Quote:
Originally Posted by movingon
How do you become normal? How do you learn to just enjoy life without thinking that God is going to judge you because you should be more spiritual? I didn't mean to ramble on and on like this but I could really use some help.
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Practically and by experience I would say just be yourself. We're all in different stages in our walk.
I would say during my time in the LC, there were saints who had no problem being themselves (being transparent in relation to the soul life). For the most part, there was pressure to fit the "cookie-cutter mold" of fitting into the church life. Essentially living out the soul-life was in the closet. In the meetings we had to put on a good face while with the saints outside the home. However while in the LC homes and even among the saints I've been blent with in the non-LC home meetings, all partitions come done just to be ourselves as we are.
As far as holidays go, many I know in the LC are out of touch with non-LSM Christianity. At least the non-LSM assemblies I've met with use the 4th of July as fundraisers, abstain from Halloween, promote Thanksgiving, with regards to Christmas and Easter goes, get into what these holidays are really about. When it comes to Memorial Day and Veterans day, giving appreciation to members of the Body who have served and those passed on who have given their lives for the country.
When it comes to hobbies, entertainment, etc, it comes to personal choices. I've known saints in the LC whom I have shared mutual enjoyment in jigsaw puzzles. I've known saints who enjoy movies. As an 8 year old in the Church in Anaheim, my dad and another brother in the church took me and my next youngest flesh brother to our first major league game between the then California Angels and Cleveland Indians. How fitting wouldn't you say Ohio?
I would say for my sanity, I had to cease meeting with the LSM/LC in order to be normal and to be myself without feeling ostracized or condemned.