- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
Old-Timer wrote:
cwald, we are defining the term “full circle” differently. I’m saying we are nowhere near where we were in Joseph’s day – but we are moving back in that direction from the most hardcore opposite direction of a few decades ago.
Frankly, I don’t want to get back to the exact same point of the Church’s beginning – and you don’t want that, either. I want to continue to swing back toward it, but I want to stop short of it.
If a better analogy would be the classic pendulum, fine – but the point is that we are hearing more messages now about diversity and becoming and finding our own faith than we did 20-40 years ago. It’s not where I want it to be, but it’s closer than it was when I moved away from home and started my adult life.
Ok
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
This is a good thread. Thanks for pondering and sharing thoughts so we can share with each other. I believe we are to progress to do what is right. Like our Heavenly Father. It is not intended to be independent of God, but to progress.
As I think about it, I don’t think you escape the relationship with God. The more I do things the right way not out of fear of punishment AND the less I do it for brownie points with God or mansions in heaven,but out of love for goodness and others, the more I become like God. The closer to Him I get. The more like Him I get, the more in common with Him I get, the more I expect to be in His presence. Not because I NEED Him but because I am like Him.
It is similar to my thoughts about church. The more mature I get, the less dependent on the church I become and I become more gospel centered. However as I work on becoming more gospel centered, the more involved in Church I want to become, not because I NEED the church but because the church helps me do the things right in my life I am choosing to do. It is the soil or ground area where I can work and toil to do what I want to do to help things grow in my life. I also believe I could work in other pastures outside the church, but it can be done in the church too, and since that is where I’m planted, it is where I choose to toil. It can work. Not because I need the church, but because I need to work, and the church helps me do that by allowing me to do it, and I can choose to do it for the right reasons.
By wanting to do what is right, it doesn’t make me independent of God or the church. It brings me in harmony with all good things. And I seem to embrace good in my life, not seek to be independent of anything else just to prove I’m strong enough to be on my own.
Just my thoughts. Good to see everyone.
Heber13, I really like what you said about church. That’s something I haven’t really thought about but I think it sums up a lot of why I’ve been struggling to attend regularly. I’ve just never said it so simply:
I don’t need the church.With how I believe, I really don’t. That being said, just because I don’t NEED it, does that mean there isn’t a place for it in my life? No.
For example: I don’t NEED to drink soda. I would survive just fine without it. But drinking soda is enjoyable and I like it. That doesn’t mean I have to drink every kind, or drink them all the time. But there are a few kinds I like that enhance my life in some small way.
Same with church. I don’t need it, but there are aspects that I like. I don’t have to accept all of it, or participate every week or in every activity. But there are some things about church that I like and that enhance my life in many ways.
I think with me it’s about the locus of control. When I feel that the locus of control lies with the church, it makes me want to run from it. But if I can engage with the church in a way where the locus of control lies with me, then church could be a valuable tool in helping to enhance my life. If I don’t worry about whether or not I fit in, or believe the same as everyone else, or if I’ll get in trouble for speaking up, or not being 100% “obedient” to commandments I don’t necessarily believe in, and just focus on the aspects I like then perhaps I’ll be able to reengage with the church in a meaningful way. Rather than self-disfellowship myself I should just go and be myself and if the church doesn’t like me…well, not a whole lot I could do about that.
That to me seems like a much healthier approach than I’ve had in the past. I think I’ve had a very adolescent view of church. It’s like the parent that seems overly strict and sets rules I don’t like and punishes me when I don’t do what it says. And I complain about the rules and “it’s not fair” and “you can’t tell me what to do” and all that. But the same as I’ve moved on from that relationship with my parents perhaps I can do that with the church.
I’m very glad I started this thread. Thanks everyone for the great comments!
Wuwei, that was well said. wuwei wrote:With how I believe, I really don’t. That being said, just because I don’t NEED it, does that mean there isn’t a place for it in my life? No.
that’s right…you can StayLDS and define the place it has in your life. For me, I love the people I meet at church. Just good, salt of the earth people, sprinkled with some bozos
Quote:…but there are aspects that I like. I don’t have to accept all of it, or participate every week or in every activity. But there are some things about church that I like and that enhance my life in many ways.
I believe so many people actively involved at church do this all the time. We are all cafeteria Mormons, just in differing degrees or flavors.
I like your locus of control and comparison to your relationship with your parents. As you own your religion, and choose how it best helps you, you can be in control and release a lot of anxiety about it. It may be hard to explain it to others, but they don’t need to understand…it is your faith and experience and testimony sacred to you.
Have you read Wend Ulrich’s Sunstone talk on Cognitive Dissonance? If not, google “Wendy Ulrich cognitive dissonance help thou my unbelief”.
It has remained as one of my favorites, because it brings some great points on the stages many of us go through, and that not everyone that goes through those stages gets to the conclusion that the church is false or that there is no place for God in our lives.
I believe as we progress, we see how we can become more like God, and not try to be independent of Him (like your analogy of the rebellious teenager…may feel they want to get away from parents to show independence, but we learn there is a place for the relationship with a parent if we properly define the right balance of boundaries). I have become more active in church and feel good it is because I want that experience for me and my kids. It is my choice. And so I just manage my feelings on Sunday as I do, because many things I hear I disagree with…and that’s ok.
wuwei, you might like the following post from my personal blog that I reposted here: “
My Marriage as a Metaphor for My Church” ( http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=238&hilit=my+marriage+as+a+metaphor If you want to comment on it, go ahead and bump it up again.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.