Hi, I'm John

I am a gamer, a geek, a nerd, and I am also a an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

About Me

Working to pay off debt from a semester of online college, in my spare time I enjoy Swing dancing (Lindy is the best) and reading, as well as some more unusual activities such as fighting with boffer swords, and adventuring alongside friends in games like Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online. I enjoy playing chess, but people have grown weary of my checkmating them just when they think they have the winning endgame strategy.

Why I am a Mormon

Yes, I was born and raised in the Church, and no that does not mean that I was brainwashed. When I was about 14, I realized that while I did not have any doubts as to the existence of God or Christ, I did not have a strong confirmation as to whether Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God or whether the Book of Mormon was scripture. Logically, facts did point to it being true and sound as compared to other beliefs that I encountered, and the arguments against the Church were guilty of so many errors in citation and research, that I would sometimes go onto anti-mormon forums and show the correct citation and the quote in full just to see what their reactions would be.

Senior year in High School I had an experience that confirmed to me that God DOES answer prayers, and that the doctrines taught by this Church are true and from God. I was at a week long event that was designed to break down stereotypes and prejudice in ethnic and religious diversity. I was the only Latter-day Saint at that event and the time came for me to do a presentation on my religious beliefs. As I was still unsure as to my testimony, this was a real trial for me. Thinking that my discomfort about the upcoming presentation was because I was nervous about presenting on my own, I was told the day previous to the presentation that if needed I could skip out on the presentation. That evening I left camp and went a short distance away where I basically told God that I could not do the presentation without a personal witness, and I still have a hard time describing what followed. I did not have a vision, nor did I hear any voice from heaven, but I did recieve the witness I needed. After the event, I went back, redid the presentation in under 5 minutes, and the next day represented the Church in front of about 80-90 other people, and impressed many people.

Since that time I have also spent two years serving as a Missionary. Yeah, those guys in the white shirts and name tags that keep knocking on your door. Offer them a glass of water (they could definately use it) and listen to what they say.

I have also seen countless times where living the Gospel have blessed my life as well as the lives of numerous other people, and witnessed too many times in other people where straying from the Faith meant heartache and suffering. I have also seen the change that comes into those who find the Church and join it, as well as the change in people coming back into the Church after they have strayed.

How I live my faith

Currently I am serving in my congregation (we call them Wards or Branches and in my case it is actually called a Branch) as Sunday School President where I make sure that the classes have teachers each week, and the teachers don't go straying off topic from the curriculum (this year is the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.)

Alongside being Sunday School President, I also visit some of the members in the Branch on a monthly basis, to make sure that they are doing all right. This is called Home Teaching, and is one of the reasons behind the Church being organized into relief efforts so quickly after a disaster strikes.

I have also served in the past as a Ward Clerk (a person with responsibilities over the membership records and the financial records of the Ward.) I can assure you that nobody in the local leadership in the Church gets paid, and I can also assure you that the tithing that members donate is not squandered.

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

John answered...

Yes. To those of you who are Christian, and recognize marriage as a symbolism of the Love of Christ, don't you agree that Christ's love for us lasts forever? Shouldn't a symbol of that love have the same eternal value? Does the Love of Christ end with death? So then should the love of a husband or wife end simply be discarded upon death?

Yes. What about the connection that some couples achieve after decades of marriage, where the two seem to be one person? The loss of a spouse seems to leave a hole in the other that always seems to ache and never seems to heal.

I know that marriage does not seem like much nowadays. Divorce is on the rise, marriage is both ridiculed and suffering from those striving to change it into something it is not, and the family (the most fundamental unit in society) is under attack to so many fronts. But this is not what marriage and family are meant to be. They are sacred and intended to last forever, and through Temple Ordinances, and commitment to covenants, they can.
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Daniel answered...

When married by earthly power and the authority of man, our vows are "Until death do you part."

We believe that families can be together forever as part of our Heavenly Father's Great Plan of Happiness. His Work and His Glory is to bring to pass the exaltation and eternal life of man. He wants us to be even as He is and to return home to live with Him again.

Through the ordinances of his Holy Temples, God's son's and daughter's are able to make covenants. Through the power of His Holy Priesthood, be sealed together for all of time and eternity as Husband and Wife, parents and children.

Families were designed and instituted by God with the intent that they be forever. The love we feel in this life does not need to be cut off when we die. Those who have already died are not lost us forever. God has mercifully made a way by which all who would accept these saving ordinances can do so, living or dead.

We perform these ordinances for those who have in the past died so that they may have the opportunity of accepting them on the other side if they so choose to do so.

Why was a Restoration of the Gospel needed? Haven’t we always had the Bible?

Joshua answered...

The Restoration is needed because of the Apostasy. The apostasy is a time foretold of by the prophet in the Bible Amos. In Amos 8:11-12

" Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:
And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it."

Amos tells us that there will be a time when the gospel, or "the word of the Lord" will be lost. That time came when Jesus Christ and the Apostles were killed. Even though we still had the bible, there were no prophets or apostles to keep the gospel pure and true. Man was left with their own interpretation of the Bible. As we all know, there are thousands of christian churches all based on the bible, BUT all teach different doctrines. When Christ was on the earth He did not set up thousands of different churches so that there was something different for everyone. He had one church. His church. The prophet Peter tells us that there will be a restitution or a restoration of the gospel, in Acts 3:21

" Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."

In short, the gospel was lost during the Apostasy and the Restoration brought it back. So, now we have the same gospel that Christ set up when he was on the earth. :)