What makes you stay?

[Dravin]

I never said my strange fears were right, and reading them myself, they do seem very silly.

I wasn't really commenting on your fears, just your voiced plan. It's not tenable. It's one thing to struggle to do one's best in the face of anxiety and thus miss some Sundays, it's another thing to walk into conversion with a plan of, 'I'll go once to get baptized and never again.' If you share that plan with those involved in the conversion process, and you should, you'd find yourself in a holding pattern until that plan changed.

I also know I would get panic attacks, and perhaps they would have advice on that. I have never really asked a missionary about that, I find it to be embarassing at times.

They might, but they aren't mental health professionals so I'm not sure I'd expect much in the way of advice. Who knows though, I had anxiety issues going into my mission, and still do to an extent, so if it were me you had asked I'd at least have some idea of anxiety, but clearly if my anxiety was of the same level I'd have never made it out into the mission field. My advice now would be, if at all possible, to seek competent medical care and undergo either therapy or/and a pharmaceutical regimen.

No one would want to admit to a Bishop "hey I don't want to go church because I am quite afraid of meeting new people and making a total idiot of myself as I seem to be prone to do"

Look, I'm not trying to tell you, "Suck it up and go!" or anything of that nature. I just know you are a non-member and wanted to make sure you understood that part of conversion is a commitment to attend sacrament meeting.

Edited May 6, 2013 by Dravin

[Lakumi]

I understand completely, don't think I am mad at you or anyone else. This is a friendly dialog.

And yes I should have gone into more detail there, the first time.

[Dravin]

I didn't think you were mad, I just wanted to clarify the scope of my comments.

[Lakumi]

I didn't think you were mad, I just wanted to clarify the scope of my comments.

Just wanted to make sure

[Gunar]

Pray, Pray, Pray.................

I'm tired of praying, because i didn't receive an answer through the Holy Ghost from God.

[Guest]

I'm tired of praying, because i didn't receive an answer through the Holy Ghost from God.

Are you sure you didn't receive an answer? Could it be that it got answered, it was just not the answer you expected?

[Guest]

What makes me stay is the commandment to LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Leaving or becoming inactive when I found that the Church is true is a selfish act.

[sarah331]

This discussion has been enlightening, as an investigator. Thank you!

And I think I align a bit with Wingnut in the beliefs v religion discussion. I appreciate seeing the interconnectedness through this discussion.

Thank you all!

[Backroads]

What makes me stay is that it seems to fit me well. This is a religion that makes sense to me, and it feels right. I have felt the Spirit. I believe the major doctrines. I believe this is the Church as it was intended to be on the earth.

[Guest Steph1ani1e]

Hindsight is all well and good... until you trip.

[Jeffmk]

I can't really comment on what makes me stay, as I have been inactive more than active since my baptism. I can comment on what keeps me coming back though.

The only time I felt the holy ghost, really the only time I felt there was something at a level I would consider astonishing was when I prayed if the Book of Mormon was true. I simply can not ignore that experience, it has been the only time I had felt as though I had direct revelation with something far beyond myself or other people that was sentient.

I only wish I could hold on to such a feeling forever. I may as well consider myself incredibly lucky, I don't think many people get to feel that in their lifetimes. If they did, everyone would be a Mormon :)

I know for certain, that this one unique experience in my life will always be with me though. It will always lead me back to the LDS church. Such an experience transcends any other I have had, and while it is hard to hold on to at times, when life gets hard I always come back to it.

I don't have anything else to go on dude, I wish there was. I have sought spirituality elsewhere and have come up void. It is not quite enough to have made me stay, but it was enough to keep me coming back.

[Gunar]

Are you sure you didn't receive an answer? Could it be that it got answered, it was just not the answer you expected?

I have fasted and prayed. Read in the Holy Scriptures, and was active. NO ANSWER came! Not one also no "burning bossom" and also no "good feeling"; nothing. Nothing at all. Either I am deaf or God does not exist!

[Praetorian_Brow]

Your priorities are out of wack, if you think that God's existence is based on your expectations of an answer.

