Well, I don’t know why I don’t just ignore you all. Too stupid, I guess.
Nonetheless, here I go.
Count me in as another devout Mormon. Why? Because, like emarkp, I have felt the Spirit tell me it’s true. Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon, the prophet, all of it. I like the feelings I get by working with my fellow Mormons to build the kingdom of God, and the longer I stick with it, the better it is and the more I learn.
And now to address some of you–
Dogzilla, I remember discussing women and the priesthood plenty. It took me a while to realize that the priesthood is not a mark of superiority. At all. Not only that, but the leaders of the Church actually mean it when they say that women are men’s equal partners, and that motherhood is the most important thing they can do. They aren’t just trying to keep us down by spouting pseudo-Victorian ‘angel in the home’ nonsense meant to keep us quiet. They mean it–and they’re right. In my time in the Church, I’ve come to know lots of women who have spiritual strength and influence equal to any of the men. We aren’t second-class citizens, by any means. You might enjoy reading books like Sister Saints or the other books about the early LDS women–man, they rocked.
Tithing! I pay my tithing, gladly. And I know exactly where it goes. We had a Sunday School lesson on it once, and I’ve done my own reading. Tithing goes for the maintenance of the Church–buildings, temples, BYU, ward and stake budgets, all that stuff. Fast offerings go to the welfare program (and I’ve enjoyed learning about that, too), both the centralized big stuff in UT that goes to big disasters, and the local stuff that keeps struggling members afloat with food, clothing, furniture, and money (And of course they ask you to do some work in exchange–in Zion, everyone contributes). Then there are mission funds, etc. If you look at a tithing slip, you will see several different funds you can donate too, and there are others that you can write in.
Uniformity of belief in the Church–you could write a whole book on this. I personally have never understood the divisions in other denominations (an example is the Lutherans and gay unions). See, the prophet gets his revelation from God. From God. So he knows what’s up. People who decide that the prophet is wrong are denying that he is a prophet–and have already left the Church (in their hearts, at least). We have already learned that God will not allow the wrong man to become the president of the Church. There is room for many opinions in the Church, but not on points of revealed doctrine. We’re trying to build Zion here, folks–we have better things to do.
I find it interesting that you object to the way that LDS wards are all similar. Of course they are. The same work needs to be done all over the world, and the same vehicles exist to do that work. Why does this bother you? Now, if you’re thinking that the actual people in the wards are all alike, as in androids or something, you couldn’t be further off–but they hopefully all have a similar purpose and object in mind.
AndyKeats, if you want to leave the LDS Church, you can. Nobody’s stopping you. You can ask to have your name taken off the records, and no one will ever try to contact you again. But all that anti stuff you’ve been reading is ridiculous, silly stuff. OTOH, all the logical evidence for Mormonism in the world won’t convince you unless you have faith. That’s the whole point, is to have faith. Logic doesn’t even come into it except as a fun intellectual exercise, indulged in by people who already have faith. You can read Hugh Nibley and Eugene England and othes, they are very good, and Orson Scott Card has some excellent essays in * A storyteller in Zion*. But they won’t convince you, because the only thing that can really do that is the Spirit.