A Christian View

I was sitting at Panera Bread with a Spanish classmate on Tuesday afternoon. My classmate and I got to talking about religion. Hmmm! I had prayed for a missionary opportunity that very morning. My classmate had her Bible with her. I took a look at it because it looked a little different than most Bibles I'd seen. Her Bible wider than most. It had spots for her to journal in as she read on the outer margins of the pages! So cool! I kind of wish I had a Bible like that, but I have a blog and Face Book and regular old journals (LOTS of them) that I can write it, plus I LOVE to mark my scriptures with pretty colors.

Anyway, back to the reason I am writing! Sheesh! I checked the version of The Bible she was using. ESV. ESV? What the heck is ESV? English Standard Version. Ok what's that? I didn't read to know, but ok, ESV. I read the King James version like every other LDS person. Now hear comes the good part... My classmate, my dear sweet friend, said I wasn't Christian. WHAT?!?! I'm NOT Christian. Well, that's what she said. Because I'm Mormon, I'm not Christian. Well, my naive friend is 20-years-old. I'm almost (GASP!) 40. (Well 40 next year!) I have to say I find it almost offensive to be informed that I'm not Christian. It, unfortunately, shows the naivety of my dear, young friend.

So let's get educated... I'm am LDS, otherwise known as Mormon. AND I AM CHRISTIAN! Dictionary.com defines Christian as 1. of, pertaining to, or derived from Jesus Christ or His teachings: a Christian faith. 2. of, pertaining to, believing in, or belonging to the religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ: Spain is a Christian country.

Me and my fellow Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons, fit both definitions. Let me explain... #1 I believe in Jesus Christ AND His teachings. #2 I belong to a religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. The official name of the LDS, or Mormon, church IS (drum roll please!) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Um, Christ is right there in the name. And the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ ALSO has Christ in its title. So I'm confused as to why I'm not considered Christian. I consider myself Christian, so do all my LDS friends and family. In fact, in the Book of Mormon, Jesus is mentioned in 2 Nephi 25:19 by name. He is spoken of much sooner being referenced as the Lamb of God, Son of God, and Messiah just like He is in The Bible. Please go read it! I promise it's an AWESOME book!

So on with my discussion with my friend. I think I've convinced her I'm Christian, but she wants to know what I believe about what Christ is and what He did while he was here on earth. Apparently, she believe Christ is wholly god and wholly man. That logic fails me. How can anyone defy the laws of mathematics and be TWO wholes? I believe Christ is half man and half god. His man half, or mortal half is what allowed Him to physically die on the cross. His godly half is what allowed Him to take on all our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane AND (now this is important!) resurrect himself three days later, giving us the Easter celebration. Jesus Christ was both mortal and god. Glad we all agree. Christ's suffering in Gethsemane allowed us to return to Heavenly Father so long as we've done our absolute best to follow His commandments. Jesus Christ redeemed us so we could return to Heavenly Father overcoming the spiritual death suffered by man in the Garden of Eden. Next, His resurrection allowed us to overcome physical death so we could return to our perfected physical bodies once they've died. He led the way.

Now folks, I may understand some things incorrectly here, so please help me out. Thoughts and opinions are welcome, but we must be respectful of one another. I did not tell my sweet friend she was wrong. I just didn't agree with her. Just like I wouldn't tell someone of Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, or any other faith they are wrong. They just believe differently than I do.

If you'd like to know how I came by my faith and the faith of many other members of the LDS church, check out Mormon.org. The link to my profile is: http://www.mormon.org/me/F1YF/Brandi

I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the one true church here on earth at this time. It may be led by imperfect men, but they do their best to teach and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ as best they know how. They are amazing and they love each and every one of us, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Buddhist, and everyone else. They love us and want us all to come unto Christ.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Brother's View

Ok so if you've been reading this blog, you know I'm LDS (otherwise known as Mormon). In fact, most of my family is LDS. We all converted individually, for the most part, starting with me just after I turned 17. My sister, Andrea, followed suit a few years later. My mom, dad, sister Samantha, her then-husband, and my nephew, Christopher, were baptized when I was about 27 or 28. Since then Samantha's other children, Jonathan, Annabeth, and Sabryna have all been baptized and my girls want to be baptized as well, but they have to overcome a roadblock (permission from their dad). But, as usual, I'm off topic.

