Hi, I'm Eric Jorgensen

I'm a Husband, a dad, a computer programmer, and a Mormon!

About Me

I am a husband, a busy dad with six kids and a software developer at Microsoft. In my free time I write video games, take pictures, produce videos, and read all kinds of books. I also like to cook and bake, sing, draw, play ultimate frisbee, write, and take cat naps.

Why I am a Mormon

I'm a Mormon because I put my religion to the test and Holy Spirit guided me down this path. I was born into a Mormon family, but after going to college I realized that the faith I had borrowed from others was not enough to answer the questions that I encountered out on my own. I eventually lost my belief in God entirely, but a good friend helped me to see at least that there are some answers that will never be found the conventional scientific way. I made a decision that I would conduct an experiment on my faith- I would adhere to my Father's religion as closely as I could for a period of time, and honestly try to live it in every way. I told God, "If I don't get any answers from the spirit, then I'm done and I'll go believe something else."

The next few years were challenging, but the spirit came to me again and again, confirming more strongly each time that the path I had taken was a true and correct path. Those revelations from the Holy Ghost have continued to grow every day through my life even until this point. Living the gospel has opened my heart to the grace of Christ and I have felt the "mighty change of heart" described in the scriptures.

Today I have no doubt whatsoever that I am following the Lord Jesus Christ in His appointed way. I have devoted all of my life and energy into His work and it has been the most beautiful and fulfilling journey of my life.

Personal Stories

Please share your feelings/testimony of Joseph Smith.

I think it is hard for some people to accept Joseph Smith as a prophet because he doesn't fit the stereotyped mold of a prophet that we've created over that last serveral centuries. It may seem strange that an uneducated boy from the farming communities of the early 1800's would be a person chosen to reveal God's plans for us, but that is who Joseph Smith was. He was an ordinary person with the same weaknesses and hangups of other ordinary people, but God spoke to him and through him to the rest of us.

Joseph Smith has done more to enlarge my view of Jesus Christ and my relationship with him than any other person. The spirit tells me that the teachings given through him are true and and I live my life by them. I owe the great blessings of knowledge and happiness I have today to Joseph Smith who had the courage and inspiration to teach the truth.

Could you talk about your baptism?

I was eight years old and my father baptised me in the nearest church with a baptismal font, about 20 miles from where we lived. I remember feeling excited to be baptized and afterwards feeling a peculiar sense of being clean. It is something I will never forget.

How has the Book of Mormon brought you closer to God?

I study all of the Scriptures and writings available to me, and time and again, I return to the Book of Mormon because of its clarity and for the great spiritual depth it has. The language is very clear because it was translated recently, and the teachings are sublime. The most spiritual experiences of my life have come as I've pondered verses in the Book of Mormon. There are particular chapters in the book (2 Nephi 31, Enos 1, Alma 5, Alma 32, Moroni 7) that I read again and again because they always teach me something more about the Lord and his ways.

How I live my faith

I love serving in my church. I currently serve in a calling that has me travelling to different congregations, helping regulate the affairs of the church. I get to speak at church meetings, mentor leaders, teach lessons, minister in homes, organize classes, and much more. I feel very small compared to the task, but this weakness is what opens the door for Jesus' influence in my life. His Holy Spirit constantly guides me and directs me in my work and I see it touching people and making a difference in their lives. I have had some profound and close experiences with God and with other people as a result of my church involvement.

My faith is not a Sunday-only experience. I begin and end every day with a personal talk with God and I spend time reading and pondering the holy words in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. With my family, I read scriptures, sing songs, and talk about the doctrines of the Lord Jesus Christ because things things bring us happiness and arm us against worldly philosophies that seek to exploit people and make them miserable. My family lives in a conventional town, I have a conventional job, my kids go to a conventional school- we take part in the world and contribute to it, and we find that the gospel enhances everything that we do. Living the gospel makes me a better manager, a better employee, a better husband and a better dad. It gives meaning to all aspects of my life.

Can husband and wife be together forever? Do you believe that families will live together in heaven?

Eric Jorgensen answered...

Yes! Marriages and families can be forever. This belief helps guide me in many of my daily choices. Most of the things we do on earth are of a short duration, and are not very important. Our families are eternal, and nuturing our family is one of the most wonderful and glorious things we can accomplish.
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Matt answered...

The Lord would not command us to love each other so much during our lives only to tear us apart in the next life. We are one flesh just as the Lord is one with his church. The scriptures say that we are not to be put asunder.
Christ gave his apostles special revelations on this subject:
Matthew, Chapter 16:
Jesus said to his apostles:
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

What else would his apostles bind, and what else could the Savior mean, if not marriages? Christ put no limit on their binding power to bind relationships and covenants. Their power extends into heaven.
And he continued by saying:
20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
– because some things are kept sacred until later times when the world is ready to receive them.
Temple sealing and eternal marriage are primarily the subject of modern revelation through prophets in our time.

In the latter days, according to prophecy, Elijah has returned to join families together. Malachi 4:5-6. We believe that prophets in each age bring new revelation from God. Amos 3:7.
This latter day revelation has finally made clear how families are kept together in heaven—something people have wondered about throughout the ages. (Ephesians 5:32, wherein it says that the subject of marriage in Biblical times was “a great mystery”). In our time, the purpose of marriage and family is clear: ordinances are being performed to unite the whole human family throughout all dispensations of time. It is a unique work for the latter days. These modern revelations free human kind from the depressing, and divorce-promoting idea that the family becomes meaningless in the life hereafter. The Lord would not put us in a world so alien to our heavenly home. In heaven, families are the eternal organizational unit in his kingdom.

How can we stop the spread and influence of pornography?

Richard. answered...

I frequently hear people say that we need to protect children from pornography. That statement is true, but it forgets that adults are also damaged by the self-gratifying attitudes that pornography depicts. Pornography changes how we view each other. We should be politely vocal about our desire to avoid pornography. Pornography should not be forced upon us by our friends, government, employment, or entertainers. But it will be if we don't speak up about our values.