Chad

My faith is very important to me. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS; I’ll also refer to it as “the church”), and I strongly believe that Jesus Christ is at the head of the church. I think other Christian religions that follow Christ are great, and I believe that Christ inspires people in those churches to do good, but there’s a difference. I believe in living prophets, scripture that can be expanded on, priesthood authority, what we call the “plan of salvation”, etc. I have respect for most religions and the people in those religions.

I’m assuming that people who come across this will also be or be familiar with Latter-Day Saints and will be familiar with concepts taught in our church. If you're not, please visit the church's official website.

I served in the Massachusetts Boston Mission, 1999-2001, and was honorably released after serving a full two years. It was not the best two years of my life… not by a long shot. But the church is still true.

I participate in Church weekly and attend the Temple regularly (1-3x / month, depending on life complexity). I was a Temple Worker for a while, but then life got super complex and right now it doesn’t work for me to do that, but I’d like to do that again at some point. I don’t believe that Temple workers are better than other people – I believe that service at a soup kitchen is just as noble as service at a temple. Maybe more so… it depends on the attitude of whoever is providing the service, and why they’re doing it. I believe that the ordinances that are performed in temples are necessary to live with God again, and that is one of my guiding goals in life… to qualify for Christ’s mercy and forgiveness such that I can be made completely clean and return to live with God. I want to do the best I can to show God I’m serious, to the point where I worry if I’m being scrupulous. I have full intentions on keeping the covenants I’ve made with God.

I’m not a fan of the “church culture” in Utah. In my view, it excludes too many people and makes it so people have to pretend to be perfect -- which prevents the unity I believe is intended.

The covenants I've made are very important to me, and I strive to keep them. While I feel I’m doing a reasonably good job of keeping my covenants and choosing the right, my personal relationship with God is not where I want it to be. I have experienced spiritual abuse, and that plays into it. It’s a real thing, and I see a therapist.

I like to be reminded of my covenants regularly, and draw strength from those covenants by participating in Temple Ordinances fairly regularly. I try to go twice a month. If I go longer than a month without going to the Temple, I feel like I really need to get there.

I am hoping to be sealed to someone -- I was granted a sealing cancellation from my ex, and I've been cleared to be sealed again. I didn't take requesting a cancellation lightly -- Like I said, my covenants are extremely important to me. I found that it was necessary for my mental health though, and that's not something I want to discuss on this site. While I hope to be sealed, I am fine to marry someone civilly. I've heard an apostle say that situations like that will be worked out by God, and to not put off marriage because one party is already sealed to someone else. Still, it would be nice to have that assurance.