Who I Am

Some time while in Jerusalem, before I headed to Galilee I thought about continuing my blog after my return home. Obviously there are many experiences I never had the time to write on my blog. But more than that, I wanted to record my experiences and perspective via my religion. Again, in part for my personal record but also for those of other faiths that might stumble upon my words that they might be a source of strength and enlightenment for them. In order for me to do this, this post will be about my religion and what I believe, in order to preface future posts with this background knowledge.

All that I have stated about my religion is that I am a God fearing woman, and Christian; both of which are true. I belong to a church called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While this is the formal title of our church, many people know us as “Mormons”. With that in mind, there are many who argue that this is not a Christian church. To be honest, it depends on your definition of Christian. For the purpose of this post, I will define a Christian as one who believes in Jesus Christ. Which I do.

In order to more fully understand my religion I will briefly mention a few fundamental beliefs that we have.

We believe that God the Father and Jesus Christ are two separate beings.

We believe in that Christ suffered for our sins that man might return to heaven upon our willingness to repent.

We believe in a pre-earthly existence where we lived with God.

We believe in a living Prophet that is called of God to guide the members of the church.

We believe in modern day revelation and that we as individuals are capable of receiving our own personal revelation.

We believe in the Bible, and also a book of scripture titled The Book of Mormon.

We believe in agency, and that while man can be saved, it is through the desires of his heart and through his works that he is saved by the blood of Christ.

If anyone wants to know more about what I believe, there are vast resources on Mormon.org. Or, if you know a member of my religion, I would implore you to inquire of them. But for now these are some of the basic beliefs and concepts that need to be understood in order to appreciate some of the topics of my posts that will follow.

It is my goal to add a new post every Sunday in an effort to compile my experiences from the Holy Land. Consider this the preface, and my next post will be the beginning.