So I'm LDS and I think I've mentioned that I take my girls to the Portland Oregon Temple pretty frequently. We try to go once a week, but life happens. We've befriended a temple worker there, Brother Rosenbaum (or Rosenbalm). I think I've mentioned him before. Anyway, a couple weeks ago, we sat down for a bit of a chat in the temple atrium. Brother Rosenbaum was telling me how excited he is about teaching in Primary (Sunday School for children ages 3-11). He teaches with a companion and his companion has been teaching most of the lessons lately. Now, Brother Rosenbaum's excitement isn't JUST from teaching a class of 6 or 7-year-olds, but because his companion is going to be gone the next couple weeks and Brother Rosenbaum gets to lead the lessons. They've been learning The Articles of Faith (more to follow on this). You see Brother Rosenbaum is concerned about how these youngsters are learning this important pieces of LDS doctrine. There are the very basic tenants of our faith. It sums up LDS in 13(ish) sentences. Brother Rosenbaum says his companion has just been teaching the children to memorize The Articles of Faith. Well, in his opinion, it's not about the memorization of The Articles of Faith, but understanding WHAT THEY MEAN!!!

We should be teaching our children not only WHAT to do, but WHY we should do it. While, "Because I said so!" is really awesome as a parent. Does it really work? Do you remember when your parents said that to you? I know I would get huffy and upset and pout and storm around the house doing what I was told to do, but didn't like it all.

WHAT IF we said, "Because you're learning to take care of your things. Because it shows respect for your belongings, for your sibling(s), for your parents, for yourself."?

WHAT IF we said, "Because I want you to be able to take care of yourself when you no longer live with me." "Because I want you to know how to dust, vacuum, take out the trash, wash dishes, cook food so you don't like in a sty when you have your own place."?

WHAT IF we said, "Because you're serving your friend(s), your sibling(s), your parents, your community and when you serve others, you serve GOD"?

So "Because I said so" is good, but wouldn't a REASON be so much BETTER? I think it would.

So Brother Rosenbaum wants to teach these little people the WHY behind The Articles of Faith. Now I'm a grownup and I accept these articles, and always have, as a matter of faith. Children don't quite understand faith so it's our job to teach them faith, if at least faith in our abilities as parents. (Because goodness knows the older they get, the less faith they have in our abilities to parent until they're 25 or so.) I've read The Articles of Faith, nodded my head and said, "YEP! I believe all that!" and moved on. I DO NOT have them memorized, but I should. Brother Rosenbaum inspired me to teach my own  daughters The Articles of Faith, including the WHY so they can know them AND I can KNOW them. They are important. And isn't it our responsibility as parents to be our children's primary (meaning main) teachers? IT IS!!!

If you're Christian (just like me) or not, give them a read, see if you nod your head to a few of them, then I challenge to ask more. Missionaries and/or your LDS friends will be more than happy to answer your questions. So here they are:

The Articles of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

2. We believe that men will punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.

3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.

7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.

8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of Heaven.

10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

11. We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul -- We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.


Now that's LDS in a nutshell. I love the Gospel! I do! I'm so thankful for the happiness that I've found, both in my family and in myself. I know The Articles of Faith to be true and I will be a teacher to my children, not only in word, but by example too. They watch me closer than I think. Yours do too!

In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Long Awaited Rear View

I should have written this a week or two ago, but I let life keep me busy and that's never really a good thing. In the last few weeks, several things have happened and I'll have to tell you about them a little at a time.

