Rusty, you know you can ask me anything anytime. I don't go in much for polemics - I suck at it, mostly - but I'm not ashamed of what I believe.
When I was a kid, I had all the usual questions. "Where do we go when we die" and all that. My mom came from a very long line of Mormon pioneers, but her parents were odd ducks - her dad worked his way up from hardscrabble farmer's kid and shepherd boy to a very prominent Utah attorney, educator and politician, and her mom's family were fiery zealots who brooked no intellectual laziness, so both ultimately drifted into secular humanism although they associated with a UU congregation for a time. So Mom repudiated religion in her own mind as a young child.
Thus, when I asked all my questions, I got vague, unsatisfactory and mostly disturbing answers. Life after death was sort of described as "merging back into the Dominion collective consciousness" à la Odo and losing one's own identity, which scared the qibp out of me. I didn't relish at all the thought of becoming part of some unformed pool of something or other - even at a tender age, I knew there was something unique about me, and I wanted that preserved.
My dad's family were all Catholic, since he was Italian. The convoluted catechism and doctrine of the Mother Church said nothing to me, so that was a dead end for me as well. (My Nonna was horrified that my folks didn't have me baptized, so she took care of that in the sink. Apparently, that's valid.
Anyhoo, when I was 17 I met a good Mormon professor and his wife at Gettysburg College and they took me under their wing and over the course of a year, had me take the standard lessons. What I read in the Book of Mormon - a fascinating history and also a good manual for a happy life - resonated with me, and I felt as though after having wandered all my life, I had come home only to recognize the place for the first time.
The missionaries worked hard, but it still took them the better part of a year to get me in the water, because even though I had already decided the doctrines were in harmony with my own soul, I realized that joining up would mean a lifetime commitment, and not just a passing fancy - and I wanted to be sure I was ready to take that on.
In short, the LDS doctrine answered all my questions about who I was, where I came from, why I'm here on earth, and where I go after I shuffle off this mortal coil. It taught me the concept of eternal progression and eternal families, and provided an iron rod of safety to grasp as an anchor while the madness of the world swirls around me.
no subject
When I was a kid, I had all the usual questions. "Where do we go when we die" and all that. My mom came from a very long line of Mormon pioneers, but her parents were odd ducks - her dad worked his way up from hardscrabble farmer's kid and shepherd boy to a very prominent Utah attorney, educator and politician, and her mom's family were fiery zealots who brooked no intellectual laziness, so both ultimately drifted into secular humanism although they associated with a UU congregation for a time. So Mom repudiated religion in her own mind as a young child.
Thus, when I asked all my questions, I got vague, unsatisfactory and mostly disturbing answers. Life after death was sort of described as "merging back into the Dominion collective consciousness" à la Odo and losing one's own identity, which scared the qibp out of me. I didn't relish at all the thought of becoming part of some unformed pool of something or other - even at a tender age, I knew there was something unique about me, and I wanted that preserved.
My dad's family were all Catholic, since he was Italian. The convoluted catechism and doctrine of the Mother Church said nothing to me, so that was a dead end for me as well. (My Nonna was horrified that my folks didn't have me baptized, so she took care of that in the sink. Apparently, that's valid.
Anyhoo, when I was 17 I met a good Mormon professor and his wife at Gettysburg College and they took me under their wing and over the course of a year, had me take the standard lessons. What I read in the Book of Mormon - a fascinating history and also a good manual for a happy life - resonated with me, and I felt as though after having wandered all my life, I had come home only to recognize the place for the first time.
The missionaries worked hard, but it still took them the better part of a year to get me in the water, because even though I had already decided the doctrines were in harmony with my own soul, I realized that joining up would mean a lifetime commitment, and not just a passing fancy - and I wanted to be sure I was ready to take that on.
In short, the LDS doctrine answered all my questions about who I was, where I came from, why I'm here on earth, and where I go after I shuffle off this mortal coil. It taught me the concept of eternal progression and eternal families, and provided an iron rod of safety to grasp as an anchor while the madness of the world swirls around me.
And thanks for asking!