Can someone please help me?

[la_china8008]

Hi I came to this site cuz I really didn't know where else to go. Anyway I have been an inactive member for most of my life until six months ago. I've had spiritual experiences that led me back to the church. However, I stumbled across the exmormon website yesterday and now all the doubts I feel I've ever had about the church came back to me. Like the DNA evidence, who Joseph Smith really was, etc. I guess I'm doubting the Book of Mormon to be the true word of God. I have prayed about it but I still feel uncertain. Anyway what are the reasons you believe the book of mormon to be true. I really need help!

[Palerider]

I will be honest with you.....I am not buying into your story......but...since you have read anti material...here try this....Answers About Mormons and Mormon Belief (LDS FAQ - Latter-day Saints)

[a-train]

Look, read, read, read. If you won't take the time to do it, you'll never have your own testimony. You may have a feeling that the task is tedious and painful, that reading the scriptures and looking at footnotes is boring, that taking notes is even worse. You may say that your lifestyle simply doesn't allow the time for these things.

The reality is that studying these things will get you so excited that you will have difficulty ceasing to study the scriptures. Open them up and enjoy. Great trials and struggles have been invested in bringing them to you.

Anti-mormonism is a great thing. It is a fantastic thing. It makes you work for your knowledge. Think about the questions it raised in your mind. Do not take the easy way out and simply post them on a forum or put them to a friend. You will not get any more results than whatever efforts you put into searching for these answers yourself.

When someone says: "Joseph Smith said blah blah blah." Ask them "Where can I read the full text?" If they don't know, then see if you can find it anyway. If they do, go read it and study it. In every case you will find the gospel is true and Joseph Smith was a prophet and the antis employ ommissions and context changes to pretend otherwise.

God be with you and bless you. Read, pray, and write in a journal about what you study and learn.

-a-train

[la_china8008]

I will be honest with you.....I am not buying into your story......but...since you have read anti material...here try this....Answers About Mormons and Mormon Belief (LDS FAQ - Latter-day Saints)

I don't think that is fair. I am going through a very difficult situation and I came somewhere where I thought people would understand my situation and help me out. I really do not have anyone in my life to talk to this about because I am the only active member in my family. It took me a while to actually post something because I feel so guilty. This is my religion Im dealing with and it means EVERYTHING to me. And I have been to the jefflindsay site many times. Maybe i was wrong to come here..

Edited December 29, 2008 by la_china8008

[Palerider]

I gave you a suggestion.....read the website

[Traveler]

Hi I came to this site cuz I really didn't know where else to go. Anyway I have been an inactive member for most of my life until six months ago. I've had spiritual experiences that led me back to the church. However, I stumbled across the exmormon website yesterday and now all the doubts I feel I've ever had about the church came back to me. Like the DNA evidence, who Joseph Smith really was, etc. I guess I'm doubting the Book of Mormon to be the true word of God. I have prayed about it but I still feel uncertain. Anyway what are the reasons you believe the book of mormon to be true. I really need help!

I believe in the Book of Mormon because when I read the Book of Mormon I am at peace with myself and my fellow man. I am pleased with what is going on in the universe.

I do not believe the anti approach because when I read their opinions I am not at peace with myself or my fellow man nor am I pleased with what is going on in the universe.

Let me give you a great clue to seeking truth. If you want to learn about mathematics, seek out and learn from someone that is expert, experienced and a master of mathematics. Do not seek to learn mathematics from someone that cannot understand or perform functions of math and has failed as a mathematician. My point is simple – learn from those that love truth and have truth to share and beware of those that have so little truth that instead of teaching a truth they try to teach what is wrong with everything and everybody else and teach little or nothing of themselves.

The Traveler

[la_china8008]

I believe in the Book of Mormon because when I read the Book of Mormon I am at peace with myself and my fellow man. I am pleased with what is going on in the universe.

I do not believe the anti approach because when I read their opinions I am not at peace with myself or my fellow man nor am I pleased with what is going on in the universe.

