Personal Conversion/salvation Experience

[begood2]

kriskriechel,

I enjoyed reading about your conversion of the heart and I'm very happy for you! :)

[Dr T]

Hello kriskriechel,

It's nice to meet you. Thank you for your post and for sharing your story with me/us. I look forward to hearing more from you. So you grew up in a church until you moved in with your father. Was that the LDS church or another church? I'm happy to hear that your child was fine after a couple of weeks. That must have been hard for you.

Thanks again,

Dr. T

[Mustangwoman]

Hi Dr. T

I was Christened in the United Methodist Church when I was a baby. My parents went for about a year maybe after that. I never stepped foot again into a church of any kind until I was married with children. I have tried so MANY. The one that gives me the best feeling is the Mormon church. I was an Osmond fan. I thought they were the greatest group in the world. I didn't learn much about the church until the missionaries came to my door. I had a burning in the bosom. I started to feel better about my home and my family. My husband and I got along better. Then my husband didn't want to take the lessons anymore. Then we moved. I found the local church here and called them. They sent missionaries over. Then I was baptized and recieved the gift of the holy ghost. I took my son and he was also baptized there. I just stopped going when I started having panic attacks again and my husband wasn't very encouraging. I still read the scriptures almost daily. I still get a good feeling about them. I have prayed about it . But I have gone back and forth between religions. I still end up coming back here. If you have any insight to what I have done and why over the years let me know. I 've been called a "Church Hopper" I guess I was for many years but how are you going to know what is right for you if you don't try? I guess like you Dr. T, you could call me a seeker of the truth. I just wish I could be satisfied enough to know that this is the right church. What I can tell you Dr. T is this, when I go to other churches, or read thier Bibles I feel like something is missing. I feel like the Book of Mormon is what is missing from those other churches. With those scriptures in my hands I feel like I have the whole Gospel in my hands. That is the best I can do. Let me know if you have any questions and I will try to answer them.

[kriskriechel]

Hello kriskriechel,

It's nice to meet you. Thank you for your post and for sharing your story with me/us. I look forward to hearing more from you. So you grew up in a church until you moved in with your father. Was that the LDS church or another church? I'm happy to hear that your child was fine after a couple of weeks. That must have been hard for you.

Thanks again,

Dr. T

Thank you Mr T.

Yes, I grew up in the LDS church and went every week until I moved to my dad's. Thank you for your thoughts about my daughter. I was the hardest thing I have ever had to live through. So grateful that she is fine. Her birthday is not just a day of celebration but a day of thanksgiving every year.

[Dr T]

Hey Mustangwoman,

Thank you for sharing your experiences. You say that you have "gone back and forth between religions." Which ones? During your upbringing, did your parents, although not invovled in a church, point to God in some way? I guess what I'm asking is, "Did they have religious underpinnings that were passed down to you that you can now recognize?

Thanks again,

Dr. T

[Mustangwoman]

Hey Mustangwoman,

Thank you for sharing your experiences. You say that you have "gone back and forth between religions." Which ones? During your upbringing, did your parents, although not invovled in a church, point to God in some way? I guess what I'm asking is, "Did they have religious underpinnings that were passed down to you that you can now recognize?

Thanks again,

Dr. T

Hi Dr T

During my upbringing my parents never really mentioned God at all to me. They thought everyone that went to church was a hypocrite and that church was a waste of time. I had alot of friends and some of them went to church. That was the only thing I saw. They were all Catholics by the way. I will try to tell you all of the different churches I have been in at least once for a service probably all more than once. I will also try to tell you in order and why I tried it at the time. When I married and left home I tried Church Of God, I drove by one day and it was a beautiful building so I thought I would give it a try.Then LDS. I asked for a BOM and the missionaries came to my door. My husband also gave it a try. Then we moved here and I tried United Methodist because it was close to the house and I thought since I had been christened in one I would try it. Then I tried the First Church Of God , My kids went there to youth group. Then I went to LDS here. My son and I were baptized there. Then I tried the Seventh Day Adventists. They came to my door and the church is so close to my home I decided to see what they were about. Then the Jehovah's Witnesses kept coming to the door and I studied with them for awhile. I only went to their Kingdom Hall once. Then I tried Wesleyan because my son was in the youth group at the time. Then are you ready for this? I went to an Apostolic Penticostal Church to see what it was like. I went to a yard sale they were having and a member talked me into trying it. It scared me half to death. I even spoke in tongues. NO LIE. I also read two books about them around the time I was going there. And of course I attended LDS in between the others. The kicker is I worked very hard to be confirmed a Catholic. 1 year of classes. My husband was raised Catholic went to church every Sunday. He couldn't remember anything he learned. I had to teach him as I was learning it. Then the fire burned out of that one too.. Although the Catholics have the most beautiful Churches. My husband doesn't want anything to do with church anymore. So whatever I do I do it alone. I have read so many books on so many religions. I have my own library at my home. I also have books on Scientology. Which my mother-in -law was talking about Tom Cruise one day and asked me if I was going to try that too.

I know everyone in my family thinks I am weird but I just do what I want at the time. I have seen and learned so much in my lifetime. My father passed away in 1995 but my mother since then has been following Sylvia Browne. So now when I talk religion she talks Sylvia Browne. But I am glad she found something to follow if you will. If you have more questions Please ask and I will try to answer. By the way I had this "crazy " thought sometimes that whoever knocked on my door was brought by God. So when the Mormons knocked I would go back, When the Seventh Day Adventists knocked, I went, When the JW knocked I went. I was seeking and I thought that was a sign from God. I no longer think that way anymore.

[Guest Yediyd]

Hi Dr. T , I know this is an old thread, and you can read my conversion story in my blog...but to answer some of you specific questions...

Can each of you tell me, from your own personal experience, how much of your conversion/salvation experience was based on logic? Rationally analyzing scripture which, in your mind, led to no other option?

I had studied my scriptures for YEARS before investigating LDS. I compared what I knew to what I was reading.

Emotion/guilt/shame/happy feelings/obligation, etc?I got emotional as I felt the Spirit working in my heart...though at first...I feared that the missionaries were false prophets.

On behavior? To fit in? ("It was cool to become a believer-all my friends were!, etc.")No...that had nothing to do with it. I did not know anybody who was LDS. I knew VERY little about the "Mormons"

Did it happen at a conference? nope

After listening to a dynamic speaker? nope

Did it fall in line with your upbringing (parental modeling)?DEFINATELY NOT!!!!!! My father was an evangelical. He HATED the mormon doctrine.

Other?Maybe I took an interest because it was a way to rebel from my upbrining, which I was dissalusioned with.

Was it 10% emotion, 80% logic, etc.I would say...25% emotion and 75% logic.

I'm also interested in the circumstances at the time of conversion that played a role in this for you? Where you fed up with the church you were formally attending? Etc.

Yes, and I knew G-d was out there, I just had never truly expieranced him yet.I was sick of the hippocracy that I saw in my affilieation and church as a child.

How old were you?40, I spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness, before I found my promised land. :)

[Guest Yediyd]

Just wanted to bump this up so you can see it Dr. T. (it's an old thread...but I wasn't around when you started it.)

[Dr T]

Thank you Yed. I'm glad you bumped it because I didn't see it. :)