Getting to know you

[Anonymous]

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[_The Nehor]

Oh, and I like Blue Bell Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream.

Does it go well with fried chicken?

No....I should probably change my avatar...I don't really like fried chicken. I just thought it was funny.

How's this one?

[_Seven]

Seven ~ Thanks for telling me more about yourself. I'm really drawn to egalitarian issues as well. by the way, have you commented on blogs under the handle "Seven" before? (Like here.)

Hi Bridget,
That was me. I thought your name sounded familiar! Gotta love the polygamist Jesus.
I actually found that blog from this topic:
Joseph saved me from getting hung up on Christ

A question I sometimes ask my believing LDS friends when the "Are Mormons Christians?" thing comes up is, if you were to find out that the LDS church is not true, would you still be a Christian?

If they say yes, then I think they are a Christian first, Mormon second. If they say no, well... they're probably just Mormon. It sounds like you are the former. It's nice to meet you.

If you had asked me that question when I was a TBM, my answer would have been “if the church isn’t true, then there is no God.” My testimony of Christ was so intertwined with Joseph Smith that if the church wasn’t what it claimed, everything fell apart .
I know it is very common with Mormons who lose their testimony of "the true church" to lose all faith in Christ/God.

Glad to see you here at MD!

[Anonymous]

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[_Dr. Shades]

I know it is very common with Mormons who lose their testimony of "the true church" to lose all faith in Christ/God.

Yep. I'm one of them.

[_Seven]

A question I sometimes ask my believing LDS friends when the "Are Mormons Christians?" thing comes up is, if you were to find out that the LDS church is not true, would you still be a Christian?

Most LDS refuse to confront troubling issues and label it “anti Mormon” because they know if they lose their testimony of Joseph Smith, their testimony of Christ would go with it.
I have had many TBMs tell me if the church isn’t true, then there is no God. It’s an all or nothing testimony that most Chapel Mormons have. It’s no surprise they have a black or white view when the Prophets teach this:

As has been said many times, either this work is true or it is false. If it is false we are all engaged in a terrible fraud. If it is true, it is the most important work on earth. There is no middle ground. –President Gordon B. Hinckley

Well, it's either true or false. If it's false, we're engaged in a great fraud. If it's true, it's the most important thing in the world. Now, that's the whole picture. It is either right or wrong, true or false, fraudulent or true. -Gordon B. Hinckley

The book of Revelation declares: "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15–16). …
Each of us has to face the matter—either the Church is true, or it is a fraud. There is no middle ground. It is the Church and kingdom of God, or it is nothing.
-President Gordon B. Hinckley April Conference 2003

President Joseph Fielding Smith said-
"Mormonism, as it is called, must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith. He was either a prophet of God, divinely called, properly appointed and commissioned, or he was one of the biggest frauds this world has ever seen. There is no middle ground. If Joseph Smith was a deceiver, who willfully attempted to mislead the people, then he should be exposed; his claims should be refuted, and his doctrines shown to be false, for the doctrines of an impostor cannot be made to harmonize in all particulars with divine truth." (Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 1, p. 188).

The other reason I think many former LDS do not find Christ is that the same critical thinking they applied to Mormonism can also be applied to the Bible.

[_Seven]

~ I've always found Mormonism fascinating since I first learned about it as a teenager. I wound up doing my undergrad at BYU and marrying an active, believing Mormon, so it's in the family now.

~ I'm an evangelical Christian with Arminian, charismatic, credobaptist and egalitarian beliefs.

Hi Bridget,
I would love to hear more about your marriage. That is more unusual in Mormon culture for a TBM male to marry a non member outside of the temple. Was he a return missionary? Did he believe you would soon convert?

I'm a California girl and didn't go to BYU. Married a BYU grad though.

[Anonymous]

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[_MsJack]

I'm an active Mormon who believes.

Ah, okay. I ask because my more liberal-minded blogging friends are always stressing that Mormonism has no orthodoxy, only orthopraxy---though I don't really agree with them on that.

No....I should probably change my avatar...I don't really like fried chicken. I just thought it was funny.

How's this one?

What is it?

No really, what is it? Don't say "Your mom" or something.

Gotta love the polygamist Jesus.

We have a Facebook group! Polygamy Jesus: Assassin Wives of Fury!

Yep. I'm one of them.

Yeah, but I like you okay.

I would love to hear more about your marriage. That is more unusual in Mormon culture for a TBM male to marry a non member outside of the temple. Was he a return missionary? Did he believe you would soon convert?

