“I am not trying to offend all of you people that are gay, BUT in my own opinion, its a sin..”

“BUT just forgive me if i have offended anyone BUT i’m speaking out what is on my mind.”

“I cannot say that I support Gay Marriage and I can’t also say I support. Its the right of the people BUT thats just a thought that is on my mind right now.”

“I respect everyone don’t matter what their background and their belief are, BUT I believe that if we love our Heavenly Father…..”

“I’m not a perfect person BUT i’m trying my best to be his follower.”

“I am very Happy to help and answer any question that comes up after this, BUT i know that by praying and….”

You May Have A Strong Testimony Of The Gospel…, BUT I Think Your A Stuck Up Bull Headed Mormon With No Personal Opinion Or Thought Processes!

I respect everyone don’t matter what their background and their belief are, but I believe that if we love our Heavenly Father with our whole heart and mind we can follow his plan. I’m not a perfect person but i’m trying my best to be his follower.

I am very Happy to help and answer any question that comes up after this, but i know that by praying and keeping the commandments will make me a strong person. I love the Lds church and I have a strong testimony of the Gospel.

I’m an active LDS, so how can I not comment on this post? My purpose is not to offend you or anyone else, so I will try to be as tactful as possible. Plus, I see you have been tactful, too, so thanks.

I mainly just want to comment on the “questioning” thing. I would say that it’s fully allowed and encouraged in the LDS church. I have always been taught to think about everything! I grew up with the notion that if you do something or believe in something, think about why you do/believe in those things. It’s true that many people don’t think about why they do what they do, but that can be said for mormons and non-mormons alike. Why, for example, is alcohol bad? No LDS prophet ever said it was evil in and of itself. It’s bad because people generally do really stupid and hurtful things while under the influence of it. Besides that, I’d like to point out that the world spends billions and billions of dollars on alcohol products. Just think about how much food we could give to the starving people in the world if we didn’t spend so much money on alcohol production/consumption. But do you see what I’m doing? By thinking about it and analyzing why the Word of Wisdom was instituted, I’ve found my answer. I didn’t have to pray and pray and pray because I just thought about in my own head.

The problem is that a lot of people don’t think about things. But that’s not a part of mormon doctrine, that’s just a human failing. Lots of people don’t use their heads very wisely, and I think it’s incorrect and extremely damaging to say that it’s an exclusive characteristic of the LDS church.

Gordon B. Hinckley said to “be smart.” That includes studying, thinking, pondering. Each of those activities requires that the individual asks questions and explores.

There are, however, specific doctrines of the LDS church that make it what it is. So the chuch does set rules and boundaries, and as with anything else, if you don’t agree to abide by those rules and boundaries, you kindly decline to accept them. And as you know, the church allows for that as well — we all have agency.

As far as “being an individual” goes, I’m not quite sure what you mean. Do you mean that to be an individual, one has to be completely different from other people in every possible way? If that’s what “individual” means, I don’t think anyone fits that description exactly. In my life, I was just about the only girl in my high school who didn’t smoke, drink, and have sex. I don’t know how much more individual I could be.

What I’m trying to say, is that I respect your beliefs and opinions, but I wish you would speak about them as just that: your beliefs and opinions. You are talking about your personal LDS experiences as if they are part of LDS doctrine. And then people get the wrong idea about Latter-Day Saints and we’re back to square 1 — persecution. I expect you know a lot about that. I’m sorry that you were ever made to feel like you couldn’t explore the reasons for your previous beliefs, but that’s what happened to you.

The phrase I use most often is “cultural Mormon.” The comparasin to Judaism is right on - only you can be “ethnic Jew” and “religious Jew” (technically not accurate, but that’s how many think of it) - and in Mormonism it’s more of a cultural/religious thing.

More of these cultural Mormonism traits include:
* faking your happiness (a friendly smile indicates a strong testimony)
* a certain reluctance to swear in front of strangers
* thinking of coffee (and other things) as “sinful” or inherently “bad”
* that old puritan work ethic - although I think this one is less prevalent than it once was

Anyway, nicely written.