Hi, I'm Deb

I'm a wife and a mother of two. I'm a Mormon.

About Me

I have lived most of my life in several of the western states of the United States. I have a husband and adult children, and I love family life. I enjoy singing, cooking, sewing and crochet, reading (in a book group), and I am in a women's political group. I exercise regularly. I am learning to do family history research, and my sister and I are gathering accounts of our ancestors to share with our family.

Why I am a Mormon

I was born and raised in the Church in a family where the Gospel was central. As an adult I have chosen to continue to have the Gospel in the heart of my life, and it has helped me through many challenges, and helps me to be focused on the goals and purposes that are most important in life.

How I live my faith

I pray and read the scriptures most days. I visit two women in my neighborhood monthly. We have Family Home Evening every week, and have family scripture study and family prayer most days. I go to the temple about once per week. I am educated and licensed in one of the helping professions. My favorite employment has been at an in-patient drug treatment facility. My most challenging work has been in adoptions--heart wrenching on all sides of the issue, wonderful when a baby is placed with a couple who love and serve the birth mother as well.

Why do some call Mormonism a cult?

Deb answered...

People might believe we are a cult because we have many rituals in our Church, including baptisms; serving in temples; serving as missionaries; because our Church is served almost completely by volunteers as teachers, leaders, missionaries, temple patrons, etc. It might also be because we did not break off from another Christian Church, either Protestant or Catholic, and we are therefore unorthodox. It could be because we have the same organization that was in the primitive Church when Christ was upon the earth, with His priesthood, apostles, prophets, etc., which is unique among the Christian Churches.
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Jeff answered...

I think some call Mormonism a cult mainly because they don't understand what it's about. Before I was a Mormon, I used to believe that Mormons did not believe in the Bible, in Jesus Christ and a good deal of other things. I didn't realize how incorrect I was. There have been some pretty amazing things that have happened in conjunction with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and if you don't get the whole picture, then some of the stuff can sound pretty odd, and I think that's where I was before.
An example I sometimes use is: if someone told you that he had cut a man with a knife, from that limited piece of information, you'd probably report him for stabbing someone. But if you found out that this someone was a Doctor, and that he was preforming a surgery to save a man's life, having the full story completely changes your perspective on the situation.
In regards to the church I belong to, once I did have the whole story, I could see that Mormons were not cultish, but that they really are in fact Christians. I've even found that I have a stronger love of the the core things I believed before I was a Mormon, like the Bible and Jesus Christ.

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. :)