Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Question

 

Dear Gramps,

I joined the church in 98, raised Evangelical, so Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal,  I feel like when I question something the answer is always the same . Pray and ask. I do and my answers are ask again. I feel like the church doesn’t want thinkers, I love my Heavenly Father and feel like excommunication might be best for me. Any thoughts? Can a member asked to be excommunicated?  Not to mention the separation of my family whom I love also is becoming more than I can bear.

Denise

 

Answer

 

Denise,

You jump around quite a bit in your email, going from asking questions, to excommunication, to the separation of you from your family.  I am sure that if I knew the full context, I could give a better answer.  As it is, I am going to guess a bit and try to fill in the blanks.  I apologize if I don’t guess correctly.

You say you converted.  I hope your conversion happened because you studied the Book of Mormon and then asked God in prayer if the Book of Mormon was true.  If this never happened for you then I highly suggest that you try it now.  If it did happen for you, then I would encourage you to remember what that was like and what you learned there.

The whole of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is founded on the idea that people can and should ask questions.  More importantly it is founded on the idea that God will answer if you ask Him questions.  Thus the idea that the church discourages questions is not true.  When the members tell you to pray and ask God they are not trying to avoid questions they are trying to hook you up to the source for answers.

Now sometimes members of the Church might forget the study it out part that comes before we are to pray and ask for answers.  Sometimes we try to jump right to the end, without doing the labor God requires of us to get answers. Now you give no details on what questions you are asking, so again I have to take a guess at the possible nature of what they might be. Sometimes God answers our questions with the idea that we need to wait or be patient.  This can be frustrating.  In these cases we need to remember why we are here, and that is to prove ourselves and see if we will do all that God commands.  Sometimes our test can be in the silence.  Are we going to hold true to what we already know, or do we let go when it seems to us that God is not listening and answering any more?

You ask about excommunication, and yes you can resign your membership.  I would counsel against it.  I would counsel you to cling to what you know God has already told you and confirmed for you.  Embrace those truths fully and completely and have faith that God knows you. He knows your family, and if you follow Him, everything else will work out in the due time of the Lord.

 

Gramps

 

 

 

Copyright © 2024 Ask Gramps - Q and A about Mormon Doctrine. All Rights Reserved.
This website is not owned by or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the Mormon or LDS Church). The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the position of the Church. The views expressed by individual users are the responsibility of those users and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church. For the official Church websites, please visit churchofjesuschrist.org or comeuntochrist.org.

Pin It on Pinterest