A friend asked about my "conversion story" on facebook yesterday; in the hopes it may inspire others to study the Restored Gospel, here I reproduce my message to her:
Well, here is a short version of my “conversion story”; hope it won’t bore you to tears . . . 8-)
I was born and raised in Ireland in a Irish Catholic family, which basically meant, theology-wise, I knew nothing about everything, as I like to joke these days. I would rarely, if ever, have a theological thought, and even if I did, it would be superficial (I remember, as a six-year old, wondering why God hated Satan if God loved everyone).
When I was 14, my best friend in secondary school, Khalid, was a gung-ho Muslim--he was born in Sudan and, prior to moving to Ireland, lived in Saudi Arabia for 8 years, and performed the Haj six times. In about late-2001, he started to discuss Islam and the differences between Christian and Islamic Christology (as you probably know, they don’t believe Jesus was the divine Son of God; pre-existed his conception; died for our sins, etc). Looking back, his arguments against things like the historicity of the crucifixion accounts in the Gospels or the textual reliability of the Bible or evidences for the Qur’an were utterly unimpressive, but being clueless, I had no good response.
Not having enjoyed my theological ignorance being shown (with great perspicuity, I will add), I decided to roll up my sleeves and take religion seriously. It was around this time that my family entered joined the modern world and got the Internet, so I decided to research various faiths and groups, as well as read anything and everything I could get my hands on. Out of sheer curiosity, I decided to see what “Mormons” believed in (I grew up with the [false] idea that Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses believed the same thing--boy, was I wrong about that!). While I thought the idea of angels coming to bring gold plates and restore priesthoods were utter nonsense (I kid you not, I audibly laughed when I read such things on mormon.org), I did find the idea of an apostasy and a need for a restoration of Christ’s gospel to be correct, as well as various elements of LDS theology (e.g., rejection of the traditional Augustinian/Calvinistic understandings of original sin; the nature of God, especially the person of Christ and the issue of “how many” God is [cf. the Trinity and related issues]; the difficult question of those who never heard about Jesus Christ in their lifetime, etc]). I also found the Book of Mormon to be interesting, so I decided to study “Mormonism” in more depth. I even purchased a 1920 printing of the Book of Mormon for €10 from a classmate who owned a copy.
To put a long story short, after studying the Church, especially its theology and Scriptures for about 18 months, I told the Lord in prayer that I wanted to know if the Book of Mormon was true and if Joseph Smith were a prophet of God--if so, I would dedicate my life to studying and defending the Church, as well as to become a member of the Church; if not, I would do all I could to dissuade others from joining. I remember to this day the power of the Holy Spirit that overwhelmed me that night (23 October 2003), wherein I knew, both intellectually and spiritually, that the Book of Mormon was the word of God and that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God (to keep the peace at home, however, I had to wait until I was 18 when I got baptised [10 years ago this month]).
Since that time, I have studied theology in a Catholic institute and have learned many things. While my faith is perhaps more nuanced that the “typical” Church member’s, my appreciation of Joseph Smith, Latter-day Saint theology and its history, and the Scriptures, has grown over the past number of years. I can honestly say that the Gospel has transformed me as a person (I shudder to think of the person I was when I was a teenager [God does save sinners, fortunately!]), and I am glad that the Lord has used me, in various ways, to help teacher others, and defend, the Gospel using the intellect He has given me, and I do hope and pray that such will continue until I pass from this mortal existence into the hereafter.
Well, here is a short version of my “conversion story”; hope it won’t bore you to tears . . . 8-)
I was born and raised in Ireland in a Irish Catholic family, which basically meant, theology-wise, I knew nothing about everything, as I like to joke these days. I would rarely, if ever, have a theological thought, and even if I did, it would be superficial (I remember, as a six-year old, wondering why God hated Satan if God loved everyone).
When I was 14, my best friend in secondary school, Khalid, was a gung-ho Muslim--he was born in Sudan and, prior to moving to Ireland, lived in Saudi Arabia for 8 years, and performed the Haj six times. In about late-2001, he started to discuss Islam and the differences between Christian and Islamic Christology (as you probably know, they don’t believe Jesus was the divine Son of God; pre-existed his conception; died for our sins, etc). Looking back, his arguments against things like the historicity of the crucifixion accounts in the Gospels or the textual reliability of the Bible or evidences for the Qur’an were utterly unimpressive, but being clueless, I had no good response.
Not having enjoyed my theological ignorance being shown (with great perspicuity, I will add), I decided to roll up my sleeves and take religion seriously. It was around this time that my family entered joined the modern world and got the Internet, so I decided to research various faiths and groups, as well as read anything and everything I could get my hands on. Out of sheer curiosity, I decided to see what “Mormons” believed in (I grew up with the [false] idea that Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses believed the same thing--boy, was I wrong about that!). While I thought the idea of angels coming to bring gold plates and restore priesthoods were utter nonsense (I kid you not, I audibly laughed when I read such things on mormon.org), I did find the idea of an apostasy and a need for a restoration of Christ’s gospel to be correct, as well as various elements of LDS theology (e.g., rejection of the traditional Augustinian/Calvinistic understandings of original sin; the nature of God, especially the person of Christ and the issue of “how many” God is [cf. the Trinity and related issues]; the difficult question of those who never heard about Jesus Christ in their lifetime, etc]). I also found the Book of Mormon to be interesting, so I decided to study “Mormonism” in more depth. I even purchased a 1920 printing of the Book of Mormon for €10 from a classmate who owned a copy.
To put a long story short, after studying the Church, especially its theology and Scriptures for about 18 months, I told the Lord in prayer that I wanted to know if the Book of Mormon was true and if Joseph Smith were a prophet of God--if so, I would dedicate my life to studying and defending the Church, as well as to become a member of the Church; if not, I would do all I could to dissuade others from joining. I remember to this day the power of the Holy Spirit that overwhelmed me that night (23 October 2003), wherein I knew, both intellectually and spiritually, that the Book of Mormon was the word of God and that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God (to keep the peace at home, however, I had to wait until I was 18 when I got baptised [10 years ago this month]).
Since that time, I have studied theology in a Catholic institute and have learned many things. While my faith is perhaps more nuanced that the “typical” Church member’s, my appreciation of Joseph Smith, Latter-day Saint theology and its history, and the Scriptures, has grown over the past number of years. I can honestly say that the Gospel has transformed me as a person (I shudder to think of the person I was when I was a teenager [God does save sinners, fortunately!]), and I am glad that the Lord has used me, in various ways, to help teacher others, and defend, the Gospel using the intellect He has given me, and I do hope and pray that such will continue until I pass from this mortal existence into the hereafter.