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For Converts, Ex What?


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I think he means people that converted from one faith to another. I would be curious to know if any current members were former Evangelicals/Pentecostals. I would like to hear their story because those faith traditions seem to have the most antagonism towards LDS.

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Please discuss reasons and reactions only. We do not allow "why I left the Church" stories or preaching without discussion. Respect that for other faith traditions discussed here as well.

Thank you in advance!

This thread wasn't intended as an invitation for anyone to bash any faith tradition.

I'm not asking anyone why they left the Church they were born into, I'm just asking you what Church you left to join the LDS Church (unless all of you were born in the faith and baptized when you were eight years old, which would mean LDS Church growth must be grossly exaggerated.)

I'm interested in what religious backgrounds you adult converts came from, and any spiritual conversion experiences you might like to share.

Doesn't anyone have a testimony of their faith journey they want to share here?

Edited by inquiringmind
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Okay, let me chime in, then.

My father was an agnostic who once studied with the Jehovah's Witnesses and decided that all relgion was manmade; my mom was some sort of "General Baptist". I was not raised in any particular Church -- although I did attend my great-grandmother's church (The Church of the Brethren) for a year while I lived with her after my mother died.

So I considered myself an unchurched generic Christian.

As to joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I knew a smidgeon about the church from some book about various churches I had in my possession, but I didn't know much. One day after school (8th grade in So. California) I was walking home and happened upon another 8th grader walking home, struck up a conversation, learned in short order that he was a Mormon, and off we went. I was utterly fascinated by all that he told me, and when I met with the missionaries at his house for the lessons, I drank it all in. Talking about faith, it all had the ring of truth and I believed it all pretty much instantly. A true testimony came later; it still took me about a year to get baptized -- for some reason I guess I would never commit to baptism or my father might have refused permission, I don't remember which.

My brother had a somewhat different experience. He began coming to church with me about four years later (he was younger than I), and when the missionaries told him he needed to pray about the Book of Mormon he took them seriously about it (I never got around to asking until much later, by which time I had acquired a testimony by osmosis or something). I asked him recently how he had gained his testimony (oddly I had never asked about it before) and he told me that he packed himself into his closet and started to ask God if the Book of Mormon was true. He received what he described as a marvelous spiritual experience as soon as he started praying.

So. There you are.

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For what it's worth, reading conversion stories helps me understand or see the LDS religion in a whole different light, since It's all I've known and have taken it for granted. Hopefully there will be more participation or won't get shut down.

Edited by Tacenda
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My dad was a lapsed Catholic and my Mom was United Church of Canada, she met my dad and they say the rest is history. She never met a Mormon in the whole of her life yet she met a family from her small town who travelled to the Beach in California. They passed through SLC and took in the sights. They said when they went to Church sometime lcoked the doors to keep the congregation all in and they toured the Tabernacle and who knows what all else. As they were regaling my Mom and others with the trip my Mom said she somehow knew exactley what they were talking about and felt comfortable with their descriptions. So readily joined the Church in 1967 when my folks were married and has been active ever since.

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My father doesn't agree with Religion. My mother is Baptist. I am an ex Methodist, ex United Reformed Church, ex Moravian! Which perhaps requires a little more explanation.

I have been to quite a number of different churches and denominations, mostly because I have also moved quite a few times! As a child, my parents sent me to the local Moravian church and I was christened there. When we moved I went to a Congregational church (which later became United Reformed). Several moves later, I was confirmed a member of the United Reformed Church. The particular church I attended was actually a United church – that is a combined URC/Methodist congregation (due to numbers). When I moved again, it was the local Methodist church I attended and I was confirmed a member of that church. As you can see, I had no particular attachment to any one denomination, they all seem basically the same to me. But, after a few years, I stopped going to that church or any church. After some time of not attending a church, I found my faith faltering but then I had a personal crisis and my belief strengthened and I wanted to go to Church but I found I didn't want to go to any of the denominations I'd been to previously or any other I could think of. I asked for help from the Lord and I found myself wanting to read the Book of Mormon, which was a bit of a surprise to me! I 1st learnt of the COJCoLdS when I was a child (ubiquitous pop group!) and I had many years later, while I was not attending a church, made a new friend and we would discuss religion in general including the COJCoLdS, but I hadn’t thought about attending, until after that plea and then there was this growing desire to read the Book of Mormon. It genuinely felt like it was from something outside of me, I would never have thought of even visiting a mormon church. Eventually, maybe a year, the missionaries came to my door, gave me a copy, I read it, received a testimony from the Holy Ghost about it, went to a meeting and felt "at home" and much more. I was baptised shortly thereafter! It felt like I had been preparing for years to become a member of the COJCoLdS, (the other churches being the first rungs of the ladder so to speak), so that when the opportunity arose (and I was ready for more), it was all very quick! That was 4 years ago.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Agnostic.

