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It Is Not Important For My Salvation...

It Is Not Important For My Salvation...

I have been a Member since the age of eight and have travelled a lot, lived in many countries, served a mission, and so forth. Basically, I know what mormon life is like and the answers people give, especially here. This Community has been around for more than four years now and a lot of Members have passed through, you get some who know how to carry on a Discussion and then you meet others who like to bring it to a full stop, or at least they try to.

By tying to stop it I mean the kind of replies they give are not motivators for Discussion, it is almost like they want us to not bring it up. For instance you may be talking about a piece of Doctrine that starts to bring excitement when someone enters and says, "We should just love everyone and focus on the commandments". Okay, we know this, but it does not mean we cannot research the Doctrine. Or you may get one or two who are not sure about what we are Discussing so they say, "This is not important for my salvation". Okay, then why even reply to say that?

Let us even move away from here, let's go to a typical Sunday School class where the teacher asks a question and the same answer is repeated, "Keep the Commandments", and you feel like saying, "Okay already! Which Commandments and how do you keep them? When you get up one morning and you are tired and skip a few what do you do? I mean you have blood in you right? We are all sinners right? We need some specifics right?"

Imagine coming to a rehab center where the only instruction and tip you are given is "Stay Away From Drugs". Okay, as good as that may be I need to know about withdrawals, avoiding temptations, possible after effects of the drug I took, how to get support, etc. Okay, so now you know where I am going with this... add your thoughts - this Thread should become huge!

Salvation My Important Not It

The "canned" or "scripted" answers to questions are so annoying. I mean, is life so cut and dried that you can answer any question with "All you need is love!" ? How am I supposed to feel that love? Where do I get it? How do I apply it in a situation where someone is threatening me? What if someone is so "in my face" that I want to hit them?

I need fortification every day, and there are a variety of sources where I can turn. But some days, I forget that I need to be fortified. Then, maybe I stop in here and see a "Hot Topic" in the LDS boards and there it is! My daily fortification.

These discussions are important, if not for my salvation, then at least for my edification or enlightenment or... sometimes even to prod me to dig deeper into a topic than I ever expected that I needed to go.

The last thing I want is a "pat" answer to an important question. It's like saying, "Oh, don't worry about that, that's not important," when I know in my gut that it *is* important.

It Is Not Important For My Salvation... Studies Doctrine Mormon

I see you understand exactly where I am going with this Thread. In my experience those who give these 'Golden Answers' (as they are known in the Church) for everything fall into one of the following:

1. I do not know the answer, so let us forget it
2. My evaluation of you is that you do not need it, even if you think you do
3. I am so experienced that I can tell you, it is not important
4. I do not want to go into something that may shake my testimony, so you better not either
5. I am not too 'bright', so let's keep it simple
6. I get confused easily so let's use the K.I.S.S. principle

...and the last and best I call the '60s method':

7. Just spread love all around and you will be saved.

I also find that most people do not know when to stay quiet, they think an answer is better than no answer at all, but if it is the same answer each time why bother? Why ask a question if you know the answer is already going to be something along the lines of "love them..." and "Keep the commandments"?

Salvation My Important Not It

The truth is that I have experienced the "It is not important for my salvation" mostly from people on the net.

I think these two points are the most common ones, members/leaders telling YOU what is important for YOUR life and knowledge.

There is one more that should be added to that list.

"I am very comfortable with my simple knowledge, why are you trying to make me move from my comfort zone?!"

I can't keep my mouth shut. Some time ago in Sunday School the class was very active and giving the "golden answers" and one of the answers that they gave was "We have to love one another" and I raised my hand and I told the teacher that I have a question, then I said that I always hear that we have to love one another but what is Love? Everybody looked at me and remained in silence.

I thought for a minute that I asked if they would like to live the Principle of Plural Marriage again or something....

