I've wanted to do this post for a long time because my faith and church are so close to me, and a blog about me just wouldn't be complete unless I talked about them. There are a lot of people who aren't familiar with my church or want to know why the heck I would choose to follow such a path, so hopefully this will clear some things up about the church as well as why I am a believer. Here we go.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, aka the Mormons. If you have continued to read after that statement and not turned away grumbling about those crazy people from Utah, I thank you for your open-mindedness and willingness to give me a shot. Whenever the topic of religion comes up a lot of people feel uncomfortable and shy away from the conversation, which I can totally understand. BUT the beauty of a blog is you can read this in the privacy of your own brain and ponder what I have to say in peace.
So what exactly do we believe? We believe in God, our Heavenly Father, and in His son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. We believe that they are three distinct individuals that make up the godhead and that God and Jesus Christ have bodies just like we do! They are not just spirits.
We believe that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know each of us - our talents, our hopes, our fears, our shortcomings, our hardships, our great worth - and loves us more than we can imagine. They want what is best for us and for us all to return to them in the next life. We can do this by living as they would want us to and doing our best to follow their teachings each and every day.
As humans, God knew we could not be perfect and would make mistakes and go against His will at times. That is why He sent Christ to the earth 2,000 years ago to live a perfect life, take upon Himself and experience all of our sins and hardships, die for us, and then be resurrected. Through this Atonement and Resurrection, we are all given a life after our time here on earth, something I am so grateful for.
We believe that after Christ and his twelve apostles (chief witnesses) died, their Priesthood authority (power and authority given from God to act in His name) died with them. As a result, although people created many churches of their own accord, the true church of Christ left the earth for many years.
We believe that in 1820, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to a boy named Joseph Smith in response to his heart-felt and sincere prayer asking to know which church he should join. God and Jesus Christ told Joseph he should join none of the churches because they were "incomplete" and made according to man's wishes and not God's. Then, through Joseph Smith, God and Jesus Christ restored the full Gospel that was established during Christ's time. That true gospel is our church today.
We believe after His resurrection and death, Christ appeared to the people in the Americas, and their histories and witnesses of Christ are contained in the Book of Mormon. We believe in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, both acting as testimonies of Jesus Christ and his divine mission on the earth.
For some reason, a lot of people hold misconceptions about the church, and it is usually those who don't know any Mormons or are afraid to ask questions. I used to be one of those people. I joined the church just six months ago after about two years of studying and investigating, and I tried my hardest to not believe. But once I started asking questions to legitimately learn and actually started to read the Book of Mormon, everything didn't seem so strange and I started to see why members of the church are so dedicated.
Since I've become a member of the church it's like I'm looking at life through a windowpane of positivity. What used to be a setback or hardship, is now just a trial of my faith that will refine me a little bit and leave me better than I started. What used to be unanswered questions of where I came from, why I'm here, and where I'm going, are now answered in the most beautiful ways. What used to be passiveness is now faith!
I love being a member of the church! I love knowing that Someone is always there watching over me (no matter where I am or what I am doing) and that I can reach Him anytime through prayer. I love having a living prophet (an inspired man just like Moses, Noah, Peter, or Paul, who is the mouthpiece for God on the earth) who leads the church and helps guide us through life. I love knowing of my great worth as a daughter of God and strive everyday to live up to that title and have respect for my body. And most importantly I love being happy because I know these things are true!
Just because I am a member of the church does not mean I think I am any different or better than you. I am by no means perfect and don't think I am even close! I am still a normal person who goes through good and bad times and makes countless mistakes. Thankfully though, my church gives me hope, faith, and comfort in life, and helps me find peace and happiness where I couldn't on my own. That is why I believe.
If you have made it this far, thank you! I love sharing about my church and hope this cleared up any major questions that you had and got rid of some false rumors you may have picked up. I'd love to answer any questions or talk about the church at any time, and the church also has an awesome website (which you can access here) that will explain everything in better detail. Hopefully you enjoyed this post and, at the very least, learned what Mormons like me believe.
