[Ilovechrist77]

I’m really glad this topic was brought up. I remember seeing this face to face mentioned online. I can’t watch these type of church meetings anymore. Too much cover-up for the church’s past history, gas-lighting, and indicating following us can’t lead you astray. I still watch General Conference, though, there are still things said there that annoy me.

[Ilovechrist77]

Thanks for sharing. I really love the words and the message of that song. :thumbup:

[Ilovechrist77]

Quote:

“The news” has become a lens through which we see the world. The more we pay attention to “the news”, the more bad we see, because that lens is focused on the bad. The less we pay attention to “the news” the more good we see; simply because there is much more of it.

I can see that.

[Ilovechrist77]

I’m still here, Minyan Man. I have been enjoying time away from church due to the COVID-19, but I’ll also been a little lonely. Even with my issues with the church, it’s not the local ward members I have the issues. In fact, they’re my community.

Quote:

I believe it is important for children to be exposed to & appreciate other religions & beliefs. In our community there are a lot of Jewish families.

Some are Orthodox & others are Reformed. My wife was also a teacher in the public schools. As a result, we were invited to a number of Bar mitzvah &

Bat mitzvah. We have friends that are Muslim too. (We didn’t attend their services.) My daughter’s best friend is Jewish. One day she came home & asked why Mindy’s dad had numbers tattooed on his wrist. We had an interesting history lesson that day.

I was born & raised in the Methodist church. It is very accepting of everyone that comes to the services.

The only down side as I see it, is that are not very friendly & not a lot of participation singing hymns.

They seem to be in a hurry to get home afterwards. I have family members who are Catholic. They have a lot of ceremony to their services. Standing up & sitting down. (You won’t be the only ones sitting down the whole time. Sit in the back.)

I have a couple friends that are devout Catholics, but I don’t know any Jewish or Muslim people where I live. I’ve seen plenty of Muslim women around town, though. Hahah. You can’t miss them when they wear those burkas.

[Ilovechrist77]

“According to some of the religious programs on tv, it’s the end of the world. Especially if Donald Trump isn’t re-elected.” Haha. MM, please I hope the next president is anybody but him. Hahah. Although my mom isn’t a fan for Trump either, she finds it hilarious all his facial expressions. I can agree with that. Hahah.

[Ilovechrist77]

There are many times lately I wish God would just tell us clearly everything at once that we need to know. I’ve heard various explanations for it, but many only make sense to a extent. Even when we have important concerns, why does it often have to be like that? For instance, pardon the language, when will this damn COVID-19 be cured or treated enough so this social distancing and wearing face masks no longer has to be done? And, if there’s so much good in the world, why does the news tend to be more bad then good? I can’t explain it. :wtf:

[Ilovechrist77]

Hahah. I tend to structure my prayers a little too much. I tend to listen much more than when I used to pray before my mission and on my mission. The only time I asked God forgiveness is when I did something majorly wrong. Now I do it normally when I pray. Meditation has helped me get so much more out of my praying. I know some late presidents of the church taught meditation, but I wish it was something I would hear more from the pulpit these days.

[Ilovechrist77]

I just found the Ensign article you’re talking about. There was a lot of that post I agreed with, while there was a lot of things in there I didn’t agree with.

[Ilovechrist77]

Yeah, I just saw it on the church’s website. Thank God there at some good changes made to the handbook.

[Ilovechrist77]

Thanks, Gerald. I’ll have to listen to that. I loved his book Eager To Love. That taught so much of the inner path.

[Ilovechrist77]

Chieko Okazaki. I’ve heard of her but I’ve never read anything or remember hearing anything from her before. I’ll have to give her a shot. Thanks.

[Ilovechrist77]

Roy, thank you. I really appreciate that. I really try to give leadership the benefit of the my church issues regarding racist teachings and how they handled church history in the past, but I only handle so much. I’ve thinking after activity in the church started up again and if eventually things get to hard, I might need to ask my leaders if I can take a mental break. I don’t think that would be a problem because my bishop and my ward mission leader are pretty laid back guys.

[Ilovechrist77]

The Rational Bible does sound interesting too. I think I’ll check that too. Thanks!

[Ilovechrist77]

Roy, I have thought of taking a sabbatical. In fact, when I was inactive at one time, I was sorta doing that. However, I eventually felt I needed to go back. I was visiting my parents this Sunday for Father’s Day and I didn’t realize that, even though my dad has had his health problems caused by used to having his radiation treatments for cancer, my parents had distanced themselves from the ward. I said in their case a change of location might help. I have been enjoying home church in my apartment since the church shut down due to the COVID-19, but a part of me misses the fellowship. There some family friends in my ward that seen and supported me through my various stages of faith. I’m real close friend with them. However, I don’t want to unload all my concerns on them either. Although my new bishop is a very laid back guy, I don’t know him well enough to share too many of my concerns with him. I have a calling a ward missionary, which I don’t mind. It’s just that where so many members have this eventual hope that all non-members will join the church, I don’t believe everyone will be comfortable as a member of the church no matter how spiritual or “worthy,” “righteous” they are. I believe it may or not be part of their spiritual path. I’m kind of that way when it comes to ministering when it comes to people that are inactive. If people feel prompted to be baptized into the church or be active in it, I welcome it. If they don”t, I support that too. I’m aware that any religious organization wants as many as possible to join and it keep there members involved as possible, I respect that. I just wish respecting people’s spiritual paths could be taught a little more often in many religious organizations, especially our church. Elder Uchtdorf, who I like alot, used to teach that a little bit. Now, I noticed in the April General Conference that his message seems to have changed a little bit.

[Ilovechrist77]

Quote:

I suggest the audiobook “The Courage of Being Disliked” by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi.

Thanks, Heber13, I’ll have to check that out.

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