Husband leaving the gospel….

[Brian Johnston]

Welcome to StayLDS. I remember some of your posts from FacesEast. I hope we can give you additional perspectives here.

[Tom Haws]

Hi, SG. You’ve probably noticed that our conceptions of God and Heaven vary around here. One pretty common value we hold is the belief that there are paths to Heaven outside the church too. We simply have each decided for our own reasons to make our path an LDS path (of some color). I personally am willing to believe that your husband is following the highest he feels and sees. I am willing to rejoice in his path as long as it is not a path of anger, separation, and suffering. In fact, I’m willing to believe he may be closer to the gospel than even before in his life (maybe?). I’d like to hear how things have gone for you.

[Limhah]

One Mormon author who I’ve long derived inspiration from is Ogden Kraut, who has written many books on various gospel principles. One which helped clarify my understanding a lot is called The Church and the Gospel. The title is pretty self-explanatory. In a nutshell, Kraut is concerned here to show that the two terms are not necessarily synonymous. A person might have legitimate concerns or issues with the church at any given time, but may yet retain faith in the unchanging Gospel principles.

So, when we speak of someone “leaving the gospel,” we have to be extra careful to clarify exactly what that person is thinking and what his aim is. Unless he is completely changing religions or leaving religion altogether (which might be understandable in some cases), don’t take it for granted that a person’s difficulties or disillusionment with the church equates to leaving the gospel.

[Author]

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