Benhoganfan wrote: Well I will keep praying for you. Obviously, it was hard for you to walk the walk.
Best of luck to you. Life’s hard I know, but hang in there. Try to find peace and happiness. I know its not easy when you are filled with such hate. Take care.
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Oh where oh were to begin...
First of all you make many assumptions. Mormons tend to assume people left the LDS church for one or more of several reasons. Like you stated you assume I ‘couldn’t live the gospel’. That is a common one. Others are:
They never had a testimony
They were offended
They didn’t want to pay tithing
They didn’t understand Mormon doctrine
They wanted to sin
None of these are true in my case, nor in most ex-mo cases. I was a VERY GOOD Mormon, lived the LDS gospel better than most Mormons, had a great grasp on LDS theology and teachings, better than most LDS even. I didn’t want to sin, I was a full tithepayer, had a strong testimony, temple attender, wasn’t offended etc.
My life after Mormonism got a lot easier, simply because I came to the Christ of the Bible and was no longer trying to earn godhood (aka exaltation), rather Christ saved me, I no longer had to save myself. I didn’t ‘sin’ as the LDS think of it (stayed a virgin till I was married even, never smoke drank or did drugs, etc).
Why did I leave? I left because I set out to me a Mormon apologist and ‘prove’ the antis wrong. I studied both Greek and Hebrew in order to prove the Bible was corrupt and discovered that it was not corrupted and that there were not ‘plain an precious things’ removed. I studied church history in order to ‘prove’ the ‘great apostasy’, and discovered there wasn’t one. I learned to read Egyptian hieroglyphs to ‘prove’ the Book of Abraham was ‘true’ and discovered there was no way it could be. I studied LDS church history only to discover that it wasn’t as nicey nice as the LDS propaganda machine puts forth. I spend months going over ORIGINAL SOURCES only to discover that my ‘church’ was lying to me, even down to the number of ‘first vision’ accounts and their contents. I poured over books of Biblical archeology looking for any clue of evidence for the Book of Mormon and there was none, even though there was TONS of evidence for the Bible and early Church history. Over and over again I discovered, that contrary to my ‘feelings’ about the LDS church, none of it was true nor could it ever be true.
In short, I ‘studied’ myself out of Mormonism. Coming to the Christ of the Bible came later. Only after I left Mormonism (about 6 months) did I hear the true Gospel of Grace. That I didn’t need to ‘do my part’. That I wasn’t saved ‘after all I could do’. What I could do was NOTHING. What I needed to do was only accept what Christ has ALREADY done for me on the Cross. As I studied the Bible, on my own, I slowly came to the realization that ALL of Mormon doctrine is unbiblical. That Christ was not the spirit brother of any of us, much less Lucifer. Christ alone has the title of High Priest and to assume we as mortals can hold a priesthood that only belongs to Him is blaspehmy, there are no temple rituals like the LDS use in the Bible and all of the LDS ‘proof’ texts in the Bible are twisted and that the Bible actually teaches the OPPOSITE of Mormon doctrine. It was then that I could give my life to Christ and start living for HIM rather than it always being about ‘me’.
Your posts are perfect examples of this ‘me’ of Mormonism. You stated “I am a full tithe payer” “I teach Sunday School” Me Me Me. Which is proof the LDS are not Christians at all. For the Christian it isn’t about “ME” it is about Christ and HIM alone. It isn’t about a ‘church’, it is about Christ and serving Him. It isn’t about paying 10%, it is about giving your all and giving however much God leads you to. That is what Grace is about. Christ changed me and I could never go back to being the typical Mormon, the selfish godseeking type as so many have seen appear on these threads.
You assume I’m full of hated (both at this post and one directly above). Show me where the hatred is? Am I angry? Yes, at Mormonism for lying to me and its members and for leading people to Hell. In fact, it is similar to Jesus cleansing the temple, the closer and longer I walk with the Lord, the madder I get at the Mormon cult for what it does to people and families, especially those who leave. But I don’t hate Mormons, in fact I feel pity and sorrow for them, for they are trying to earn something (salvation) that Christ gives freely.
As far as ‘giving it up’. NEVER. Never will I give up on one soul trapped in Mormonism. They will have to deny the grace of Christ and the true gospel of grace on their own accord, not because I did not tell them the truth. And if they are mad at me,, so be it. I came to Christ and left Mormonism because an ‘anti’ ticked me off enough to try to prove him wrong. What I discovered was the ‘antis’ were right and Mormonism was a lie from the pit of Hell.
I will pray that God will open your eyes, as he has many others here on FR and elsewhere. The Christ of the Bible is waiting for you to denounce Smith and Mormonism.
Try to find peace and happiness.
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I have, in the only place peace and happiness CAN be found, in the arms of the Jesus Christ, eternally God, not created. The Jesus of the Bible, not the false Christ Mormonism preaches, that christ cannot save, give peace or happiness. All he can do is make you work your hind end off trying to please him which you can never do.
Give it up, Mormonism will only lead you to Hell.
Well, Bubba; THER's yer problem!!
Acts 26:24
New International Version
At this point Festus interrupted Paul's defense. "You are out of your mind, Paul!" he shouted. "Your great learning is driving you insane."
King James Bible
And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.
Thanks for the testimonial!
--The Chief Ticker...
IMO, Reaganaut made a very well thought out, prudent, intelligent post.
I would think Reaganaut deserves a reply...It would seem..that you would love to debate your mormonism. I'd love to see a good debate.