A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Gene R. Cook, was sitting on an airplane next to Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger in 1988. Cook did not recognize Jagger and Mick had to show Cook a magazine with a photo of himself in it to let him know who he was. During the flight, Cook and Jagger started a conversation about religion. Needless to say that Cook was really annoyed by Jagger's views...
Cook was quoted as saying: "He (Jagger) said there were no commandments, there was no God, and nothing really mattered. He indicated there was no judgment day and you could just do whatever you felt like doing. Whatever I told him in our discussion was white he said was black. And whatever he said was white I told him was black".
"He (Jagger) indicated that he had had the missionary lessons. In the beginning I didn't believe that, but as we talked further I think he probably had. He told me he had two or three lessons, and I think that was probably true because of some of his responses to me. According to him, he had been taught by missionaries in England" Cook revealed.
It seems that their discussion about God, except for Cook made Jagger also really angry because - according to Cook - Jagger then said loudly, so everyone could hear, that the Book of Mormon was a lie and that anyone who believed in it was a liar.
Cook had the Book of Mormon with him and took it out and placed it in Jagger's lap. Cook told Mick: "You say it is a lie. I must have missed that part. Show me." After that, there was complete silence. Cook then bore his testimony and told Jagger that he was the liar and that if he didn't change his ways, he would be held accountable by the Lord.
Jagger replied to Cook: "As I listen to you Mormons, your problem is that you think you have things all figured out. Life isn't that simple." Then Mick would go on and explain some complex things to Cook. Cook answered him in a very simple way from the scriptures and Jagger said: "See what I mean?" Cook revealed that Jagger was always trying to make things much more complicated than they actually were.Cook admitted that he was really angry at Mick.
"I've only been mad at two investigators in my life where I kind of got upset, and he was one of them. As we proceeded in the discussion, he probably had four or five alcoholic drinks. As you know, when one does that one tends to be a little looser in the way he talks and thinks. Finally, in a rather loud voice towards the end of our discussion, he said something like, "Furthermore, about your Book of Mormon - your Book of Mormon is a lie, and any man that believes it is a liar." He said it in such a way that most people nearby could hear it. That really did upset me. I thought to myself, here's a man who is representing evil and trying to announce it now to the whole cabin to try to make them feel that the Book of Mormon is not true."
If you want more details about Cook's plane ride with Mick Jagger during an address he gave at Ricks College, please visit this link: http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/art/cook_jagger.htm
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