Posted by:
Naomi
(
)
Date: August 22, 2011 11:45AM
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,241709,241709#msg-241709http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,242015,242015#msg-242015http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,242152,242152#msg-242152Yes, it's true – I'm getting married to a guy who was born a Muslim in Afghanistan, who has never been to the US, and I haven't even seen him in person in over two years. Like most people on here were telling me, sounds like a bad idea, right? The Mormon church thinks so too - "We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background." (“Lesson 31: Choosing an Eternal Companion,” Aaronic Priesthood Manual 3, 127) The logical thing would be for me to break off my engagement based on the anecdotal advice of some random people I don't really know, who knew someone who had a failed relationship with an Iranian or Saudi Arabian. Right?
Here's the thing. I'm not willing to make my decisions based on an unfounded fear of something that could possibly go wrong in the future. Mormonism is based on fear, but I've moved past that. “Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.” (Amelia Earhart) Sometimes faith can be a good thing: faith in another human being; faith in love. I choose that kind of faith over fear.
Please feel free to post all your prophecies of doom about how I will be enslaved by a domineering Muslim man who is only interested in me because he wants to live in the US, and will kidnap me and my future children to some faraway country, never to be heard from again. Most of you didn't even care to read my entire post before responding, and you certainly won't be around to find out whether your prophecies come true or not. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is not effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” (Theodore Roosevelt) Except for using “man” and “he” throughout the quote (as I'm sure Steve Benson would point out ), President Roosevelt is exactly right.