Walking away

A senior missionary couple visited me Friday to invite me back to church. It was not their first visit. They had dropped by unannounced in November to invite me to the ward Thanksgiving party. They came by a couple of weeks later to drop off the "Lamb of God" DVD (which is an hilarious story by itself where my wife was scared because people were coming to our house in the woods late at night when I was not home).

Then they called me and set an appointment to come by on Friday. It was a very amicable visit. The sister missionary started out by saying that she felt a different spirit about me when we first met. I guess that meant I didn't seem to be a mean anti-Mormon beast.

We talked for about an hour. I shared my born-again story and discussed doctrinal differences between traditional Christianity and Mormonism. It did not devolve into a Bible bash. But God guided me through important points that helped them understand that I had no choice once I found grace but to leave the LDS Church.

Near the end, the Sister asked me, "After going on a mission and serving in the Church so long, how could you walk away from it?"

I said. "I don't feel like I am walking away from anything. I feel like I am walking toward something." (I know, understatement of the decade!!)

The Elder added that he had tried to go inactive twice in his life when he got "fed up" but could not stay away. He said he could not understand how I could leave knowing what I would be missing.

But, I said to him, you were walking away because you were angry or hurt or something like that. You came back because you had nothing else. I did not leave the LDS Church because of sin, or hurt feelings from other members, or even because of doctrine and history (although since being born again the "renewing of the mind" has certainly given me the discernment to know the truth).

I am walking to Jesus not away from men (John 6:67-68).