I was wondering about this topic this morning while pondering the sections of the D&C I had read today and yesterday and the first few chapters of Mormon. And my pondering turned into studying the inside of my eyelids as I sat in the chair of the foyer while waiting for seminary to be over so I could take my daughter to school...
Which is the easier path to true conversion and in coming to know The Savior? Being a convert to the gospel who was born into an LDS family, or an individual who becomes a convert to the gospel in the sense of being a proselyte? Both paths have inherent risks unique to the situation, and also inherent blessings unique to the situation, that those who are part of the other scenario don't have and may not be able to even conceive of. Because, ultimately, each of us is in one of the two scenarios. They are mutually exclusive.
Anyway, what do you guys think? What have you found to be the risks and blessings associated with the scenario you were foreordained to take to come to know Christ?
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
I don't think it really matters. Both ways still present challenges. My mom joined the church when I was three and my father still is not a member. I attended primary, YMs, seminary etc but still had to go through my own testimony building and conversion. A lot of things were foreign to me as I learned them at church when most people born into the faith would have gotten them at home. The temple was a very great mystery and when I learned about baptism for the dead I thought they were playing a joke on me. These concepts were really foreign to me but my kids know about them from the earliest age. In that sense there were some struggles but in others I was exposed from a pretty early age. I guess you could say I had a hybrid type experience. I grew up with the gospel starting at age three but really had a convert like experience where I learned some things like many converts do outside of the home and when I was older not having the exposure to them as a child.
My conversion came about around my 16th birthday. Membership conversions versus non member conversions. I thinkt he only real difference is knowledge (which isn't the same as testimony) and cultural assimilation (from a US/LDS perspective).
I knew very little of Mormons outside my branch and for the most part assumed everyone was as loving and supportive as they were in my branch.
How so? Don't punishments (in the sense I think we are thinking of them) exist for those who have entered into covenants and not kept them?
Perhaps, those who are born under the covenant are foreordained to things that those who are not may not be foreordained to... but then again, maybe not. Aren't all individuals who come to earth foreordained to return to our Father's presence and receive exaltation?
I don't think many of us really know to what sort of missions or station (within the church as it were) in mortality we were foreordained to. And I think that is probably a good thing and wisdom in The Lord. As we are all rather sinful from time to time, wouldn't it just be the same feeling as hell to live with the knowledge you were foreordained to be a leader but because you goofed up sometime in the past (even though you have repented), you lost the opportunity to realize the foreordination? How could we have joy and hope if we were constantly reminded of our own "fall"?
What unique risks do those in either scenario (and in your case Jason, I include your situation in with the latter scenario) face in not meeting their foreordination? What unique blessing do those in either scenario have in meeting their foreordination?
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
That is an interesting question Cat. I know that the decision I have made have probably affected my future. Did decision "A" change the opportunity to do "B" which I was foreordained to do? I've made enough bone headed mistakes or decisions that I'm sure I may have altered what could have been. I have thought back to different times in my life and wondered what if I had done X instead of Y? How would my life and even eternity have turned out differently?
Sometimes I have made decisions which were not what one would call sinful decisions. Such as which major to choose, where to work, where to live, etc that I felt there could be more than one right answer. Sometimes the path was clear and inspired. At other times it was if the Lord didn't really say which one I should choose or maybe I just didn't hear correctly. Maybe both paths would have been fine and He wanted me to choose? I don't know.
What I have learned is that we all regret certain decisions we have made. That's because we are imperfect and make errors. Even the prophet Joseph felt regret for what he referred to as the foibles of his youth. I'm certain my foibles were much worse than his but it shows even he had regrets and made mistakes.
When I return to the Father's pressence I'm sure my mistakes will be made clear. All I will be able to do is look to the Savior to make it right through his atonement. I can't go back and relive my mispent youth but I can repent. After repentance we are forgiven and the Lord remembers our sins no more. I only wish that I could remember them no more as well, that they could be wiped from my mind. But then of course the memory can be a deterant from doing that same thing or something similar again.
As far as the Lamanites and Nephites go, we know that some of their accountability is based upon the knowlege they had. Their knowledge of the gospel will play a role in their accountability. In my jesting about avoiding a Dante type eternity I probably should have said that in my case I probably had the knowlege I needed at the time of my mistakes and foibles so I cannot use that as an excuse. Of course, we all know that the eternities will not be filled with a Dante type hell although the imagry from the story is compelling!
