Welcome to Gaia! ::

amen

Hey, I am Jessica, I am not part of the LDS church, or any church for that matter, at this present time. I am a Christian however, I was raised Baptist, but I do not share the same view points as they do now.

I do have a copy of the Book Of Mormon, and I have read a lot of it...and I have done a lot of research on the Church, on Mormon.org of course, and I have a few friends that are Mormon, one of which is away on a Missionary trip right now.

anyway I hope to get to know you guys better. See you around. smile

I'm very glad that someone other than a member is here! ^_^ However, I must say that I respectfully disagree. If I had read your post a few years ago, I would have agreed as I had not joined the church before then, however that is not the case now.

There are many things that we perceive that are man-made (in my opinion) such as racism, sexism, etc. Since these are man-made we cannot assume God, who is perfect, cannot have the ability to be such things.

I would like to take a moment and outline what I know about the existance of mankind. There are a lot of things I don't know, however, that is not the point:

God is the ultimate planner. He did not appear after the earth was created and say, "I think I will favor only one person or race or religion." He took the time to plan what the goal is and how to get there. He created the earth in 6 days (1 day=1000 years. What kind of year is unknown. We cannot assume 1 year=365 days as that is a man-made unit of time. Same for the duration of a day.) and on the seventh he rested.

On the sixth day, God creates the creatures of the land (cattle). He created man in his own image and instructs that he should have dominion over everything on the earth previously created. He creates woman from the rib of man and tells them to "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over..." (Genesis 1:2 cool He tells man to eat everything in the Garden of Eden, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:17)

God did not place that tree there by accident. He tells Adam that if he eats the fruit of that tree, he will die. Therefore, at this point, Adam and Eve cannot die. The cannot age and because of this, they cannot "multiply and replenish the earth" as God instructs.

I know God created the earth as a way for us to learn. We are born into families that will help us live righteously and help us prosper. However, because they ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they are cast out from his presence and Satan has more influence here. They are still able to redeem themselves and are able to communicate with God by prayer, but they are no longer able to walk with him.

I know there is a premortal existance where God told every single person ever born what the plan of salvation is, what life at earth will mostly entail (we won't be able to remember the premortal life but if we endure to the end and are righteous and do our best to live the commandments, we will return to God in death) and I know every person agreed to the plan. We live here as a test. We can't know everything or else there is no point to being on earth.

I know for a fact that God does love us. He sent his only begotten son, Jesus, to pay for the sins of all who has lived before us and who will live after us and He showed us the way to live with God when we experience physical death. I know that when our bodies die, it is not the end and we will see our families one day. Families are forever.

I say these things humbly in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

This is the way I see it. Before, all mormons practiced polygamy. However, the state did not want this to happen anymore and the Prophet had received revelation from God telling the church to stop the practice. The church agreed and the state was happy, however, there were a lot of people that didn't agree with that outcome. They formed the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and moved to Idaho where they practice polygamy. I don't agree with the FLDS, but it is not my place to judge or anything, so I try not to.

I figure when the world ends and everyone is dead, it'll be a giant "I told you so" fest. ^_^

I hope you join the guild. I also encourage you to read what is posted and whenever you have questions or you just want to point something out, feel free to start a discussion in the newly created Discussion subforum.

Indeed, we bring about our own destruction. In the Book of Mormon, Lehi, a prophet, was told by God to leave Jerusalem with his family and leave behind everything that was not vital to their survival. He was told that Jerusalem will be destroyed and if they are in Jerusalem, they will be destroyed with it.

Lehi had 4 sons. Nephi, Sam, Laman, and Lemuel. Nephi and Sam were righteous and obeyed the commandments of God, however, Laman and Lemuel would blasphem against God and when angels would come to them and speak to them, they would hardly listen and few times they repented. These two brothers were as wicked as the Jews were in Jerusalem. The Bible describes the Jews in Jerusalem as committing adultery and being so wicked that God completely withdrew his spirit. (Does not happen often.)

However, since God is the embodiment of "good" and Satan is the embodiment of "evil", we can assume God cannot lie. Lies are evil and cannot be made by God. Also, Satan cannot tell the truth because he is evil. There is no real grey area with these two.

That being said, God has said that Jesus will come back at a later time. No one knows when the Second coming will be. This second coming is not to be the destruction of the world, but rather the establishment of God's government unto the world. Because God cannot lie, this must be true.

(My comment about the "I told you so fest" was more of a joke, by the way. ^_^)

Thank you for the compliments. I am starting to think I've done a good job on the guild thusly far. (Although I know I need to add a few things from October.... crying )

I just hope you keep an open mind about the things in the guild. I testify to you that the Book of Mormon is true. Not only is Mormonism the fastest growing religion in the world, but if you type into google "don't pray about the book of mormon, that's how they get you," there is a picture saying that on a baptist church leaderboard. I know this is because those that pray to know the truth receive confirmation by the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true.

I'm not telling you to pray and repent or you'll burn in hell. I just really hope that everyone, not just you, that comes to the guild will partake of the information here and I pray that the hearts of mankind are softened.

I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

For me, it felt like I had something missing. I had tried to get into organized religion before by going to a Baptist church, but there were so many inconsistencies that I couldn't understand as a seven year old. In 2007 I took a trip with my mom and I lost control of the car and crashed on a sign. We climbed out of the car, which we discovered to be pretty precariously parked on a slope of boulders, and decided to walk the road in opposite directions to try to get reception to call for help.

The entire walk I prayed to God to send someone-anyone-to help us. We couldn't find reception and grabbed blankets from the car and tried taking our minds off the situation.

It had been only about an hour and a half after I prayed that a couple in a big truck came by and asked if we needed help. The husband was looking at the car to see how easily it could be pulled onto the road and I was waiting with his wife. She told me, "You are very lucky. My husband and I live on the other side of the mountain and were going to visit a friend. We never go this because it's longer, but we both felt like we needed to go this way."

Then my husband, (my boyfriend at the time.) asked me to go to church with him at least once. So I did. Then I started going just about every Sunday to be his support. After a week of attending, the missionaries wanted to do lessons with my husband and so I went along for support. What they taught me made me feel like I needed this in my life. It took several months of lessons, but I finally started going to church on my own and I started to read the Book of Mormon and I prayed about it and ever since I have not been able to deny that the church is true. Each week that I don't go to church, I start feeling unhappy, but when I go, I feel at peace again.

Sorry that was kinda long...