God? But I Love The Gospel!

[HiJolly]

I need to talk to someone about this in a more neutral environment.

Hope it works out.

In all this (with the exception of one time which I will explain in a moment) I thought or I do (dilemma) have a testimony.

I understand. Really.

Over the past years, my logical mind (I will call it that because I'm not sure how else to define it) has come to the conclusion that there is no god and thus by extension do not believe the church is true. This scares me. I don't not want to believe in God. I don't not want to believe in the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith. I don't not want to believe that President Monson is a prophet of God.

Right.

Over the past few years though these feelings come into my head and I don't know what to do. After years of struggling I made a mistake and hurt my wife. (snip sad tale)

Any thought, comments, questions would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Thanks. Your wife might gain strength by going to Faces East :: Index (just a suggestion).

I think God intended us to go through struggles like these. Some of us, more than others.

(1) Our brains are constructed such that our emotional and wholistic 'mind' is centered in the right half of our brain, whilst the logical, sequential, timely 'mind' is found in the left side of our brains. See this video: Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight | Video on TED.com

(2) Our conscious minds only process a portion of our thinking, evaluating, decision-making. This means that our mental decisioning and thought process is NOT FULLY RATIONAL. No matter how hard we try to make it so. Read "On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not" by Dr. Robert A Burton

(3) ALL logical thought is fatally dependent upon our initial postulates. We are, due to the veil, intrinsically unable to formulate accurate postulates regarding God and/or Heaven, unless these have been revealed to us via revelation.

(4) Joseph Smith Jr. taught that faith is not something we consciously create within ourselves, but is a "gift of God" based on our faithfulness. Belief is not faith. He also taught that no man should leave the Church (or be excommunicated) for believing (or even expressing) false doctrine. Current Church policy may vary...

(5) Most bishops, etc. are willing to accept a profession of a desire to believe, in a temple recommend interview. Especially from previous recommend holders. This requires no deception whatsoever.

Thanks for posting, and try to balance your brain, dude. :)

HiJolly

Edited January 4, 2010 by HiJolly