'hello' From Someone Looking For The Right Faith

[Ashilla]

hey there! I'm from a little island off the west coast of Canada. I guess i'll start with a little back story. My dad is fairly non-religious and open minded, and would consider himself Anglican i suppose while my mother is Indian and from Africa and was raised Muslim. Neither of them are particularily religious. My mom believes in a God while my Dad well... doesn't. I was raised a little Christian and little Muslim and went to bible camp and church and mosque too, so i'm fairly familiar with all the religious... stuff . when i was 13 my aunt died and i came to the rather melancholic conclusion that there is no God, and that Jesus and most of the prophets, disciples, etc. were just a bunch of cool guys/ radical thinkers / humanitarians who wanted to improve the world and religion and probably believed that the tme that they were working for God. I then became practically athiest/agnostic and soon became a humanist. I liked the idea of some kind of docterine involving love, but humanism "preaches" more that one should be a good person despite no reward in an afterlife. it's worked for me but for the whole time i've always had the nagging sensation that there is God and that the most ridiculous thing is that we're all here simply because we just "are". i mean i don't think mankind and all of it's glory and travesty could be an evolutionary "fluke". I just happened to be watching a PBS program about Mormons and the LDS, and coming from a fairly secular region i hadn't heard much of it. I do like many of the ideals taught in the church especially about family and community, and i'd really like to know more. I also liked how the Mormon religion focusses less on being good to get into heaven and appease God and has it's own less selfish reasons for being a good and devoted person. If i ask any questions i'm not trying to poke holes in religion i'm just curious. I don't even know if the library here would carry the Book of Mormon... in fact i don't even know of any mormons... in fact i only know about two christians! I definitely miss having faith because standing "on the brink of eternity" having no idea of what will happen, or if anything will happen at all is terrifying and deeply saddening. I think i've spent enough time feeling like a part of me has been torn out. I think the reason why I was successful at all things i tried was because of my faith and now that i've lost it i've found that i'm very scared of doing anything. I'm sort of a shut-in as a matter of fact and i wish that i had something to hold on to that i can rely on and devote myself to. I've found the Mormon religion (from what i've learned) to be very sweet and more involved in all aspects of life rather than just looking nice for church on Sundays. I found the baptist church/ camps to be incredibly hypocritical and being a natural cynic and curious eccentric i suppose i felt that it was just... wrong, and when I asked for explanations when I was confused I was mostly shunned. again I'm a very curious person and i always want to know "why?". I guess i simply want my faith back and this time i want to find the right place in which to put my beliefs. Peace and love! ~ Ashilla ps please pardon my poor grammar. it's past midnight over here! <3

[fish4kitty]

Welcome aboard ashilla. Don't know what your truely looking for but, look forward to your questions.

f4k

ps 415 am here

[HiJolly]

Sounds like the Church might be good for you. We do believe in good works, but not that they will save us. Mormonism has both practical and spiritual blendings that are truly wonderful.

HiJolly

[Silver Girl]

Welcome to the board... You mentioned that the library where you are might not carry the Book of Mormon... No problem, if you are interested in reading the BOM, you can access it online at www.lds.org...

Silver Girl

[ztodd]

Hi Ashilla, I think you will find what you're looking for in this church. I know I have.

Check out www.mormon.org and www.lds.org.

You can request a free Book of Mormon at http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/basic-...avenly-father#d

Read all about the plan of salvation there too - it's truly wonderful.

[Guest AutumnBreez]

Welcome!

Book: Articles of Faith- James E. Talmage (www.deseretbooks.com) You can even find paperback on Amazon.

I am just coming back after 12 years of inactivity with the church, left due to my own downfalls. Even though I did search for peace in other places (which I did not find but tried to convince myself otherwise -out of pride). It is here in this Church that I found the fullness and truth. I am back with more appreciation than I had before. Truths that have been revealed by the Holy Ghost that I did not see the first time. I am understanding faith like never before.

Read scriptures and pray. Relationships need communication to work.

Take care- AutumnBreez

[MorningStar]

It's good to meet you! :) You have a very interesting background and I hope you enjoy learning about our faith. Welcome!

