Paul James Toscano embraces his doubts doubts that spring from an awareness intimately connected to faith. His doubts extend beyond the incidental aspects of Christianity and Mormonism to the fundamentals of faith. I fear that Jesus, whom I love so much, may be a fiction, he writes. Even so, he explains that he cherishes the idea of Jesus as a king in disguise among his people, eating of their limitations and drinking of their disappointments, yet able to descend into the abyss and rise again, pulling out of meaninglessness both soul and cosmos. If Jesus was not the Christ, he declares, he should have been. If he is not God, he should be.
At the same time, if Jesus is real, where is he? Certainly he is neither clear nor accessible. And his gospel, as compelling as it is inscrutable, seems to sanctify least those who make it their career.
Toscano also celebrates LDS founder Joseph Smith s awe-inspired view of the universe. In Smith s writings, the Old Testament patriarch Enoch saw in vision the vast expanse of eternity and it shattered his belief. He was undone. He couldn t believe its creator could care about the microbial humans that inhabit this small speck of earth.
Thus we see Toscano s encompassing view of a God who is so far beyond our ultimately petty concerns, he could not care about such things as pedigree a God who loves everyone equally. However, according to some modern LDS commentators, the full weight of salvation is uponus; God s love is conditional. If we err, we are lost.
This is not good news, Toscano asserts. It is not the gospel. It is legalism. It is not the gospel of a God who cleanses us from corruption something far and away beyond our own ability and asks us only that we forgive our neighbors trespasses. This God does not require certainty or purity as conditions of his deliverance, merely that we recognize our lack and long to be filled. Such divine love transcends even Toscano s doubts."
About the Author: Paul James Toscano is a former staff editor at the LDSEnsignmagazine and author ofThe Sanctity of Dissent, as well as co-author with his wife, Margaret, ofStrangers in Paradox: Explorations in Mormon Theology. He lives with his family in Salt Lake City, where he is a practicing attorney."
