What if I’m wrong?

First: I’m not a wise one.

Second: My answer isn’t going to help you at all.

Now that that’s out of the way…

Do any of the rest of you worry that you’ve got it wrong?

No, I don’t worry I’ve got it wrong. That’s because I’m pretty sure I’ve got it wrong so there’s no need to fret over it. Heck, if I’ve got it wrong that means I’m wrong about being wrong, so I’m right in thinking I’ve got it all wrong. :crazy:

But in all seriousness, as strange as it sounds I find a great deal of comfort in knowing that I don’t have all the answers. Uncertainty would have scared me in the past but now that same uncertainty drives my faith.

The best I can tell you is to take ownership of your own unique spiritual path. For me one of the hardest doubts to overcome has been self doubt.

So here I am, and here’s what I have to say:

Do any of the rest of you worry that you’ve got it wrong?

The mark of a free person is that ever-persistent uncertainty about whether you are right.

So, yes, I wonder if I have it wrong. If the things I’m doing now will consign me to endless woe and lack of eternal progression.

But guess what — I also wondered if I had it right when I was a Tr-holder and living all or nothing too!!!

My answer is also not going to help much, too.

Directly after my FC, I definitely wondered if I was wrong about a lot of things. It brought me to tears almost every day for a couple weeks, and more than once the tears were frightened, desperate sobbing. Switching from the all-or-nothing belief is really, really difficult, because it’s such a black and white world in the church. You’re either right or you’re wrong. The fear that I’d gotten “it” wrong somehow was really paralyzing for a little while there. Fortunately, I tend to adapt fairly quickly after traumatic experiences, and now I’m like nibbler — I’m comfortable knowing that I don’t know all the answers, and heck, no one really knows all the answers anyway.

There are a lot of instances in life where we just have to take what little information and experience we have on a subject and continue on our way with the hope that the conclusions we reach are the right ones. Some people can make and stick to their conclusion come hell or higher waters, while others are comfortable letting things change and evolve over time.

I still wonder sometimes if I’ve got it wrong and if I’ll die and reach the afterlife and look around and go, hmm, you know, I was completely off on this. But it’s more a curiosity now rather than a fear. The beliefs I’ve redefined for myself post-FC have really helped me a lot in getting to this state of mind.

Lately I view ordinances as largely symbolic, but have a hard time seeing them as necessary to salvation for all people. I’ve been baptized, endowed, and sealed to my husband, so I guess I’ve covered them all- but I’m not sure they are strictly necessary. Or maybe what I’m not sure about is how necessary it is to live all of our “rules” with exactness.

This is an instance where the conclusion is different for all of us. From what I’ve seen, there are quite a few here who don’t believe our “rules” are strictly necessary. I personally know many who live by the spirit of the law than by the exact word, and they find comfort in that. For me, it’s more a cultural, tradition-based thing, and coming from an ethnic culture based a lot on traditions, I don’t mind living pretty closely to the “rules” when they don’t clash with my beliefs or my logic.

This isn’t going to help, but it’s really up to you to decide what you believe on this and what you believe is the nature of God. My belief in the nature of God tells me that with so many possibilities and options and paths built into our existence, it’s improbable to expect anyone to be exactly right, and in fact it’s against nature and logic to do so.

And at the very least, you can take comfort in knowing that if you’re wrong, a whole lot of other people are right there with you.

I don’t worry much, either, and I don’t worry about this. If Heavenly Father really does know each of us and if He really is as loving and merciful as the scriptures seem to indicate, He knows my heart. If I am to be punished for following the dictates of my own conscience in doing what I believe is right, so be it.

I don’t worry much, either, and I don’t worry about this. If Heavenly Father really does know each of us and if He really is as loving and merciful as the scriptures seem to indicate, He knows my heart. If I am to be punished for following the dictates of my own conscience in doing what I believe is right, so be it.

I line up a lot with DJ on this. I worry about it a lot less now than I did before (and actually I don’t worry about it much now). IMHO, if God is the type of God who will damn me for eternity for doing my best, and there really are different levels (kingdoms) in the afterlife, I’m not much interested in living with that God (that probably sounds a bit blasphemous, but is a comfortable conclusion I personally have come to). I will assume that my wife and kids would rather that we hang out together in the Terrestial kingdom than be separated. Also, come find DJ and I because we will be hanging out together (DJ and meggle no offense intended that we will not be in the Celestial Kingdom. Also open invitiation to all other potential Terestrial kingdom dwellers to come hang out as well …If you can’t tell I don’t take it as seriously as I used to).

🙂 :clap:

Hi meggle,

I can’t refrain from responding since you are referring to me as a “wise one” 😆

Seriously though, I look at it the way SunbeltRed does, but I will admit that is something I won’t say in a Sunday School lesson. The God I have come to know doesn’t hang around the classroom holding a wooden ruler pacing and looking for somebody to whack on the hand.

It helps me to have been a parent of three now grown daughters and to put that experience into the context of the LDS belief (though not overly taught, by any means) that God was once like us. If that is the case, then he probably had similar experiences that I have had raising my girls and I simply won’t stop loving them, even if they make a mistake, do something I disagree with, or stumble as they strive to reach their potential. I won’t want to eliminate them from my life either — EVER.

An experience comes to mind that we fondly laugh about together now that my oldest daughter is a married adult. In her middle and high school years, I would help her with her math and we would get into knock down, drag out fights as I tried teaching her some of the concepts. Looking back, it was pretty funny, though stressful at the time. Needless to say, she did not grow up to be an engineer, but she has a job she loves working with kids that attend a Boys and Girls in the community she lives in. It’s wonderful to me that she has a job where she is helping people.

Her younger sister just started college this fall and got a third piercing in her ear. Seriously, did I really care about that when I saw her singing children’s songs to her older sister who has a disability this last weekend when she came for a visit?

I think God loves us a lot more than we realize and he’s not the disciplinarian that some preach in Mormonism. At least those are the feelings I get when I pray and try to reach out to him. I seriously think his plan is a lot bigger than our little church.