Wednesday, April 4, 2012

I Believe

On Saturday and Sunday my twitter feed exploded. And while I originally thought about apologizing for it- I soon thought better. You see, this weekend is a special time of year for those who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- it is our semi-annual general conference. It is a chance for us to hear from our leaders, the Prophet and Apostles who are there to teach, strengthen and guide all of us. What is taught? -doctrines of repentance, kindness, forgiveness, love of man kind and love for God.
  • I believe in God the Eternal Father, in his Son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.
  • I believe we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father who loves us and wants us to return to him.
  • I believe in doing good, in the sacredness of parenthood and the importance of raising the next generation.
  • I believe in loving all and doing good to those around me.
  • I believe in an infinite atonement with which my life depends as I am and will ever be in need of it to be saved.
  • I belong to a church who's members volunteer more than any other group of Americans, and are more generous than the top 20% of religious people-- as discovered by an independent study.
And what did I hear in conference, things like:

"If we will devote ourselves to the cause [of our families] we will improve every other aspect of our lives"

"When families work and play together, neighborhoods flourish and economies improve"

If you came upon a person who was drowning would you stop and ask if they needed help? Or would you jump in and save them?

"Don't judge me because I sin differently than you."

"Communication with our Heavenly Father is not a trivial manner. It is a sacred privilege."

There was a talk given by Elder Oak, an Apostle of the Lord, where he talked about the wonderful examples of Catholic priests and Protestants who have sacrificed their lives for Christ.

I am grateful for those who believe even if it is different than what I believe. I am grateful for my blogging friend Colleen who's religious beliefs are an extreme opposite of my own, but she inspires me everyday with how her beliefs lead her to serve, do good and try and help the world be a better place.

I believe the more people that believe in a God that teaches them to love, to serve and to help others and to have a real moral basis of good values the better off this world will be. The moral relativism of anything goes, if it makes you happy then it's good- is what is leading this world to a scary place I wish it would not go.

So yes, my twitter feed blew up this weekend.

And I do not need to apologize. For this is who I am.

My name is Emily. I am Mormon.


Linking up with Shell's PYHO

17 comments:

  1. awesome entry Emily! Thanks for taking the time to write this.

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  2. Have always loved General Conferences. Every single speaker says things that I really really needed to hear. I look forward with my family to General Conferences every year. Thank you for your post Emmy and thanks for always stopping by my blog.

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  3. No, Em. You DON'T need to apologize for being who you are. You are doing good in the world. Nay-sayers be darned. :) Wanted to say be you know, the other word, but decided you might appreciate darn instead. :)

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  4. No apologies indeed. You're proud of who you are and what you believe in and I love that you put it out there. I also love that you respect those who have opposing beliefs. You're a wonderful person, Emmy!

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  5. You're so wonderful, Emmy!! Love this post. I had so many amazing feelings this weekend from Conference as well.

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  6. I just love that I can call Colleen, who has opposite beliefs from me, and YOU and other ladies who I am different from, spiritually, friends.
    :)

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  7. I love the drowning analogy. It's a good one. I also loved LOVED Pres. Uchtdorf's two word sermon: Stop it. When talking about gossiping, anger and so on. It was great. I missed a couple of talks. But as always it was a great weekend. And this was a fabulous post my friend.

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  8. You definitely do NOT need to apologize for sharing what you believe. If people don't like it, they can choose to ignore it.

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  9. Great post Emmy. Did you get negativity on Twitter?

    I love General Conference so much, and am literally still basking in the glow of the spiritual feast I was able to partake of.

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  10. You don't need to apologize!

    This explains why the Pizza Hut in St. George was empty on Saturday night! :)

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  11. I love General Conference! And I loved your post.
    Sandy

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  12. Never apologize for being who you are. It's a shame that we (as a society) focus so much on the differences between the faiths instead of the similarities. How can anyone, regardless of their religion, NOT get behind a strong desire to do good and build community? I love your quote about "don't judge me because I sin differently than you." I've never heard that said, but it rings very true to me.

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  13. This is great! I loved Conference too and got so much out of it. Conference weekends are two of the best weekends of the whole year!

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  14. Absolutely no need to apologize! xo

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