I Believe...

Posted by: Andee / Category: , ,


The infamous WindySydney temple article I wrote over a year ago is still going strong. Mormons are outraged (OUTRAGED! I tell you!) that I show a photo of the holy underwear and a video of the temple ceremonies. Never mind that you can do a google search for these at any time... I am definitely possessed by Stan-the-man, and to take a quote from one of my favorite believing Mormon emails, I "will dine at the table of Hell."

Dine at the table of Hell? People dine in Hell? Will they serve Satan-shaped sandwich cookies? At least I know the coffee will be hot...

Lately, the comments and emails have been asking me things like:

"Did you even believe in God... ever???"
"How could you turn your back on the true gospel?"
"Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?"
"What *do* you believe in?"

Well folks, since everyone assumes that I roam the earth looking for testimonies to murder, I thought I should update everyone on the state of Andee's belief. My life is an open blog.

So what *do* I believe? Lets take a look. I would like to point out that I used the word "believe" and not "know." I don't know anything about God, Jesus, Heaven or Hell... and guess what? No one else does either... Warm and fuzzy feelings are just feelings, and they prove squat. If your feelings tell you to wear funny underwear and learn secret handshakes... fine, but I am not a horrible person if I disagree.

I don't believe God would ask anyone to wear certain types of underwear, get new names, learn secret handshakes, or perform secret ceremonies in order to be with Him again. I don't know how I ever believed that. Of all the things God could choose to remind you of your covenants, why in the world would he choose UNDERWEAR? I was never able to figure that out. Why? Why?? WHY??!?!?! Pppfft!

If God is up there, and He is the all knowing, all loving, all powerful God I was raised to believe in, He would know what was in my heart and soul. He shouldn't need a new name, a handshake, or a glance at my special underpants to judge the person I am. There is no logic in that. I would like to think the creator is a smart being... and the special underwear is just silly. Yeah, I said it. Silly. Bring on the emails...

I don't think anyone upstairs gives a damn if we drink coffee or tea. Everything in moderation is my line of thought, as long as it's not illegal of course. I smirk every time someone freaks out if they taste coffee in an ice cream or candy. Come on... you think he's going to keep you from the Celestial Heaven because you accidentally ate a coffee chocolate? Please.

I believe that we will be judged by the way we treat our fellow man. I believe we should treat animals, children, the elderly and others who need more attention with love and the utmost care. Actually, I believe we should treat everyone with the utmost care. I do this every day. God will care more about how you treat your fellow man than how many Sundays you spent on Church pews.

I believe that any Church claiming to be the one and only true church (that's pretty much includes all religions, TBMs... not just you) should be studied, criticized and studied from all angles.

I believe we should help our fellow man instead of push each other down (Prop. H8 anyone?)

I don't believe in prophets. I believe that if one man or woman claims to speak with and for God while asking for your time, money and talents, they should have to prove they are a prophet. Claiming they are a prophet, or the next prophet in a line of prophets like the LDS Church has in place, shouldn't be enough. Asking questions should be a good thing. Truth can withstand criticism. Criticize away!!! If you are afraid to question your leaders, especially religious leaders, something is wrong.

How many people on the earth at this very moment claim to be prophets of God? More than you could even know. Do you give them the same consideration that you give Thomas Monson? I doubt it. You should put all people who claim to be prophets on the same playing field, if you don't, you will get taken advantage of like I was.

I believe everyone is unique and I believe that is a good thing. I don't believe God would punish a certain set of people with dark skin, I don't believe God cares what color your hair is, if you have a tattoo, what your sexual preference is, or if you like olives. I believe God cares more about how you treat others.

I believe God is busy. There are people going hungry, dying from disease, natural disasters and children living with abuse. Do you really feel as if God needs to bless every meal you eat? Do you think he keeps track of how much coffee you drink or if you pray that your high school football team wins the big game? God doesn't care about football! Yeah... I said it.

On the same track, asking the Lord to bless your funeral potatoes to nourish and strengthen your bodies is a giant waste of time. If you want your food to nourish and strengthen your bodies you should make healthy dinners and stop eating pie. (Sorry, I had a TBM neighbor who would make pie all the time, and always blessed the pie... it's so funny to me now...)

I believe that if you think homosexuality is wrong, that you shouldn't participate in homosexual activity. Don't like gay marriage? Don't marry a gay person. It really is that simple. If you don't believe in it, don't take part in it. You have no right or business making that decision for the rest of humanity.

I believe that if you have to have a special meeting once per month to convince each other that you are right, you should stop and think about that.

I believe that when people try and scare you with thoughts of the end of the world or the last days you should recognize that for what it is... scare tactics and the use of fear to control you. Every single generation has claimed that they would see the second coming of Christ, hasn't happened yet. Just sayin'.

I believe that if you want to stick around and not deal with the "last days" or the end of the world, that you should be kind to the earth and environment. Recycle, buy a hybrid car next time you need to purchase a vehicle, walk, ride your bike, do your part. If God *did* create this world, we should take better care of it.

