Other Christian faiths

[Emower]

One of the things I gave up fairly early in my faith journey was the notion that God is involved in the minute details of not only our lives but things generally down here on the third rock. Now that many friends know that I am stepping back from Mormonism they are giving me all kinds of Christian material to listen to or read. It seems that other faiths really double down on the whole God being involved thing. I listened to a preacher the other day who was speaking on giving your worries to Jesus. "Worried about your 401k? Give it to Jesus and let him worry about it!" This is one of the reasons I don't feel particularly pulled by another church. Trying to believe in a God who is not real involved seems like more of an exercise in philosophy than anything else.
Does that aspect of Christianity turn anyone else off?

[Korihor]

It turns me off. I like the ideals of true Christianity, not any literalness. I've met with a few pastors, Dr of Theology and other "true believers of that I Am". They are really good people and seem to have a better grip on Christianity than high ranking LDS leaders. But it's been very hard to find a non-literal Christian church that appeals to me.

[GoodBoy]

The, "We're right because look at this bible verse right here!" attitude definitely turns me off. The idea that the bible is infallible and word-for-word as God wants it is utterly ridiculous, but held by most Christian faiths. Muslims have actually better claims for inerrancy of the Koran than the Christians do, and frankly have a stronger theological basis, but I have no desire to join myself to Islam because it wouldn't help me have more friends so I don't even consider it. I definitely like the, "You are saved no matter what" doctrine from most of Christianity and think it is more hopeful, loving, and accepting. But they are all guessing. Nobody has any evidence or knows any better. People aren't looking for the best strength of argument, they are looking for what would work best for their lives and they use their brains to try to make the logic fit, which is the definition of "theology".

The only reason that I personally would join another church would be for the community, and if that was my objective, to have friends and community, then I'm much better off remaining a Mormon. Someone who was a convert and/or had family and friends in other faiths might be different.

[document]

Yes, huge turnoff for me.

[RubinHighlander]

Does that aspect of Christianity turn anyone else off?

Totally! There were a couple of key elements that made me have no desire to go to any other church:

• As a TBM who took a deep dive into the apostasy that started soon after Jesus left his apostles, it's stuck with me that it's always been a mess and there's no man-made religion that would work for me and therefore no desire to dedicate anymore time to those institutions.

• Fool me once, won't get fooled again.

• The NT/OT unraveled for me soon after Mormonism, in much the same way; go digging for facts and you soon learn the truth.

• I also quickly took on the view that God was not a white haired bearded old man meddling in my daily affairs. Both HE and the devil faded away and I was so much happier!

[No Tof]

Does that aspect of Christianity turn anyone else off?

Totally! There were a couple of key elements that made me have no desire to go to any other church:

• As a TBM who took a deep dive into the apostasy that started soon after Jesus left his apostles, it's stuck with me that it's always been a mess and there's no man-made religion that would work for me and therefore no desire to dedicate anymore time to those institutions.

• Fool me once, won't get fooled again.

• The NT/OT unraveled for me soon after Mormonism, in much the same way; go digging for facts and you soon learn the truth.

• I also quickly took on the view that God was not a white haired bearded old man meddling in my daily affairs. Both HE and the devil faded away and I was so much happier!

This pretty much sums up my experience too.

[Ghost]

I enjoy visiting other churches out of curiosity, and always have, but I think it would be very strange to actually consider joining another church. At least with Mormonism, I was already part of the community when I began to question the foundations. In the case of another church, I would be going in with the attitude that many of the congregation's deeply held beliefs are made-up nonsense. (Though I wouldn't say anything like that, of course.)

As far as I can tell, my primary issues with Mormon beliefs (implications of an intervening God, reliability of the Biblical record, and so on) are just as problematic or more problematic in other faith traditions.

But I don't think I will ever tire of talking with people about their beliefs and exploring ideas of faith.

[MoPag]

I listened to a preacher the other day who was speaking on giving your worries to Jesus. "Worried about your 401k? Give it to Jesus and let him worry about it!"

I have a friend like this. Every couple of months or so she'll be all over Facebook saying she's giving her life over to God. But then she keeps complaining about random weird stuff and saying passive-aggressive things. So I don't really know how well that works out. Once she was unemployed during one of her episodes. She refused to search for a job because that would be doing what she wants and not really relying on God.

[Spicy McHaggis]

I always find it odd when someone leaves the church for a born again christian church. They go from one controlling fairy tale for a slightly different spin on essentially the same fairy tale.

[Raylan Givens]

I face similar problems, many faiths profess a literal view of the Bible. One of the only groups that don't are Jews. I have found a few pastors that are trained enough to know the pitfalls of literal thinking. Perhaps find a pastor, rather than a church? I am still working on that...( a few emails sent).

Unfortunately, most of the non-denominational churches are fairly evangelical, and the more progressive groups are full of 21 year olds (not a bad thing, I am just not very hip.)

I just moved from Sugar House, I liked my ward there. My new one is 80% over the age of 70, a more literalistic group.

Let me know if you find something.

[HighMaintenance]

My NeverMo husband was raised Catholic. When we got married, the Catholic Church would not marry us unless I became a Catholic, so we had a Methodist pastor officiate and we attend Methodist services on Easter and/or Christmas. I go because it is what my husband wants to do on those days he considers holy, but in all honesty, my beliefs (or lack thereof) are borderline atheist.

We've had high level conversations about how I have a problem with organized religion after finding out that the religion I was raised in was, well, what it is, but I choose not to outright tell him that I have a hard time even believing in God, let alone all the dogma of all Christian religions.

I tell him where I find God is when we are fly fishing the Colorado River between Glen Canyon Dam and Lee's Ferry, even though that is just where I find my inner peace and recharge my soul, regardless of any supernatural beings. I find the cathedrals of nature far more inspiring than the cathedrals built by man, even though there are some awe-inspiring man-made cathedrals out there in the world!

[MoPag]

I think one of the greatest lies the LDS church tried to teach us is that there is only one way to believe. I think everyone is entitled to their own path of belief. We have posters on here like Document and Silver Girl who have found their paths in other Christian churches. I think that is wonderful. I love hearing about their faith paths. Others chose atheism or agnosticism, I really enjoy learning about those paths too. If you can find a way to make sense of this life and peace with what comes next; if you can find a path that helps you love yourself and those around you- then go for it.

I tell him where I find God is when we are fly fishing the Colorado River between Glen Canyon Dam and Lee's Ferry, even though that is just where I find my inner peace and recharge my soul, regardless of any supernatural beings. I find the cathedrals of nature far more inspiring than the cathedrals built by man, even though there are some awe-inspiring man-made cathedrals out there in the world!

I love this^^ I find God and Goddess in nature too. That is where I find peace and spiritual connection.