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Welcome Flameburns, Sounds like you would get along fine here.
Welcome to the forum. There are many wise and experienced people here. I don’t profess to be one of them. My father is a convert originally from St Louis. We love that place. I am one who, like many others, is trying to expand the perimeters of the LDS tent to be more inclusive. It is a slow moving and methodical church. I guess you could say conservative. Anyway, if you feel you are ready and want the support, comradarie of the saints, don’t feel that a literal testimony is a requirement. Many here have a very nuanced view of gospel topics. I would be cautious of who you share that with and what you say so that you are not labeled.
The church can be very uplifting to many or most. It doesn’t always work and sometimes that is because of personal situations and other times because of lack of fit with the ward.
Best of luck. You will know where your heart is.
I am a completely active, heterodox (differently thinking) but orthoprax (standardly living) member who sees many things symbolically that others see literally. Welcome. We discuss issues here, openly and broadly, and have radically different views than each other of many things, but we are committed to staying LDS in whatever way and to whatever degree possible.
There’s a new bishop in charge of my ward, as of last week. We will be getting together in the next couple of weeks to discuss my situation. I’m going to spend the next several days preparing to sit down with him. I can’t recall if this has been mentioned, but I would recommend you don’t tell your bishop “what you don’t believe”. Instead tell him what you struggle believing. Also tell him some of the positive things you feel about the church (great ward members, etc.) A slight change of words can sometimes make a big difference in how you are perceived.
Yes, I will focus on things I can affirm, not on things that might make the Bishop uncomfortable. LookingHard wrote:don’t tell your bishop “what you don’t believe”. Instead tell him what you struggle believing.
I say “I have hope and faith in eternal promises that are so beautiful that I want them to be true, but I still struggle with doubts.” I will not go into specifics. I have only ever gone into detail about how we equate church service as “binding” God to deliver blessings – and then those blessings might not materialize in quite the way that we have come to expect. Essentially, that we collectively tend to overpromise on the happiness and blessings category.
flameburns623 wrote:There’s a new bishop in charge of my ward, as of last week. We will be getting together in the next couple of weeks to discuss my situation. I’m going to spend the next several days preparing to sit down with him.
Who asked for the meeting? Is it you or your bishop that wants to make your beliefs a subject that gets discussed during the meeting?
When discussing beliefs with an ecclesiastical leader I’ve never made it past:
Leader: How is your testimony?
Me: Fine.
I think that’s all either of us have ever had the time for.
🙂 Good luck. If you want, let us know how it goes.
I of course have been asking for the meeting, which is needful if I am to be rebaptised and have my ordinances restored.
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