avatar4321

Prepared for the fulness Wasnt sure if this is the right section to post this in, but i really felt impressed to share this. The article is about the conversion of a number of the early leaders of the Church.

people here have given some good advice. I can only offer the following: Baptism is just the entrance to the straight and narrow path. It's not the end of the journey, it's the beginning. So I suggest making goals of where you are heading and where you want to lead your family. These goals should be set after much pondering and prayer. I do have a few suggestions though. 1)Get the gift of the Holy Ghost. When you are confirmed a member of the Church, you will have hands laid on your head and will be commanded to recieve the Holy Ghost. And while the Holy Ghost may come immediate, the Lord may also wait for you to ask in humble prayer for His companionship. We learn in the Book of Mormon that the Nephites were specifically praying for the Holy Ghost to come. This talk is a good resource: Personal revelations In it mentions President Lorenzo Snow's conversion and how He was baptized and several weeks later prayed for the Holy Ghost to receive His companionship. Man must live off the word of God, and we cant know it unless we have the Spirit with us. 2)Make a goal to go to the temple, First to do baptisms as soon as you can and later to go through to make your covenants and to be sealed with your family. It may not happen immediately, but reaching this goal will be worth more than anything in this life. 3)When you are ready, get your Patriarchal blessing. I don't know how much, if anything, you know about it, but its a very useful resource in our walk with God. Other than that, you know you and your families needs. Listen to the Spirit. grow together. and have faith. If I've learned anything in this Church is that things always work out wih faith, even if its not how we expected it to.

I was reading a thread elsewhere where someone mentioned that they wanted to be able to give reasons to their friends and family about why they believe. (I am currently in the process of inquiring more his back story). Anyway the thought occured to me that when someone asks why I would believe something that I would be inclined to share my testimony. Why I believe it's true. And I realized that while I think this way, its not necessarily what i end up doing. So naturally I've come to figure out why. Why am I not just sharing my testimony more. After all its through our testimonies that the Spirit can work. When Alma wanted to teach the people and bring them back to the fold he shared pure testimony with them. Most of what we are doing when we share our faith is bearing witness of what we know. And that's the most powerful agent for conversion because it is through those testimonies the Spirit reaches out to people. I think it's because of fear. Maybe we are afraid to open ourselves up like that. Fear we might be rejected. But is it really something we should be worried about? if we study the scriptures the Lord has promised that we will know what to say. It is after all through the weak and simple things of the world that great things are brought to pass. And the Lord has given us the promise that if we prepare we shall not fear. What do you think keeps us from sharing the Gospel? Are we really looking for opportunities.

Father. Not sure i could handle that one yet.

we are all praying for you:)

Then marry him and go back to Church. He says he respects your beliefs so he should support you in that. Atleast thats what id think. Youve prayed about it and you dont feel like you shouldnt, unless ive misunderstood you. The key is: Dont make a decision based on fear. Make it on faith. BTW thank you for using a better font than the original post was in. it was hard to read.

doesnt sound like it was the guy taking it seriously, just everyone else.

wow, sounds like the new Bishop isnt treating you good. Im glad you are going to talk to the Stake President. This may be a serious problem. However, dont disparage your calling to teach the Elders Quorum. I know you are upset, but if you can have faith and patience and get the Spirit you will have the power to influence alot of people. Teach with power and by the Holy Ghost in humility and you will be far more effective and useful in the ward than you would changing wards. The word of God has more power to change the hearts of men than any other thing.

There is a reason we call baptism the gate upon which we enter in. Because if someone makes that covenant and keeps it dilligently they will obtain a cestial glory. The description of the Celestial Glory in Section 76 is clear on this: There are other ordinances after baptism but they are to prepare men and women for a higher degree of celestial glory. Joseph was clear that the highest degree of the celestial glory would be for those who entered into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. But there are Saints who will not enter into these covenants. They too shall obtain a celestial glory, so long as they have been baptize. But that is the end of their increase.

It is all that is needed. Baptism is the gate through which to enter.

getting the girl to agree to the date.

When all you have to do is be baptized and recieve the Holy Ghost to reach the Celestial Kingdom, why aim for anything lower?

wow... i dont even know where to start... obviously my advice won't really be worth much. My suggestion is this is going to take alot more wisdom than anyone at this board has. And as we all know that the source to go to when we lack wisdom is our Heavenly Father. Have you fasted and prayed about what to do? I know if i were in your position i would be inclined to cut all the ties and get my child into my custody. I just don't think i could leave any of my children with someone who can't parent them. But that's just my first impression. The Lord would likely have another plan for it all. Just pull closer to the Spirit and do what you can to move on with your life. Have faith. The Lord will bless you. Sometimes we just have to wade their the crap with patience before we get to the good stuff.

