I believe

Another blast from the past...

In this I believe

originally published March 21, 2007

One interesting thing about having a statcounter is seeing how people find my website. Most of the visitors I get are fellow bloggers who regularly come here or come here via a link from someone else's blog. Occasionally I get random hits from Bejing or other foreign exotic places. Othertimes people find my blog when they do an internet search for something that I talked about on my blog, for instance I have had several hits on my blog from searches done on eyebrows.

Such was the case yesterday. While checking my statcounter I found that someone had done a search on "vote for mormon" and my blog had come up in the search results. I checked out the results from the search and happened upon a blog with a post titled, "Should a Christian vote in a Mormon president". At first this caught me off guard because I forgot that in parts of the Christian world we are not considered Christian. I couldn't resist reading it, though it was against my better judgement. After reading it I couldn't resist commenting, again this was against my better judgement. I responded to a commenter who stated that there would be a lack of voters by people of faith in 2008 because there would be a lack of christian candidates to choose from. Those were not his exact words, but that is how I read it. I responded by saying:

Rather than judging a politcian based on their religious beliefs we must judge them based on their history as a politician. It is disturbing to think that somebody would give up the right to vote simply because you disagree with one or more of the candidates religious beliefs.
BTW, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (mormon) and I do consider myself to be a christian.

I am unsure what I expected to happen at that point, but I couldn't just sit there and say nothing. The blog author responded by asking me several questions about our faith and our beliefs. I am pretty sure that he was looking to argue some points of doctrine with me, but he did seem polite in his request, so I answered his questions. This was my response:

First of all I would like to applaud you for responding to my comment without criticism or contempt. Oftentimes those same people who claim that we are not Christians and claim to be Christians themselves treat us in a manner that I believe goes against the very teachings of Jesus Christ.

Let me say something before I get to my answers. I happened upon your site and this particular post quite by accident. I was not looking for it nor am I looking for an opportunity to argue my beliefs. I am quite certain that what I believe is true and I cannot be convinced otherwise. I assume that you feel the same way. I will answer your questions as you asked them, but please be respectful of my beliefs and I will be respectful of yours.

Now in response to your questions:
Do you believe that God is a created being himself? The short answer is yes. The long answer can be found here. I know it doesn’t say anything about God being created, but if you believe that we are created in God’s image, as it says in the Bible, then God had to have been created at some point.

Do you believe that Jesus is the brother of Satan? This is what we believe about Satan.
Do you believe that Mormons need for secret handshakes to get into heaven? No.

Do you believe that Jesus was a polygamist who fathered many Children? No. This one is new, I’ve never heard that before.

Do you believe that you must work to help you get into heaven? No. This is what our church believes about returning to live with God.

I hope that answers your questions sufficiently. I got all my information from mormon.org. If you have further questions I would direct you to that website. Honestly, I’ve read some of what other websites have to say about our church and it is no wonder that people think and believe what they do about our church. Most of what other websites tell you is either completely false or they have taken some truth and completely twisted it.

I find it interesting that some people of other religions find it so necessary to tell me what I really believe, like I haven't been paying attention the last 33 years and some how missed something. I have not been brainwashed or otherwise convinced to believe in these things. I know for myself and have chosen for myself to follow what I believe.

Because I feel he says it better than I can and because he is a prophet of God I will end with a testimony from President Hinckley.