[Bensalem]

Why do you stay in the LDS Church? I'm not necessarily interested in why you joined the Church, but why you stay. Have you ever considered leaving? What brought you back?

I stay because I have a testimony (witness from the Holy Ghost) that the LDS Church is the restored church of Christ. This personal revelation allowed me to know that Christ lives and that He still speaks to man (since He spoke to me). And because the LDS Church came by way of revelation to Joseph Smith, it was a small step of faith to come to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.

I have never thought of leaving because I would than be abandoning the Truth.

[mtman318]

Your priorities are out of wack, if you think that God's existence is based on your expectations of an answer.

Perhaps that would be true, if the scriptures and prophets didn't constantly say that we need to pray and ask God for our own testimony. So when we do pray genuinely, many times, but receive no discernible answer, wouldn't that be a good reason to believe that God doesn't exist? And if He does exist, but does not answer our prayers, then does He just not keep His promises? And if that is the case with prayer, why not with any of His other promises?

Now, I do believe in God, and I know He's answered my prayers directly and indirectly, but it annoys me when people take such concerns--and the people who have them--lightly. But on the other hand, it is important to remember to, if we struggle with prayer, keep in mind that we might be missing something. Perhaps we are not recognizing answers for what they are. Maybe we are misunderstanding God's promises (or covenants, rather) and are not fulfilling their conditions in order to receive the promised blessings. In any case, it's always good not to jump to conclusions too quickly.

As for why I stay, like others have said, I know it's true. I first gained (or perhaps discovered) my testimony after the first time I repented of my sins, when I was forgiven of them. I'm more "semi-active" right now, though, but I am repenting. In spite of my sins, though, I at least have enough integrity to not forsake what I know to be true, no matter what anyone else does (including myself).

Edited May 11, 2013 by mtman318

[JimJohnson]

Why do you stay in the LDS Church? I'm not necessarily interested in why you joined the Church, but why you stay. Have you ever considered leaving? What brought you back?

Since the spring of 1965, about two years after I was baptized, I have been certain that the Church is true in the sense that 1) it is the ONLY church that has the priesthood and authority of God, 2) it is the ONLY church that has a real prophet as its mortal head, 3) and it is the ONLY church that enjoys continuing revelation. When I realized this, it was the result of an epiphany. And there has been no doubt in my mind since then on matters of religion.

Several times, however, and more so now than in the past, I have felt there were problems in the Church that I do not like, particularly the watering down of doctrine in the minds of the rank and file. I do not see it as a leadership problem. I see it as a following problem and the natural result of the declining educational level of the average member. Doctrine and the scriptures from which they come are not delicious unless a person reads well enough to enjoy heavy material. And the average person today does not read as well as in times past because of the failures of our public education system and the rising up of the Video Culture.

If we do not know what is right, we cannot do what is right. And we are moving in the wrong direction as a Church membership. Our leaders tell us to study the scriptures daily and attend the temple often, but we are not following their counsel except for a few. Until that changes more and more saints will fall away because they do not understand and love the gospel as they would if they were to repent of their ignorance and negligence.

[JimJohnson]

Perhaps that would be true, if the scriptures and prophets didn't constantly say that we need to pray and ask God for our own testimony. So when we do pray genuinely, many times, but receive no discernible answer, wouldn't that be a good reason to believe that God doesn't exist? And if He does exist, but does not answer our prayers, then does He just not keep His promises? And if that is the case with prayer, why not with any of His other promises?

---

God does not reveal himself except to those who really, really want him to. It isn't how often you ask that matters. It is how badly you want an answer and whether or not God believes you. An alcoholic might want to quit drinking. He might ask God to help him. But until his desire becomes stronger than his desire for a drink, it is impossible for him to do it. Many want a revelation. But God knows how badly they want one. He also knows whether or not a person wants it badly enough to make the changes in himself that are needed. If he knows a person is not going to repent because his desire is not as strong as his desire to sin, he will withhold the revelation for his own good. I'm sure you have heard all this before, and it may offend you, but sometimes the truth hurts.