I am a military brat. My first introduction to Mormonism was in Germany, right before my mom PCS'd. Our neighbor across the hall was Mormon, heard we were moving to Utah, and wanted to integrate us to the faith. I was 14. The first hour was the testimony part. All I remember was some random dudes crying about stupid stuff. Then was the classes for kids my age. My friend had a crush on one of the guys so we stayed... The very next part that blew my mind completely was YW where they explained the 3 different temples of Heaven! WTF?!?! How does that happen? The whole 3 different Heaven's freaked me out. I have always been taught Heaven and Hell, growing up Methodist.
We move to Utah, and my mom forced me to be kind to the Missionaries. The first lesson, they tried to have me pray to Joseph Smith! Who does that?! The next time they came over, they said my baptism was in 3 weeks.. I said "uh, no, I am a Methodist". Eventually I pissed them off by doing inappropriate things.
My first day of 9th grade, I was shown around the school by a super Mormon girl. The moment I walked into science class, my pat was chosen. The super Mormons were in the back of the class, waving me to sit with them, while the "cool" kids I could relate to were in the front. Obviously, I sat with the "cool" kids.
Years past, and I was shunned to the Mormon kids.
When I was 15.5, I became a telemarketer at Teleperformance. Blah blah blah, life happens blah blah.
Eventually I get a job which suits me, as a security officer. I find a guy at a fraternity/sorority mixer and marry him. My own boss (whom I was cool with) refused to attend my wedding/reception because we had an open bar!! He did not want to be in the same building as alcohol, but had no problem banging his wife every night to have babies!
One guy we worked with was SUPER MORMON!! He refused to go into Victoria's Secret because of the lingerie, and we used to give him shit about sex... His voicemail on the phone referred to home teachings, and he said he would never have sex, just adopt! I was appalled and shocked about his and other's behavior!!! I eventually married a dude because of the high pressure stakes against me.... horrible mistake! Thank God I kicked him out!
I do, to a degree, respect Mormons and their beliefs.. I love to learn others' ideals.
The biggest thing that threw me off one day, which I have tried to explain but to no avail, is if we are all family like the Bible says, if my parents go into CS, why am I not with them, and why can they visit me but no one else? If we are all God's children, why are we not on the same level of Heaven?! No one has ever been able to answer this question for me.
I do like the idea of us all being souls and cast down to test our faith and strength, but I am very apprehensive about life after death. I refuse to believe there is nothing. Especially after the fact my best friend killed himself while I was deployed recently.
Can somebody give me insight or guidance? I believe in science, but I also believe in Psychology as well....

OK, I know the military loves using initials and acronyms, but some of us are not well-acquainted with them. What's "PCS'd"?

Permanent Change of Station

It is ridiculous, but you get used to it..

Thanks. My daughter was a Marine (well, maybe still 'is' since they say 'once a Marine, always a Marine), and I was just so proud of myself when I knew what "MOS" meant...

One question, however (something that I've never understood). Why are souls "cast down to test our faith and strength"? Tested for what? Is there a final exam somewhere?

Haha Ragnar!!! I was always curious about the cast down to faith blah, blah... I am open to listen to different view points, but seriously....?

nomo28 Wrote:

> The biggest thing that threw me off one day, which
> I have tried to explain but to no avail, is if we
> are all family like the Bible says, if my parents
> go into CS, why am I not with them, and why can
> they visit me but no one else? If we are all God's
> children, why are we not on the same level of
> Heaven?! No one has ever been able to answer this
> question for me.

> Can somebody give me insight or guidance? I
> believe in science, but I also believe in
> Psychology as well....

Thanks for sharing your story. Your intro to Moism was weird. Anyway, about your point as quoted above may I add: Not only that, in the pre-existence we are all brothers and sisters. How is it we can marry each other here on earth and be each other's parents? That's incest and borderline pedophilia (eww). I've had a Mo explain to me that the process of being born here alters our relationship to each other. There is no scripture to back that up, in fact the only thing Mormons teach that happens to us is that we forget our pre-Earth life.

About your question, many people with a science and/or psychology background also believe in the afterlife. It's a comforting thought. It's okay to wish for an afterlife as you don't start inventing rules and making up crappy stories about how you should behave to get there (such as many religions have). And then forcing people to believe in it.