Thank you for your openness my feeling about two years ago was not so much of a grude as it was that I felt out of the blue I was harpoon and that left me cautious, yet again when I saw your post again this time I tried to put my best foot forward, only again to feel your rebuke for my faith!
You say "I would only fault them their credulity in their choice of religion."
When I was growing up in Michigan in the school system and in the nieghbor it was always frown upon those who were Catholics because they always wore metals of saints,prayed to statues, and the virgin Mary, and was not as accepted as they are today, in the protestants circles!
Yet inspite of some of my family and peer presure I had a soft spot for Catholics I did not hold those feelings!
I have gone through the world fire for my faith, to say I am easy a believer is not at all true!
I am not so beyond awareness as you believe the LDS are so easily persuaded and than to continue to endur this endless heat from those who dare not give an inch of recognition.
When I received the witness from the Holy Spirit that the Book of Mormon was true it was from God, it was beyond my expectation!
It was something that occured in my life that I did not know such things could happen!
At the time this happen to me, the person who gave me the book over a year ago, I was not speaking to we were business cohorts and we had a fallen out and I did not want him to know, yet I had to know more about this book!
How was this going to happen with out him knowing?
Well I had to let go of my pride and let God show me the way!
That was not the end I was confronted with the Kinderhook tales and the Walter Martin boogy man theories and John Ankelberg etc.
Before and after my baptism which was the most beautiful things for afterwards when I went out into the world the next day it was like a crisp new day an unsoiled page of my life!
The of the things I saw that day in the world was both wonderful and offensived to my soul!
The discernment was strong as I reflected on the religion as I knew it in my past, such as mainsteam Protestant and Catholic I could discern the areas where in those religions that the "Spirit of Lord" was present!
Mainly in the traditional music and Hymns and I also could as years went by discern all kinds of religious music that had the Spirit of the Lord and those that were just immatation!
I am a singer and very sensitive to those things I remember preparing Oratorio or Arias and the words would quicken to me I would see things in scripture I never recognized before or in history of major event and what really occured and not just a beautiful music but the incident became real.
Not many could I share with but I knew things I could not explain but I am sure as time goes by these images will be real to many!
I feel it is record in our DNA and as we continue do our family history the more we will become aware and know things byond our scope!
Even after the vision of the Savior, Paul could only be taught by the Holy Spirit, many are to witness to that fact in the Scriptures.
In each of us is stored all the knowledge be it in our DNA or things of the Lord, we will ever need and only the Holy Spirit can unlock and witness the truth of those things!
Peace be with you!