imported_Ariel

Well, I didn't grow up a Latter-day Saint, so I had my first boyfriend at thirteen. The thing is, it was rather pointless. Waiting until you are sixteen is the right idea. I'll be eighteen in July. There's really only one guy I want to date, and we have agreed not to date. He doesn't think he's ready for a serious relationship, and I suppose he's right. I'm not really mature enough for one.

Well, I just want to update y'all, since it's been a while. I took a while to ease my family into everything nice and slow... But after a while of going to church and finding everything out through the Archibalds (the family "Edward," is from), I started feeling left out and like I was putting God on hold. My testimony grew stronger each day, and it was becoming harder to hide from it. Spring Break was last week, and I had the missionaries talk with me and my family to get them used to the teachings of the LDS church. My mother and Stepdad, after a couple of lessons, grew more receptive, and by the end of all of the lessons, they were actually open and happy for me joining the church. I've eased all of my friends into the idea, too, and so they're not freaking out about it anymore. My sister and her boyfriend even agreed to listen to the missionaries. I was baptized on Saturday, and confirmed a member on Sunday(Easter)! I am SO glad to finally be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

LOL. Yeah, I did get lost in 2nd Nephi because of the Isaiah stuff. I had to go back and read it and still didn't get it. Perhaps I'll take a look at this.

Sooo, I talked to "Edward" about the missionary thing. He's going to help set it up for me, and he even said he'd come with the missionary so I wouldn't feel as... intimidated, hehe. I'm SO excited! It's crazy, I've never experienced this kind of... perpetual joy before. My family and friends are noticing how much happier I've been lately. That should make them more open to it. :)

Here in Alabama, most people are either Methodist or Baptist. I've also never met a member of a United Methodist church who didn't believe in the resurrection. For them, if they don't have the resurrection to believe in, what else is left for them? Evangelists have to believe in the resurrection or they have absolutely no steam for their beliefs. It would be very depressing to think that He wasn't resurrected, wouldn't you agree? What would be the point of them even going to a Christian church if the Christian belief wasn't even there? Without the resurrection, how would someone believe he was the Christ? And without believing He was the Christ, how would they believe they had salvation? And without believing that they could be saved....... Now what a terrible thought THAT is. I mean, we ARE talking about a church who believes that without knowing Christ is your Lord and Savior, you'll suffer hellfire for all eternity.

I wasn't saying that I believe it's right to judge how Christian someone is. I don't know whether or not a person lives the Gospel or not, so how can I tell an individual they're not a Christian? All I was saying is that there is more to it than claiming it. Just because someone says they are, doesn't mean they are. I don't personally know who is and who isn't, but I do know that it's very common for families to make their teenagers go to church and call themselves Christians, when in reality, the teenager might not care about it at all. And it's also quite easy for a person to put "Christian" on their Myspace or Facebook, and then in their interests you see more about sex, drugs and alcohol than you see about Jesus Christ or the Gospel. I believe that a true Christian will follow Christ's teachings no matter what. If a person loves Christ, why wouldn't they want to do what's right? But it's not like I pick out people and think about who is Christian and who isn't. I just know what I believe a Christian is.

Probably a lot of them in all of them. Claiming a religion doesn't make anyone a Christian person or a righteous person. So anyway, I guess what I'm getting at is: I'm not a member of the LDS church(working on that though haha. I'm going to become a member soon), but I believe that LDS members are just as Christian as anyone in my church... as long as they live the gospel. I also believe that anyone in my church is just as much a Christian as anyone in the LDS church.... as long as they live by the gospel. The problem is, members of my church don't know the full gospel, and so less of them actually know the extent of the love of their Father. And so a less percentage of them truly live the gospel.

Yeah, that's why I was trying to clarify that there is more to Christianity than simply professing that you believe it. There is indeed a whole lot more to it.I'm sure there are people who aren't true Christians in every denomination of Christianity.

Oh yeah, definitely that too.

Which is why "claiming" Christianity doesn't really make a person a Christian. A true Christian, because of what they believe in, knows the love of their Father and of Jesus Christ, and therefore would love him back, and strive to be more like him.

