bu11fr0g Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Prior to the restoration, why?Now, any difference and why a difference?If you were to live in an area where there are no LDS services? Any differences?
mrmandias Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Most likely the religion I would have been raised in, just like anybody else. 2
BlueDreams Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Prior to the restoration, why?Wait....so if there was no restoration historically? Most likely I wouldn't be alive....or physically exist as I currently do. My family line is kinda dependent on a family back in england accepting the gospel and coming to the U.S. based on religious conviction. But say hypothetically they did somehow meet. I would probably be christian of some sort since both lines are christian. Probably the liberal version, though a firm believer in a God. I assume that even if I had some of the spiritual experiences that I've had, I would believe in a higher power/deity in more than an allegorical/symbolic sense. I'm not one to be an atheist...or really an agnostic entirely either. The loosest I could ever get with my beliefs would still be withing a spiritual context.Now, any difference and why a difference?Right now, today. I always said I'd be a come what may, unaffiliated to any specific dogma, spiritual type if I wasn't mormon....I'd have to modify my answer a little: I'd still believe in Christ and His atonement (I believe) and I'd probably admit something spiritual happened to me within the faith that goes beyond what I'd chalk down to feelings or group think or whatever else. Basically, I've moved beyond a belief in that into a firm trust and knowledge about certain things. So again, atheism and agnosticism are pretty off the table. I don't know if I could ever be a mainstream christian.....because I honestly really prefer a number of the unique LDS belief on an intellectual level that I don't see theologically in a number of christian faiths. I'd probably be a dabbler: I would be spiritual with a christian-mormon bend.If you were to live in an area where there are no LDS services? Any differences?So wait am I LDS in this scenerio or not? if I am: The only difference is that i wouldn't be partaking of the sacrament/other sacred ordinances very often. I would probably have a personal spiritual devotion on sunday and from time to time go check out whatever local faith services are around. If I'm not, I'd probably be whatever they were....but I can't really know. There's no context to me to base it on, God is a God of miracles, and anything is really possible through Him. So who knows, maybe I'd convert anyways ....you never know. Maybe I'd feel that there was more or something I was missing. Maybe I'd be as stubborn and curious as I am and would look until I was satisfied. But honestly I have no idea.With luv,BD
thesometimesaint Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Prior to the restoration, why?Now, any difference and why a difference?If you were to live in an area where there are no LDS services? Any differences?For me the Restoration started in 1971. When at 20 years old I joined the Church.Prior to that time I was Agnostic.I've lived in the Mission field pretty much all my adult life. So I have no experience where the Church wasn't. 1
bluebell Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 That's a hard question to answer, because it would likely depend on my family upbringing to some extent, and what i was taught growing up about God and religion. There are a lot of things about the Catholic church that i'm very partial to, but no one in my family has any connection to that religion so it's hard to say that's what i'd be if i wasn't LDS. I don't even know any practicing Catholics in person and haven't ever growing up so i'm not sure i would ever have had the chance to choose Catholicism, never having the opportunity to interact with it.
pmccombs1 Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Prior to the restoration, why?I'd belong to some reformed or protestant sect, most likely. I think that's where the family roots are.Now, any difference and why a difference?I'm a fringe Mormon as it is, and my inclinations would lead me to the unaffiliated status. I'd be one of those spiritually-minded agnostics if things were that simple, that is to say, if following one's conscience were not fraught with peril when it comes to those who depend on me for guidance. I believe children, for instance, need a solid foundation and ought not be as I am: ever learning and never coming to a knowledge (or being tossed about by every wind of doctrine). Let that come in time, if it must.I do also interest in Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox traditions and prefer them over protestant faiths, except I like what the protestant thinker, Reinhold Niehbur, had to say. I'm also interested in Hinduism, Christian existentialism, and nihilism, having found compelling ideas in each of those areas. So, short answer, if I weren't Mormon, I'd be nothing and everything. If you were to live in an area where there are no LDS services? Any differences?Well, I do think it's important to be part of the community, so I'd likely find the place where my neighbors attend and go there. I'd try to participate as much as I could and not make trouble even if I didn't agree with everything. I might enjoy shorter meetings and a restful Sabbath for a change.
Buzzard Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Pagan nature worshiper. Either that or mellow Methodist. 2
saemo Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Roman Catholic! I did spend most of my life as an atheist (nihilist), with exploratory forays into Hinduism, pantheism, new age-iness stuff (crystals, tarot, etc) a slight look at pagaganism out of knowing a few pagans and wanting to get what they were about. When I made the same exploration into Christianity, with no intention of converting, well God had different ideas for me, I converted. I am the only Roman Catholic in my family. Everyone else is either active LDS, former LDS in a diaspora of differing beliefs/practices or atheist/agnostic (raised as).
bluebell Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 As an adult, and basing the decision on where i am spiritually speaking right now, i'd probably be a Messianic Jew. I don't think i could ever be a member of a protestant religion, but I guess you never know.
saemo Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 How about Hebrew Catholic? Usually they are people who are, in fact, Jews...but also Catholic. http://hebrewcatholic.org
Freedom Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 What if. What if humans did not evolve, what mammal would you be? What if you never met your current husband/wife, who would you be married to? Knowing what I know now I would not have joined any of them. Not knowing what I know now it is absolutely impossible to say. 1
Duncan Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 (edited) given that my dad was born and raised in Germany and immigrated to here I would have to say I would be thishttp://en.wikipedia..../Rosicrucianismpartially because it would be neat to say that I am a Rosicrucianist! Edited February 20, 2013 by Duncan 1
Nathair/|\ Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Without the Book of Mormon and the Church, I would have little reason to see Christ as more than just one tribal god among many. Since none of the rest of the Abrahamic world offers a heaven that's any better than Tir na nOg or Valhalla, and their religion is less interesting in most cases, I'd probably place my primary fealty with the gods of my ancestors, though attending ritual and worshiping with anyone else who invited me as the opportunity arose as long as what they were doing didn't violate my ethics.
