Not a Mormon Yet
Well, after a bunch of prayer and a bit of scripture, and a game of pond hockey that seemed to clear my head out nicely, I still hadn't gotten any answers about Mormonism. So I remain unbaptized in that church. I do have two related "answers" though.
First, I believe that I am supposed to back off from talking to the Mormons for a while, and take time to investigate the things they've told me on my own. This should be easy since I'll be taking a long walk next weekend and so won't be able to go to the church or to meet with them. The second thing is that I need to be more pure if God is going to be a big part of my life again. I mean really, I'm hardly even trying right now. How am I supposed to know if my Holy Spirit is the same as what the Mormons talk about if I haven't allowed Him to be part of my life for a few years? No more skirking responsibility, if I want God to be present to me then I have to stop rejecting Him by my actions. Unfortunately, I don't expect much support in this from anywhere -- I'm currently very disillusioned with Christianity as a whole, and in particular the tendency to interpret scripture so that it agrees with your doctrines rather than honestly searching the Bible and to only love the people whom it is convenient to love rather than those who most need it. I realize that I am guilty of these too, and it's easy to pick on the things Christians do wrong without looking at myself. However, I do believe that as Christians we can be very prone to these errors, and should at least try to avoid them, but since they seem so prevalent and many Christians seem either unaware of them or otherwise unwilling to work against them, I don't expect a great deal of help from most of the Christian community in learning what is right and acting on it.
Well, wish me luck, and especially that I continue to be dedicated to this (since dedication is not my strong suit).
First, I believe that I am supposed to back off from talking to the Mormons for a while, and take time to investigate the things they've told me on my own. This should be easy since I'll be taking a long walk next weekend and so won't be able to go to the church or to meet with them. The second thing is that I need to be more pure if God is going to be a big part of my life again. I mean really, I'm hardly even trying right now. How am I supposed to know if my Holy Spirit is the same as what the Mormons talk about if I haven't allowed Him to be part of my life for a few years? No more skirking responsibility, if I want God to be present to me then I have to stop rejecting Him by my actions. Unfortunately, I don't expect much support in this from anywhere -- I'm currently very disillusioned with Christianity as a whole, and in particular the tendency to interpret scripture so that it agrees with your doctrines rather than honestly searching the Bible and to only love the people whom it is convenient to love rather than those who most need it. I realize that I am guilty of these too, and it's easy to pick on the things Christians do wrong without looking at myself. However, I do believe that as Christians we can be very prone to these errors, and should at least try to avoid them, but since they seem so prevalent and many Christians seem either unaware of them or otherwise unwilling to work against them, I don't expect a great deal of help from most of the Christian community in learning what is right and acting on it.
Well, wish me luck, and especially that I continue to be dedicated to this (since dedication is not my strong suit).