It at all seems impossible to think yet it remains.

As far as spiritual and secular matters go, I find myself on a thin line that seems the mend the two into a certain piece of clothing the would receive gasps and stares if I were to flaunt such attire in society's ever growing glare. "To each his own" is a motto to which I've grown more and more accustomed. To judge and ridiculous produces nothing but discord and hate. And what is hate? Nothing more than a waste of energy in my eyes. Growing up in a tolerant household taught me that joy comes not in distaste but in the form of understanding, from either side. Not to dive into a cliche christian statement of faith, but I do believe that Christ gave us the key principle in gaining some sort of happiness. Was he the only one? Of course not but he enveloped the idea in such a way that it could be grasped by all you have ears to hear. Or eyes to read for that matter. Love thy neighbor as thy self. Such a simple statement. Yet its depths rival and circumscribe any and all statements made my the wisest of teachers or gurus. Is there one truth? Yes. For truth ceases to be truth as soon turns upon itself. What is that truth? I could spend hours and pages explaining to you what I perceive as truth. But I won't due to the fact that you have your explanations and I have mine. Why do I call what I have truth? Because of experience. First hand real life experience. If I do this, then this will happen. Sound familiar? Most of us call it cause and effect. I would also bring it into the realm of science. A scientific law is "a concise verbal or mathematical statement of a relation that is always under the same conditions." Many conditions occur repeatably in my life. I seem to find myself in very similar situations. Though details maybe different, the overall conditions are congruent. In such a case one may find one's self with decisions to make. And one may also call upon experiences to weigh options to obtain a desired outcome. Sounds a bit like Chem 101 to me. Now, according to science, if I duplicate the experiment and receive the same answer then those findings must be law. Same conditions, same results. So if we transfer that into a religious experiment where I pray to God and receive those "blessings" in the same manner that I had one to before received them, then clearly the statement of "if I pray to God, he will bless me" must be scientific law. Well Troy let's not get hasty. What about variables? Very good class, I am so glad you brought that up. I have tried other ways of solving my problems, both secular and spiritual. And the results are only concurrent when God is brought into the picture. Using reason, what can be said? A lot. But many will contradict my findings and claim falsehoods and miscalculations and errors in the experiment of my faith. Despite all of those, to me what is the real answer? God is real. Should I force upon you this claim? Of course not. What would be the point. Do I leave it open for you to also experiment? Yes, what do you have to lose. Time, money, energy? Well you have wasted all those bashing my religion and beliefs. So why not put those towards a use of improve yourself and those around you. Mormonism may be out there as far as a standard "religion" goes and it may have holes I can't explain. Faith AND reason fills those holes. I am a mormon. I have do things that the mormons say I shouldn't do. When I did those things I was not happy. When I follow my own beliefs based on those teachings beliefs I found happiness. So to follow those beliefs would be the reasonable thing to do. And there is the underlying principle of what makes me smile. Live, love, learn.