J. Caleb Clark |
Interview- J. Caleb Clark on January 29, 2015
Q: How often do you go to church and for how long?
A: "I go to church every single Sunday from 11-2 o'clock."
Q: Do you have different shifts for going to church?
A: "Our church is split up geographically, so if you live in a certain area you go to one ward, if you live in another you go to another. So one ward might have church from 9-12, another area might have church from 11:30-2:30, just so that there's not too much overlap. There are a lot of mormons, especially here in Iowa City."
Q: What do most church services consist of?
A: "Most church services consist of 'Sacrament meeting' which is the most important part of church, and that is where we go and we renew our covenants. A covenant is a two-way promise; it's a promise between you and God. When we partake of the sacrament we are partaking of essentially bread and water in remembrance of Jesus Christ and what he did for us. Then we have sunday school which is the second hour. We'll do bible study, we'll read out of other books of scripture, such as The Book of Mormon, which is another testament of Jesus Christ. And then the third hour we split into Priest Hood and Relief Society. Priest hood is an organization of the men and Relief Society is an organization of the women. What's cool about Relief Society is that it is actually the oldest women's organization in the entire world."
Q: Does every mormon have to go on a mission trip?
A: "No. With men it's not required... it's more of just something that you do. With females you don't necessarily have to, a lot of them choose to though."
Q: What is the purpose of the mission trip?
A: " I think it's different for everyone, I guess on kind of a global scale the purpose is for us to go out and preach the gospel; to share what we know to be true with other people an help them to make informed decisions. On a personal level I guess the purpose of me going on a mission trip... in a way it was a way for me to get out into the world and to see what else is out there, to meet other people and to have experiences that I couldn't have any other way."
Q: Are there restrictions of the religion that affect your day to day?
A: "There are commandments that I live by... I follow pretty much the same commandments that a lot of people live by, such as, follow God, there's one God, we follow Jesus Christ... Basic commandments.. ten commandments things like that. We do have... some commandments that we live by that not many others live by as well. Such as we [the Word of Wisdom] abstain from alcohol and tobacco... illegal drugs, tea, coffee. We try to live chase lives, that means no sex before marriage, abstain from things like pornography. Basically anything that could take my right to choose away from me, is something that I try to stay away from."
Q: Do you believe in the Holy Trinity as one person?
A: "We believe that they are three separate and distinct beings. God, the father, has a body of flesh and bone, Jesus Christ is his son, and he has a body of flesh and bone, and the Holy Spirit is a third and distinct member of the God Head and does not have a body of flesh and bone; he is a spirit."
Q: Are you expected to marry someone who is Mormon?
A: "I don't know if it's necessarily an expectation, so much as it's just something that I personally would rather do. Because when you have a set of beliefs that mean a lot to you it's a lot easier to be with someone who shares those beliefs. So that on Sunday you're not arguing about what church to go to or how you're gonna raise the kids, I mean it's just something that you both believe needs to be done a certain way."
Q: Do you believe in polygamy?
A: "No we do not. Polygamy was a practice of the early church anywhere from 1830... to about 1860 with some embers breaking off from the church and doing their own thing. In addition, when the announcement was made in the church that we are no longer going to do polygamy... some people got upset and actually broke off and formed their own versions of the LDS (Latter-Day Saints) church. Such as, the Fundamentalists of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) and the RLDS, the Reform The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. "
Q: During a wedding are there any specific ceremonies that go on?
A: "A Mormon wedding is pretty similar to any other wedding to a Catholic or to a civil wedding with one major exception. A civil wedding... when you're married to your husband or wife is just for this time here on earth. We believe that when we are married, we are married for time and all eternity. So that even after this life you are with the ones that you love."
Q: Are only Mormons allowed to attend the wedding?
A: "That really depends. It depends on primarily where the wedding is held. We have what are called temples, which are very sacred buildings to us. When a wedding is performed inside the temple, we believe that the temple is the house of God and that only those who have met a certain set of criteria can go inside that house. To do so you must have something called a 'Temple Recommend' which means that you've been interviewed by local laymen, clergy... who have asked you specific questions, such as 'Are you living a chase life?', 'Do you follow the Word of Wisdom?' which is no tobacco, alcohol things like that. Basically it sets a bench mark for which all members of the church strive to meet and to exceed. If you can meet that bench mark then yes you can go inside the temple... Just being Mormon doesn't necessarily mean that you can enter. If a wedding is held just in a normal church building... anybody can go."
