Have you ever wondered what God looks like? If you and I were able to see God today we would see that he is a man that looks much like me or you. He has the same features we do. He has a mouth, eyes, nose, hands, feet. In fact he is about our same height.
You may think this strange in that you have always been taught perhaps that God is not that personal and more abstract. We are His offspring. He is the Father of our spirits. We lived with Him for a very long time before coming to this earth. We look like Him and He like us.
Because He is our Father do you believe that you could ever become anything different than what He is.
Does a baby chick grow up to become a riding horse? Because we are His offspring we can become just like Him. In fact, before God was God He lived on an earth like we do now and went through the same trials and difficulties that we experience here. He has progressed to where He is through eons of time and progression. We can follow the same path and reach to where He is. He loves us He wants to give us all He has. He wants us to have what He has.
When we lived with Him we saw Him and were taught by Him. We wanted to be like Him so we were sent here by Him to gain a body and go through the same things He had gone through so that one day we could have the kind of body that we saw He has - a glorious resurrected body.
I know some think this is blasphamy and belittles our Heavenly Father but the things I have said are true.
We all have a great potential within us to progress to levels we have not even dreamed of. We are all gods and godesses in embryo. We are the offspring of a God. By keeping ourselves clean and pure we can progress further and faster on this path to Godhood. Sin and mistreating our bodys slows down and even can stop our progression and take us further from that path that progresses us closer to God's plan for us.
You truly do have a Heavenly Father that loves you and a Heavenly Mother that loves you. They want us to return home back to them one day. Not to return back as we were before we left Them to come here, but to return to Them clean and pure and ready to continue our progression with them in becoming as They are.
As man is, God once was, and as God is, man may become. With all my heart I know this statement to be true. May we do whatever it takes to become like our Heavenly Parents.
Please let me hear your thoughts on this important subject.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
My Conversion Story
Before we begin to get into the doctrine of the Mormon church I would like to begin with how I became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
I grew up in the small town of Camden, South Carolina. I was raised in the Baptist church. I attended church every Sunday and went to Vacation Bible School in the summers. When I was 18 years old after high school I began to work for the Camden Chronicle, the local newspaper. I was in charge of developing the pictures that would come in to be placed in the newspaper. One day a picture came in of two Mormon missionaries who were about my age and the caption read, "Mormon Missionaries Spend Two Years Preaching the Gospel." I had been attending other churches at the time just trying to see which one was best for me. I had been to the Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran,and Pentacostal churches. I had never even heard of the Mormon church.
The next day I was driving down the main street of Camden and I saw the Mormon missionaries walking down the street. I pulled over and said "Hey I saw your picture in the paper, could I ask you some questions about your church and what you are teaching?" They came over and said "Sure, what's your name?"
I said "Joseph Smith." I will never forget the look of surprise on their faces. They said "Your name is Joseph Smith?" I could not understand why they were so shocked about that so I asked. "No one has ever made a big deal about my name before. Why are you?" They then said that they had a story to tell me. I learned that a young man named Joseph Smith had actually founded their Church.
The missionaries and I became fast friends and they taught me about the Mormon church and I was soon baptised into the Church.
Over the years I have grown in my faith and understanding of the doctrines of the Church and I now would like to share what I have learned with anyone who would like to listen.
The subjects we will discuss are many but will include subjects I believe everyone is interested in such as: The character of God, our pre-mortal life, why are we here on the earth, where do we go when we die,
where are your loved ones who have died and can families really be together forever and not just "'till death do us part"?
I look forward to discussing these great truths with you and hearing from you as we learn together. Thank you.
I grew up in the small town of Camden, South Carolina. I was raised in the Baptist church. I attended church every Sunday and went to Vacation Bible School in the summers. When I was 18 years old after high school I began to work for the Camden Chronicle, the local newspaper. I was in charge of developing the pictures that would come in to be placed in the newspaper. One day a picture came in of two Mormon missionaries who were about my age and the caption read, "Mormon Missionaries Spend Two Years Preaching the Gospel." I had been attending other churches at the time just trying to see which one was best for me. I had been to the Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran,and Pentacostal churches. I had never even heard of the Mormon church.
The next day I was driving down the main street of Camden and I saw the Mormon missionaries walking down the street. I pulled over and said "Hey I saw your picture in the paper, could I ask you some questions about your church and what you are teaching?" They came over and said "Sure, what's your name?"
I said "Joseph Smith." I will never forget the look of surprise on their faces. They said "Your name is Joseph Smith?" I could not understand why they were so shocked about that so I asked. "No one has ever made a big deal about my name before. Why are you?" They then said that they had a story to tell me. I learned that a young man named Joseph Smith had actually founded their Church.
The missionaries and I became fast friends and they taught me about the Mormon church and I was soon baptised into the Church.
Over the years I have grown in my faith and understanding of the doctrines of the Church and I now would like to share what I have learned with anyone who would like to listen.
The subjects we will discuss are many but will include subjects I believe everyone is interested in such as: The character of God, our pre-mortal life, why are we here on the earth, where do we go when we die,
where are your loved ones who have died and can families really be together forever and not just "'till death do us part"?
I look forward to discussing these great truths with you and hearing from you as we learn together. Thank you.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Let's Learn Together!
Hello. My name is Joseph Smith. No, really it is. I am actually Joseph Smith III but neither my grandfather nor my father were LDS. My purpose in beginning this blog is to explain clearly the doctrines of Mormonism. This blog is not to offend but to educate. It is my hope that as more and more read this blog they will have a better understanding of Mormonism and how, whether they are members or not, the doctrines of Mormonism affect their lives. Please help me in beginning this blog to participate with healthy gospel discussion on what your church believes as I try to explain to you what ours does. May we get closer to our Savior Jesus Christ together as I share my understanding with you and you share yours with me. Those things that I write about sometimes will be controversial but are not intended to offend, only to educate. Let's get started!
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