THe church of jesus christ is all about jesus it has everything to do with him. how can you say it has nothing to do with him?? I think you are being pridefull and ignorant you just are not able to keep the church standards. all those books you read the bash on the church are satans thoughts creeping into the hearts of those men who write those things. All people who have left the hurch bash on it because they have nothing better to do all they do is try to bring other people down. THey have no direction in thier life and niether do you.
Response:
Dear P___,
Thank you for writing. I can tell from your email that you love the LDS Church and that being a member of it means a lot to you. I'm sure it hurts when you feel someone is attacking the Church andtherefore you have a desire to defend it.
Have you read my testimony of leaving the LDS Church? Can you show me where in my testimony that I said LDS has nothing to do with Jesus Christ? Perhaps you have me confused with someone else.
I would like to address a couple of the things you wrote. You said that I am just not able to keep the Church's standards. I respectfully disagree; you do not know me and have no idea whether or not I kept LDS Church standards. My Bishops and Stake Presidents seemed to think so, or they would not have given me a temple recommend all those years. Second, a member's ability or inability to keep the standards has no bearing on whether or not Joseph Smith married other men's wives or lied about practicing polygamy. If you sin or I sin, or if you have a temple recommend or I have a temple recommend, it does not change church history.
You stated that the books I read about the church are Satan’s thoughts creeping into the hearts of the people who wrote them. Do you personally know what books I have read? The books that had the biggest impact on my decision to leave the Church were books published by the Mormon Church; the Journal of Discourses, Documented History of the Church, LDS scripture, and Conference addresses. So I agree with you about the books I read; Satan's thoughts were indeed the inspiration behind LDS writings.
You assert that those who have left the Church have nothing better to do than try to bring others down. Let me ask you this: Why do young LDS men and women go on missions? Is it because they have nothing better to do than try to get people to leave their Christian churches and become Mormons? Isn't that "trying to bring others down" by basically saying Christianity isn't good enough? Of course you would not say that! You would say that the Mormon missionaries are out there to bring people into the "True Church" because they want everyone to have the opportunity to hear the gospel.
Well, those of us who have left Mormonism have the same desire, which is to reach out to others to share the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ ALONE. There is no greater or nobler call than to reach the lost and bring them to the foot of the Cross. Do I have anything better to do? No. Sharing the truth with those who are seeking God is the most important thing I can do. I could ask the same of you (and I do NOT mean this in a derogatory way); don't you have anything better to do than to write ex-Mormons to try to bring them down? I would like to think you are writing to me because you care about my soul and are trying to reach out to me; because if you DON'T really care about my soul, but only want to condemn me for sharing my testimony with others, then perhaps it is time to examine yourself and see if the love of Christ is in you. If you feel anger and hate toward me, it is not coming from the Lord!
I am assuming your testimony of the Church is wavering or you would not be reading "anti-Mormon" stories. I encourage you to examine for yourself the claims against Mormonism. All the things written about doctrines or changes in history and other problems are documented; it is very easy to go to LDS sources to check it out. I have the LDS Collector's Library from Deseret Book store. I also have books on my shelf written by LDS leaders. I'm sure you could have access to the same things if you wanted to see for yourself. The sad thing is, you probably don't. It is easier to attack the messenger than to examine the message.
I pray you will come to know the truth. Going to heaven is not about religion; it is about relationship. It is not WHAT you know (secret temple handshakes), but about WHO you know; Jesus Christ of the Bible.
May the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob draw you to Himself and bring you to salvation!
Sincerely,
Tracy
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