Should i join the Church? Or even consider it?

[DontaeBynes]

I’m in a weird spot in my religious life. I actually grew up catholic and went to a catholic school when I was younger.

Edited November 9, 2019 by DontaeBynes
I’ve Got my answer, no longer want up

[Jane_Doe]

I'd totally say check out the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and see what you find out.  Worse comes to worse, you spend some time getting to know what your friends believe better.  Best comes to best, you do find something very meaningful for yourself.  

In addition to chatting with your friend (great resource), here's a useful website: https://www.comeuntochrist.org

[Grunt]

Have you taken lessons from missionaries?  I'd suggest that be your first step.  See how you feel after that.

[JohnsonJones]

19 minutes ago, Grunt said:

Have you taken lessons from missionaries?  I'd suggest that be your first step.  See how you feel after that.

I'd agree with this.  If you have not already, I think the first step is to educate yourself more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints and the beliefs they hold.  The Missionaries are there to try to help you do this.

Part of this includes reading out of the Book of Mormon.  In the Book of Mormon there is a promise.

Quote

Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

This is not necessarily going to be a huge mass of angels coming down or an enlightened vision, but more a feeling of happiness and peace.  Try to figure if there is a special or certain feeling that you feel around your Mormon friends that you do not feel around anyone else.  It is particular and special to them.

It is very likely this is the Holy Ghost that you are feeling coming from them.  You have already had this feeling and been able to feel it already perhaps.  It is more of a subtle feeling, one that you might not even notice until it has been pointed out.  It is this feeling that you may be feeling when you pray and ask about the Book of Mormon and thence the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints.

When you feel this feeling of peace and happiness it is the Lord telling you that these things are true, that the Church is the true Church and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet.  This is how you can know that this is the true Church and that you should join it.  You can begin today by starting to read the Book of Mormon (which also carries with it this spirit that you can feel, the Holy Ghost, when you read the words in the Book of Mormon, testifying to you that it is true) and then to act upon the promise that I quote above to pray to know for yourself the truthfulness of it's words and the answer that you ask...whether to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints or not.

[Guest MormonGator]

I think when researching if you should join a church or not, you should investigate it's truth claims. If you believe the truth claims are legit, you should join the church. 

[bytebear]

Joining the church is really making a covenant with God, that you will follow his commandments and in return he offers the gift of the Holy Ghost, and a path to more blessings.  Basically this gift and your friend's commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is what sets them apart.  You recognize it, and the missionaries will tell you the steps you would need to take to make the covenant, and join the church.

[clwnuke]

On 11/2/2019 at 4:07 PM, DontaeBynes said:

Thinking about joining the church is conflicting with me. I don’t know , in the future, If I ever make the decision to/ see the sign to join the church; will I be joining because of me or because of her? And that’s where I am right now. 

Good to meet you DontaeBynes!

I don't think you would have conflict if you didn't already have a spiritual influence guiding you in the right direction. Continue to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost and I think you will be alright.

IMHO it really doesn't matter that you think this young lady is wonderful, the decision is yours. Latter-Day Saint women ARE wonderful so avoiding their powerful influence is like trying not to notice the beauty of flowers in a well cared for garden.

Don't let the adversary keep you from the truth because of your current concerns. I'm certain the Lord is working miracles to help you and His plan for sharing the Gospel intended to have others influence us for good. Join us in serving the Lord, we need you and the Lord wants you!

[anatess2]

Welcome, DontaeBynes!

Okay... so you asked an LDS forum whether you should join the LDS Church... of course, the answer is YES!

But... I'm going to give you a different advice.  I grew up Catholic and went to Catholic schools all the way through college so I am very familiar with Catholic teachings and traditions.

So, my advice to you is to take step 1 - go back to attending Sunday Mass in your Catholic parish.  It will be comfortable and familiar and gets you back in the mindset of spiritual life that you knew was good but were too young to express in words to your dad.  Pray and ponder on the scripture readings and start making it a daily habit.  This will bring your mindset from being a human person having a spiritual experience to being a spiritual person having a human experience.  Make sense? 

Once you get your mindset back to surrendering your will to God then you take step 2 - talk to the LDS missionaries.

