Mormonism a Worldwide Religion of Peace
After visiting Korea, we traveled to Japan. While attending Sunday School in Tokyo, I was again reminded of President McKay’s 1955 address at the groundbreaking.
We read Acts 16 and 17 about Paul’s call to take the gospel to Europe and about his sermon in Athens on the Unknown God. These chapters touch on themes important to the mission of BYU-Hawaii — namely, the worldwide mission of the Church and the kinship of the human family.
Acts 16 is an important chapter in the story of the worldwide mission of the early Church. It tells of Paul’s vision of a man from Macedonia calling him to leave Asia Minor and take the gospel for the first time to Europe (16:9). David O. McKay cited this very scripture at the groundbreaking. He applied it to our taking the gospel to Asia. He said that there are millions of noble people in China, India, and Japan
“calling today as the people’s voice in Macedonia called ‘Come over to us, come over to us.’”
This school was to be a beachhead to millions of God’s children in Asia, who were calling “come over to us, come over!” President McKay said,
“You prepare to go carry that message”
— the message of the gospel.
Note that President McKay included America’s former enemies among the “noble” races to whom the gospel must be preached. As I met with the wonderful Latter-day Saints in Japan, I felt their nobility. I also saw the worldwide Church in action as I sat in a Sunday School class surrounded by Latter-day Saints from many nations.
This is a “worldwide religion,” said President McKay. I wonder if any prophet had referred to Mormonism as a “worldwide religion” before President McKay did so at the groundbreaking here in Laie. His was a groundbreaking vision for the Church indeed!
For President McKay, the memory of a multi-ethnic group of students surrounding a flagpole in Laie, united in the brotherhood of the gospel became a symbol of the Church’s future:
“What an example in this little place of the purpose of our Father in Heaven to unite all peoples by the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
The mural on the McKay building recalls this revelatory moment when a prophet of God envisioned the future of Mormonism as a worldwide religion. The flag circle that greets visitors to campus today announces the international mission not only of this university, but of this Church.
May we prepare ourselves to answer the Lord’s call “Come over to us.” For some this may mean serving a mission or living abroad. For others it may mean returning to their homeland to build the international Church. For all it means sharing President McKay’s vision of Mormonism as a worldwide religion. We are the successors of those children who gathered around that flagpole!
