Posted by:
americangirl406
(
)
Date: September 10, 2011 01:00PM
Dear Family,
First I want to say that I love you with all of my heart. I have come to a decision that will be hard for you to hear and even harder for you to understand, but I hope you will listen with an open heart.
Recently I have been questioning the church. For a long time now I have realized that I had a distant relationship with God, and that I was only going to church sometimes for the social part of it. I came across something on the internet called the journal of discourses, which is all the speeches from previous prophets of the church. After reading some of these things I realized that how the church started and how the church and its history are taught to us in Sunday School are completely different things.
I also came across a list of things that the church believes in that we might not be aware of, and most of them indeed were things that I had never heard of at all. So then the obvious question was, how can I be sure that this isn’t just made up? So I started to look into it. There are two organizations that are run by church members, one of them is called FARMS and is stationed at BYU in Utah, just to defend the church and the allegations against it by the many people that leave the church and historians that have been excommunicated for their research on unsavory aspects of the church’s past.
The fact that they exist at all, and the fact that they are not denying the facts, just trying to make them look nicer, spoke volumes to me. Also, high ranking church officials have made it clear they do not want us looking at any literature at all that is not sanctioned by the church. They have a “correlation committee’ that sanitizes all of the information before it is given to us. Unfortunately for them even church doctrine, like the Journal of Discourses and Ensign articles and speeches given by LDS leaders are condemning enough. Boyd K. Packer said in a speech at BYU in 1981 that he noticed the tendency of many church members to “spend a great deal of time in academic research’’ which would lead them to judge the church and its practices. He advised against this saying “some things that are true are not very useful.”To me, the one true church on the face of the earth should have nothing to hide. Yes, all religions have a history, some far more atrocious than that of the Mormon church, but they don’t deny the facts or tell their members not to read a history book. John 8:32 states that we will know the truth and it shall set us free. I feel that my eyes have been opened and I am indeed aware of the truth about the church.
Church officials have also discredited Brigham Young and other prophets on doctrine that is no longer practiced. How can men who are prophets of God disagree with one another? 1st Corinthians 14; 33 states that God is not the author of confusion. If this is true, why do the prophets contradict each other? I believe this is because the Church changes due to political correctness. God is supposed to be a never changing being, as stated in Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8; so why would he keep changing his mind? Was God racist before and then the pressure of the civil rights movement got to him so he changed his mind? No.
I am not trying to convince you or to get you to believe me. I know you will be hurt and try to get me to put these things in the back of my mind. But I cannot. Because I want a relationship with God and Jesus that I can’t get at the Mormon Church.
I don’t need the hoops to jump through to attain a spot in heaven. True Christianity means that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves because we are born sinners and Jesus atoned for all of those sins when he died. This is stated in Romans 3:23 which says: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. So all we have to do to take advantage of that sacrifice is to accept Jesus into our lives and hearts and we are forgiven. Yes, good deeds are nice and expected for someone who wants to follow Jesus, and their faith is “dead’ if they do not live a life for Christ, as it states in James 2:14. But these things are not necessary to attain salvation. In the Mormon faith you must go to the temple to be endowed and married to attain the highest kingdom of heaven. And to go to the temple you must do many things including but not limited to; abstaining from caffeine, giving 10% of your income to the church, and finding another Mormon to marry. So in essence, unless you pay money, you will not go to heaven and be with God. This is not biblical. Ephesians 2:8 says “For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift from God.” It is not humble to think that we can attain salvation by our good works, because salvation is simply a gift from God that we must thank him for everyday if we have decided to accept him into our lives. And if it were true that my works were essential to buy a spot into heaven, and there was only one reason I fell short, it will not be because of my choice of husband, who is the most kind and generous person I have ever met. For a church that’s sole motto is based around “families are forever” they sure put up a lot of roadblocks to ensure that this will never happen by their standards.
There are so many things I have discovered in just a few short weeks that has sealed my decision. I will be formally leaving the Mormon Church. I want to be a Christian and be baptized again. This baptism will be to show God and the public of my commitment to this decision, and to thank Jesus for his wonderful example. It will not be necessary to wash away my sins, for I have already been saved by asking Jesus to come into my life, by grace through faith. I have a lot to learn, and the start of this journey is very bittersweet for me. I hope that all of the many friends I have at church will still accept me and my decision, but most of all I hope my relationship with you, my family, who I cannot even imagine my life without, will not be altered. I have been asked a few times why I can’t just become inactive. This idea to me says that I should be dishonest with myself and everyone else because it makes everyone more comfortable. It also gives everyone false hope that I will come back. I’m not. This may sound harsh, but I am firm in my decision. I hope you can support me and love me as you always have. Ironically It seems fitting to quote the 11th Article of Faith for the closing of my letter to you:
”We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.”
I am happy to answer any questions, but I do not want to argue. If you are truly interested in seeing the research I have seen, I will be happy to point you in the right direction or collect it myself and bring it to you.
I love you.