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Having spent 20 years of my adult life in the LDS church

. . .

Having Joseph Smith waiting at the gates of heaven to let us in or deny us access is against all teachings in the Bible. It is NOT Christian.
By denying this was taught are you also denying that previous prophets of the LDS church were NOT real prophets

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I never said it is not taught. IT IS.

I said that this part is often used without the rest of the teachings. This makes it sound like something it isn't.

I have only been an ex-non-Mormon for 40 or so years.

I started out to prove this Church was wrong.
I had a closed mind, I did not need to study more, I “knew” the Church was wrong.

BUT

I found that with a little extra study, proving this Church wrong could not be done.

There are still some points the critics use that I have not found the answer to.

And if one of them turns out to prove my faith in Father's Church is wrong, I will admit it and change.

It just takes a little extra study to find out what the critics are leaving out, and how leaving it out changes what the real meaning is.

So, all I can say is to look deeper, past the easy answers, and see how Father's teachings come together as a hole.

Father loves all of us.

I don't consider myself as a critic of the LDS church. It was with much prayer and soul searching before I decided to leave. I actually had considered going over to the RLDS (I think those are the right initials) but when I began to study some of their doctrine I didn't feel comfortable.
We all find our own place in life and no two people are going to agree on everything. For me I had major problems with the changes in the church and felt for the reason the church needed to be started up on earth (because all the other churches had fallen away from the true teachings and were wrong) that there were too many changes in the history of the LDS church. I had major problems with some of BY's teachings and felt that as a true prophet of God that his teachings should still stand true today.
I had stacks upon stacks of old church magazines I had bought at a thrift store years ago. I spent hours devouring them. I bought up all the LDS books I could find in thrift stores. I love history and so it was natural for me to read all I could on the history of the church I had joined. A fun time at my house was having my family at the table with the missionaries and playing Celestial Pursuit.

I helped convert a few family members and also spent time defending the teachings of the church against other family members.

I have nothing against the members of the church. I do have major problems with much of its doctrine and as posted before I eventually had my name removed from their membership rolls.

I found that with a little extra study, proving this Church wrong could not be done.

Reminds me of an old joke...

Late at night, a drunk was on his knees beneath a street-light, evidently looking for something.

A passer-by, being a good Samaritan, offered to help. "What is it you have lost?" he asked.

"My watch," replied the drunk. "It fell off when I tripped over the pavement."

"About half a block up the street," replied the drunk.

The drunk said: "Because the light's a lot better here."

"It's better to know nothing than to know what ain't so."

--Josh Billings