*Please understand that this post is not meant to offend. If I said something that offends you, feel free to send me constructive criticism in a private message.
I fully claim the skeptical generation.
They say that my generation is one of the most jaded ever--we don't trust anything, from government to big businesses to the internet to the news to authority figures to universities and beyond.
Yeah, I claim that. I find there's really very little I trust, especially on first glance.
Who can blame us? I've found that the world is full of twisted truths and half truths, photoshop, fantasies, propaganda. People aren't even above using psychological tricks to convince you to believe or act in a certain way. I mean, how many times have you found yourself wanting something you don't even like? (This happens to me with Coca-Cola every single time I walk into a movie theater.)
Long story short, I have a hard time believing things. I'm kind of agnostic towards any new thought or theory until I can find some convincing evidence.
I'm even disbelieving towards some things that are presented as "fact," just because I've known "fact" to shift and change, even over the course of my own (relatively short) lifetime.
Here's where we get into the delicate stuff. I belong to the small subset of millennials that are also devotedly religious, and I'm Mormon.
I've seen a lot of my Mormon friends, over the course of my coming-of-age, decide that being Mormon doesn't work for them. Many of them have just low key quit going to church. Others have been more vocal about their decisions.
Many of my friends who have made that decision have done so after finding out something about the history of our church--its leaders or practices--that they couldn't reconcile. That troubled them so deeply they couldn't stay. That fundamentally shook their conviction about the ideas they had, in many cases, defended and believed before.
So now we come to the question:
Why do I still believe in and trust my religion when there is so much out there that says I can't?
Let's come back to our first idea: I'm a skeptic. Now I'm not calling you crazy or a heathen for giving credence to the ideas you come across. I'm simply saying that, for myself, there have been enough revisions to previously-accepted fact in my life that there are certain things I can't accept so easily. (Pluto isn't a planet anymore, guys. Can you blame me for being scarred for life?)
The other thing is this: the first rule of statistics is to check the source. I wouldn't accept disparaging info about Toyota if it was presented by Ford. All I'm saying is, sometimes people have a bone to pick for their own reasons. (Doesn't really explain why Pluto isn't a planet anymore, but there it is.)
So if there's so much out there to distrust, what can be trusted? You'll have to decide what you trust, but for me, I trust my experiences.
My experience says that I'm more balanced, more at peace, and generally more satisfied with my life when I'm doing what they taught me to do as a kid. When I pray, I'm more centered. When I read the Bible and the Book of Mormon, I feel greater purpose. When I go to church, I feel rejuvenated and connected with God (even if I go away emotionally drained from being around a ton of people).
Call that what you will, but for what it's worth, the church and the Gospel work for me.
By logic, then, I deduce that there must be something good or true about what I'm doing. I conclude that what I believe and act on must be true.
To those of you who have decided to take another path, the first thing I want you to know is that I don't look down on you for that. In fact, I respect your drive to find out the truth. I believe everybody is searching for happiness in their own way, and you deserve a happy and fulfilled life as much as the next truth-seeker.
If I ever seem like I'm trying to get you to reconsider,--and I say this with all the love in my heart--maybe I am. But that's NOT because I believe you're going to be damned if you don't, and it's NOT because I expect some kind of benefit if you were to go along with it. It's for the exact same reason that I want everyone I know to go see the new movie Coco, and why I try to convince everyone to try MacFuddy's soda--because the Gospel, Coco and MacFuddy's are all *great* and I love them. Also, if you turn down my invitation to give church another shot, I'll treat you the same way I'd treat someone who said they didn't like Coco or MacFuddy's. With love and respect. You're still my friend. I still love you. It's OK for you to not agree with me. That's not a prerequisite to my love and respect.
If I ever seem pushy--I'm sorry. Let me know. I don't want to damage our friendship. I do want you to know that I'm not trying to invalidate your beliefs--I just want to share mine.
To those who are on the fence about what they should do next--as a friend, I suggest looking for the benefits of the Gospel in your life. Dig a little deeper before you go. Really do the things they've been telling you all this time--even if those things seem dumb or irrelevant--just give it an honest try. Take a swing at it. If you're comfortable, reach out to me--I promise I won't be pushy, and I won't be judgmental of you. Some of my best friends have been in your position before. I know it can be hard. I want to help you if I can.