That was never an option for me, growing up with a preacher father. In addition I have alwys know, without any doubt, but I do not pretend to know his mind...this is where any doubts come from. These doubts are what inspire me to seek him out. My wife grew up Baptist in name only, her parents never took her to Church, nor did they attend.
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I use to be intrigued with conversion stories from one faith to another. My father was raised LDS and converted to Catholicism when I was 3 so I'm technically a 6th generation LDS who has been raised as a Catholic. My wife was agnostic before converting to LDS when she was 18. After engaging LDS missionaries who once upon a time Catholic and reading stories of those who converted to Catholicism, the biggest thing I've determined is that they tend to not have understood their previous faith very well but are, in general, better Christians once they convert to their new faith and normally have an axe-to-grind in regards to their previous faith. If I wanted to know something about the LDS faith, my father would be the last person I should listen to. On the flip-side, converts do tend keep a few good qualities from their previous faith. In my father's case, food storage and the love of guns seems to have been kept.

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Former Lutheran ( as a child...grew up with the old Davey and Goliath TV show) , Non denominational Community Church, then Episcopalian just before joining the LDS church.

Long story short....In San Francisco , investigated the LDS church after seeing a local TV program that discussed religion in general and interviewed 3 LDS young adults...what they said intrigued me....especially when they showed video clips of Young Adult activities...and I thought hey! They're having FUN!! There's nothing like that in MY church! Nothing for my age group at all! So I looked up in the yellow pages where the nearest church was and I went by myself! Very first day met other young adults in that ward...they took me under their loving wing...and 4 months later, ( after much praying and pondering and doing the discussions) I got baptized!

Pretty unexciting story...

Red

Edited by GingerRed
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I think he means people that converted from one faith to another. I would be curious to know if any current members were former Evangelicals/Pentecostals. I would like to hear their story because those faith traditions seem to have the most antagonism towards LDS.

`

I don't know how long this will last. I do hope that no one "pompously" cuts this off. :)

I was evangelical for 32 years. The worship was characterized often by a paid pastor, who would heap guilt on us, sometimes shout and not focus on Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ. I finally grew so disgusted with that I became Muslim for 7 years. So, for me Mormonism is the best.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ex EV and my wife is ex Catholic. I was raised Presbyterian and fell away when I was a teen, then after some wild years repented and turned unto the Lord Jesus Christ. After a search for which church to join the missionaries came to the door in answer to a prayer. i had an instant witness of the truth of the BoM. But we were set up by a TV EV preacher to be ready to accept the LDS story. His name was Gene Scott and I'll be forever thankful for his teachings.

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I was 'raised' Catholic, but once I went through my first communion and stuff, we stopped going. So my understanding of God was really limited. I was always terrified to say the words "I'm an Atheist because I knew it wasn't right. I ended up coming to the conclusion that all churches only wanted money.

However, sometime last year, I started wondering. I had a bad experience with the devil and I was left terrified and confused about what's really out there. I asked my grandma (who is Catholic) about some things, and I just wasn't satisfied with it. She gave me some bible that was more like a text book. I didn't read it.

I went to go visit my dad for a while, and I was pondering life, and the usual questions. Where are we going? Where did we come from? etc. I began to realize how beautiful the world really is and how much I wanted to know things. Though, Christianity in general never came up. I was looking into more of the nature worshiping stuff. But never really partook into any of it. I had no idea when I was going to go home from visiting my dad (who lives in Florida and I in Ohio). One day, a friend of mine called me and asked me to come home. It took no convincing. I went.

A week later I meet my now husband at work. We automatically hit it off. Started dating very shortly after that (less than a week). I soon found out that he was Mormon (he had some time that he was not active in the gospel). I made fun of him, naturally. Then, he asked me to go to church with him on Easter. I said no, but my answer kept eating at me for the next night or so. I then again asked him if I could come with him, and of course the invitation was still open.

I loved going to that church. I noticed how happy everyone was. I thought they were all beautiful and I had no idea what they had going for them. Later that day, I asked him if I could read the Book of Mormon. We read it together, and I read some myself, but I was sort of embarrassed to read it on my own.

Two weeks later, I was going to church every Sunday, but my (then) boyfriend wound't be there because he was going to be away for the weekend. I had a choice to go with his dad, who never talked to anyone, or his mom who was going to another ward further away to talk to the bishop up there. I went with his mom, and she found out I was reading the Book of Mormon. She asked me if I wanted to talk to the missionaries. I agreed. They came over that night (Sunday).

I had two lessons pretty much back to back. And my third lesson (that Wednesday) I was challenged to be baptized a month from then. I agreed, and started working toward that. I got baptized on May 25, 2012 :)

Now, I am married, expecting a baby in April, a ward missionary, and we're getting sealed in June. This church has done everything for me. And I love it.

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