I need help.

[Anonymous]

metalrain wrote:

My patriarchal blessing tells me I was blessed with a double portion of faith and really I think sometimes that’s the only thing that keeps me going. I mean, in reality the effect of the church in my life isn’t a bad thing and I recognize that. Not going to church isn’t going to dramatically alter my life either.

At first I felt like my FC marked the end of my faith but in time I started to feel like my FC had a profound positive impact in my life. Maybe god wanted me to experience a FC because that was the next step in my eternal progression. Maybe that double portion of faith helped you experience the blessing of a FC.

metalrain wrote:

i’ve kind of felt, not in a voice or anything sort of way, that God kind of just wants me to explore and be on my own for a while and that’s disconcerting I think- especially with all the promises in the scriptures related to prayer and revelation. But, it’s always been a struggle for me. I thought that the whole process would take me a short amount of time but I am coming to realize how wrong I was on that.

Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and he was perfect. If one of his days is like a thousand of mine I figure I’ll be in the wilderness for about 110 years. Seriously though, there are lots of examples in the scriptures and even in our restoration narrative where revelation came to people that had explored and been on their own for a while. In almost every case the revelation took the person down an unexpected or even unconventional path.

I see being on our own as a good thing. The training wheels are off, dad just let go of the bike, we’re scared at first, but when everything clicks… oh boy.

[Anonymous]

Well, it looks like you’ve got tons of responses, so I’ll try to be short. You said one thing that caught my eye:

“The more I read the less I feel”

I may be interpreting that differently than how you meant to say it, but I can relate. My answer? Stop reading for awhile. Not feeling is not good. Let things settle. Take two weeks and just ponder what you’ve learned. See what happens.

For me, I get to that point where I’m wondering, “How in the world can I StayLDS?” and I just have to step back from it for awhile. It might not be the case for you, but I’ve always been able to find a reason to stick around.

One other thing I try to do is spend as much time reading materials that are written by true believers as I do reading things written by true doubters (or even those who are antagonistic). It gives me the full spectrum, and generally I find myself saying, “you know, they might both be right.” 😆

Best of luck to you. You sound like a thoughtful person, and thoughtful people generally make out all right in this world.

[Anonymous]

alltruth wrote:

“How in the world can I StayLDS?” and I just have to step back from it for awhile. It might not be the case for you, but I’ve always been able to find a reason to stick around.

:thumbup: This is has been the case for me too, alltruth. I find there is more to the church than just the specific point or two that is troubling me at the time.

alltruth wrote:

One other thing I try to do is spend as much time reading materials that are written by true believers as I do reading things written by true doubters (or even those who are antagonistic). It gives me the full spectrum, and generally I find myself saying, “you know, they might both be right.”

This approach has worked for me as well…and yes…I think in many ways, both are right. I embrace paradox. There isn’t one view that explains everything. I may identify more with one or the other, but I have tried to read general conference talks along side with critical or some non-mormon materials.

[Author]

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