Let me give you a great clue to seeking truth. If you want to learn about mathematics, seek out and learn from someone that is expert, experienced and a master of mathematics. Do not seek to learn mathematics from someone that cannot understand or perform functions of math and has failed as a mathematician. My point is simple – learn from those that love truth and have truth to share and beware of those that have so little truth that instead of teaching a truth they try to teach what is wrong with everything and everybody else and teach little or nothing of themselves.

The Traveler

Thank You! So much! That really does make sense. You're right! I always feel peace when reading the Book of Mormon!

[pam]

If it's peace you feel when reading the Book of Mormon then continue with that. Much better feeling peace than to feel confusion over reading other things. I vote for peace any time.

[Maya]

Sometimes ... you just need to put things on hold in your life. The answers will appear, doing anything drastic wont help. I have experienced the fall of antiaccusitions too many times to tke that bite, but I can understand they many confuse someone. Study/pray, study/pray, study/pray.... churchmaterial.

Sometimes you also just have to make a decition that are the church people today as well as yesterday bad or good people. If you think they are good... do you really think so many good people would go so wrong as anties claim. Also if someone thinks anties are rtight it measn they are right in all accusitions, not just in the one that might get you. So is ALL their stuff reliable? Or are they liars, ignorent or easy to influence. Reability of their stuff is it better and more accurate than ours?

[Justice]

Peace is the key.

Peace is the one thing Satan cannot duplicate. It was instituted before the foundation of the world to be so, and the dove is the sign or symbol of it.

It does sound cliche to say "read it" if you don't know if it's true. But, the facts are undisputable. The words within the text tell us that if we desire to know whether or not it's true to read it, then pray to God with sincerity of heart to know if it is true. We are given a remarkable promise if we do:

He will manifest the truth of it unto [us] by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Manifest is quite different than "proof." He never said He will calm our doubts and fears over the matter. We have to remember what the power of the Holy Ghost is or we will miss the manifestation.

The primary way the Holy Ghost works is to help us decide what is true. He does not act for us, or even decide for us. But, He is a guide and comforter. He will not help us decide multiple choice questions. He helps us decide between good and evil. We must break our questions and concerns down to these basic 2 things.

Either the Book of Mormon is "good" or it is "evil." There is no other way to approach it.

Either it is of God or of Satan. When you read it and believe it is of God, and want to know for sure...

...you are ready to ask. But, if you already feel peace when you read it, there can only be one answer. For, that is how the Spirit works. When the Spirit speaks to us it is to help us "believe in" what is true. When we have a confirmation from God that something is true we feal at ease, or peace, over the matter. The world or Satan desires us to feel no such thing.

When we feel that peace, it's not over. We must then act on what we "believe to be true" in order to exercise faith. Only then can we "know" for sure... by doing. It is designed to be that way, because Heavenly Father will not drag any man home to Him. Any man who makes it to His presence will be by his choice. The man can not have chosen Him unless it was by exercising faith, because God does not force a man to decide or act. He helps the man to know good and evil and lets the man choose.

He also says "By the power of the Holy Ghost [we] may know the truth of all things."

Very remarkable.

Edited December 29, 2008 by Justice

[Justice]

Let me clarify for those who have a problem with me saying "we make it to heaven by choice."

Jesus Christ is the way.

There is no other way.

The choice we make is whether or not to "beleive" in Him.

The problem many have today is they feel they can claim to believe in Him without believing what He says.

Yes, He is the Way. He is the Truth. He is the Life. He is the Light. No man goes to the Father but by or through Him.

Many do not understand what the scriptures mean by "believe in Him."

If you believe in something, He has said you must exercise faith in that thing. We do that by choosing Him every day. We strive to walk His walk and to traverse His path. If you do not choose Him after you claim to believe in Him, then apparently you never believed He was "of God" because the next step is to act.

It is consistent; it's just that many people miss it while seeking for the easy road.

Josh. 24:

15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Good or evil?

It's a choice that is manifest by who we serve.

[georgia2]

I know how powerful the anti claims can be. The father of all lies and evil is the author of these claims and of course he is going to be convincing.

The only defense to this is to gain your own testimony and stay off the sites that are incorrect and so negative. YOu need to trust the spiritual experiences that brought you back and continue to trust in the TRUTH!

[LDSVALLEY]

Faith is believing in something without complete physical evidence it is real.

