I am so sincerely appreciative of everyone's responses & absolutely thrilled that nobody
thought that my questions were out of line.
I was a bit nervous about that. I mean, I read a couple threads in this forum where
people were being extremely disrespectful of the Mormon faith. I was so impressed with how many people of the Mormon faith responded to the hateful posts.
I was hoping that my original post came across as genuine.
I consider myself Christian although I do not belong to a certain sect. I am non-denominational. I was brought up by parents of different faiths. My Mom is Baptist & my Dad is Catholic. I went to both churches. Talk about confusing!
Personally--(And I am not demeaning the Catholic faith. I have many family members who are very devout Catholics) but I never really got much out of going to Catholic mass. Growing up, I enjoyed going to the Baptist church a lot more.
There, I could feel Gods presence.
When I became an adult & married, I went to my Grandmother who I admire & trust. She could quote scripture (Seriously.. she could quote much of the Bible) & had a very close relationship with Jesus Christ.
I asked her "What am I"?
"Am I Catholic or am I a Baptist"?
She told me to pray about it. The next week, we met for lunch & she asked me
if I had prayed about it. I told her I had & that I really felt that I was simply "Christian".
I do study the Bible, I have been baptized & I can honestly say from the depths of my soul that I "feel" God's love for me; especially when I am in prayer.
As much as I read & study about God, certain things can be very confusing. The Word of God can be very complex.
As I grow in my faith & continue to study, I pray that I will come to understand more.
It doesn't help that I am the type of person that confuses easily. lol!
But what I do understand is that God is so loving, so forgiving & so faithful.
I see some Christians act as if they are both judge & jury of the world. Some act as if they know who is & who isn't going to Heaven. Some don't associate with certain people because they don't believe them to be "Christian enough."
This is really sad. Jesus walked on earth & committed no sin. Jesus showed us by example how to live our lives. But I wonder if some Christians would snub their noses up at the people that were closest to Jesus when He walked the earth. Sadly, I think that some would.
I mean many of the disciples were not exactly the pillars of their communities at the beginning. But Jesus loved them regardless. The Apostle Paul (Saul) was the perfect example of a life changed by Jesus Christ. If Paul could change, I say that ANYONE can change. Anyway, basically what I am saying is that Jesus taught us to love one another, not judge. What if Jesus had just judged everyone when He was on earth? He didn't.
He changed lives. He loved the unlovable, the fortunate & the unfortunate.
He was humble, He didn't have an ego, He didn't have greed in His heart. He was then, is now & has always been the definition of pure, perfect & unconditional love.
I think of how much I love my husband, my Mother, my brother & sister. It's powerful.
Then, I think of the fact that God loves me more than I am capable of loving anyone else; more than anyone else could possibly love me. That is beyond powerful.
That thought alone keeps me strong during dark times.
Anyway, thank you for answering my questions & allowing me to share about myself.
God Bless
