On October 15th, the 2011 Washington D.C. Mormon Stories Conference was held in the home of Greg and JaLynn Prince. In this presentation:
- John Dehlin discussed the motives behind Mormon Stories
- Steve Kovalenko delivered a presentation on why he left the LDS Church,
- Chelsea Shields Strayer who explained why she stays in the LDS Church
12 Responses
Chelsea’s “Why I Stay” talk has me fascinated by the idea of building my house on a foundation that is composed of my actual spiritual gifts, as opposed to the spiritual gifts of others, or the spiritual gifts I’m supposed to have. Just a great thought. :)
Whenever I post on ANY topic, religious or otherwise, I tend toward the negative. In my actual living of life, I think I’m pretty conservative, but more than ready to try something new. Boy, have I tried a lot of new things in life. At age 19, I tried Mormonism. Stuck with it for thirty years or so, then gave up in complete frustration over the hypocrisy, secrecy, lies, pompous self righteousness, superstition . . . . . Today, I’m way past caring about whether or not the Mormon Church is the true church. It isn’t. There is no such thing as “the true church.” Face it, people. All the energy spent on analysis, rationalization, logic (sic), historical studies, whatever, is nonsense and a total waste your time and society’s time.
So great! Thanks for posting the talks from these conferences so that everyone can enjoy them! I loved every message.
Thanks, Kayla!!!!
Again, I’m not an emotional person at all, but I cried during each of these three talks. You must be doing something right.
:) Thanks, Eric!
I want to echo John’s thoughts about rather than leave the 99, thinking of the 1 as expendable. Those were good thoughts, and I metaphorically was saying ‘amen’ to everything there.
Thanks….Elder. :)
Enjoyed this so much. It looks like these conferences are going from strength to strength. Can’t wait till we hold one here in the UK…
Amen, Jack!
Steve Kovalenko thank you so much for sharing the analogy of the boat! I too am grateful for the boat that got me across the river but I’m across the river and don’t need it any more. I’m not going to burn the boat for others that may need it, I’ll just leave it as I found it.
I absolutely loved your stories and would like to join your community.
My name is Addy Moreno and I live in Mesa Arizona.
My e-mail is addyrm@gmail.com