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Note, this question is not asking if you have a testimony of the church….it’s asking if you have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in the LDS Church, focusing on Faith, Repentence, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost and temple ordinances. I went with somewhat agree. I do have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, mostly as taught by the church. I have some doubts about some of it as taught by the church. I believe Jesus taught the way to salvation, even though I won’t claim to know what salvation is exactly – I am confident it has something to do with charity, loving our neighbor, etc. I believe as the world is becoming more loving and less barbaric it is gradually becoming “saved.” I agree with DarkJedi. Most of my issues are how it is taught or interpreted at different times by the church, various leaders, and sometimes the manuals. But I have had my own type of personal spiritual experiences, and those I believe in. I think the distinction for most is going to be what “the gospel as taught by the LDS Church” means to each person. I have some issues with the WAY the gospel is taught by many people (and how the gospel is confused with other things), at all levels, but I have a very strong spiritual testimony of the core of what I see as being taught by “The Church” when it comes to only what I define as “the Gospel”. (See my signature lines for an example of that.)
Orson wrote:I believe Jesus taught the way to salvation, even though I won’t claim to know what salvation is exactly – I am confident it has something to do with charity, loving our neighbor, etc. I believe as the world is becoming more loving and less barbaric it is gradually becoming “saved.”
I tried to say this very thing to my wife last night, though I would have to add something like “I believe Jesus taught the way to salvation [though not exclusively]…”
From my studies, the Buddha, various Muslim mystics, and even spiritual teachers like Eckhart Tolle teach beautifully about how to live peacefully and contently, with charity and loving kindness for our brothers and sisters.
But this:
Orson wrote:even though I won’t claim to know what salvation is exactly
This is absolutely beautiful to hear. I have the same sentiment.:wave: Thanks for sharing.SilentDawning wrote:Note, this question is not asking if you have a testimony of the church….it’s asking if you have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in the LDS Church, focusing on Faith, Repentence, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost and temple ordinances.
No.
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I believe strongly in Christ. I am not at all sure about temple ordinances. SilentDawning wrote:Note, this question is not asking if you have a testimony of the church….
it’s asking if you have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in the LDS Church, focusing on Faith, Repentence, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost and temple ordinances.I chose “Disagree Somewhat”; I would like to believe there was some inspiration and truth behind what Jesus, Paul, Luke, Peter, etc. said and did according to the Bible but at the same time I could easily see the possibility that maybe Jesus was just another man that was later made out to be a larger-than-life myth after the fact. I definitely believe in God and life-after-death but lately I have viewed them from more of a universalist perspective and I’m not sure about how much a final judgment makes sense much less the idea that God would actually condemn people eternally over some formality like baptism. Most of all I don’t see why God should blame me for believing exactly what I do and admitting that there are still many unanswered questions where I’m not really sure what to think about them anymore. What bothers me about the whole testimony concept is the overbearing expectations that we absolutely need to believe some official list of points and if not then it’s not alright. I disagree with this general idea, for all we know it’s not that important for everyone to believe the same thing to begin with and sometimes believing things that are false is not nearly as serious as many people think.
I voted somewhat disagreed because I believe in the idea of some of the teachings but doubt we got the teachings the way we are taught at church. I think man has embellished most of what we have today but I can not deny that I have felt the spirit very strongly a few times in my life.
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