Why I Believe

I consider myself to be greatly blessed by our Father in Heaven. Why you may ask? Because through my personal study of the scriptures and my sincere prayers, I have received answers to my prayers and have learned directly from God which Gospel here on the earth is really His true gospel and thus has His priesthood authority.

I know there are many people that have felt the sweet peace and warmth of the Holy Spirit at various times throughout their lives. But what I'm talking about is to have that sweet warm peace from the Holy Spirit as your constant companion. He will warn you of dangers, let you know if you're making a wrong choice, or a good one. That constant companionship of the Holy Spirit is something that I've not heard of anywhere else in the world outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The reason I believe is that this church has that all important priesthood authority from God to rightfully bestow this gift upon those who are true and sincere followers of Christ. Of course when I don't follow what he's telling me, the Holy Spirit will withdraw until I sincerely repent. What a wonderful feeling it is to have that knowledge that you're not alone in making these many decisions that we all make on a daily basis and if we follow those promptings, we will be far better off and not walk through this life alone. Not only does Our Heavenly Father love us, but he gave us this wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit as a constant guide through this mortality. This gift is available for everyone who comes unto our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, sincerely repents, is Baptized and then is given this gift of the Holy Ghost by someone who has that real Priesthood Authority (see Prophets & Priesthood for more about this), not someone who just makes claims and has no more authority that that given from the local county or state government to preach the gospel.

The Savior and His Atonement

I have a strong testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is no question that Jesus, the Son of God, came to this earth. He gained a body and lived an absolutely perfect life and then He turned himself over to the people, who through their wickedness were too blind to see who He really was and that his whole life was dedicated to them and us. He did this knowing that they would crucify him and through his infinite wisdom and understanding, he knew that it was necessary to satisfy the demands of justice in an infinite and perfect Atonement. Three days following his mortal bodied being laid in a garden tomb He was resurrected just as he said he would be. This resurrection was the literal joining together of his Body, now made perfect, to his Spirit. This reuniting of his body and spirit was different in that never again would they ever be separated again, thus he was now an immortal being with a body, not just a spirit. I know this to be true and will raise my right arm to the square to testify this before any court or tribunal of man.

I also have a testimony that the reason he took upon him our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane and then allowed himself to be crucified was to satisfy the law of Justice. The law of Justice demands that when we sin (knowingly disobey Gods commandments, as Jesus taught throughout his life), a price must be paid. We cannot fully satisfy that price that justice demands, so our Savior intervened on our behalf and has paid the price for all who repent and come unto him.

3 Nephi 9:22
"Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved."

This need to satisfy the laws of Justice was known from the beginning and was part of a greater plan called the Plan of Salvation. It is called this because it quite literally is the plan of how we can gain eternal salvation from our Father in Heaven.

What does this mean?

It means that through this plan we are able to not only able to return to live with God, our Father in Heaven, but that through righteousness and obedience to his laws we can grow and progress to someday become like him, just as a little boy will grow up to become like his father, so to can we become like ours.

This Plan of Salvation is truly a masterpiece laid out by a loving Father that wants us desperately to not only return back to him, but to progress to be like him. In His wisdom He recognizes that only we can choose to do that and truly be happy. He cannot force His Glory and presence upon us, it is up to us to choose it.

I know that my Father in Heaven loves me. And I know that he loves you too. I know this because through that same Holy Spirit I talked about earlier, I have felt his loving arms wrap around me many times, comforting me in the times of greatest needs. He will let us struggle, for that is when we grow, and when we grow, we become a little more like him. This is His Glory, to be surrounded by his children, his greatest creation, his spiritual offspring, who love him want to be like him, who are growing to become like him thus eternally increasing His Glory.

The Book of Mormon is scripture.

Like everything in life, I didn't take it at face value. It is my nature to be a skeptic. As such, I heard what people around me were saying about the Book of Mormon (good and bad) and decided that I wanted to find out for myself. So I put it to the test. In the Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:3-5 it says:

How can you go wrong if you pray to God for the answer, and he gives you the answer? So this is what I did. I prayed about the Book of Mormon and while I didn't receive a vision or see any angels, I did feel the sweet peace of the Holy Spirit in incredible power rest upon my soul and I knew that this book, The Book of Mormon, is the word of God. That it was written by the hands of his Holy Prophets who lived here on the American Continent in ancient times. And that it too was scripture, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

To me the most beautiful part of The Book of Mormon is where Jesus Christ comes to the Americas as a resurrected being. He ascends from heaven following his crucifixion and three days of darkness and destruction and not only shows the wounds of his crucifixion, but lets the people touch them that they might be first hand witnesses that he is the same Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world that their prophets have testified of time and time again.

Don't take my word for it. I invite you to read and pray about this book for yourself that you can share in this overwhelming joy that I have to know that this wonderful gift is available to us all. And that this joy and happiness, even in the midst of this crazy world, is only the foundation, of much, much more that our Father has in store for us.