It might not be in keeping with the latest feel of the board but I wanted to show this.
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?showtopic=42418&view=findpost&p=1208629217
I find that I pretty much get out of church what I put into it. If I don't actively seek nuggets from a lackluster speaker, I won't get any. If I come cynical, I leave cynical. If I sit there bored during the sacrament, the sacrament does nothing for me. If I don't actively seek to serve, my passivity doesn't serve me at all.
As for being a passive spectator in an undemanding church, well, I guess that's a possibility, too. Watching television is much easier than performing in a play; sitting in the stands is considerably less demanding than playing football. I've recently been reading again about the earliest Christians, though, and I don't think that they would have recognized such a comfortable thing as Christianity at all. Peter, James, John, Paul, Stephen, St. Justin Martyr, Ignatius of Antioch, St. Polycarp -- all of them were actively committed.
Have I often found the three-hour block fairly long? Yep. And I'm now a bishop. I've already been there for at least a couple of hours before the block, and I'm typically there for several hours after the block. But guess what. I feel energized by serving as a bishop. Even after very long days and very late nights, I feel that I've done something good. I've accomplished something, helped somebody. I could do it for hours more. It's much better than just sitting there, grousing, has ever been for me.
Finally, a testimony: Other churches may have better preachers, trained for public speaking. But the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it alone, has the fulness of the saving gospel and the authority to perform the ordinances required for salvation. What keeps me going, when my spirits are low, is my conviction that it's true. This isn't about taste. It's about truth. The religion of ancient Rome had polished religious professionals, lavish ceremonies, and spectacular buildings, and it made very few demands on those who professed it. The poor, relatively uneducated Christians, hick bumpkins for the most part, meeting in caves and homes, couldn't really compete. Except that Christ had risen from the dead, and Jupiter had never lived at all.
As for being a passive spectator in an undemanding church, well, I guess that's a possibility, too. Watching television is much easier than performing in a play; sitting in the stands is considerably less demanding than playing football. I've recently been reading again about the earliest Christians, though, and I don't think that they would have recognized such a comfortable thing as Christianity at all. Peter, James, John, Paul, Stephen, St. Justin Martyr, Ignatius of Antioch, St. Polycarp -- all of them were actively committed.
Have I often found the three-hour block fairly long? Yep. And I'm now a bishop. I've already been there for at least a couple of hours before the block, and I'm typically there for several hours after the block. But guess what. I feel energized by serving as a bishop. Even after very long days and very late nights, I feel that I've done something good. I've accomplished something, helped somebody. I could do it for hours more. It's much better than just sitting there, grousing, has ever been for me.
Finally, a testimony: Other churches may have better preachers, trained for public speaking. But the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it alone, has the fulness of the saving gospel and the authority to perform the ordinances required for salvation. What keeps me going, when my spirits are low, is my conviction that it's true. This isn't about taste. It's about truth. The religion of ancient Rome had polished religious professionals, lavish ceremonies, and spectacular buildings, and it made very few demands on those who professed it. The poor, relatively uneducated Christians, hick bumpkins for the most part, meeting in caves and homes, couldn't really compete. Except that Christ had risen from the dead, and Jupiter had never lived at all.
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