Nathair/|\ Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 given that my dad was born and raised in Germany and immigrated to here I would have to say I would be thishttp://en.wikipedia..../Rosicrucianismpartially because it would be neat to say that I am a Rosicrucianist!Rosicrucianism is a beautiful Christian magical system. (The practitioners are called Rosicrucians.) I love their practice of offering healing for free to all who need it. Their ideas were a major factor in jump-starting the Enlightenment. There's no reason why you couldn't become one now, though it's probably easier to join the Golden Dawn and find their teachings. Their roots are Rosicrucian, though they added some stuff. 1
Duncan Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Rosicrucianism is a beautiful Christian magical system. (The practitioners are called Rosicrucians.) I love their practice of offering healing for free to all who need it. Their ideas were a major factor in jump-starting the Enlightenment. There's no reason why you couldn't become one now, though it's probably easier to join the Golden Dawn and find their teachings. Their roots are Rosicrucian, though they added some stuff.Join them? I can't right now!!! Cajun Pawn stars is on!
Sky Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Anybody ever taken the Belief-O-Matic quiz? It will tell you which religious philosophy you most closely match based on how you answer the questions. My #2 was the Jehovah's Witnesses after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have to confess that the JW's were probably one of the last religious groups that I saw myself having anything to do with. Kind of interesting, but don't read too much into it!
JeremyOrbe-Smith Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 (edited) What I find interesting is that a lot of the supposedly "separate" religions are named in ways that are not necessarily mutually-exclusive.So if the term Hinduism (applied to a variety of different belief systems) comes from sindhu, referring to the 'river' they were centered on, and if Buddhism comes from budh, to be 'Awake' or 'Enlightened', and if the Dao of Shin-Tao is the 'Way' or 'Path' of the ancestral Gods, and if Shamanism is related to certain types of Priesthood, and if zombies are from Nzambi Damballah, the rainbow serpent of the Bacongo, and if Egyptian Gods are given titles like Amun (meaning The Hidden One), and if Judaism is from the tribe of Judah, and if Christianity is to be an Anointed One, and if Catholicism is to be Universal, and if Islam means to 'submit' to the will of God (related to salam, 'peace'), and if Protestantism means to Protest against hierarchical abuses, and if 'Norse' religion is simply from the stories of the 'Northerners', and if Native Americans worship a Great Spirit, and if Humanism is a philosophy (a philo-Sophia, a Love of Wisdom) that binds humans into peaceful communities ("religion" = "religare", a 'binding'), and if pagans and heathens are from the country, and if most of the names of these Gods have shared roots in common Indo-European or Semitic or other languages, then ...... conceivably (though it would probably make for some interesting internal conflicts about certain doctrines), one could be a Hindu-Buddhist-Shaman-Shinto-Zombie-Egyptian-Jewish-Christian-Catholic-Muslim-Protestant-Norse-NativeAmerican-Philosophical-Humanist. Which is what I kind of consider myself already, with the addition of 'Mormon' as a little cherry on top. The point, I suppose, is that regardless of the many involved and tiresome differences between these religions, they're all responding to universal human concerns. Edited February 20, 2013 by JeremyOrbe-Smith 1
DBMormon Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Moon Quaker.Can you visit the Sun Quakers? They are closely related you know.
DBMormon Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Christian.... but in some independent little church that struggling to get by. Unaffiliated and nondenominational
Nathair/|\ Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Anybody ever taken the Belief-O-Matic quiz? It will tell you which religious philosophy you most closely match based on how you answer the questions. My #2 was the Jehovah's Witnesses after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have to confess that the JW's were probably one of the last religious groups that I saw myself having anything to do with. Kind of interesting, but don't read too much into it! It doesn't work too well for me. I can't; even give a single answer to the first question and it doesn't allow multiple answers.
ERayR Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 To answer the question if I was not Mormon I would most likely be agnostic or atheist..
Tacenda Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Christian.... but in some independent little church that struggling to get by. Unaffiliated and nondenominationalditto
Hamba Tuhan Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 (edited) Pre-Restoration, I probably would have just followed the faith of my parents. Depending on what it might have been, I may not have been very good at it, though.If I weren't a Church member now, I'd be an insufferable, full-of-myself atheist. I'd love pointing out to religious people that they're irrational in contrast to my presumed rationality. I'd mock the commandments as silly, restrictive remnants of Bronze Age superstition. I'd probably hang around message boards just to remind myself how intellectually superior I am ... and to make clever, possibly even witty, pot-shots at all the inferior theists, whose religious belief, clearly, is akin to a mental illness. If I had LDS friends, I'd probably be intrigued enough that I might even hang out here. None of this would last, though, and eventually I'd end up like so many of those I taught on my mission: atheist to Latter-day Saint.As far as being away from the Church, I once lived on an island where the nearest congregation was 800 km away and required an all-night ferry ride. I tried going to other churches, but it felt like dreaming that I was eating: I always awoke hungry. The mission president had given me a recommend to perform the sacrament, and I did that each Sunday in my bedroom, rolling up my bamboo mat to use as a sacrament table. I think the Muslim family I stayed with thought I was insane. I would ask for a glass of water and a small plate (I'd buy a bread roll on Saturday night and keep it in my bedroom) and then retire to my room, close the door, and sing to myself. It sure helped, but it wasn't enough, and I started to die inside without the communion of the Saints. When I finally got transferred back to an island with an LDS branch, it was one of the sweetest moments of my life. Edited February 20, 2013 by Hamba Tuhan 2
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