A Testimonial

I got my Conference issue Ensign in the mail the other day and I promised myself that I would read at least one talk from from it or the scriptures each day. Last week I was listening to a talk given by President Uchtdorf from April’s conference and he talked about being a true disciple of Christ and not a ‘spectator disciple’.

Yeah, I’ve been a  ‘spectator disciple’ for a really long time little bit. But from what I can see in my big comfy chair, you guys are all doing great! Pass me the popcorn!

I am trying to change that, thus the promise of reading good things each day-at least before I get on to the smut I usually read like, Stephanie Meyer or Anita Stansfield. (she says laced heavily with sarcasm. Just to be clear.)

I’ve done really good. 3 whole days in a row. I know, amazing.

Anyway, did anyone else notice how much talk there is about feeling the Spirit and sharing testimonies? Well, I did. And it got me thinking about my own testimony and how I got it.

I was struggling with what I believed just after high school-did I want in or not? This was when I fell in love with a particular musical. I loved the music, how the story went and the movie of it was done in the 70s-need I say more. Oh yeah, and it was a disco rock opera. That’s right, you guessed it: Jesus Christ Superstar.

Image taken from here

Now, for most of us in the ‘Mormon faith’, this isn’t exactly a reverent telling of the ministry and death of our Savior. But for some reason, at that time, this musical filled my soul. I watched the movie and I listened to the soundtrack over and over again. No one hits that high note like Ted Neeley.

Well, guess what came to town to our little Capital Theater in Downtown Salt Lake. They even had Ted Neeley playing Jesus. I had to go and I did. Right in the front of the top balcony. Ted/Jesus was not quite so waifish as he was in the movie but he could still hit those high notes.

Oddly enough, during this irreverent musical something happened to me. I came to know that Jesus Christ was real and that He is my Savior. I always figured that I didn’t give God much to go on to speak to me so He was alright with using this rock opera to touch my soul.

I still have the soundtrack but I feel differently when I listen to it. All I can think of is how beautiful it is and yet slightly off the mark. I tried to get rid of it-I’ve grown a bit, spiritually, amazingly enough-and I realize it’s a smidge sacrilegious. But I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it. It really means too much to me for what it gave me so long ago.  Every now and then I sneak a listen like sneaking a Diet Coke into Sunday School in a brown paper bag.

My BFF just told me it’s coming to San Diego-near her home. Guess who’s playing Jesus-Yup, my man, Ted Neeley. Man, I want to go! Not only would I get to see my BFF, I would get to enjoy a lovely rock opera near the beach. Could anything be any better than that??

So basically scriptures, church, prayer just aren't enough for me to get the point. I guess I need to be entertained in the process. You wouldn’t believe how I first got my testimony of Joseph Smith-no not from reading his account, not from Sunday School, not even from that horrid movie “Legacy”(barf)! It was Bro. Gerald Lund and his Work and the Glory series! Again, I was young and still trying to figure it all out but, it’s true those books gave me something that nothing else had-insight into who Joseph Smith was as a man and a Prophet.

I guess being a very empathetic person, I have to see things on a very personal level. I have to feel and experience with the person to really get it. The scriptures and other accounts are wonderful and true but for me to see someone’s rendition of Christ talking with God in the Garden, his struggle, it made it much more real to me. The same with Lund’s books-you saw the struggles Joseph and the early church had but they (most of them) kept going, kept trying. It really brings it all home for me.

I guess this is where I bare my testimony of media and other fine sources of clean(ish) entertainment.

I so get that from my dad!