I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through baptism on April 7th, 2002, and confirmation on April 14th, 2002. Prior to being baptized and confirmed, I seriously studied Mormonism for about two years. My study included attending a daily seminary class before school, where I studied The Book of Mormon. I made the decision to join the LDS Church through the understanding I gained from my studies and strong spiritual experiences. I was ordained a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood on April 14th, 2002, and was later ordained as an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood on June 13th, 2004. Upon my request, I was called to serve as a missionary in the Colorado Colorado Springs Mission, where I served as such from July 14th, 2004, to June 14th, 2006. My mission included a three weeks of studies and preparation at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on the campus of Brigham Young University. Just prior to beginning my missionary service, I attended the Seattle Washington Temple. Later, I would also attend the Provo Utah Temple and the Denver Colorado Temple. My experience in the temple included my own Washing, Anointing, and Endowment as well as witnessing a sealing. After returning from my mission, being honorably released, I consciously chose not to be an active member of the church, or rather could not in good conscience be an active member.I share this brief history of my activities in the LDS Church to merely illustrate that my views on the church have been formed by actual experience. I am not some church bashing third-party writer who has set my scope on the church. Far from it, I don’t even own a rifle.
It’s been interesting to read comments from, who I suppose are, active Latter-day Saints who belittle and berate mine, and other bloggers, sensibilities and intellects when we author posts critical of their church. I can’t even begin to judge them for what they write, or for their intentions. Having been an active Mormon, I know I would have done the same. I would have defended the faith. I’m not here to complain about their defense, however. Their comments have me thinking more about how I should express my views of Mormonism in a way that is more conductive to proper discussion.
The most notable of my critical posts has been “My Word of Wisdom Problem“. I started out on the right track with the title. What I expressed in that post were the problems with the application of the Word of Wisdom from “my” viewpoint. However, even though I may have started out on the right track, I know that it would be easy for a reader to conclude what I wrote is absolute. For the LDS reader, it could be seen as a concrete block thrown at their church windows. For me, I see it as my opinion utilizing the information as I have it. I might be right on some points, and I might be wrong on others. I’m no expert, but I also suspect my reader’s aren’t anymore so than I am.
I think there is both good and bad within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I believe this mixture comes from the people of the church, who are both good and bad at the same time. I once argued with a missionary friend for three hours concerning the perfection of the church. At the time of the debate, I believed the LDS Church to be the true church. However, I did not believe the church was perfect in its functions or the decisions of leaders because, after all, their are human, and humans are far from perfect.
Please know that what I write concerning Mormonism are my own views, opinions born of experience and study. Please feel free to comment and discuss, but do so intellectually and without belittling what I’ve added to the conversation. If I make an error and you correct me, I’ll make the correction and even cite you for doing so.
I don’t write about Mormonism to attack anyone’s faith. That’s not my intention. I want people to believe as they desire. I write about Mormonism to explore my experiences and expound upon them through words. I enjoy sharing these experiences and insights. Sometimes we have to agree to disagree, but I also hope we learn from each other as well.
