I received a cute thank-you note from a kind young lady on the East Coast who gave me permission to quote her. I was intrigued by the list of questions she has faced about her faith. It’s amazing how little people know about the Church. I was also impressed with the missionary spirit and courage she shows.
I was born into the church and am 15 and a freshman at my high school. I love answering questions and giving information about the gospel, but sometimes it’s hard to give an answer that people will believe and, especially for people around my age, that isn’t so complicated and boring that they regretted asking you in the first place. I have people coming up to me everyday at my school asking me about all of these weird misconceptions in the church like if we can drink water, eat chocolate, use scissors, drive a car, if we pray for 2 hours a day, if we go to church for 5 hours every day, if we can use electricity, if we are a cult, and the all time favorite question “How many wives does your dad have?”. So when I found out that in my Pre-AP World History Geography class that would would be doing a Social Science Fair Project and the topic could be about virtually anything I got really excited! I choose the topic of Religions, subcategory Christianity, and went to my teacher to ask if my idea would be acceptable. I wanted to do my project on common Mormon questions and misconceptions such as are Mormons christians, do they still practice polygamy, and are they a cult. She said it was fine so I immediately began to get my information. For the project, we had to fill 60 8in. x 10in note cards with reliable information. This is where I got stuck. It was really easy to get all of the false information but when it came to finding a website that answered the questions with the truth, it was a NIGHTMARE! I was really disappointed because I thought I was going to have to give up this project, until I found your website. It had EVERYTHING I needed and more! And the best part is everything was true (or at least told from the viewpoint of a Mormon)! I have gotten the majority of my information from your website and it has helped me out so much! I have also learned a lot from your website too. I never knew about the RLDS church before until I read it here and it’s a really good thing to know.
I just want to thank you for taking the time to straighten out all of the false accusations and answer all the questions about the church, it has helped me out so much and im sure it has helped out a lot of other people. Thanks for putting the truth out there when no one else will. 🙂
Thanks! But there are plenty of others working to share the LDS perspective with others. But thanks for using my site! More importantly, thanks for being such a great example of studying and sharing information about the Gospel.
I think she sounds cute. It always makes me smile to hear what young people have learned and how they love sharing it with others.
I wished I had the internet and your web page 35 years ago. Thanks for your effort.
4 1/2 years ago, after making a decision to be baptized into the Church I was given the book ‘Are Mormons Christian?’ and challenged to either admit what the book was saying was true or prove the author wrong. Since I already had a testimony from the Spirit of the truthfulness of the BoM and the Church, I took the challenge. I must admit the book made me feel like I had been drug through a swamp which did cause me to momentarily question my decision. But ultimately it was clear to me the difference between how I felt about being baptized and how the book made me feel. Like night and day.
So I sat down many nights with my Scriptures and the Spirit guided me to passages that I had never seen and helped me to prove what the author was saying was indeed false or that he was simply using half-truths or errant interpretations of LDS teaching. After making pages of notes and answering much of what was in the book, I was doing an internet search to see if I could find answers to the things that I couldn’t. I stumbled upon your site.
My first reaction was dismay that I had spent SO many hours compiling from Scripture what you already had (and yours is much more comprehensive I might add), and then delight to find such an extensive and exhaustive database of LDS teaching and refutation of antis. I also realized that I had a FUN journey through the Scriptures that really helped me solidify my testimony. And the information on your site helped me SO much.
So I can understand how the young lady feels in discovering your site! I’m so grateful that you and others like you have spent so much time and effort on your websites to help those like me who are searching for answers. You were ahead of your time with your site since we now have it from an Authority to use the internet for this purpose. You deserve the kudos.
I’m glad this young lady found your site and what she is doing sounds wonderful! It’s good to know there are young people like that in this world.
I sure hope this ramble is understandable.. lol
Jayleenb, thanks so much! By the way, you’re photography at http://jayleenb.wordpress.com/ is amazing! I’m especially intrigued by the feather and its reflection, plus I just love the wildlife shots. Not easy to do! And the blue iris is one of my favorites as well. Wonderful stuff!
Nice! That was a fun read. Thanks for posting it.
The hard work you’ve put in over the years on your websites is bearing fruit.
Jeff,
The question is: Do you have the proper authority to use the scissors? (I.E. Does your mom know that you have scissors?)
It’s gratifying to see the increase of Pro-LDS blogs/websites, etc. to confront the mountain of anti-Mormon web pages out there.
Keep up the good work Jeff, and everyone else out there in the blogosphere doing the same thing.
Hi again Jeff! Thank you for you kind comments about my photography and thanks for the obvious link. I also signed up for an ETSY shop to sell my work on, and between the two set a record daily hits for yesterday and today. I see many hits coming from your site.
So maybe I won’t be a ‘starving’ artist for much longer. 🙂
Everybody–Take a look at Jayleen’s site–her photos are truly outstanding.
Another Jay B
Not long ago I read about Elder Ballard’s comments in a talk he gave at BYU Hawaii refering to online discussions such as blogs. He encouraged the students to participate so our voices would be heard. Your blog here was one of the ones I found. I now have started my own blog, about family history. Thank you for your example.
Re: Mormon-bashing zealots: My eyebrows raised when I read some verses in the Doctrine & Covenants today that brought them to mind:
D&C 10: 22-28.
22 Satan stirreth them up, that he may lead their souls to destruction.
23 And thus he has laid a cunning plan, thinking to destroy the work of God; but I will require this at their hands, and it shall turn to their shame and condemnation in the day of judgment.
24 Yea, he stirreth up their hearts to anger against this work.
25 Yea, he saith unto them: Deceive and lie in wait to catch, that ye may destroy; behold, this is no harm. And thus he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie that they may catch a man in a lie, that they may destroy him.
26 And thus he flattereth them, and leadeth them along until he draggeth their souls down to hell; and thus he causeth them to catch themselves in their own snare.
27 And thus he goeth up and down, to and fro in the earth, seeking to destroy the souls of men.
28 Verily, verily, I say unto you, wo be unto him that lieth to deceive because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive, for such are not exempt from the justice of God.