[jadams_4040]

hey there! I'm from a little island off the west coast of Canada. I guess i'll start with a little back story. My dad is fairly non-religious and open minded, and would consider himself Anglican i suppose while my mother is Indian and from Africa and was raised Muslim. Neither of them are particularily religious. My mom believes in a God while my Dad well... doesn't. I was raised a little Christian and little Muslim and went to bible camp and church and mosque too, so i'm fairly familiar with all the religious... stuff . when i was 13 my aunt died and i came to the rather melancholic conclusion that there is no God, and that Jesus and most of the prophets, disciples, etc. were just a bunch of cool guys/ radical thinkers / humanitarians who wanted to improve the world and religion and probably believed that the tme that they were working for God. I then became practically athiest/agnostic and soon became a humanist. I liked the idea of some kind of docterine involving love, but humanism "preaches" more that one should be a good person despite no reward in an afterlife. it's worked for me but for the whole time i've always had the nagging sensation that there is God and that the most ridiculous thing is that we're all here simply because we just "are". i mean i don't think mankind and all of it's glory and travesty could be an evolutionary "fluke". I just happened to be watching a PBS program about Mormons and the LDS, and coming from a fairly secular region i hadn't heard much of it. I do like many of the ideals taught in the church especially about family and community, and i'd really like to know more. I also liked how the Mormon religion focusses less on being good to get into heaven and appease God and has it's own less selfish reasons for being a good and devoted person. If i ask any questions i'm not trying to poke holes in religion i'm just curious. I don't even know if the library here would carry the Book of Mormon... in fact i don't even know of any mormons... in fact i only know about two christians! I definitely miss having faith because standing "on the brink of eternity" having no idea of what will happen, or if anything will happen at all is terrifying and deeply saddening. I think i've spent enough time feeling like a part of me has been torn out. I think the reason why I was successful at all things i tried was because of my faith and now that i've lost it i've found that i'm very scared of doing anything. I'm sort of a shut-in as a matter of fact and i wish that i had something to hold on to that i can rely on and devote myself to. I've found the Mormon religion (from what i've learned) to be very sweet and more involved in all aspects of life rather than just looking nice for church on Sundays. I found the baptist church/ camps to be incredibly hypocritical and being a natural cynic and curious eccentric i suppose i felt that it was just... wrong, and when I asked for explanations when I was confused I was mostly shunned. again I'm a very curious person and i always want to know "why?". I guess i simply want my faith back and this time i want to find the right place in which to put my beliefs. Peace and love! ~ Ashilla ps please pardon my poor grammar. it's past midnight over here! <3

One thing you might want to keep in the back of your mind. Absolutely NO L.D.S member gets paid for ministry, not the phrophet,not the apostles,not the seventy, not the bishops right on down the line. Not one red penny does anybody get paid for doing the lords work. this unlike Any other church in the entire world. Whom would you want to trust and beleive when asking council of?

Oh And welcome to the board! we would love to listen to your journey as you discover whatever it is you are going to discover!

:)

[avatar4321]

If you want a copy of the Book of Mormon you can get one for free from the Church at http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/basic-...ook-of-mormon#d

[LdsNana]

Ashilla,

Oh I am so glad you have come to this forum. You will meet a lot of great people that will answer specific questions that you would like to post, as well as support you as you investigate the church. What you are sure to run into are many anti-mormon sites on the internet. This is very unfortunate.

I hope that if this occurs, and you meet with questions that are confusing to you, that you will allow us to help you through them. We are pretty good with giving you resources and explaining some of the many false information that is out there.

I have placed a link here to mormon.org. It is a great site that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints has published officially that will answer most of the important questions that you would be interested in knowing. This information is the best way to begin familiarizing yourself with the Mormon faith and what we believe.

This should help in giving you a good foundation of information to then build on.

Again, Welcome!