I'm a California girl and didn't go to BYU. Married a BYU grad though.

I did a series on my blog about my interfaith marriage here. To answer your questions, he was an RM attending BYU and I asked him early on while we were dating if he could ever consider getting married outside the temple. I told him that I did not see any chance that I would ever convert and that his happiness could not depend on hope of my future conversion. He thought about it, and decided I was worth it.

He has told me that he believes I'll convert someday. I suppose, being LDS, he can always just wait for me to convert in the next life if he has to. I've already given the family permission to do temple work for me and have me sealed to him if I die. I don't believe it's real, and they would probably do it anyways, so I don't see much point in discouraging it.

[_Gazelam]

Bridget,
I did a bio on this board like 3 years ago, but that was three years ago and trying to find it to post a link would be like trying to find the book you "know is somewhere in the attic in one of those boxes."

I was born in the church to parents who are both converts. My father converted very young, and my mother is a former baptist who converted when she was a teenager and her neighbor had the missionaries over. My mothers family remains baptist, and they used to mail her anti-mormon books like any faithful baptist should in order to save her sister

I grew up in the church, but it was always just part of my surroundings. I never really internalized it until I was on my mission. I knew I should serve a mission because of what I saw in the young men who were coming home from theirs. I liked the spirit they had about them, although I had no idea at the time what that was. My farewell talk lasted all of 2 min. I think it consisted of "Yeh, it should be cool, and I'm excited and stuff." I think I was able to redeem myself with my homecoming talk, which apparently was good enough it was brought up at the following Stake Conference. I chose not to share the standard "cool mission stories" and instead gave a talk on obtaining the Spirit of Prophecy.

On my mission I received a very powerful witness of the Spirit that the church is true. I had a very rough first three months. I thought I was going to have to go home. I went from working construction every day while rocking out to a boom box on the construction site, to being a student who wears a suit and discusses religion. It was a culture shock. I was asked by the three Elders I lived with what I was even doing there. Before I was in Scotland I remember how powerful the MTC felt to me. The Spirit there was incredible. Very powerful and it really caused me to reflect on myself. I can't say I really understood the internal change that was taking place, but I knew it was good.

Anyway, back to those first three months. In the mission field you write a weekly letter to the mission president. I have them somewhere. Those early ones are very embarrasing. I was telling him that this whole mission thing is on a trial basis, and that I missed my old clothes and how I wasn't sure I should even be there. He tolerated this for a short time, hoping I would catch the Spirit and change. After the third month I actually got a phone call from him. Now, my mission president was Bruce R McConkies son, and he was every bit the man his father was, he just had the title of Mission President in front of his name instead of Apostle. He gave me a talking to which included the statement that the mission field was not a babysitting service, and that if I wanted to go home to just bring my bags to the next Zone conference and I'd be on the next plane out. He had sent me good advice in letters previous to this, and he felt the time was up in regards to trying to help me change my attitude.

Well that was my big chance. Now, being a Las Vegas Mormon, there wasn't going to be quite the stigma if I went home. My parents were from Georgia, and all of my relatives would be a long ways off if I came home, so no biggie there. They were baptists anyway. Sure my parents would be dissappointed, but my window was open if I didn't really want to be there. Well, what I did was I prayed about it. I asked God to change my attitude, as funny as that sounds. I told him that I knew I needed to be there, but that I needed a change in my heart. If someone were to ask me if God would do that for them I would say no, that something like that takes alot of personal effort and it would take months if not years to really make a change like that. The fact of the matter is, I woke up the next day and was actually excited about the work! For some reason I had caught the Spirit, and I wanted to be there. My first companion, who I think layed awake alot of nights thinking about how easy it would be to cross the room and choke me to death, was amused at the change of heart I had. I think he was loking forward to my packing my bags and leaving him alone. He had me for one more month after that.

About a year later came my huge witness of the Spirit, the one I reflect on for strength from time to time. But I've already spent enough time on this thread, and many have heard that story from me before.

I got married to my sweetheart four months after I got home. We were married in the Las Vegas Temple in April of '93 and have three great kids together. I really think she has gotten more attractive with each year we've been married. Our relationship also gets better every year.

My testimony in the church is unshakable. To quote Elder McConkie "Doubt and uncertainty to me are as foreign as the gibberish of alien tongues" I know without question that the church is true, and I view all the world around me from that solid ground. I know what Christ meant when he told Peter that "...upon this rock will I build my Church." He was speaking concerning revelation, and I have received that same revelation.

I've been on this board for about three years, and I was a ZLMB for a few months before coming here.