That is exactly what I'm saying.Anyone can claim and pretend to be anything. But unless they believe it in their heart, and live it through their actions, it is just an act.

Lol, obviously he does, or he wouldn't try to lead people away from believing in Christ. But he doesn't follow Christ, and something you have to do in addition to believing those things to be called a Christian.

A Christian isn't only who believes in Christ and follows his teachings. Anyone can believe that Jesus existed and that he was the perfect example to live by... but just because you believe those things doesn't mean that you are a Christian.A Christian is someone who believes that Christ was resurrected from the dead, that he was the Son of God, that he was the sacrifice that through him(Christ), you might be blameless in God's eyes. If you don't believe in the resurrection, then you're not a "Christ"ian. Because Christ means the same thing as the Messiah, and Messiah means "Savior." If you believe those things, then you're a Christian, whether you're a LDS or any other type of Christian.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cfRmAUUnuK0&feature=related SO beautiful!!

Don't worry, I do know now that you're Christians :). I didn't know that before because I didn't know anything about it, but once I started asking questions and reading about it, I learned that y'all are just as much Christians as any other church--perhaps even more genuine and devout than other churches too. "Edward"'s whole thing with the dating non-Mormons thing is that dating is all about finding the person you want to marry, and he wants to marry for time and all eternity and not until death do us part. That's why he doesn't want to be with anyone who isn't a LDS like him. Hopefully that is what will happen for me too. I'm sure there is even a chance that my family could see the truth and join with me years from now. That would be amazing. :) I'll just pray for that day to come.

That sounds almost identical to my problem.If only they knew what it was all about... It bothers me that they don't even know 1% of how great God's love really is. And now I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is where I'm meant to be. I guess eventually they're going to have to deal with it. It doesn't matter when they do, the reaction is all going to be the same. I'm wasting time that I could be spending in the right place, being scared of people who only think they know the gospel... Sigh... I think I'm just going to let the missionaries talk to my parents.

Thanks so much for your advice. I'm certainly going to be taking it to heart for a while. What I might try for a while is getting them used to the idea of it by just attending LDS Church on Sundays. I certainly know that this is going to take a lot of praying so the Lord might soften their hearts. "Edward" wants to get a missionary to talk to them, but I don't know... I'm kind of scared. What would a missionary say to them?

I'm a bit young and foolish. I can't really empathize about this, so the first thing that comes to mind is how tragically romantic it sounds. Two years of waiting seems worth it for "Time and All Eternity" with the love of your life. I'm 17, though and can't say I know how I would cope with something like that. :\

Watch plays! Chocolate or Vanilla?