The truth is that researching beyond simple Gospel Principles is not something the Church tries to encourage but pretty much all the opposite "stick with the basics" and that's why the robotic answers "It is not important for our Salvation". The big problem with this (besides the fact that they do not study for personal growth) is that you have a whole bunch of people who do not know certain answers when someone in or out the Church inquires of an important point of doctrine. Then the statement they make is "Is that your Church and you do not know that?" It is such a turn off for a lot of non-members. The thing is that you will not always find the investigator who just asks "What do you all believe" and then you share the Articles of Faith. You may encounter the educated type who will have more questions.

In the recent years from a lot of sources, I believe the Church through their messages is telling us indirectly "Don't bother about that. It is not important for your Salvation" in particular with regards to Church History.

Salvation My Important Not It

I had to do a little searching, but I found my absolute all time favorite "pat" answer.

https://www.bordeglobal.com/foruminv/index....t=24#entry13413
Of course, this is in reply to my assertion that the Prophet is not infallible, etc.

If that wasn't a response designed to end the discussion once and for all, I have never seen one.

As for the statement, "It is not important for my Salvation", this is usually spoken when the discussion really COULD be important for my salvation, rather, for my exaltation.

Perhaps that is part of the problem. Salvation really IS a pretty simple thing. However, the doctrines related to exaltation are VERY important, and very deep. We have discussed several of these, in great detail here. And, there are people who will state (and have done so) that these are not important to salvation. They are right. Plural marriage has nothing to do with salvation. Neither does the Adam-God doctrine, Consecration, application of the Endowment, etc. Yet, without proper knowledge of all these things, and application of that knowledge, exaltation is impossible. (Note: I am NOT saying that MY point of view on any of these subjects is absolutely right, only that each person MUST address these things for himself/herself.)

As for Sunday School, I rarely even go anymore. I get bored beyond belief in that class. A couple of weeks ago, I attended, and listened to all the "pat" answers concerning Isaiah 50-53. There was no way I was going to speak up and show how much of a heretic I am, what with my belief that Isaiah 53 is primarily about the One Mighty and Strong, not Jesus Christ.

The class was an exercise in "golden answers". I imagine that the only people who learned anything in that class were the relatively new members, or those who have only a bare basic understanding of God's efforts with mankind.

I am sure this rant really surprises all of you. After all, I am SO into the simple, pat answers. Right?

It Is Not Important For My Salvation...

Nighthawk, that Post was since 2003, and I remember you back then, you were the rebel on the Forum stirring up trouble here and there .

In Sunday School, when I am in the mood, I will occasionally throw in a soft wrench just to make everyone think a bit, this usually cuts down the usual "keep the commandments" kind of answers.

I have also found that what can be done to avoid these kinds of answers is the way the question is asked. For instance I could ask... "If I want to live with Heavenly Father again, what do I need to do?" However, something effective would be: "What are the steps from birth till death that I have to pass through in order to receive Exaltation?" Same number of words, but said differently to make you really think.

It Not Important My Salvation...

We have a wonderful gospel doctrine teacher in my new ward. He is so knowledgeable of the scriptures, and he teaches with passion and integrity. I've learned a lot from him. He has a way of "pulling" the answers out of the class members, of making us think about what we've just read, and he never gives the "pat" or scripted answer right out of the manual. It's been a real joy to be in the class.

It Not Important My Salvation... Mormon Doctrine Studies

Oh yes, this is so important and makes the most difference in the type of answers one gets. A teacher makes all the difference. This reminds me of a few weeks ago in gospel doctrine class the teacher (he is wonderful by the way) quoted a GA stating that David had lost his exaltation. Earlier in the lesson he mentioned that David had sinned against the Holy Ghost. I asked if this was the reason he had lost his exaltation. A class member said in an irritated way, "That's not for us to speculate about." If I remember right I think he actually said the dreaded, "It's not important for our salvation." Well, it wasn't speculation, because the information had been presented in a quote by a General Authority! I was only trying to understand the reasons behind it! Besides, I've never heard a commandment that stated, "Thou shalt not speculate." Thank goodness for a great teacher who understood immediately why I asked the question and answered the other member that we all wanted to know why because David had been so valiant and had then fallen so low that it was heartbreaking to see it.

Rather off topic, but... Nighthawk, who is the One Mighty & Strong?