Tweety
Nice to hear from you again. How are you?
I think you missed the original post from A&A about her aunt using her death as an opportunity to guilt trip A&A about having left the church. Wrote her that her dying wish was that she return to full church activity. That doesn't sound like a wonderful person to me. That sounds like a conditionally loving, emotionally manipulative person. What's wonderful about that?
Also, while some of the current and former discussions have been about people who are clearly human and make mistakes and misuse any religious system for their own selfish and evil purposes, my impression has been that most of the issues of concern that have really bothered the women on this thread who have "doubted" that the LDS church is indeed all it claims to be (Christ's church, lead by Him, and the only one with the "proper authority" to perform ordinances in the name of Christ for salvation) have done so for doctrinal rather than social or psycholoical reasons, as you suggest. Also, that several have left the church only after long study (including study of Mormon scripture) and prayer.
I think there are as many "reasons" for pursuing a different path than Mormonism as there are people, none of which can be so easily classified and dismissed. If depression is a "reason" for losing faith, then the gospel as presented by the LDS church certainly does not have the key to happiness to the extent that it claims. Depression and happiness are mutually exclusive. And if early childhood or other negative experiences have the power to take us off the only one true path, or obscure our vision of it to the degree that we are not able to believe and act in accordance with its teachings, then not all children of God have true agency, and Satan has more power than Christ. God forbid.
I have never received a witness of the Book of Mormon being what Joseph Smith and the church have claimed it to be--the translation of an ancient record of inhabitants of North America, yet I have read, and studied, and prayed about it throughout my life, in addition to studying it in seminary and religion classes at BYU. I like some of what it teaches about Christ, human nature, and salvation, and like many of the stories it contains. But I believe that these stories were written by Joseph Smith--perhaps by inspiration in part, but not as a literal translation of an ancient record. I believe that church leaders have been absolutely wrong in believing and claiming that all native peoples of this hemisphere and the pacific islands are descendants of Lehi, as this is genetically impossible. To complicate matters, what the Book of Mormon teaches about the nature of God is different than what the church teaches today. How can the BOM contain the "fullness of the gospel" without including teachings about the necessity of celestial marriage and sealing? There is more to support those practices in the Bible than in the BOM, and they are supposedly part of the "fullness of the gospel".
My husband also has prayed for years to "know" that the Book of Mormon is "true." Many active members automatically assume we must be hiding some sin that is keeping us from receiving a witness. To contradict that notion, while we're far from perfect, my husband and I have been faithful church and temple-attending, tithe-paying, calling-accepting, mission-serving members of the church our entire lives. But even if we hadn't been, God sent his Son because He knew we would all be imperfect. Even lets imperfect people into the temple and serve in the kingdom otherwise. Would God be so cruel as to withhold knowledge of the necessary one path to those who genuinely seek it on account of imperfection? God forbid. This is not the character of God as I know it.
I think there is much good in the church both as a structure of social support and as an organization that inspires people to be better. I think most of the people and leaders in the church are acting in good faith. And I believe that miracles occur in the church as a result of this faith. I like much of what I hear in General Conference. But I think there is grave danger in assuming we have all knowledge (which even our articles of faith claim we do not--many things "will yet be revealed") or a capital on righteousness, goodness, truth, Grace, or miracles. Mormons love to use these as supposed "evidence" of the absolute truth of the LDS path. How then do you account for these same things in other traditions and belief systems--and particularly in those which teach principles which directly contradict some LDS teachings?
Brigham Young taught that we do not "We are pursuing the path of truth, and by and by we expect to possess a great deal more than we do now; but to say that we shall ever possess all truth, I pause; I do not know when." BH Roberts (an apostle in the early restored LDS church) taught "While the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is established for the instruction of men, it is one of God's instrumentalities for making known the truth; yet God is not limited to that institution for such purposes, neither in time nor place. He raises us wise men and prophets here and there among all the children of men, of their own tongue and nationality, speaking to them through means that they can comprehend..." (in Defense of the Faith and the Saints, volume 1:3, chapter4). And from a First Presidency statement in Feb of 1978:
"The great religious leaders of the world such as Mohammed, Confucious, and the Reformers, as well as philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and others, received a portion of God's light. Moral truths were given to them by God to enlighten whole nations and to bring a higher level of understanding to individuals." and "Consistent with these truths, we believe that God has given and will give to all peoples sufficient knowledge to help them on their way to eternal salvation, either in this life or in the life to come." While Mormons understand this to mean in the "spirit world," I think it might mean in future incarnations, just as pre-earth life experience might also include former incarnations. And that the idea of multiple incarnations might just be one of those "truths" given to other nations that we do not, as LDS people, yet understand or embrace as truth. I think the danger is that we begin to believe we are more knowledgeable and "righteous" than we are, and begin to judge rather than loving others. This takes us from the path of life, hope, and salvation.
