Praise God for your story, Gloria. I am new to this blog and am not familiar with your background. Do you have a blog where you talk more about your exit from the church? I am the same age as your husband and wonder if I can offer anything; I was 47 when I received God's grace.

I know that many Mormons sincerely seek to heed the admonition to come to Christ (2 Nephi 25:26) including my own children who are still LDS. However, Mormonism--by its own definition--teaches a different Christ than the traditional church (JSH 1:19). That distinctiveness was reiterated by President Hinckley in 1998 (click for Church News article).

The Bible teaches that a correct knowledge of the nature of God is paramount to salvation (John 17:3) and Joseph Smith agrees: "It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God" (History of the Church, 6:305).

I appreciate your testimony and hope that I am never guilty of criticizing LDS people for their sincerity nor the experiences which lead them to their faith. But I must put everything to the test (1 Jn 4;1; 1 Thes 5:21) for the sake of my own salvation and preach the true gospel for the salvation of others (Romans 10:10).

In the words of Maxwell Smart, "Missed it by that much." I am coming to Utah to visit family but do not arrive until the 10th.

faithoffathers,

Praise the Lord that He chooses to give sinners an epiphany "while they are yet sinners" (Romans 5:8).

However, I agree with you that far too many outspoken critics of the LDS church live their lives inconsistent with God's commandments. We are all sinners (Romans 3:10), but many of these critics openly declare their lack of faith in anything after leaving the church.

I am sad that they choose to blame God for having been LDS and they replace the church with another set of false teachings or with a lifestyle counter to God's Word. I think they are worse off because of it (Luke 11:24-26).

That is why I try to seek out former LDS members who have come to Christ by His grace. They are examples to me not because they are perfect but because they have entered into the Lord's rest (Hebrews 4:10-11).

Read this post I wrote on the subject just after being born again last year. It begins with the idea that man can become like God in that we can possess and cultivate godly attributes, but we cannot become those attributes as God is attributes. But more in line with Sharon's post here, it also refers to C.S. Lewis' discussion about creation versus begetting:

"What God begets is God; just as what man begets is man. What God creates is not God; just as what man makes is not man. That is why men are not Sons of God in the sense that Christ is [Matthew 5:9; Romans 8:14; Galatians 3:26; Revelations 21:7]. "