Subscribe Feed (RSS)Why I am active in my faith
October 9th, 2006 by Richard K Miller | Filed under Mormon, Online missionary work.If you're new here, read more about the More Good Foundation. We help members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon church) share their beliefs on the Internet. Learn more about what Mormons believe or talk with Mormons at LDS.net.
Connor Boyack recently received an email from a non-Mormon visitor to his blog. The visitor asked “How do your ecclesiastic leaders encourage young people, such as yourself, to remain members? Why is the commitment in the LDS Church so much harder, yet significantly higher than other denominations?”
Connor used his blog to answer the question and to share his faith. If you’d like to add your answer to his and others’, leave a comment at the bottom of his blog post: Why I am Active in my Faith.
Blogging (writing regularly on “web log”) is a great way to share the Gospel. If you have any questions about why or how to share the Gospel online, please leave a comment below or contact us. We’ll be glad to help you get started!
Thank you very much, Richard, for the time you took in helping me understand why you, and your cyber friends, have such a commitment to your faith. The last several years have been hard on my family as we watch our denomination, one that we have always taken great pride in, undergo controversy that threatenens to split the church in two. If the church splits, as has been proposed, I believe the church will die, and our beautiful liturgy and traditions will simply fade away.
One common thread through the responses on Connor’s blog was a sincere belief that your church was led, and founded, by men called by God. In that system, there would be no place for decisions reached by committee or compromise.
Hi Robert,
Thanks for your comment, and I’m glad we could help in a small way. Out of curiosity, how did you find Connor’s blog?
I’d be happy to tell you how I found Connor’s site. I recently found blog sites that were interesting to me. I have know many LDS people over the years; I belonged to an LDS boy scout troop. Currently, I have been disappointed with my own denomination due to church politics and recent changes, and remembered back to the warm LDS services I sometimes attended as a boy.
I tried to find a blog on Mormons, and the majority of them were done by apostates or fundamentalist christians critical of LDS teachings, history and scripture. It amazes me at how angry former Mormons can become. Connor’s blog was at the top of the search list, so I visited.
He had a topic on Pope Benedict’s anticipated decision to end, officially, the concepts of purgatory and limbo. Connor did not have the background in Roman Catholic theology, and assumed those concepts were still being taught. I felt the need to correct that, as I taught in Catholic schools for years (as an Episcopalian). I was impressed at how he allowed me to dialogue on this important issue of infant baptism for both the Anglican and Roman traditions.
Since then, I just enjoy seeing what topics he brings up.
Thanks Robert. It was nice to learn how we all connected and to hear a bit about your background. What search did you perform when you found Connor’s blog? Something like “Mormon blogs”?
I searched “mormon” and his site was at the top. What amazed me were the number of ExMormon blogs, and blogs dedicated to anti-Mormon rhetoric. It’s the same when you “google” either “LDS” or “Mormon”. The church friendly sites are not always at the top of the list.
This issue of “angry exMormons” is interesting to many people. I wonder why some people have such rage, that they are unable to simply walk away. I can understand people becoming dissatisfied with their religion. However, I notice ExMormons feel an overwhelming need to attack their former church. Their efforts might be better spent healing from whatever separated them from their faith community. Those sites and blogs must be popular, otherwise they wouldn’t always come out on top.
I don’t see angry Episcopalians dedicating a web site attacking the Book of Common Prayer, or the Anglican Communion. I knew a priest who lived in Utah and tried counseling ExMormons. He believed the intense involvement and strong culture of the LDS Church helps to create these conditions. He also commented ExMormons rarely drift into another faith community. There is an unhealthy amount of rage in those sites. People have a right to leave their religion at anytime. True recovery involves healing, not continued anger.
Hmmm, I’ve been curious about this. In the past two weeks I’ve received 54 visitors to my blog that searched for “mormon”. However, when I search for “mormon” I don’t see my blog anywhere. I like using this search from Google to see 100 results at a time, condensed w/o descriptions, to get a quicker snapshot at the SERP.