The Truth of God and Other Interesting Words

Well, I caved. I joined in my family tradition and created a blog. I recently decided to do this to help me piece my ideas together. I finally got around to it, and now I have to write a first post.

So as a 17 year old Mormon, I'm no expert. I've read the Book of Mormon, yes. But I'm nowhere near the level of spirituality that the First Presidency and the Apostles are. Heck, there are people in my small town in Wyoming that are so much more spiritual than me.

But to my credit, I do feel as though my relationship with my Father in Heaven is in a good position right now. I do have what would be called an "unshakable" testimony.

That's one thing I want to make very clear. It seems to be a Christian (specifically Mormon) stereotype that all of them are just blinded by the faith of their parents. That none of them have actually read the Bible (and the Book of Mormon). That if they just ask a few questions, they'll "discover the truth". I cannot adequately address how wrong this assumption is.

While to be perfectly honest, I have not read the Bible cover to cover. That is something I am currently doing. I'm still in the book of Genesis however. I have read the Book of Mormon cover to cover, along with the Doctrine and Covenants.

And the thing is, the questions that people often think Mormons should ask to "wake up", I've asked them. I "know for myself" that the church is true.

I believe that everybody's testimony relies on at least one truth. One thing that is obvious to them, and that they cannot deny. For me, that is the existence of a God who hears and answers prayers.

At first, yes, the existence of God was reliant upon the faith of my mother and father. When I was younger, I wasn't 100% sure. All I knew is that Mom and Dad said that God was real, and Mom and Dad are never wrong.

As I grew up and became a teenager, naturally, I recognized that my parents can be wrong. Going further, I figured that they were always wrong. So with that, I stopped caring about the existence of a Heavenly Being. I think deep down, I still believed, but the way my life was, thinking about God made me feel guilty and alone.

As I grew up more and attended seminary, I found peace in there. I found that the love I felt in my seminary class was unmatched by anything I had ever felt before. Naturally, I wanted more of this.

So I attended seminary regularly. I learned. I read the scriptures, I prayed, I attended church and the temple. And all these acts and all these places gave me the same warm feeling. The same peace from my sinful life.

I began to notice that the one thing that all these had in common, was that they were religious acts and places. I began to know for myself that God was real.

So I began to pray for specific things. Help with certain trials. Blessings for my family and friends. Forgiveness for my sins. And these prayers were answered. Not all at once, but they were answered. I saw that when I prayed, things went well. When I didn't, things went bad.

I recall my freshman year in high school during finals week (or maybe it was midterms). In seminary, Bro had admonished us to pray before each of our tests. And so I did. Well, all but one. My science final.

I got the results back from these tests, and saw how I did. English, I did rather well. I've always been good at that. Math, also well. Then came the science grade. I think it was a C. I passed the class, but I immediately noticed that the one I bombed was the one I didn't ask for help with.

And that's just one example. Let's not even mention the 30-Day Challenge.

I felt God love for me because I saw answers to my prayers. You could argue that it was coincidence or placebo, but I'm going to tell you that it was God. I'm going to tell you that God is the loving Father of all of us. I'm going to tell you that my life has been blessed by, not the idea of, nor things in the name of, but just God.

God lives. That's the basic principle I live by. I base my entire life around the notion that God lives and that he loves me.

But that's just a thought. Happy Sunday.

-Nathaniel