Penny (Last name withheld by request)
True Friends
I was born into the RLDS church, attended camps and reunions all through my youth, moved to Arizona after one year at Graceland College and became a member of the Phoenix Central branch in 1986, but really never felt "at home" there. I was not in the "in" clique (and there are plenty of cliques in this branch). When Grant McMurray became the president, and he was not a Smith descendant, I suddenly felt uncomfortable with the church leadership. Eventually I started to wonder why it was that we never reached out to anyone in the community, but then I wondered what exactly would we tell visitors if we got them there. We did not talk about salvation, only self-improvement. The congregation was never comfortable with people who were different or unknown to us. One time we had a District Conference and a lady raised her hands in praise during a hymn. It made me feel literally ill! (Now I do it all the time!) We gossiped about her and thought she was weird. We never used the Bible, Book of Mormon or D&C much except for the Scripture reading between the first and second hymn. All of the sermons were about how to be a better person, rather than talking about how Jesus died for us and paid the only price there is for entrance into heaven. It was and probably still is largely a New Age experience.
I have two wonderful friends who apparently had been praying for over six years that I would see the truth about Christ. One weekend the three of us took a mini-vacation to a cabin and we were reading the Bible. I started asking questions, they answered them, and we prayed. Everything suddenly made sense; I don’t have to be good; in fact I can’t be good; I can’t possibly do enough good works to earn my way into heaven; Christ died for me, and that’s all I need!
I’ve been attending a non-denominational Bible church for the past 2 or 3 years, and it’s been wonderful. The hard part will be witnessing to my mom-in-law, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law, as well as my husband and his grandpa. They are still members, although my husband hasn't attended church in years and my sister-in-law told me once that she doesn’t believe in Hell or in Heaven, only in good and evil. I was totally puzzled and really didn’t know what to say to her.
So, that’s my story. I’m forever grateful to my dear friends who prayed me out of that church, and I’m thankful my kids didn’t get baptized into it and I can help them learn the real truth.