Christianity

Since moving to Indiana, Kurtis and I have had some learning moments and many conversations regarding Christianity. The people we are surrounded by in Indiana are generally Christian. But they don't just proclaim to be Christians, they are good people with high morals. They attend church each Sunday. They are kind and very Christ-like. Kurtis says that he's often reminded that a person doesn't have to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be a good person, but I think we sometimes forget that. Christians in general learn their values from the Bible, just as we do.

It's interesting to see the spectrum of Christianity here. I don't proclaim to be an expert on any of them, but I've done my fair share of observation. In certain areas there are Amish and Mennonites, people of quite conservative values. Locally, I've seen a fair number of Apostolic Pentecostals - you can spot them by the women wearing long denim skirts with their hair done up. There's also religions here wherein the women don't ever cut their hair (vs. 14 and 15), or they wear a "head covering" even if it's only a 6"x3" crocheted piece. There are also the "regular" Christian churches, Baptist, Lutheran, Salvation Army, Church of God... I don't dare name them all because frankly, all the names are quite confusing and I'm not sure how they classify themselves (i.e. Church of the Nazarene... not sure what that is.) Some churches have two services, one traditional and one modern. Pretty much every music radio station features Christian Rock. I think there's one station with country music and other varieties. Yesterday I saw a church with a sign that said "Animal Blessings Outdoor Worship this Saturday." This is all quite fascinating to me.

I know that Kurtis and I being here in Indiana is for his work training, but perhaps we were "sent" here to share the gospel with others as well. But there's really a fine line between knowing if it's better to have us have our church and others be in there's and be content with that, or if it's better for us to share the gospel as much as we can while we are here.

I think this idea of Christian variety really hit home to us this week. I have found a good friend in one of the girls here. Her and her husband know about our church, and have several good LDS friends. Kurtis and I have had a couple of casual conversations with them about church things and Kurtis invited the husband to church... to no avail. The husband has kind of shut down when anything remotely religious is brought up. This week we finally found out some of their concerns with our church.

1. They are concerned that we focus more on our "works" getting us to heaven, rather than just excepting what Christ has done for us as enough
2. They are concerned that we use water for the sacrament instead of something that resembles the color of blood (i.e. grape juice)
3. They are concerned that we believe that Eve partaking of the fruit in the Garden of Eden was essential to the plan of salvation, instead of it being wrong
4. They are concerned that we believe in modern-day prophets. Claiming that a prophet can't be a prophet unless he's made a prophecy and it comes to pass. But we know God's words never cease.
5. They have concerns with some actions of Joseph Smith
6. And the one that broke our hearts, they believe that our church is "wolves in sheep's clothing" (Matthew 7:15) and we have been deceived

Now I mention these, for two reasons. First, so you can have a small taste of what it's like to live in a very Christian place that has some different ideas than our church and what experience that is creating for us. And second, to tell you that I am really excited for General Conference this weekend. When I heard President Eyring speak at the General Relief Society Meeting on Saturday night, I was reminded again of how amazing the church really is. That we have prophets on the earth today, and they direct the Lord's work on the earth. The church is perfect, it was set up by Christ himself, and nothing that anybody does or says can change that.

I finally started to feel a little better after being upset about the "wolves in sheep's clothing" comment last night when I was watching some converts testimonies on mormon.org. When looking through them, I spotted a familiar face... Belinda. Click here to see Belinda. (She's the African woman towards the bottom, with a yellow shirt on.) I taught Belinda in London while I was on my mission. She had a difficult road in her conversion due to her fiance being quite anti. That was in 2002. She since has been baptized, married a Ghanian man, being sealed in the Accra, Ghana temple, and is the Relief Society President in the Peckham Ward in London. It reminded me that people have to be open to hearing the gospel. The Lord prepares the humble to hear the gospel, and they're lives are forever changed and blessed once they hear and except it.