My ride to church has been out of town for two weeks so I went to another church with a friend of mine. He’s a pastor and it’s a change of pace to listen to him preach a 45 minute sermon compared to a Latter Day Saint sacrament meeting. One thing struck me very hard during his sermon. He loves Jesus. That is one of the cornerstones of modern American Christianity. What struck me was that I’m not sure I do. I occasionally talk about falling in love with the Quran and the Book of Mormon. In some sense I’m also in love with the Bible. But I love them as books. I love the characters in them but I think I love the books more. When I talk about God I sometimes default to the philosophers god. A god of words and ideas and books. I have always had that god. But if there is a living revealing God then the philosophers god is a distraction from Him. I am only realizing that now and coming to grips with it.
2 July 2023
Latter Day Sinner 
2 responses to “Another Church”
“But if there is a living revealing God then the philosophers god is a distraction from Him.” I feel this way too. Honestly I feel like some people have real deep experiences with God and they don’t need philosophy. And some people don’t have these real deep experiences. And that is fine. But I feel like they are more inclined towards the philosophical god. The problem is that philosophizing about God is like philosophizing about a spouse. Thinking about marriage is different than experiencing it. Thinking isn’t bad per se, but it only goes so far.
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And if I want to know what my wife needs from me I ask her. If I want to know what God needs from me I need to get better at asking Him directly. Too often I go to my priesthood leaders for heavenly direction. It is one of the bigger faults of the LDS Church.
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