Faith

[woundedhealer]

Two Elders came up to me today (Elder something, and Elder something else) when I was walking home. I was so religiously/culturally ignorant that at first, I was amused when they introduced themselves because I thought they both had the same first name! I surprised myself though. I think most people, including myself, would normally blow them

Comments

Re: Faith

[yellawhim]

I had two members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints come to visit my home one Friday evening. It was cold and rainy, and they seemed like such sweet girls that I invited them in. I was lonely too, I'm sure, and it might likely have been the umpteenth Friday night in a row that I was there alone.

They WERE beautiful girls, delightful to be around, as sweet as iced tea Southern style, and I enjoyed most every minute that I spent with them. Much of what the believe aligns with the beliefs I was taught as a child, and so we had a great deal in common from a religious background perspective. And we did talk religion a great deal (yes, they repeatedly stopped by the house and I even went out with them on occasion to other church member's homes for fun ... cookies, movies, and such).

Two things got in the way, and I regret that I was not more candid with them. The first is that my religious views are much like yours: nebulous but manifest. I am much more eclectic in my beliefs than a rigid definition of Christian would allow, and I just never wanted to engage in a discussion about that. My understanding is that Mormons proselytize because they believe that only Mormons go to heaven. Let's just say my heaven is full of more.

The second I never addressed because I didn't have any first-hand knowledge, but one of V's dear friends, another lesbian, came from a Mormon family (she was given the diagnosis of "same sex attraction disorder" by her church, and they address it within as SSAD ... seriously) and was deeply affected by the conflict between self and church but then as a result between self and family. V's sister and this young lady were in a relationship, and so the too too open-minded sisters read everything they could get their hands on about the Church of the Latter Day Saints. And much of what they told me was horrible ... women had to go in front of the church and ask permission not to have any more children, even when childbearing was a severe danger to their lives ... women wear a thin layer of clothing, like a slip, at all times, even sex, to remind themselves that God comes first before their husbands ... we all have secret names from God and He reveals them to us in good time, and men are to know their wives' secret names, but women can never know those of their husbands. And that's just the start, but apparently, there is a book written by a former Mormon, a Mormon who made it to the most sacred inner chambers of the church (you have to "work" your way "into" the secrets of the Church) and who then backed out and wrote a sort of expose.

I didn't know the details of the book because I haven't read it, but I do know that it and most anything that is negative toward the church is banned on their book lists. So there is a lot of innocence and passive acceptance without questioning. And that is what really bothers me.

Still, I never brought up anything but fluff religion/spirituality with them. I guess I didn't want to hurt them, suggest their naivete, or rip into their church.

Still, they had a peace where I have restlessness. Still, they had a clear purpose while I'm the nomad. Still, they had faith while I have questions.

(more to come in another comment ... I didn't realize there is a limit!)