Hi, I'm 17 and I'm a senior in High School. I live in the Bible Belt, and was born and raised as a Southern Baptist. My entire family from generations back are all hardcore Baptists. I go to a very large school, with a wide variety of people. In math class, I met one of the best people I've ever known (we'll call him "Edward"). There was just something about him that I couldn't place that made him seem happier, more genuine, and more joyful than anyone else I know. One day he was at school reading the Book of Mormon. It was surprising to me because it was the first time I'd even SEEN one, and I was a little disappointed that he wasn't a Christian like me; however, this didn't stop me from wanting to get to know him better. Throughout the course of this semester, we've grown really close. We went to homecoming together, we went trick-or-treating together, we talk on the phone all the time. We're really good friends, only we have a bond that runs a little deeper than friendship. One day he came to school and he asked, "What's the purpose of life?" I was a little shocked by his question, because I thought the answer was obvious. What I didn't know was that he meant to make us think. A boy (we'll call him "Joe") in the back of the room who, bless him, was quite a nerd, but a very devout Christian answered "to serve God, and worship Him for all eternity." "Edward" responded, "Really? That's the purpose of life?" We nodded, and he made displeasured face. At the time, I was thinking, What else would be the purpose of life? He then went on to tell us that he wouldn't want to believe in a god like that. I was shocked by him saying that because I have always been taught that was my sole purpose. Upon seeing our shocked faces, he looked unapologetic and went on to say, "Let me get this straight. You believe God made us for his own entertainment, and all we're going to be doing in heaven is singing praises to Him for all eternity?" Again, we nodded. He shook his head. "I could never be a part of your religion," he told us. At this point, I was dumbfounded. Never had anyone talked to us like that about our religion except atheists. If he had been talking to any other group of people around this area, he might have been cursed out. But as it was, we all liked him very much. A girl in front of me looked at "Edward" and asked him what he believed the purpose of life was. He responded by saying, "I believe the purpose of life is a test, to be more like our Heavenly Father, so that one day, through the atonement of Jesus Christ, we will be able to join Him in Heaven." And by this point, our eyebrows were quizzical. Wasn't that what we believed too? The answer came in the next thing he said. "We believe that our Heavenly Father made us because he wanted something to love. He sent us here to grow more like him so that one day we could join him in heaven." He wasn't giving away a lot of information about his beliefs all at once. He was trying to get us thinking, and I was the only one who didn't reject what he was saying, but tried to figure it out. It was a hard concept for me to grasp, but I was trying to work out what the difference between what he was saying, and my own beliefs was. The main difference I grasped was that Christians believe that God created man so He would have something to love/worship him. LDS believe that God created man so that He would have something to love. Christians around this area reject anything that makes them uncomfortable. Anything that isn't what they've grown up being taught their entire lives is ludacris to them. Well, I've always believed that when something makes you feel uncomfortable, that is when it is the most important time to listen. You never know when it's really you being called to something else. I went home that very afternoon and cried for hours. I couldn't believe that my God would create me as His puppet and entertainment! Wasn't His love supposed to be the greatest and strongest of all? I couldn't see how an all-loving being could create humans as weak creatures, suffering temptation and pain and still expect nothing more from them but for them to worship Him for all eternity or suffer hellfire for all eternity. It had been something that had never disturbed me until "Edward" pointed it out. I cried, prayed, read the Bible for hours and only when it was supper-time did I stop. After eating, I went back to praying and reading, just asking God for the answers, but not getting the ones I needed. Finally, I felt something I'd never felt before. It was as if He promised me that I would find the answers, and that I would not be disappointed. After that, I felt completely relieved. I trusted Him. Eventually "Edward" confessed to me that he really liked me and that he hoped that we could be more than friends sometime. So we started talking all the time. We never became "official" but close enough to where he was the best boyfriend I've ever had even though we WEREN'T official. Throughout this period of time, I asked him so many questions relating to his religion, disguising it as pure curiosity. The truth was, I knew the Lord was pointing towards him as a source of spiritual truth. I went to church with him one day and he gave me a Book of Mormon, and in my head I thought, "This is all I need, and maybe I'll find the truth." Well, in the meantime, while I was searching for spiritual truth, "Edward" and I grew closer and closer, but I never told him about my spiritual quest. I never told him how interested in his religion I was, scared that he'd take it as a promise. I didn't want to promise anything because I wasn't sure. One day at school he seemed very depressed, acting different than he normally did. When he started walking with me as he normally did, he said in a sad voice that he couldn't do this anymore. That he figured it was best to end it before either of us grew anymore attached. He told me he was only supposed to date members of his church, and for a while he was ignoring that rule because he liked me so much, but after thinking about it long enough, his conscience caught up with him. He told me that letting one rule slide would lead to letting more rules slide, and he couldn't do that. Well, a couple of days later, I wrote him a letter confessing all that I had been doing. I told him about the day I cried, God's promise, that I had started reading the BOM, and that I really did want to know all I could about it. Well, he was completely overjoyed about this. I read the BOM, and as Moroni promised, I prayed to find out whether or not it was true. But then I realized that I had known all along, from the moment "Edward" had led me in that direction. So now I continue to learn and grow more and more. After finishing the BOM, I read the NT again, and there was nothing in it that made me change my mind, but rather, it strengthened my faith in everything else I had learned recently. Now I'm suffering a huge dilemma. I know what religion I belong to. I know where God wants me. I know what I'm meant to be, and yet, I know that my family and friends are going to be extremely upset. They won't understand at all. They'll think that I'm basing the decision off of my feelings for "Edward," rather than genuine faith. They call Mormonism a "cult," and they criticize it. They'd NEVER believe that I sincerely believe in it. By summer, I'll have graduated and turned 18 years old. Should I wait until then to be baptised, so that my parents can't protest?