In the meantime, you can pursue a romantic relationship with your friend but remain secure in the knowledge that you love God because you choose to and not because you want to impress her.  Hope this helps.

[Vort]

28 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

Welcome, DontaeBynes!

Okay... so you asked an LDS forum whether you should join the LDS Church... of course, the answer is YES!

But... I'm going to give you a different advice.  I grew up Catholic and went to Catholic schools all the way through college so I am very familiar with Catholic teachings and traditions.

So, my advice to you is to take step 1 - go back to attending Sunday Mass in your Catholic parish.  It will be comfortable and familiar and gets you back in the mindset of spiritual life that you knew was good but were too young to express in words to your dad.  Pray and ponder on the scripture readings and start making it a daily habit.  This will bring your mindset from being a human person having a spiritual experience to being a spiritual person having a human experience.  Make sense? 

Once you get your mindset back to surrendering your will to God then you take step 2 - talk to the LDS missionaries.

In the meantime, you can pursue a romantic relationship with your friend but remain secure in the knowledge that you love God because you choose to and not because you want to impress her.  Hope this helps.

As usual, I appreciate anatess' insights and opinions. But I'm in slight disagreement with her. Instead of returning to Catholic Mass to get back in the spiritual swing of things, then investigating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I would suggest that you simply start attending the Restored Church and talk to the missionaries. One step instead of two.

Consider this joke:

An engineer and a mathematician are given a problem: There is a book on the floor, and it needs to be on the shelf. The engineer solves the problem by picking the book up off the floor and setting it on the shelf. The mathematician solves it in the same way.

Then they are given another problem: There is a book on a chair, and it needs to be on the shelf. The engineer solves the problem by picking the book up off the chair and setting it on the shelf. The mathematician solves it by picking the book up off the chair, setting it on the floor, and saying, "Now it's an already-solved problem."

I think anatess is going the mathematician's route. In this case, I would suggest being an engineer.

[anatess2]

4 minutes ago, Vort said:

As usual, I appreciate anatess' insights and opinions. But I'm in slight disagreement with her. Instead of returning to Catholic Mass to get back in the spiritual swing of things, then investigating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I would suggest that you simply start attending the Restored Church and talk to the missionaries. One step instead of two.

I would normally advice this except for the matter that the Catholic Church is what he is familiar with while the LDS Church is not - giving more confusion to the matter of the desired relationship with the girl.  It will be more difficult to separate the feelings of the Church and the Girl when one is still flailing in faith.

[Sunday21]

I think for any church you should go and look at the people who are members. Do these people appear to obey the commandments that you consider key? How do they treat the weak and oppressed? How do the children treat their parents? Attend an event and observe how people treat each other. 

[Jamie123]

On 11/4/2019 at 4:52 PM, Vort said:

As usual, I appreciate anatess' insights and opinions. But I'm in slight disagreement with her. Instead of returning to Catholic Mass to get back in the spiritual swing of things, then investigating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I would suggest that you simply start attending the Restored Church and talk to the missionaries. One step instead of two.

I did it Anatess' way myself. After about two years flailing around, half-in, half-out of LDSism, getting frustrated and annoying the heck out of Missionaries and the Gospel Principles teachers, I took a step back and returned to what I knew - the Anglican Church. That was in 1993, so for 26 years and counting I've been on Anatess' Step 1 - annoying the heck out of the Vicar and Curate* instead!

* Not the same vicar and curate: I've moved parish twice in that time, and in each parish the clergy have changed several times while I was there! (Not down to me of course (I hope).)

Edited November 13, 2019 by Jamie123

[anatess2]

47 minutes ago, Jamie123 said:

I did it Anatess' way myself. After about two years flailing around, half-in, half-out of LDSism, getting frustrated and annoying the heck out of Missionaries and the Gospel Principles teachers, I took a step back and returned to what I knew - the Anglican Church. That was in 1993, so for 26 years and counting I've been on Anatess' Step 1 - annoying the heck out of the Vicar and Curate* instead!

* Not the same vicar and curate: I've moved parish twice in that time, and in each parish the clergy have changed several times while I was there! (Not down to me of course (I hope).)

Time for Step 2.