Questions Answered and Live Chat about Mormonism @ Mormon.org[/

[CourtneyP]

Hi and welcome! :)

[DrewM]

hey there! I'm from a little island off the west coast of Canada. I guess i'll start with a little back story. My dad is fairly non-religious and open minded, and would consider himself Anglican i suppose while my mother is Indian and from Africa and was raised Muslim. Neither of them are particularily religious. My mom believes in a God while my Dad well... doesn't. I was raised a little Christian and little Muslim and went to bible camp and church and mosque too, so i'm fairly familiar with all the religious... stuff . when i was 13 my aunt died and i came to the rather melancholic conclusion that there is no God, and that Jesus and most of the prophets, disciples, etc. were just a bunch of cool guys/ radical thinkers / humanitarians who wanted to improve the world and religion and probably believed that the tme that they were working for God. I then became practically athiest/agnostic and soon became a humanist. I liked the idea of some kind of docterine involving love, but humanism "preaches" more that one should be a good person despite no reward in an afterlife. it's worked for me but for the whole time i've always had the nagging sensation that there is God and that the most ridiculous thing is that we're all here simply because we just "are". i mean i don't think mankind and all of it's glory and travesty could be an evolutionary "fluke". I just happened to be watching a PBS program about Mormons and the LDS, and coming from a fairly secular region i hadn't heard much of it. I do like many of the ideals taught in the church especially about family and community, and i'd really like to know more. I also liked how the Mormon religion focusses less on being good to get into heaven and appease God and has it's own less selfish reasons for being a good and devoted person. If i ask any questions i'm not trying to poke holes in religion i'm just curious. I don't even know if the library here would carry the Book of Mormon... in fact i don't even know of any mormons... in fact i only know about two christians! I definitely miss having faith because standing "on the brink of eternity" having no idea of what will happen, or if anything will happen at all is terrifying and deeply saddening. I think i've spent enough time feeling like a part of me has been torn out. I think the reason why I was successful at all things i tried was because of my faith and now that i've lost it i've found that i'm very scared of doing anything. I'm sort of a shut-in as a matter of fact and i wish that i had something to hold on to that i can rely on and devote myself to. I've found the Mormon religion (from what i've learned) to be very sweet and more involved in all aspects of life rather than just looking nice for church on Sundays. I found the baptist church/ camps to be incredibly hypocritical and being a natural cynic and curious eccentric i suppose i felt that it was just... wrong, and when I asked for explanations when I was confused I was mostly shunned. again I'm a very curious person and i always want to know "why?". I guess i simply want my faith back and this time i want to find the right place in which to put my beliefs. Peace and love! ~ Ashilla ps please pardon my poor grammar. it's past midnight over here! <3

Welcome! We're glad to have you here with us. Please let us know how we can help you with your questions or concerns.

[Kzekx]

Ashilla... Looking for the right faith....

Hmmm... Well... You either mean 'religion' or 'faith'. There is no right religion as I see it. Religion is a construct of man. It is like the gift wrap on a gift. Everybody has there preference and designs it and markets it according to their perceptions and their likes, dislike, functions and dysfunctions.

FAITH, on the other hand, is built into us and is not dependent on organizations and institutions. It is deeply personal and is rooted in relationship.

Faith seeks to fill that eternal desire in our heart for peace and freedom from a guilty conscience. But we are broken. We all know that universally. So we try to create ritual and religion to compensate.

Many sages, prophets, holy men have given forth revelation. Some of it is Truth and some are False. How do we know the difference? How do we know if we are being fed a line of lies or the real deal?

It can be known... Even in cultures where evil and lies abound, we can know. Even when the lines are blurred and evil is called good and good evil... we can know.

Faith is not religion... And I am long winded. So I cut the rest of this off.

[pam]

Besides, Ashilla posted this 5 years ago. :)

[Kzekx]

Time is not eternal... eternity is eternal... Head Moderator Pam... I wasn't looking at the date. And then again... I don't navigate well around the realm of the LDS anyway... being new to this ummm... social network and all.

[pam]

Time is not eternal... eternity is eternal... Head Moderator Pam... I wasn't looking at the date. And then again... I don't navigate well around the realm of the LDS anyway... being new to this ummm... social network and all.

I was just making sure you were aware of it so that you wouldn't be expecting a reply.