Brother, why worry about it now? You aren't being asked to do this yet. There is no need to run before you walk. First, grow your faith in Christ. In order to do this you need to know Christ. This comes through studying His word and getting to know Him through prayer. When you find faith in Christ, any changes in your life will come natural. But don't live by fear. trust me, ive been down that road and its not fun. Acting with faith is always better.

When the Lord commands it, DO IT! I was reading the new manual yesterday and this chapters seems very appropriate for you right now. As well as an answer to your questions: If you want to get married and join the Church, exercise some faith. Talk to the Lord about what is keeping you from it. Talk to the Bishop. Together with your girlfriend come up with a plan so that you can move towards the blessings you want. Do you want to be relying on the government all your life to sustain yourself? Do you want to remain unmarried and reliant, or would you rather be self reliant and married to the woman that you love? It may take some effort. That's not a bad thing. it may take some sacrifice. But I think the questions you need to ask is whether you want the blessings you can have and what you need to do to recieve them.

Not to be confrontational at all, but was it really necessary to copy and paste the entire "Only an Elder" talk on here? I mean we already have an entire thread devoted to the talk...

That is rather peculiar considering Christ has 7 wounds.

If you decided to leave the Church Sunday, why did you start studying anti-mormon materials Monday? And his advice is completely on point. Ive studied Anti mormon literature in depth. In fact, it was the poorly constructed arguments that made me seriously consider the Church was absolutely correct in its teachings. From the beginning, I realized that if a position is accurate, it doesnt need to rely on lies to support it. The truth itself would be enough. Yet time and time again I see critics of the Church attack and attack straw men, rip passages out of context leaving key information out of an entire quote. While I've seen people change their point of view quickly, this is unusually fast. What are these fears you've faced?

I've gone indepth elsewhere, so I think a shorter answer will suffice. God revealed to me that it was true. And as an honest person I cannot disbelieve it.

(This thread might be more appropriate for the introduction area) Regardless of that, welcome! We are happy to have you joining in fellowship with us. Just remember Baptism isnt the end. its the beginning. There is so much to learn. It's incredible. Don't ever feel afraid to ask questions. We will probably still be learning years from now. There are also lots of good songs to choose from. "I believe in Christ" "I know that my Redeemer lives" "Come, Come Ye saints" "High on a mountain top" "Joseph's First prayer" and countless others. My suggestion would be to flip through the hymnbook when you get a chance and choose something you feel inspired to.

If you want a copy of the Book of Mormon you can get one for free from the Church at http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/basic-...ook-of-mormon#d

I don't know that I have much to say. But I can only tell you what I thought and did. Before I had a testimony and knew that God was there, i didnt know for certain. I didnt even know how I would know. Reading about the spirit being described is nothing like feeling it. So i had to think things out. I realized that if there was a God who created the whole world, it would be logical that he would have the power to speak to his creations. How when or what, i didnt know. And if there was a God, i knew that I wanted to know him. So I exercised some faith. i began just praying and searching and asking God to reveal the truth to me. And i said in my heart that wherever He lead me, even if it was away from where my family wanted me, I would believe and follow. Ultimately the answer came and was overwhelming that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that the Book of Mormon was true and that Jesus is the Christ. It was undeniable. and along with it came the challenge to live the truth like i promised I would. Im far from perfect, but that one moment changed my life. So my only advice is to make sure you arent just wanting to know for knowings sake. If you want the Lord to reveal the truth and Himself to you, make sure you are willing to give everything you have to Him. Those who are willing to give are more likely to received what they want.

I knew a guy, real social, but I dont think he really had a testimony. Said he wouldn't go on a mission. I remember because several of us were praying for him to be inspired to go. and then two days after he said he definitely wasnt he received a strong answer that he should. it took him nearly 8 months to get the papers in and get his call. But once he knew the Lord wanted him to go, he went. It was amazing to watch. Now from what i hear, he is on fire. Don't be discouraged regardless what happens. Just remember the revelation. It will sustain you and you will see miracles happen.

I just wanted to bump this thread up because I think its got potential to be powerful.

What I really love about it all is we may have some more investigators now:) I know we have atleast one more. but he had so many friends/family there we might have some other investigators. Some of them might not be for our branch but its still totally cool.