Uplift Facebook Post (2020)
I did leave, briefly, when anti-LDS literature made known to me by a ‘friend’ had put some doubts in my head, but in no other church could I find the depth of knowledge I had gained in our church, scripture-based and with evidence to back it up. For example, who but our church understands and practises baptism for the dead which is mentioned in passing in the Bible as if it were common knowledge at that time? Neither did I find in the other churches the same feeling of love, support and brotherhood and the same degree of adherence to gospel teachings such as keeping the Sabbath holy to the point of not going shopping on Sundays/getting others to work for you on Sundays for example. The very nature of God and the Godhead and the Plan of Salvation seemed to be understood very little or very fuzzily. In short, the other churches I visited didn’t have the same sort of fullness of the gospel. I also felt bad, as if wandering lost in the dark, my heart aching for the sort of joy and spirit I had felt in our church. There was nothing I could find that filled the hole left in my life. And I found the ‘friend’ so keen on leading me away from the church was really not a very nice person at all. At that time I didn’t know where to find answers to my doubts. However, the spirit prompted me to read the Book of Mormon and, as I did, I felt a special feeling as I was reminded of the truths in that book. I decided to return to our church and soon started to feel better and that I was again on the right track. Over the years I have found more and more answers coming to light from sources such as Fair Mormon. What I have learned from this painful experience is that we need to hang on in there when doubts arise, keeping on living the gospel, studying the scriptures and praying. That will help us keep spiritually safe and qualify us to have the Holy Ghost with us to guide and help us. when, years later, my two children left the church in their late teens, I was led as never before to study a great deal of background material in books and on the internet. I had long before regained my spiritual witness that the gospel is true but needed facts to help me tackle any questions/comments from my children, for whom ‘experiences and spiritual feelings’ were not enough. Sadly, by the time I had the facts, they were not very open to hearing about them, but I know that I now have quite a quiver full of facts to use if needed. With regard to my previous paragraph, I feel it would be great if local leaders in the Church were equipped with lists of good books and websites such as Fair to direct members to when those members have challenges to their testimonies. I wanted so much to find the answers to the anti-LDS challenges but didn’t know where to find them. If someone then had been able to guide me to sources where I could have found the answers, it would have helped not only me but my children as well, because I only became aware of the many sources of information slowly, after my children had fallen away. However, I do have a lot of faith in the ability and desire of Heavenly Father and Jesus to guide the ‘lost sheep’ back to the fold and keep praying that my children will, in the end, be nudged back in the right direction. It is so good to have a resource such as Uplift where people with lots of experiences and knowledge can come together with those who are having difficulties and offer them some guidance.