I believe that when any leader, religious or political, holds back information you should run out and find that very information. Red. Flag. City. Your leaders, if they are honest leaders, should have nothing to hide. This includes financial statements, historical documents, and scientific evidence. Science doesn't lie to you. DNA is your friend.

I believe that you should treat everyone with kindness, and I mean that. If I ever come across one of the believing Mormons who frequent my blog to tell me how horrible I am, I am going to hug 'em... I swear!

I believe that I have purchased so much Diet Dr. Pepper that I should own part of their company. Seriously.
I believe everyone should plant a tree, help a homeless animal, help homeless human being. Do good. Be good. It's not that hard.

Andee


13 comments:

  1. Phoenix Says:

    hey you have a beautiful blog here... i looved the template and all...

    this is my first visit here :)

  1. Andee Says:

    Phoenix,

    Thanks!!!

    I can't take credit for the layout at all, Gisele Jaquenod makes amazing blogger templates. I keep telling myself to save up some money for a custom layout. Her work rocks :)

    Andee

  1. Jessi Marchese Says:

    Well said, Andee, as usual! I know I've chosen to stay with LDS (for a lot of reasons, kinda complicated), but I really love your blog and agree with a lot of things you talk about =)

  1. m Says:

    I believe this is an awesome post.

    You know, I never got why most Morms are anti environmentalism- if god made our bodies and we're suppose to keep them pure (soooooooo pure) and god made the planet so we would have a place to live, why is it ok to trash it? I get using it's resources on a sustainable level but anything beyond that seems totally disrespectful to god's work and plan. I actually had a conversation with my 10 yr old nephew about this and even he got it. Why can't adult TBMs? Hrm. . . .

  1. Unknown Says:

    Very well thought out post. I think you are a great person and if there is a heaven you will be there. :)

  1. Anonymous Says:

    Oh, how I love this blog!! I think you are hilarious! You have a good taste for good common sense that so many lack.

  1. Andee Says:

    About Us,

    Thank you for the compliment :) You are kind.

    Mere,

    Thanks :D I wrote this at work today, haha...

    I don't know why so many believing Mormons are anti-environmentalism either. It blows my mind for the same reasons you pointed out. I have a co-worker that loves to call people "damn democrats and damn tree-huggers." I guess I fit into both of those catergories. Damn me.

    Anonymous,

    Thank you :)

    Andee

  1. Craig Says:

    Ramen!

  1. Anonymous Says:

    Love it!!!!!

  1. Anonymous Says:

    Andee,

    I just want to propose a thought to get your feedback. I swear I'm not bashing, I just want your thoughts and those of others. As I've said in previous posts, I think all of your efforts on behalf of informing people about the truth of the church are courageous and inspiring. But I want to challenge what you said about people who are against gay marriage. You say that if you don't like it, you should just not do it. That it's that simple. That we as a society shouldn't be able to make that decision for the rest of humanity. I think that is way oversimplifying the issue. There are many things that we as a society have judged to be unacceptable that we don't allow people to participate in and also punish those who do. Murder is the big one in my mind (no, I'm not putting gay marriage on the same plane as murder, it's just an example). I don't believe in it, therefore I don't practice it. But to say that it should be left up to individual choice would be absurd obviously. As a society, norms have been established by the influence of the greater desires of the society as a whole (this applies both to murder and gay marriage). Marriage is not a civil right like so many try to say it is. And I mean marriage of any type to any person. It is a societal privilege that has been established under certain guidelines. I think people who try to say that marriage is a civil right do a great disservice to the many movements that have established true civil rights (rights of blacks, rights of women to vote, etc.).

    Thoughts . . .

    Michelle S.

  1. Craig Says:

    Anonymous, the main flaw in your argument is that marriage is indeed a human and civil right, and has been deemed so by both the UN and the US Supreme Court.

    Even thought you try to ameliorate it, comparing gay marriage to murder is not just offensive, it is ridiculous. In no way are they similar. In no way does gay marriage impact the civil rights of any other human being, vastly unlike murder. For that reason ALONE it should be universally allowed, let alone all the many other reasons to legalise gay marriage.

    Though you are likely not trying to be offensive, it is troubling that you do not see how very similar the fight by blacks and women and now gays are, and that we together all are fighting for the same thing - civil equality and the right to exercise our rights.

    As a human, there is no reason why I should not be allowed the right to get married to my choice of person, regardless of whether that person is male or female. There is simply no reasonable reason. There are religious, prejudicial and bigoted reasons, yes, but none of them are reasonable.

    "True" civil rights are the same for all, and your apparent desire to keep gays from being equal is most troubling.

  1. raine studios Says:

    Can you post a link to that temple article?

    Thanks!

  1. Andee Says:

    I can't post a hyper-link into the comment section, so you will have to copy and paste it in your address bar :)

    http://windysydney.blogspot.com/2007/11/mormon-temple.html