To everybody--let's be respectful of one another and of one another's beliefs. I'll respect yours if you'll respect mine. Try the Golden Rule: do unto others only what you would feel comfortable having others do to you. Remember to only ever share your beliefs and views out of genuine care for the other person--and assume that when others share, that's their motivation as well. This isn't the crusades. We can all love each other.
Religion and faith and spirituality have been misused to drive people apart for way, WAY too long. It doesn't have to go on that way though. Let's let our religion and our faith and our belief and our spirituality and the way we seek truth in our lives bring us together, rather than pushing us apart. We can all love and embrace each other, regardless of our religious persuasion or personal beliefs.
Everybody, I am far from being perfect. I'm far from loving everyone the way I want to. And I'm far from practicing my religion flawlessly.
There are a lot of things I don't know, but there are also a lot of things I believe with a conviction so strong that I could never deny it. I think I want to end this post by sharing some of that with you. Take this for what it's worth, with the understanding that I'm not--not now, not ever--trying to invalidate your beliefs or suggest that you're going to hell for your life choices. I'm not about that life. I'm just trying to share with you something that means a lot to me. Thanks for listening. :)
I believe in a loving, caring, warm and real God.
I believe He is our Father, and He is a perfect Father.
I believe each human being carries a bit of His divinity.
I believe in Jesus Christ.
I believe in Christ's perfect life.
I believe in Christ's perfect death, and that He sacrificed Himself for us.
I believe that by following Christ, we can not only have a fulfilled life here, but that after our time in this world ends, that we can be with Him afterwards--and that that is better than the best thing imaginable.
I believe that Christ's church was brought back to earth, after a long leave of absence, through Joseph Smith.
I believe that God has provided a way for families to stay together beyond death.
I believe that God our Father and Christ our Savior want, more than anything, for us to be happy in the long run. I believe that they are individually concerned with and aware of our lives. I believe that there's always a greater plan at play.
I believe that the Book of Mormon is a true book, because of what happens to my life and my heart when I read it.
I hope to be the best person I can possibly be.
And I hope to one day see my God face to face. And hug Him. And tell Him how hard I tried.
And I believe that someday, I will.
And I wish us all the best luck on our journey towards finding truth and happiness.
Love you all!
I fully claim the skeptical generation.
They say that my generation is one of the most jaded ever--we don't trust anything, from government to big businesses to the internet to the news to authority figures to universities and beyond.
Yeah, I claim that. I find there's really very little I trust, especially on first glance.
Who can blame us? I've found that the world is full of twisted truths and half truths, photoshop, fantasies, propaganda. People aren't even above using psychological tricks to convince you to believe or act in a certain way. I mean, how many times have you found yourself wanting something you don't even like? (This happens to me with Coca-Cola every single time I walk into a movie theater.)
Long story short, I have a hard time believing things. I'm kind of agnostic towards any new thought or theory until I can find some convincing evidence.
I'm even disbelieving towards some things that are presented as "fact," just because I've known "fact" to shift and change, even over the course of my own (relatively short) lifetime.
Here's where we get into the delicate stuff. I belong to the small subset of millennials that are also devotedly religious, and I'm Mormon.
I've seen a lot of my Mormon friends, over the course of my coming-of-age, decide that being Mormon doesn't work for them. Many of them have just low key quit going to church. Others have been more vocal about their decisions.
Many of my friends who have made that decision have done so after finding out something about the history of our church--its leaders or practices--that they couldn't reconcile. That troubled them so deeply they couldn't stay. That fundamentally shook their conviction about the ideas they had, in many cases, defended and believed before.
So now we come to the question:
Why do I still believe in and trust my religion when there is so much out there that says I can't?
Let's come back to our first idea: I'm a skeptic. Now I'm not calling you crazy or a heathen for giving credence to the ideas you come across. I'm simply saying that, for myself, there have been enough revisions to previously-accepted fact in my life that there are certain things I can't accept so easily. (Pluto isn't a planet anymore, guys. Can you blame me for being scarred for life?)
The other thing is this: the first rule of statistics is to check the source. I wouldn't accept disparaging info about Toyota if it was presented by Ford. All I'm saying is, sometimes people have a bone to pick for their own reasons. (Doesn't really explain why Pluto isn't a planet anymore, but there it is.)
So if there's so much out there to distrust, what can be trusted? You'll have to decide what you trust, but for me, I trust my experiences.
