I started this post early in the day and I probably won't get it completed until late tonight. I have a lot to say concerning religion and I don't want to just sit down for 15 minutes to try and put it all out there and not say it the wrong way. So i'll take it a little at a time and hopefully it all comes out the way I want it to and I can say all that I want to.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I have been for my whole life. Not necessarily very active my whole life, but a member non-the-less. I believe in the values taught in the church. I believe in God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. I believe that when I die there is life after death where I will be with my family as long as I live the way I need to be living, which I could really step up on that a little bit. I believe that Jesus Christ died for me and that he loves me more than I could ever know. I believe in the power of the priesthood, I have seen it do so much good personally and couldn't imagine not being able to have it in my life. On that note I also believe that women and men each have their own roles in the church. I am not thrilled with the woman thinking they're not being treated equally. When in reality, we are. We just have different responsibilities than men and the power of the priesthood is so strong and sacred, it's an honor to have it for any man, they work for it and when it's earned it's a great experience. I honestly don't know that I would want that responsibility with how great of a power it is. I'm a mom, that's my big, great, grand responsibility given to me from God, and that's all I need. Let me take care of the worldly things I can and let my husband be able to take care of the rest for us.
Now, as far as other religions go, I have nothing against them, and I will always treat others the way I would hope they would treat me in this matter. I have family from all sorts of religious backgrounds and I love them all because of who they are, not the religion, or no religion, that they are. One of my best friends is not of my same faith, I honestly couldn't tell you what religion she is, but she is AMAZING. She is the most loving, giving, charitable woman I know. She puts others first, believes in God, and is just all-in-all absolutely pleasant to be around. She doesn't attend her church weekly, but she does go occasionally, and that's her choice, but to me, that doesn't make her a bad person.
I have a cousin who I am really close to and she has grown up not liking the LDS faith because of the reputation some members have given off. She thinks members of the LDS church are all stuck up, and only want to convert those that aren't of the faith. Yes, in a sense converting others is true, but I don't push it. I'm one to only tell you if you ask, other than that, I leave it alone because I don't want to offend you if you're just not interested.
Too often I feel like because somebody isn't of our faith we are too quick to judge. I'm not okay with this, if you drink, smoke, shop on Sunday, are a little different than me, but treat me and my family they way we deserve to be treated, like normal human beings, than we will all get along just fine.
We just had a lesson one Sunday about helping spread the word of our church and all great things came out of that lesson, but I also feel like we shouldn't be pushing people. Everyone is at their own level in life, and even at their own level with the LDS faith. My brother is no longer active due to people being too pushy with him when all he really needed was people to love him for him and stop the judging. I have been taught that I should be talking to him often and bringing it up frequently with him, but I know the way the conversation will go, and I value my relationship with him too much to let one little session of trying to teach him something put that to crap.
So to really sum it up yes, I believe in God, I love my church, but I also love that I don't have to be 100% in attendance to feel like i'm doing okay.
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