The Truth Process

After God told me that God had done, is doing and will do a work through the Church of Jesus Christ. Some time passed and I made some mistakes in my reasoning. I blame my own arrogance and pride. In blue is what God taught me. In red, are the foolish and mistaken conclusions that I later came to.  1. God is with me. Therefore He is not with those of other religions. 2. God works through me. Therefore He does not work through people of other religions. 3. God is in my church. Therefore He is not in yours. If I had opened my heart, I might have learned from a leader of the Church of Jesus Christ, (Gordon B. Hinkley) words when he said  that there are many people of other religions who are inspired by God and serve Him.  I might have also learned from Peter when he said:  Acts 10:34-35 Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: (does not show favoritism)  But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is ...

This is a particularly difficult part to write and probably where most would say "this is too much". I'll do the best I can.  I've tried to think of how to say this. I thought of a number of analogies and I tried to think of comparable circumstances in Christs day.  Ill try to utilize all that I can, in the best way that I can.  So imagine that John baptized a number of wonderful devout people who traveled a long ways to hear to receive baptism from the hand of this prophet. These people then traveled to the coast and set up a remove fishing village away from Jerusalem. There they went about their lives, awaiting the Messiah, like John-- awaiting Jesus Christ. They were the best of people. Full of all goodness and truth and love. They prayed and read from their scriptures with complete devotion, serving their fellow man both and night and avoided all sin. They baptized their young and felt of the Holy Spirit as they talked about their Savior and Redeemer ...

So there is more than what I said about salvation. I want to share where I may differ from mainstream Christianity, and in some ways my views may differ from what some members of the church believe. Some of this is my opinion and I cannot claim it all to be church doctrine. But its all what I believe, as far as I understand God and the scriptures. If you see any error, I welcome the correction. Here is the rest of the scripture I quoted earlier: (then I will explain where I may feel differently from the mainstream in some of my views) “16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19 Honour thy father an...

I am so glad that you shared this with me. First of all, I want to acknowledge my own ignorance before God. If there is anything that I misunderstand, I pray that God may reveal it so that it may be understood with the aid of the Spirit of God. May the Lord work through each of us that we may both learn and be edified together in Christ. May the Spirit work through you and I both, that we both may be one in Christ. Okay—so you have encountered a common misconception among the saints of The Church—both anciently and modernly. Does salvation come through faith or works? And it is very exciting that we are discussing this—especially when I think that Paul had this conversed on this subject with the saints in Rome (fourth chapter) because they misunderstood it also-- just as the missionaries appear to have misunderstood it when they spoke to you. This is a subject that I (and other church leaders) have brought up countless times in and out of the church because it so commo...

I am honored that you read what I wrote. What initially started this discussion was a comment by you in response to a post that I had written about my experiences with people drastically misunderstanding my beliefs—how discouraging and frustrating this was at times. And how I wish that people would come to me and ask me what I believed-- and if something seemed wrong that they should ask me first. The first time I recall someone "drastically misunderstanding my beliefs" was in middle school. I was somewhat insecure and didn’t have many friends at the time. I was excited when I was seated by another boy in science class and I learned that he also believed in Jesus as I did. We were both excited to have this in common. I was so excited to have another person who felt the same way about Jesus that I did and wanted to follow His teachings just like me.  We talked all period long until the very end when we brought up specifically which church we attended. He attended ...

After my experience, God was everything to me. Not so say that I did everything perfect, but that He was The Rock that I built my life upon. He was the star that I steered my heart and actions towards. I tried to always do those things that would please Him. Whenever, I would make a mistake or get off course, I would always seek to direct my life back towards my God—making constant corrections along the way, but always trying to direct my life towards Him so that I would be able to feel His Holy Spirit again, and live my life in a way that would Glorify my Father in Heaven. I think that the best way for me to explain the next point I would like to make is by introducing an analogy of “faith”   as a structure composed of many bricks—each representing a belief, idea or doctrine. Christ is the Chief Cornerstone; the Main Piece of the Foundation of my faith. I had known about Jesus my whole life—I had heard all of the stories many times and had all of the lessons in church. Thro...