Mormonism vs. Christianity.. What Would You Do!?

Hi Gerty! You are right and I'm not forbidding him from going with her I'm just letting him know that I do not agree. I have been trying to find a church home for awhile now but my choices are limited in my city so I think I may have to branch out to a neighboring city and see if the choices are more fitting for what I'm looking for. You hit the nail on the head in regards to my feelings about Mormons. I have some wonderful friends who are Mormon and I have nothing against them - we just do not believe the same things when it comes to religion. I will urge my son to wait until he is at least 18 and I've already asked him to please research other religions before making a decision. You make a good point though, since he was not born into the religion - I wonder if they would even let him enter their temple (?) That religion has changed so much over the years that I feel they alter their "rules" to try and fit in with the Christian society when the core of that religion is the complete opposite in beliefs. I will look for that book and thank you!

Linda.. you would have to know the Mormon religion vs the Christian religion to understand why Christian's feel it is "wrong". The Mormon's believe that their God would deny me a place next to him unless I convert so it's no different and if my son wanted his girlfriend to attend a Christian church and she started to believe differently of her religion and wanted to be baptized in a Christian church - I'm pretty sure her parents would feel the same way I'm feeling right now. That's why all religions are not the same - they all think the other one is wrong in one way or another. Thanks for your response!

I understand it is emotional as well as spiritual for you, but you can't control what others do or how they feel about something, you can only control what you do and feel. You feel betrayed by your friends, your son's fiance and you son, that is understandable. However, you have to understand that they are not doing anything to betray you, they are only following their consciences and doing what they think is right. Just as they are doing so, you have to decide what is right also. It is good that you are praying for them, but remember the first pleading of any Christian prayer is "thy will be done". As I said before, in the end it comes down to one decision and that decision is entirely yours. Do you want to be part of the lives of your son, daughter in law and grandkids. They are making their choices, part of those choices is that they want you in their lives. Wether or not you will let this come between you is entirely up to you now. I hope you can find it in your heart to put this aside and enjoy the love and joy that you are entitled to as a wondeful mother and loving grandmother.

ParaTed, thank you for your response. I know what you write is correct but I can't help the way I feel and I feel like there is already resentment of him and her (which I never wanted, when I thought about my future daughter-in-law) and feelings of failure on my part. I have always been tolerant of other religions and I've been especially tolerant of the Mormon religion because we have so many people in our life who are LDS .. but now I'm feeling angry at them as well. One family in particular are people we consider fairly good friends. They are our old neighbors. Their son is my son's bestfriend. They are LDS. I have always respected them and their religion. I would have NEVER tried to sway their son into joining my church or my religion because I know how deeply involved his parents are with their religion and yet, this family is eager to talk my son into joining their church now. I feel very disrespected by these people that I feel are influencing my son with their beliefs. His girlfriend's family is the same way. They have sat my son down to talk to him about their church and how he likes it - about him joining and becoming baptized. Maybe I'm just different but in my opinion, you do not try to talk someone's child into joining a different church without speaking to his parents first - especially when you know his parents and you know their feelings on their own religion and your religion. My son is not an adult yet. He still lives in my home and I pay for everything for him. Out of respect for his father and I - these other adult families should have called and sat down with us rather than doing things the way they are doing them. The family that used to be our neighbors are people I really cared about and now I do not even want to cross their paths because I'm worried I will not be able to fake being nice to them which is what I would be doing since I'm now so upset with them. Yes, my son has his own life to live - but if he loves his father and mother he will want to take into consideration their views and feelings as well. I'm not asking him not to join that church - I'm asking him to research other religions first and to research THAT religion as well before making a decision because I have no doubt that the only reason he is wanting to join the LDS church is because of this girl - if she was Christian, he would not be going with his male friends who are LDS and joining with them. I know this because he has been friends with LDS kids for over 8 years and never once has he been interested in joining their church but now a girl comes into his life and he is ready to jump in with both feet. If this girl is no longer a part of his life, then the religion aspect will be gone as well and again, I think it's wrong for him to join a church without fully being ready for it. This is a very emotional subject for me. He claims that this religion is going to make us closer as a family but it's only tearing us apart. We were already close - we didn't need this church to make it happen but this church is pulling us apart. I cried all night over this. I prayed all night about it too. It's his choice and I told him that but I will not attend if he gets baptized in that church and maybe that's selfish of me, but it is what it is. I'm not welcomed there anyhow, because I'm not Mormon - if he wants his family there, then I guess he'll have his new Mormon family there.

sierras thank you for your post. You are right, I need to just sit down with him and talk about everything. I am trying really hard not to be confrontational. I really do appreciate all of the viewpoints shared on this topic - even if I may not agree, I fully respect that we can all have different opinions and views on subjects.

Nan I have nothing against Mormons but I do not believe they are Christian's so my son dating and hoping to one day marry a Mormon isn't fitting with my beliefs. I understand that he is his own person and I hope he really thinks before he makes lifelong decisions. Religion is not something to take lightly and being baptized or getting married to someone is not to be taken lightly either. If he ends up deciding to marry this girl, one day in the future, I will still love him but I will not support his religious decision. My hope is that before he makes a decision - he researches everything as much as possible. If he still decides to go down that pathway then I can at least know in my heart that he weighed the options and that was the one that he felt was the right fit for him. Thank you for your response!