My experience says that I'm more balanced, more at peace, and generally more satisfied with my life when I'm doing what they taught me to do as a kid. When I pray, I'm more centered. When I read the Bible and the Book of Mormon, I feel greater purpose. When I go to church, I feel rejuvenated and connected with God (even if I go away emotionally drained from being around a ton of people).
Call that what you will, but for what it's worth, the church and the Gospel work for me.
By logic, then, I deduce that there must be something good or true about what I'm doing. I conclude that what I believe and act on must be true.
To those of you who have decided to take another path, the first thing I want you to know is that I don't look down on you for that. In fact, I respect your drive to find out the truth. I believe everybody is searching for happiness in their own way, and you deserve a happy and fulfilled life as much as the next truth-seeker.
If I ever seem like I'm trying to get you to reconsider,--and I say this with all the love in my heart--maybe I am. But that's NOT because I believe you're going to be damned if you don't, and it's NOT because I expect some kind of benefit if you were to go along with it. It's for the exact same reason that I want everyone I know to go see the new movie Coco, and why I try to convince everyone to try MacFuddy's soda--because the Gospel, Coco and MacFuddy's are all *great* and I love them. Also, if you turn down my invitation to give church another shot, I'll treat you the same way I'd treat someone who said they didn't like Coco or MacFuddy's. With love and respect. You're still my friend. I still love you. It's OK for you to not agree with me. That's not a prerequisite to my love and respect.
If I ever seem pushy--I'm sorry. Let me know. I don't want to damage our friendship. I do want you to know that I'm not trying to invalidate your beliefs--I just want to share mine.
To those who are on the fence about what they should do next--as a friend, I suggest looking for the benefits of the Gospel in your life. Dig a little deeper before you go. Really do the things they've been telling you all this time--even if those things seem dumb or irrelevant--just give it an honest try. Take a swing at it. If you're comfortable, reach out to me--I promise I won't be pushy, and I won't be judgmental of you. Some of my best friends have been in your position before. I know it can be hard. I want to help you if I can.
To everybody--let's be respectful of one another and of one another's beliefs. I'll respect yours if you'll respect mine. Try the Golden Rule: do unto others only what you would feel comfortable having others do to you. Remember to only ever share your beliefs and views out of genuine care for the other person--and assume that when others share, that's their motivation as well. This isn't the crusades. We can all love each other.
Religion and faith and spirituality have been misused to drive people apart for way, WAY too long. It doesn't have to go on that way though. Let's let our religion and our faith and our belief and our spirituality and the way we seek truth in our lives bring us together, rather than pushing us apart. We can all love and embrace each other, regardless of our religious persuasion or personal beliefs.
Everybody, I am far from being perfect. I'm far from loving everyone the way I want to. And I'm far from practicing my religion flawlessly.
There are a lot of things I don't know, but there are also a lot of things I believe with a conviction so strong that I could never deny it. I think I want to end this post by sharing some of that with you. Take this for what it's worth, with the understanding that I'm not--not now, not ever--trying to invalidate your beliefs or suggest that you're going to hell for your life choices. I'm not about that life. I'm just trying to share with you something that means a lot to me. Thanks for listening. :)
I believe in a loving, caring, warm and real God.
I believe He is our Father, and He is a perfect Father.
I believe each human being carries a bit of His divinity.
I believe in Jesus Christ.
I believe in Christ's perfect life.
I believe in Christ's perfect death, and that He sacrificed Himself for us.
I believe that by following Christ, we can not only have a fulfilled life here, but that after our time in this world ends, that we can be with Him afterwards--and that that is better than the best thing imaginable.
I believe that Christ's church was brought back to earth, after a long leave of absence, through Joseph Smith.
I believe that God has provided a way for families to stay together beyond death.
I believe that God our Father and Christ our Savior want, more than anything, for us to be happy in the long run. I believe that they are individually concerned with and aware of our lives. I believe that there's always a greater plan at play.
I believe that the Book of Mormon is a true book, because of what happens to my life and my heart when I read it.
I hope to be the best person I can possibly be.
And I hope to one day see my God face to face. And hug Him. And tell Him how hard I tried.
And I believe that someday, I will.
And I wish us all the best luck on our journey towards finding truth and happiness.
Love you all!
Comments
Post a Comment