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First and foremost, thank you for adding me to the group. This support group is likely what I need at this stage in my life. This being the introduction forum and all… many moons ago I converted to the church, served a LDS mission, and married in the temple. I suppose that on this site I am in no way shape or form unique; in this instant, if pressed, I’d consider myself agnostic. I, like others here, “shelved” concerns until they eventually piled up enough to place considerable strain on the shelf. In the past I’d get what felt like answers to a few of the questions but the questions kept coming and eventually it got to the point where I had to reconsider what I thought were answers. Sort of a doubt your doubts… until you doubt the doubts to your doubts scenario.
:think: I prefer not to get into specifics in an introduction. I may or may not get into them on these forums, I certainly don’t want to be a stumbling block to someone struggling with their faith. My own personal conviction is that the process has to take place naturally. If the church is working for you and helping you progress as a person who am I to come along and rock that boat? Maybe it’s just me hedging a bet on Pascal’s wager.
I will say that I do understand that people aren’t perfect, my issues with the church aren’t born of members or leaders failing to live a perfect life. I guess that’s an important distinction for me – discerning the difference between people in church history, like me, living imperfect lives and doing the best they could with what they had vs. people in church history being outright charlatans… to go to the opposite end of the spectrum.
I look forward to participating on these forums and I hope to find understanding and information that will help me grow as a person – whichever direction that takes me.
Welcome to the forum. I appreciate your pragmatism. It’s an important tool. I find the discussion of people/history too. The Doctrine and History forum is a good place to browse through (and resurrect) old topics or start new ones. I look forward to the conversation.
Welcome!!
nibbler wrote:My own personal conviction is that the process has to take place naturally.
Ya…I agree. Although it seems we need to allow ourselves to accept there will be a process, and it is OK to have doubts or to think through and redefine the faith we have against our experiences. Sometimes it feels like we are taught that doubts are evil, so don’t even have them. That would be nice if we could just never have them, but sometimes we do…so what then? Well, we work through it and let the process take its course, and we don’t need to fear it. Just have to work through it.
For example, the mathematics of it all. How can there really be a tiny percentage of people given salvation principles, and no one else? Stuff like that…when you really think about it, prompts for better answers than we are taught at church. We need to own our religion, and make it our own, so it works for us. Right?
Glad you’re here.
Welcome to the forum. I hope you find that which you seek. I find the people here to be very understanding and non-judgmental. I understand and agree with your wish not to be a stumbling block to anyone else, but do know we’re a pretty resilient bunch and we can agree to disagree quite readily and without argument. I look forward to hearing your point of view. Generally, we are the ones hoping we aren’t a stumbling block to anyone else who finds us. The Island of Misfit Toys isn’t for everyone. 
Thanks everyone. I’ve read a few threads on the board since I’ve registered and yes, you appear to be a very good group. I may chime in on a topic or two. Some of the topics I was interested in appear to be several months old so rather than bump a dead conversation I may wait for the topic to come up again.
We bump up old threads all the time. Go for it, if you find one on which you want to comment. Welcome to the group. It’s great to hear how comfortable you are in your own skin. I’m still striving for that. I look forward to your insights. Ray: “island of misfit toys” I love it
😆 Futurama! I’d like to welcome you to the forum as well. I understand your concern about not being a stumbling block to others. I’ve been reading this forum for a couple of years now, and I’ve come to believe that this is a very safe place to discuss all of those questions that seem to be so forbidden to discuss at church. I am a firm believer that the truth will indeed set you free. I think it is much more consistent with long-term growth to base our faith and hope on the truth, and not on comfortable beliefs that are not quite true, or not quite completely true. I understand that everyone is on their own place on their journey, and that putting all the cards out on the table may not be the best bet for where they are in life. But I hope that you feel like you can really discuss your questions.
Welcome to the site! Heber13 wrote:Welcome!!
nibbler wrote:My own personal conviction is that the process has to take place naturally.
Ya…I agree. Although it seems we need to allow ourselves to accept there will be a process, and it is OK to have doubts or to think through and redefine the faith we have against our experiences. Sometimes it feels like we are taught that doubts are evil, so don’t even have them. That would be nice if we could just never have them, but sometimes we do…so what then? Well, we work through it and let the process take its course, and we don’t need to fear it. Just have to work through it.
For example, the mathematics of it all. How can there really be a tiny percentage of people given salvation principles, and no one else?
Stuff like that…when you really think about it, prompts for better answers than we are taught at church. We need to own our religion, and make it our own, so it works for us.Right? Glad you’re here.
Hi, nibbler – Glad you’re here. That’s what I like about this site – being free to follow the prompts. Mostly I just soak up and mull over what others have to say, but even that is very liberating.
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