church, and that's probably the viewpoint that most evangelicals and a lot of mainline Christians will take. But in the past and the origins of SDA Church, they all believed that there was just God, and then below God is when you have Jesus, and then the Holy Spirit is somewhere there. That is much more similar to the current belief of the LDS church.

Lindsay

It's so funny how many similarities there are. I really did not know much about Adventism before we chatted, but now I’m like, wow, there are a lot of similarities . . . like the people who went to the woods (William Miller and Joseph Smith) and then came back [after receiving revelation].

Chris

Haha yeah, there’s something about those woods.

. . .

Lindsay

Well, yeah, I don't know. I guess also, our church believes in the one true church, as a lot of other Christian denominations do. I guess you could also say we just generalized all other churches together. Like, yeah, other churches are good, but ours [is better]. That's kind of the narrative that goes around.

Chris

Yeah. Similar narrative. When I was really young, I didn't actually understand the differences between denominations or different faiths, because the other denominations were generally described as just ‘Sunday churches.’This obviously decribes the vast majority of Christian churches. I didn't really know the difference between a Methodist or Baptist or any of these things. And it's almost like it wasn't necessary because they were all wrong.

. . .

Chris

Before closing, I wanted to ask you about how modern prophets are viewed in your faith. Are they necessary to follow in all aspects of what they say? Or is there a level of belief that what they said was just an individual speaking, whether they were intelligent, well-spoken, or gifted by God? For example, in the SDA church, I know that some individuals will not focus on our prophet’s writings at all and just rely on Scripture. We also would have the distinction between what is inspired and what was opinion. That's always been a thing, from my understanding, within the SDA church.

Lindsay

Yeah. Okay. In our church, there has also been a lot of talk about what is doctrine, or necessary for salvation, and what are just the leader’s opinions. But, we do have prophets and church leaders that we are supposed to follow because they are directed and inspired by God. And so in that sense, what they do and say . . . is inspired doctrine, and you're supposed to follow it. And so if you don't, then that's just your own choice. So, in that sense it's more clear-cut. But then you always get prophets, especially in the past, that say out-of-pocket things.

Chris

Yeah, they do that sometimes haha (our prophet included)

Lindsay

Haha yeah, yeah. You know, subjects of race and politics and all other controversial things. So I guess that's why today, there is a lot of talk about what's opinion and what's the culture of the church and what's actual doctrine. I think, yeah, that is a big thing today over here on our end.

Chris

Yeah, it's the same over here for sure.

. . .

Chris

Thank you so much for talking with me, and have a great day! Adios.

Lindsay

Good luck with school and everything, Adios!