The Book of Mormon: Kind of Religious, But Not Really

This past spring, I visited my best friend from high school for this birthday, and we went to see the musical The Book of Mormon at a medium-sized civic theater near where we lived. I had never seen it before, and had only a vaguely general idea of the plot. However, as the story unfolded, I was absolutely blown away.

The plot of the musical revolves around Kevin Price, a nineteen year old Elder in the Mormon church, who desperately desires to be sent on his mission in Orlando, Florida. There he can enjoy the sun, Universal Studios, and last but not least, putt-putt golfing. Maybe he can even convert a few people along the way. However, Kevin is dumbfounded when he and his mission partner, Elder Arnold Cunningham, are sent to Uganda (oh boy, like Lion King!), to try to speak to the African tribes there about the Lord and the history of Mormonism. And, when the people of Uganda aren't receptive to Elder Price's words of Christian encouragement, he decides that he wasn't made for Uganda and will go back to America and ultimately to Orlando.

This musical is a strange combination of crude, yet moving, and I think that it possesses an important message for Christians: God doesn't make mistakes. In the song where Kevin has decided to return home, he cries out to God, saying: "God I'm sure you don't think I'm a flake, because you've clearly made a mistake." When Kevin tries to take God's plan into his own hands and leave his camp in Uganda, God redirects him right back to his camp, where he is supposed to be.


I know that I like to avoid blame, regardless of the cause, and that we as people like to avoid blame. However, not only should we take responsibility, but we really can't redirect that blame to God. He does what He does for a reason, and we shouldn't question it.

Raunchy? Quite. Offensive? Probably. Meaningful? Certainly.