Yet the Church is the creation of Him in whom our spirituality is centered—Jesus Christ. Beginning with Adam, the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached, and the essential ordinances of salvation, such as baptism, were administered through a family-based priesthood order.
In Book of Mormon history, Alma established a church with priests and teachers. Then, in the meridian of time, Jesus organized His work in such a way that the gospel could be established simultaneously in multiple nations and among diverse peoples. Following the apostasy and disintegration of the Church He had organized while on the earth, the Lord reestablished the Church of Jesus Christ once again through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The ancient purpose remains: that is, to preach the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and administer the ordinances of salvation—in other words, to bring people to Christ.
That requires more than simply being nice or feeling spiritual. It requires faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism of water and of the Spirit, and enduring in faith to the end. In the Church we not only learn divine doctrine; we also experience its application. As the body of Christ, the members of the Church minister to one another in the reality of day-to-day life. All of us are imperfect; we may offend and be offended. We often test one another with our personal idiosyncrasies.
This religion is not concerned only with self; rather, we are all called to serve. One of the men in my ward grew up not only without parental support but with parental opposition to his activity in the Church. In the Church, we are all on the same journey, and I am inspired in that journey by strong youth, pure children, and what I see and learn from other adults.
I am strengthened by the association and excited with the joy of living the gospel. The wards and branches of the Church offer a weekly gathering of respite and renewal, a time and place to leave the world behind—the Sabbath.
At church, we can develop caring relationships with others. Elder Jeffrey R. Another major reason we have the Church is to help families qualify for eternal life. The sealing ordinance in the temple allows families to be together forever. For that to happen, we have to live worthy to receive those blessings. The Church helps families help each other do that.
The generous donations and volunteer service that Church members offer accomplishes things that could be done in no other way. Through our extraordinary missionary program, missionaries share the light of the gospel with people all over the world. Nearly , missionaries including young adults and seniors are serving. As of April , there were temples in operation, under construction, or announced. The Lord bestowed upon Joseph Smith and all the prophets and apostles since him the keys of the priesthood.
Through the Church leaders, the Lord can administer His work and minister to His children. Without such leadership, all kinds of false ideas and teachings would threaten to lead us into dark, forbidden paths. I never regret going. The negative feelings I had before are gone, and I realize that Satan is causing the symptoms of Sundayitis. However, mostly I think of how Baby Girl is also missing that seed being planted. When church is over she is so excited to tell me what she learned that day.
Last Sunday we left early because we had a family dinner, and she cried the whole way home because she was going to miss her class. Our church service is a 3 hour block, and her class is the 2 nd and 3 rd hour. We left after the 1 st hour. Her excitement to share what she learned and her simplicity is such an example to me. Being a member of The Church of Latter-day Saints is what brings me happiness and brings me so much joy and blessings. So why do I go to church? I go so that when I have those bad days I seem to talk so often about, they are easier to get through.
I go because I believe with all my heart the things being taught are true, and I go because when I do, I receive so many blessings, and I want my daughter to know that same happiness I feel. I go to church because it makes me a better person, wife, and mother. He recognizes that even though you easily could have stayed home or maybe even would have rather stayed home you still made it there. You made that choice, and, like President Eyring said, you made it there because you are a believer.
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