The one thing I most want to talk about is our trip to the temple last week. Well about 10 days ago now. You see my daughters and I had been going to visit the Portland Oregon LDS temple every week since they began this school year in September. After I received my endowments on December 31st, we visited once and stopped for about eight weeks. Things were BUSY! Phew!

Finally, we made it a point to go visit. We were there on a Thursday and we were hoping our favorite temple worker was there. Lo and behold! He comes walking into the lobby still dressed in his temple clothes! He looks like an angel. Brother Rosenbaum, or Rosenbalm, (I'm not quite sure which!) enters the atrium after we've said our prayer and are about to read from Book of Mormon Stories. He visits with us for about 30 minutes so we can catch up on things. We tell him we haven't come for a while due to illness and being so darn busy! I inform him I received my endowments in December and I completed some temple work for my great^3 grandmother, Katherine Schmidt from Russia. Such exciting news!

Brother Rosenbaum has adopted us as his family too! Yay! He writes down all our names, our address and the like so we can stay in touch. Such a sweet man! He truly is an angel and he always makes our visits to the temple so much sweeter.

So with all that said, I need to bear my testimony of the temple. Here goes nothing:

Last year, sometime in September or October, my girls and I were on our weekly visit. We had prayed, read scripture and visited in the atrium of the temple. We stayed for about 45 minutes or so. As we were walking out, there was a sister temple worker in the lobby near the exit doors. The girls had already walked out the door and I was following, but the sister looked at me, smiled and said, "I am so proud of you." I just smiled and said something humble, like "Thank you" or "I'm not doing much." I didn't really brush it off, but it didn't hit me until I reached the car what had happened.

Heavenly Father had used this sister to tell me He was proud of ME! Holy good heavens! He spoke to me. Little old me! I hadn't been asking, or maybe I had been asking for so long I'd forgotten I was asking, but a fervent prayer and wish in my heart had been answered. He was PROUD of me!

You see this hits home because I made a LOT of mistakes when I was a teenager and in my early 20s. I was looking for my dad to be proud of me. He had checked out after my uncle committed suicide. It was really rough on him, but I NEEDED him and he wasn't there. Physically, yes, but emotionally, he just wasn't there. I had boyfriend after boyfriend and husband after husband (There are THREE ex-husbands, people!) seeking some type of acceptance from a strong male figure because Daddy had gone.

Now let me tell you, I love my dad. I know my step-mom, Sandy, is going to read this and maybe my dad will too, but this is me and this is how I feel. I'm not trying to condemn, blame, judge, persecute, or anything else, but this is how I feel and how I felt for a really long time. I had to come to the realization that I can't change the past and part of my past is a broken me and a broken family. Mom and Dad, I love you! Know that! I MEAN IT!

Back to the task at hand. For a bunch of years, while I was in the U.S. Army, I wanted my dad to tell me he was proud of me, of what I was doing, and where I was going with my life. I felt I had to beg him and he always told me he was proud of me when I asked, but I needed him to tell me he was proud of me without me having to ask. It's true. I went through my 20s with craziness and multiple marriages and a couple babies. I entered my 30s pregnant with my third child and in the process of my third divorce. That's when it hit me that I needed to get past all this needing my dad to be proud of me. I, ME, needed to be proud of me. That's all. But that day in the temple, my Father was proud of me. He told me I was doing the right thing. He told me, through a sweet temple worker, that I was on the right track. He told me the ONE thing I had been praying to hear without ever really voicing it.

All in all, I wouldn't change a thing that has happened in my past. It has made me the person I am today. I have an amazing husband, three beautiful children, two awesome step-sons, and I'm going to school. We're happy. Stressed out, with a tight budget, but we're happy. That type of happiness comes from knowing trials and pain and suffering. But I have the temple to go to for peace and calm and to get away from the madness of the world. God and Jesus Christ are there. They love me and are PROUD of me! What else is there, really?

Temple are sacred places. They are the house of God. He is there. He lives there. I know this to be TRUTH! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.