I joined the church and remain an active member because I have felt the presence of the Holy Ghost in my life. After baptism it took a couple of years before I felt it's power on me, I had to grow enough first to be receptive.

At the start I used simple logic, If I were a young boy and after saying I was visited by God I was laughed at, later thrown in jail, stoned, tarred, beaten up. If I had made it up I would simply say your right, I made it up forget it. And go on with my life. Only if it was real would I endure what he did.

As for the antimormon stuff, I love history. Did you know thousands of people turned out in protest in England in the early eighteen hundreds and wrote lots of literature on a great evil? Men of science and education foretold mass calamity. It was over the railroad engine. The Experts produced evidence that it would be impossible to breath when the train went over 30 miles per hour. Anyone on board would die a horrible death.

Get the point. When we can not explain something easily we create theory then that theory finds supporting evidence to prove what the theory is. Often the same evidence can also prove the opposite theory depending on how we apply it. In my 40 years of life hundreds of scientific facts have been altered based on new theory.

I look at the anti stuff once in a while to get a feel for what New Converts and Investigators face. I sometimes make my comments but never ridicule them for what they choose to believe. They are welcome to believe what they wish, my testimony is based on logic.

When I was a kid I looked into religion and it made no sense to me, why would God give people thousands of years ago Prophets but not today. Why would Jesus come when there was no photocopiers, mass communications etc and give us a religion that would become so splintered? I did not believe everything the Missionaries told me right off. But I applied logic to it in what would a loving Heavenly Father do and it all fit, that is why I joined a church for the first time in my life. And why I dedicate many hours of non work time to fullfilling my callings and supporting my wife in hers.

If your testimony is still growing and is young then avoid Satan's influence. I can give you a thousand ways to discredit the LDS church based on Man's opinion and theory. But I only worry about God's opinion and I value the great work the church has done in my life and that of my family. Others can believe what they wish, it bothers me not, nor do I allow it to influence what I know is true.

[RainofGold]

I will be honest with you.....I am not buying into your story......but...since you have read anti material...here try this....Answers About Mormons and Mormon Belief (LDS FAQ - Latter-day Saints)

Palerider,

Just a little curious, what makes you think that she is not being honest about her "story". What do you think she is trying to gain by asking those questions?

Just wondering:rolleyes:

[Traveler]

I know how powerful the anti claims can be. The father of all lies and evil is the author of these claims and of course he is going to be convincing.

The only defense to this is to gain your own testimony and stay off the sites that are incorrect and so negative. YOu need to trust the spiritual experiences that brought you back and continue to trust in the TRUTH!

In truth the anti claims are not powerful at all. Even those that argue these claims will turn around in their next breath and deny every claim they have made when they realize their disproof of the Book of Mormon also disproves the Bible. Take the DNA argument for example. Abraham is only 10 generations from Noah and the root of ever human’s DNA on the planet according to the Bible. If there are no links to Israel for 20,000 years then the Bible is as false as the Book of Mormon. Suddenly science is not so accurate and sure and to defend the Bible they find tons of problems to science in their own arguments.

The Traveler

[Over43]

What DNA evidence? I've missed that one. La China, here's the deal, if you think Jeff Lindsay is telling the truth, then run with it. Who was Joseph Smith? The real Joseph Smith? A prophet who restored a fallen church? Or just a shmoe who duped millions of people? You have come here for answers, what answers do you want to hear? Yes, Jospeh and Brigham, and Wilford, and others practiced polygamy. Why? To "build up a righteous people unto the Lord." Anti Mormons act like that is some kind of secret. Their trump. For the majority of people in the and investigating the church it is a non-issue. The Book of Mormon? Jospeh wrote it didn't he? Apparently not because much of the anti ammo is no longer directed at the Book of Mormon, as Hugh Nibley once wrote, it is a singularity, it can't be explained. Except for the explanation that was given by the prophet.

If you look at "anti" arguments they have been using the same material for the last 170 years, same old same old, just different antis, and different publishers.

It comes down to faith. It comes down to hard work. If you've had "spiritual experiences" that "led you back to the church" why would you doubt them?

O43