Having faith vs. being religious

[Goatnapper'96]

Okay, so I posted this on my FB page and am still getting interesting responses and am taking a big risk by posted it here.....

Question: Why can't I just be faithful without having to be religious?

I believe the greatest act of faith is totally having your will swallowed up in the will of God. If you believe that God has asked you to be "religious" (however you are defining it) then I think it follows that you must do your best to observe whatever religiosity he is requiring.

I cannot answer for you to what extent you believe God has asked you to be religious, only you can. As for the LDS religion, the purpose of the religious performances are to inspire and increase faith. That can certainly be forgotten when dealing with some of the bullshit and/or inanity that occurs within the organized community that practices the "religion," but I still find worship services and performances to be faith inspiring for myself. I have long learned that faith and salvation are very much individual pursuits so I wish you the best of luck and promise you that fake knockers are likely to help you....just a shout out for my good brother Tick!

[Goatnapper'96]

How can the two not be seperated....there are many pple outside the THE church that have a tremendous amount of faith and are more spiritual than many, yet not very 'religious'. I guess I am not explaining it very well. If Jesus died for our sins why does the church make us 'prove' ourselves with callings, attendance, temple trips, voting a certain way, being a certain way....I thought a relationship between Heavenly Father and a person was between HF and that person and not HF, the person, and the 'church'....
Does that make sense?

The Church wants you to prove yourself because mankind has pride. You, I and everyone else struggle with pride to some extent. Every culture has their tokens of devotion that will inevitably become important and tracked either formally or informally. God just wants you to do the best you can and I think part of what God wants is for us all to learn to give our best to Him and not be concerned with what "the church" thinks. I think when you free yourself of your concern with what you perceive to be "the Church's" expectations you will find more joy and satisfaction in your personal worship. I really think fake knockers would offend your congragation and would be a great first step to learning to tell them to STFU. But that could just be me.

[chrisrenrut]

Some people actually base their beliefs on what makes sense to them and what they feel in their hearts. Is that really such an odd concept?

Not an odd concept at all. In fact, two sayings came to mind when I read this:

Natural Man

The philosophy of men, mingled with scripture

I think a good portion of what Tick's Wife is struggling with is that even in the church, a lot of the "philosophy of men" gets mixed in (stake president).

[TripletDaddy]

Which members though? Surely GA's make mistakes too, afterall, they are human , just as I am. How can we be like God? He is all knowing and grand. How can we strive to be like him when it will never happen. No one can be God. He is the creator of all things, I can't and don't want to do that....I would not want to know all things...TMI..yet again, lots of soul searching coming my way....

I think you are laboring under a few general, but common misconceptions.

A brief example....you say you don't know anyone that enjoys speaking in Church. Well, I really enjoy speaking in Church. I enjoy teaching classes. I know lots of folks that do. So right there that kinda blows out your theory. My point is not to contradict you, but to show you that....well......that while your current assumptions and concerns might be accurate, they are also clearly not entirely accurate.

Why is this important? Because just as any little bit of doctrinal inconsistency leaves room for doubt, the reverse is also true....if your stated concerns are not accurate (everyone is checking up on me, everyone dislikes talking in Church so why is that person saying otherwise), then perhaps you don't doubt "the Church" as much as you think.

Your issues seem to be with the local members, but that is just my read on what you are typing. You seem to be experiencing culture fatigue, for which I don't blame you. Of course your concerns truly can be doctrinal and I could totally be missing the point. You did state that you did not want to become like God, but I am not sure why that would worry you, since to become such is entirely up to you, not other ward members that are bugging you.

I enjoy this thread, so to the extent you wish to vent, please feel free.

[Rosebud]

Maybe this will help:

Awwww..... I've never been more flattered Wuap. Just for me? Thanks .

[Tick's wife]

I'm glad that I posted this thread. I have looked forward to the posts. I'm trying to figure something out but not sure what it is....Some things just don't make sense to me, right now. I hope to figure them out soon or I just won't do anything about it.

oh and why doesn't my picture show up on my posts?

[il Padrino Ute]

I'm glad that I posted this thread. I have looked forward to the posts. I'm trying to figure something out but not sure what it is....Some things just don't make sense to me, right now. I hope to figure them out soon or I just won't do anything about it.

oh and why doesn't my picture show up on my posts?

Is the picture you're trying to post on a host site?

[falafel]

I'm glad that I posted this thread. I have looked forward to the posts. I'm trying to figure something out but not sure what it is....Some things just don't make sense to me, right now. I hope to figure them out soon or I just won't do anything about it.

oh and why doesn't my picture show up on my posts?

You mean your picture of your face? I saw that on your profile page. You need to add the picture as you avatar instead. Then it will show up on all of your posts.