Thursday, August 13, 2009
Five Things I Believe
I rarely ever mention religion here on my blog. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. A very active member who loves the Church and its teachings. But I don't talk about it much here because, while I am defined in large part by my faith, it is also a very personal thing and I don't want to see it mocked or ridiculed.
(Although, let's face it. There are definitely parts of the Mormon culture that deserve mocking.)
(Like green Jell-O.)
(And singles' wards.)
Anyway, inspired by Michelle's post, I have decided to be a little bit more serious today and write about some of the beliefs that are dearest to me. If you are not in the mood for a religious discussion, I completely understand and thank you for stopping by. I'll see you tomorrow when the topic is considerably lighter! If you ARE in the mood for a discussion, then I'll happily invite it! All I ask is that you respect the beliefs of others. Any comments that are blatantly abusive or intentionally offensive will be deleted.
Ahem.
1. I believe in God the Father, in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost (or the Holy Spirit, or simply, the Spirit). I believe these are three separate people, united in purpose. Just as we are told in Genesis 2:24 that a man and wife shall be "one flesh," so are the Father, Son and Holy Ghost one in spirit and in purpose.
2. I believe in the Bible. I love that there are accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. I wish there was more, but I'm grateful for what little we have been given. I also believe in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon does not replace nor supplant the Bible. Used together, they provide clarity on principles that would otherwise have been utterly lost in translation.
3. I believe that we need prophets today more than ever. With so much of the world telling us to listen to this or that, it helps to know that there is someone helping guide us and receiving direction on our behalf. While God never changes, the world certainly does. And I find comfort in knowing that He hasn't cut off communication from above.
4. I believe that baptism by immersion is a necessary ordinance in accepting Christ as our Savior. I believe anyone who wants to enter the Kingdom of Heaven must be baptized, and that our Father's plan has not forgotten those that are not given the opportunity to learn about the gospel while in this life.
5. I believe we chose to come here and that we have the opportunity to make choices throughout our lives. While some things just happen to us, we choose how we will react and what we will do. Everything is a choice. This also has a lot to do with why God allows bad things to happen in the world.
I could go on and on, but this post has already gotten pretty long. Truth be told, I could start up a new blog and write a new post every day about my beliefs, and I'd never run out of topics. But, that's pretty much already been done for me anyway, and you can read all about it by going to Mormon.org.
These are just the basics. One or two of them made it to today's list because they directly relate to recent conversations I've had with people about these very subjects. Perhaps soon I'll post a few more.
Anyway, like I said above, I'd love to chat about where we are similar and where we are different. And I'll happily answer questions, too. Just please keep it respectful. And I'm allowing Anonymous commenting as long as the privilege isn't abused.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Good post! I especially liked your comments about a living prophet. It is sometimes difficult to relate the scriptures, be it The Bible or The Book of Mormon, to modern day. Thankfully, we have a prophet that receives direct revelation from God and clarifies questions we have.
ReplyDeleteI also liked this post because it simplified what Mormon's believe. While there are MANY other topics you didn't go into, you covered the basic principles. With all the publicity Mormons have received lately (Mitt Romney, Prop 8) it's nice to focus on the core values because often times rumors and lies are passed as truth.
Great post, Karen and thanks for sharing your beliefs. I wasn't raised very religious (we were free to pick what we wanted to study though) but I totally appreciate you letting us in to an important part of YOU.
ReplyDeleteP.S.
ReplyDeleteI do attend church by the way.
I am going to be participating in this blog tour thing, next month, and I am going to tackle Mormon stereotypes.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job here!
I've written three separate long, rambling responses to your post, all of which I ended up deleting because they seemed less a comment about your post and more of me exploring my own thoughts on the Almighty, "The Plan," and my place in this world. I have my own blog where I can rambled about that stuff!
ReplyDeleteSo, I'll just say: I really liked #5. I believe choice and accountability are key principles in this life. Our choices, and the lessons we have to learn from them, are what this life is all about.
I'm not Mormon, but my daughter's good friend is. I have found over the years your beliefs are very similar to mine. You explained them perfectly.
ReplyDeleteKaren, you crazy Mormon! (Oh, wait, it takes one to know one!) Way to put yourself out there!
ReplyDeletePS....I love green jello.
Thanks for sharing. I don't know what the green jell-o and Mormons thing is all about. I'm off to google that.
ReplyDeleteKaren, thanks for sharing your beliefs. It's strange how sharing the things that are most important and fundamental in our lives is often the hardest. While I'm not Mormon, many of my best friends are (after all, I am from Utah.) I really appreciate the Mormon culture and how safe and family friendly it made living in Utah. I won't deny that there are things about Mormon culture (not so much belief system) that do drive me crazy...like green jell-o.
ReplyDeleteOK, singles wards I get. I've been to my share of the dances! But green jello? You lost me.
ReplyDeleteMy BFF is LDS. She is 35, unmarried, no children. She is starting to be genuinely worried that she will never get married or have children, and thus never get to a higher plain of Heaven. I am ignorant about this, since Heaven is all Heaven to me. What are your thoughts?
This was a really good post. You asked, so I'll tell you. I agree with you on #1, and am not sure about #2. I believe what you say about #3, but definitely not #4. And before I read this post, I didn't know that I agreed with you on #5, but I SO do. I don't go to church now (I am a recovering Catholic) but I want to return one day...just not sure which church. I think I would feel very at home in a Unitarian Universalist church, but the nearest one is 45 minutes away. Sigh. Thanks for opening up so much in this post. As soon as I figure out my own thoughts and beliefs, I'd love to do a similar one. :)
ReplyDeleteLOVE this post! Good for you for stating what you believe for the world to see. NOT an easy thing to do.
ReplyDeleteHee hee on the green jell-o comment ;) Blech.
Thanks for this post. I agree that some of us dont want to post about being Mormon (or belonging to other religions) because it is a very personal thing. I would much rather speak to someone I know about it and hear their feedback, then post about it and not be quite sure what feedback I would receive from strangers. Thanks so much for being brave enough to post this!
ReplyDelete