Q: How old are people when they usually get this "bench mark"?
A: "There is no age limit. You can enter the temple once you're 12... when you're an adult it doesn't matter if you're 18 or 104 you can go to the temple as long as you meet those bench marks."
Q: Do you personally, or any of your family members have any clothing restrictions?
A: "As a member of the church I do wear what is called the 'temple garment', and that is basically just an outward expression of my inner devotion to Christ... Members of the church who are worthy to go to the temple wear the temple garment as a reminder of the covenants that they have made with their heavenly father... It sets almost a modesty standard... It's essentially underwear, it's an undergarment. It's not something that we want to be flaunting around. It's not secret, it's sacred."
Q: Do you have any dietary laws?
A: "Besides the Word of Wisdom, not really. We abstain from habit forming substances... "
Q: Does the "Latter-Day Saints" part of the title have any significant value or was it added on to individualize the church?
A: "It has a lot of value. The reason for it is because we believe that our church is the original church of Jesus Christ that was on the earth when he was here; restored by a loving God through a living prophet. We believe that our church carries that same organization that the church of Christ carried in his day. Such as... he had apostles, which we have today, he had quorums of the 70, which basically... you have the president of the church, which was Jesus Christ, then you have apostles or disciples and you have the seventy who.. are like area type authorities... The 'Latter-Day Saints" part is very important... we believe that it signifies the church of Jesus Christ as it was then, but now."
Q: Do you feel that the Iowa City/ Coralville area has a strong Mormon community?
A: "Absolutely. We actually have... four wards in this area... so, four major congregations. Including a 'married student' ward which is for people with children less than two years of age, a 'young single adult' branch, and three standard 'family' wards."
Q: What is something you feel is a common misconception about Mormons?
A: " I guess the biggest one that I ran into on my mission was that Mormons don't believe in God, or that they don't believe in Jesus Christ. Which is fantastically ridiculous. The name of our church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints... We share a lot of common beliefs with other Christians... Everything that we do comes back to him. Every single thing. If there's ever anything in the church that does not come back to him it's taken out, because it's not important. Everything that we do should direct our hearts and our minds back to the sacrifice that he's made for us."
Q: How often do you go to church and for how long?
A: "I go to church every single Sunday from 11-2 o'clock."
Q: Do you have different shifts for going to church?
A: "Our church is split up geographically, so if you live in a certain area you go to one ward, if you live in another you go to another. So one ward might have church from 9-12, another area might have church from 11:30-2:30, just so that there's not too much overlap. There are a lot of mormons, especially here in Iowa City."
Q: What do most church services consist of?
A: "Most church services consist of 'Sacrament meeting' which is the most important part of church, and that is where we go and we renew our covenants. A covenant is a two-way promise; it's a promise between you and God. When we partake of the sacrament we are partaking of essentially bread and water in remembrance of Jesus Christ and what he did for us. Then we have sunday school which is the second hour. We'll do bible study, we'll read out of other books of scripture, such as The Book of Mormon, which is another testament of Jesus Christ. And then the third hour we split into Priest Hood and Relief Society. Priest hood is an organization of the men and Relief Society is an organization of the women. What's cool about Relief Society is that it is actually the oldest women's organization in the entire world."
Q: Does every mormon have to go on a mission trip?
A: "No. With men it's not required... it's more of just something that you do. With females you don't necessarily have to, a lot of them choose to though."
Q: What is the purpose of the mission trip?
A: " I think it's different for everyone, I guess on kind of a global scale the purpose is for us to go out and preach the gospel; to share what we know to be true with other people an help them to make informed decisions. On a personal level I guess the purpose of me going on a mission trip... in a way it was a way for me to get out into the world and to see what else is out there, to meet other people and to have experiences that I couldn't have any other way."
Q: Are there restrictions of the religion that affect your day to day?
A: "There are commandments that I live by... I follow pretty much the same commandments that a lot of people live by, such as, follow God, there's one God, we follow Jesus Christ... Basic commandments.. ten commandments things like that. We do have... some commandments that we live by that not many others live by as well. Such as we [the Word of Wisdom] abstain from alcohol and tobacco... illegal drugs, tea, coffee. We try to live chase lives, that means no sex before marriage, abstain from things like pornography. Basically anything that could take my right to choose away from me, is something that I try to stay away from."
