Howdy

Welcome, ghostman. If you’ve lurked here for a while, hopefully you’ve been able to read some of our archived posts, as well as the currently active ones.

Your hope is our mission – that we can help remember and value the good even as we deal with the not-good. I hope this place helps you somehow – and that you help us somehow.

ghostman,

welcome to the happy medium.    …  that is a good way to think of the enlightened middle Way that isn’t focused on the negatives of the Church, but instead, finds joy in celebrating the core truths of the Gospel.

I like your example of the person who takes the words of GA, and then “magnifies” them 10x.  Once we dwell in the words, we lose the core inspired idea that went behind the words.  likewise, the prophets who founded great religions like the Church, were enlightened by the spirit to do something, but were flawed men (as are we all). Their words and actions reflect both the inspiration of the divine as well as the flaws of men. Therefore, the words they said were but a flawed shadow of the inspired idea, and those that followed amplified the flaws 10x.  

we have a choice of three alternatives, maybe more.

1. The Way of the 14 Fundamentals.  We can continue to magnify the words of the prophets, thinking every word — flawed or not — is inspired and mandatory, and live our lives ever measuring ourselves against that standard.

2. The Way of disaffection.  We take the words of the prophets, and magnify the flaws in them, to point out how they are false, and focus on those inconsistencies to condemn the church.

3. The Middle Way.  By shedding the extremes of the words, we seek to find the Word that is at the core of the words of the prophets. 

The Word is truth: all truth.  only truth.  words are only the shadow.  living in the shadow is no life at all.  he who once said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” lived and taught in a church that was all about the words of the law and nothing about the Word.  He challenged those caught up in the words, “Ye search the scriptures, thinking they are the Word, but they are they which testify of Me (the Word).”  words point to the Word.  they are not the Word, nor are they the Way.

Importantly, while He who was the Word challenged people to see the Word within the words, he did not challenge their Faith, nor encourage them to “leave the church” by ceasing being faithful Jews. He encouraged them to be more righteous than the Pharisees, not in their hypocritical, fanatical observance of the Law, but in the Way of truth and life. The first Christians were not so called, but rather, they called themselves, “Followers of the Way” (See Acts 22:4, NIV) – a More Excellent Way, the Way of Love.

The Middle Way is not the way of mediocrity, nor is it the ways of the extremes of idolatry of the words of scripture or prophets.  the Middle Way is to find the truth and light that exists behind the words, to find the Word, Logos, Reason to which the words point.  That Word is not found in magnifying the defects, but in seeing the golden nuggets of truth amidst the defects.  That’s the beauty of the Church: truth is there, but a bit of discernment may be required.

You have a stewardship as a high councilor.  You cannot afford to live in the chaff of idolatry that dwells in the words and defects of the Church.  In my impression, this required me to sort out what I truly believe: the Truth at the core.  Once I defined my personal statement of belief, I started being able to relate to the core truths of the Church, by focusing on where the concepts between my belief and the Church are in harmony.  It is important to remember that those you teach and to whom you serve need to be edified, not challenged (at least initially), so by focusing on the core beliefs we share, we can spiritually communicate something that feeds our souls.

Ghostman, thank you for the introduction & welcome.

I hope you can take comfort in knowing that many of us have been taking the same path

that you are. It does get better. It does get clearer. I hope you’ll hang around & continue to contribute.

Mike from Milton.

Glad you’re here ghostman.

Have you found that your views help you be more compassionate with members of your stake? Perhaps as you travel and talk, you can find ways to be a voice of inspiration to those who need to hear from your testimony, just as you are. It can bring a genuine quality to the calling you have and the opportunity to serve others.

I look forward to learning more from you and your posts here. Thanks for joining.

Welcome Ghostman,

My disaffection started in full speed when I was ordained a high priest. I already had doubts but that seemed to clinch it. One of my thoughts was if I am having doubts then why am I being ordained a high priest and where is the inspiration.

I am also a member of NOM but have stayed mostly away the last few months. They are a great bunch of folks but I found myself getting angry when I was browsing the forums. I find StayLDS more mellow but at the same time very cerebral. Almost too much for me because I like to skim the forums and move on. Maybe it’s because some of our members make me think too much.

What I really wanted to comment on was this ” It all started when I became disillusioned with some tenets of the Gospel.” What tenents of the Gospel or did I miss them? I often ask the question, What is the Gospel? To me it isn’t the LDS Church or the whole of its teachings. To me the Gospel is plain and simple. It is

“36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great acommandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Just my thoughts.

Ghostman,

You have found a bunch of likeminded people. Once again, welcome, and enjoy your stay.