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In light of events of the past few weeks, I have been feeling a bit down and frustrated about the direction of the church. As he was preparing to serve, I was fairly open with my son who is on a mission about my concerns regarding history, culture, lack of transparency etc… He is in an area where I’m guessing they have little news or contact about the larger happenings in the church so I wanted to share with him how I have been feeling. I was nervous about what his response might be and so relieved at his maturity. His attitude and approach give me hope! Hope it does the same for some of you here: As for your doubts with the church. My mission is in Ghana. It won’t distract me. However I’d love it if you shared some with me and counciled about it with me as your son. Something I strongly believe in. Ask and ye shall recieve. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of god, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye shall know the truth of all things. Truth is defined as a knowledge of things is the were, as they are, and as they will become. I’ll be honest. Joseph smith as a man was not true. The church as a human orginization is by that definition not true. I know that so many actions throughout the history of the church are not “true”. But what I do know is that God is True. That he has a son, Jesus Christ, who is “true”. As Jesus Christ lives, he loves us. That is “true”. And the truth within the church lies within what we come to find through study of the scriptures (complete study, not just book of mormon, but a knowledge of all the holy scriptures), through prayer, and through continued faith and repentance and living the covenants that we’ve made. I have found so much “truth” on my mission, inside and outside the church, about the church and not about the church. But I do know there is truth in this world. The other thing I have learned is life isn’t black and white like the church makes it to be sometimes. With deeper understanding comes a grey area, which is sometimes dangerous but very opening. Many people would argue that there is no gray area. For that one, just look at the plan of slavation. The kingdoms in themselves show that there is a gray area. That is what the terrestrial kingdom is. Anyways. There’s a lot of things in the church that are confusing. I’d love to hear your thoughts and doubts and share ideas with you, not as a missionary but as your son. Well. I love you so much dad. Stay strong, and thanks for everything. Love your son
A very wise young man. You should be proud of your part in making him so. I don’t have time but I just wanted to say I’m so happy for both you and your son. That your son is at the level of maturity that I desperately and frantically sought at at that age to have friends with inside church. It’s for that reason I write because I found that an endless pursuit(not taking church history but this level of non dogmatic taught about things). Congrats, I hope I have a child I can talk to like this one day.
Excellent. :thumbup: Wow. After reading his letter, I am confident that your son is a good missionary and a good man. I agree with everything that’s been said. I have a similar relationship with my sons.
It is a big relief to see when your children become mature & look for advice (& give advice) as equals.
It is also a huge blessing.
As one missionary dad to another, I will say I have been surprised at how understanding my son has been. We do discuss general things via email (we are generally able to do the live email thing) and I have sent him a few of what I call “epistles” (longer letters discussing my views). Your son’s response to you sounds similar to some I have had from my son. My son is in South America, also distanced from church events that draw more attention here. I don’t hesitate to tell him about things like OW and we did discuss the excommunication of Kate Kelly. A couple months ago I sent him links to all of the church essays – they seem to be fairly unaware of things like that there although they are freely allowed to access LDS.org. In fact, the church’s Easter video (Because of HIm, which I thought was great) was unknown to him – but it was a fairly big deal here the week before Easter. He was excited when I sent it to him after discovering he didn’t know about it. This past Monday I sent him the text of the statement on apostasy. He knows I don’t believe in things like polygamy and that I don’t believe one has to have a testimony of the Book of Mormon to be a member in good standing. He knows more than my TBM wife because he’s more receptive and far less judging, but he still doesn’t know the depth of my unbeliefs, questions, or doubts.
So based on my experience, I’d say go ahead and share whatever you feel comfortable sharing – he has asked you to, and if it gets uncomfortable you can just stop.
Wow — that message brought tears to my eyes from your son. What a mature person who sees the issues through the eyes of a seasoned, life-battered individual (not that he is, but his perspective is such). His is a balanced approach to truth I can believe in. Great job — thanks for posting it. i thought it was going to be a sappy, dichotomous, pollyanna letter. Instead it had all the elements of what I would like to see the church become.
The idea of the presence of multiple kingdoms shoring up the argument for Gray Truth is brilliant.
Tell me more about your son — is he a genius? (I mean that seriously).
Wonderful! I’m sure that you are very proud.
:thumbup:
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