Q: Do you believe in the Holy Trinity as one person?
A: "We believe that they are three separate and distinct beings. God, the father, has a body of flesh and bone, Jesus Christ is his son, and he has a body of flesh and bone, and the Holy Spirit is a third and distinct member of the God Head and does not have a body of flesh and bone; he is a spirit."
Q: Are you expected to marry someone who is Mormon?
A: "I don't know if it's necessarily an expectation, so much as it's just something that I personally would rather do. Because when you have a set of beliefs that mean a lot to you it's a lot easier to be with someone who shares those beliefs. So that on Sunday you're not arguing about what church to go to or how you're gonna raise the kids, I mean it's just something that you both believe needs to be done a certain way."
Q: Do you believe in polygamy?
A: "No we do not. Polygamy was a practice of the early church anywhere from 1830... to about 1860 with some embers breaking off from the church and doing their own thing. In addition, when the announcement was made in the church that we are no longer going to do polygamy... some people got upset and actually broke off and formed their own versions of the LDS (Latter-Day Saints) church. Such as, the Fundamentalists of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) and the RLDS, the Reform The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. "
Q: During a wedding are there any specific ceremonies that go on?
A: "A Mormon wedding is pretty similar to any other wedding to a Catholic or to a civil wedding with one major exception. A civil wedding... when you're married to your husband or wife is just for this time here on earth. We believe that when we are married, we are married for time and all eternity. So that even after this life you are with the ones that you love."
Q: Are only Mormons allowed to attend the wedding?
A: "That really depends. It depends on primarily where the wedding is held. We have what are called temples, which are very sacred buildings to us. When a wedding is performed inside the temple, we believe that the temple is the house of God and that only those who have met a certain set of criteria can go inside that house. To do so you must have something called a 'Temple Recommend' which means that you've been interviewed by local laymen, clergy... who have asked you specific questions, such as 'Are you living a chase life?', 'Do you follow the Word of Wisdom?' which is no tobacco, alcohol things like that. Basically it sets a bench mark for which all members of the church strive to meet and to exceed. If you can meet that bench mark then yes you can go inside the temple... Just being Mormon doesn't necessarily mean that you can enter. If a wedding is held just in a normal church building... anybody can go."
Q: How old are people when they usually get this "bench mark"?
A: "There is no age limit. You can enter the temple once you're 12... when you're an adult it doesn't matter if you're 18 or 104 you can go to the temple as long as you meet those bench marks."
Q: Do you personally, or any of your family members have any clothing restrictions?
A: "As a member of the church I do wear what is called the 'temple garment', and that is basically just an outward expression of my inner devotion to Christ... Members of the church who are worthy to go to the temple wear the temple garment as a reminder of the covenants that they have made with their heavenly father... It sets almost a modesty standard... It's essentially underwear, it's an undergarment. It's not something that we want to be flaunting around. It's not secret, it's sacred."
Q: Do you have any dietary laws?
A: "Besides the Word of Wisdom, not really. We abstain from habit forming substances... "
Q: Does the "Latter-Day Saints" part of the title have any significant value or was it added on to individualize the church?
A: "It has a lot of value. The reason for it is because we believe that our church is the original church of Jesus Christ that was on the earth when he was here; restored by a loving God through a living prophet. We believe that our church carries that same organization that the church of Christ carried in his day. Such as... he had apostles, which we have today, he had quorums of the 70, which basically... you have the president of the church, which was Jesus Christ, then you have apostles or disciples and you have the seventy who.. are like area type authorities... The 'Latter-Day Saints" part is very important... we believe that it signifies the church of Jesus Christ as it was then, but now."
Q: Do you feel that the Iowa City/ Coralville area has a strong Mormon community?
A: "Absolutely. We actually have... four wards in this area... so, four major congregations. Including a 'married student' ward which is for people with children less than two years of age, a 'young single adult' branch, and three standard 'family' wards."
Q: What is something you feel is a common misconception about Mormons?
A: " I guess the biggest one that I ran into on my mission was that Mormons don't believe in God, or that they don't believe in Jesus Christ. Which is fantastically ridiculous. The name of our church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints... We share a lot of common beliefs with other Christians... Everything that we do comes back to him. Every single thing. If there's ever anything in the church that does not come back to him it's taken out, because it's not important. Everything that we do should direct our hearts and our minds back to the sacrifice that he's made for us."