A New Spiritual Home

This blog post will deviate from the chronological narrative I've been telling quite a bit, but be assured that I'm not done telling the story of my spiritual journey.

Until now I've kept this pretty quiet but I feel that now is as good of a time as any to tell some good news about my spiritual journey. I've found a new spiritual home in the Community of Christ! For many that have followed this blog, this will come as a great surprise. I realize there will be a lot of mixed feelings on this subject so bear with me as I explain my reasonings for this radical change in my spiritual journey.

To those who are unfamiliar with the Community of Christ, I will give a little background. They changed their name in 2001, previously they were commonly referred to as the RLDS Church. As I talked about in a previous post, when Joseph Smith Jr. was killed, the Restoration fragmented as different groups asserted leadership. Sidney Rigdon, James Strang, and the Apostles (led by Brigham Young) were among the most prominent. Joseph Smith III, the son of the Prophet Joseph Smith had been ordained to succeed his father and this is where the RLDS tradition comes into play.

I first want to alleviate  any fears that those who associate with me might have. I am not an anti-Mormon and I am not going to try tearing down the LDS Church. Even though I have had mixed feelings about my LDS experience, overall it has been of great benefit in my life. I totally respect the Mormons who want to stay in the LDS Church, as long as it makes them happy and makes them better people. I still very much believe in the 11th Article of Faith: "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may". Be assured that I am acting according to my conscience, and I ask those who know me to please follow the counsel above in the pursuing of future conversations.  


In making this switch I want to assure the people I associate with that my goal is to not convert everybody to the Community of Christ. If you haven't noticed Community of Christ members don't go knocking door to door like the LDS Church or Jehovah's Witnesses. This is because we feel that is a goal for us to be A true church not THE true church. We believe that there are many paths that lead to God, and the Community of Christ acknowledges Joseph Smith's vision of there being many mansions or states of glory prepared for God's children, and reject the traditional Christian Heaven/Hell dichotomy. I will discuss some of the Community of Christ beliefs in a different post.
Many people will wonder why I am making this shift. This is a complicated issue to address because of the wide spectrum of people I associate with and their different knowledge levels about doctrine and LDS Church History. Instead of being negative and making a list of the problems I have with the LDS Church, though they are factors that led me away from my past faith tradition, I want to focus on some on the positive aspects I've found in the Community of Christ. For the sake of brevity here are some brief aspects that inspired me in Community of Christ: All are Called, Worth of All Persons, Unity in Diversity, Continuing Revelation. Abolishing Poverty/Ending Needless Suffering, Becoming a Prophetic People, and Pursuing Peace on Earth. I will go into more detail on these aspects at a later time.

This blog post is probably the most controversial one I've written so far. I know that I will be unfriended, blocked, and disowned by people that I know for the contents of this post, some that I have associated with most of my life. This saddens me but I know why those people feel the way they do and I understand why they feel they must take this drastic step. I wish you well in your own spiritual path. I would prefer not to get angry comments on my public space, so any concerns, disagreements, and condemnations I ask you  to deliver to me via private message or you can email me at kevindpomeroy@gmail.com. If you want to talk and understand better about my decision feel free to message me, call me, or we can meet up in person and I can explain it to you over lunch or something.

Many people leave the LDS Church over historical reasons, they find disturbing details about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, The Book of Abraham, Joseph Smith's dealing with the occult/magic etc. I still have unanswered questions about certain aspects of early LDS history but the bulk of my concerns deal with the modern LDS Church, not the church Joseph Smith established. I believe that the Community of Christ honors the memory/teachings/legacy of Joseph Smith.

I'm at peace with my decision and I know that I am where God wants me to be. I cannot deny the witness that God has given me, to do so would be to deny God and to act against my conscience. I will do the same for others, I acknowledge the validity of the path God has put you on and I hope it brings you joy.

 For those who are struggling with their own religious experience I suggest checking out the Community of Christ, it's not the right fit for everybody, but I feel it has value to many that feel oppressed and marginalized. To those who feel so, I extend the invitation that Christ gave many years ago, Come and See. 

My Baptism

When I was 8 years old as it is tradition in the LDS Church I was baptized. I don't remember a lot of details about the baptism itself. My dad was the one who had baptized me. I remember us going to a swimming pool beforehand and practicing, since the LDS Church practices baptism by immersion. I was really worried about water getting in my nose, but everything seemed to go without any problems.

Garrit Slater one of the missionaries that taught my family came to my baptism after he had returned from his mission. He was the one that confirmed me a member of the church. I don't remember the actual baptism, but I remember the confirmation. A group of men, with Slater voicing, placed their hands on my head. I remember how heavy all their hands felt, it was a weird feeling. I had not grown up in the Church, I had never received a blessing when I was sick or a blessing on my first day of school since my family joined the Church when I was 7 years old.

I felt so honored that Slater would come all the way back to attend my baptism. Yes, he had brought his mom and they probably visited a number of other people while they were in California. The point was that I felt that I was special, that I was worth having someone come out of state, to be at this important life event.

Even though things went well for my baptism, there are times that I regret that I got baptized when I did. I was baptized because 8 years old was the age that you were "supposed" to get baptized at. I had just gone along with the flow of things. As I mentioned above, I don't even remember the baptism itself. My youngest sister, Marisa, did not get baptized right when she was 8 years old. She wanted to make a conscious decision. She was given a really hard time about delaying her baptism from members of our congregation. Ultimately she did end up getting baptized before her 9th birthday, so it wasn't a long delay, but she did on her own terms. It's one of the things I really respect her for. I remember hearing about another boy that lived in our congregation that did get baptized after he was 9 years old and was also judged heavily for his decision.

In the many of the Latter-day Saint traditions, 8 is the minimum age for baptism. It is not a requirement to be baptized at 8 years old. It is my hope that parents and church leaders to not put unnecessary pressure of children into getting baptized until they feel comfortable with this decision. It is one of the most important parts of a Latter-day disciple's life, and I don't even remember mine. Many kids are perfectly fine getting baptized around their 8th birthday but for those who aren't please show some patience for their sakes. As for a point of clarification I don't think my parents were really pressuring, I just had heard in Church that 8 year olds get baptized and just went along with it. I don't exactly regret getting baptized, I just wish that I remembered it so I could better savor this critical religious milestone.

Have you been baptized or participated in some kind of ritualistic ceremony that acknowledged you as part of a congregation or larger faith community?  What was it like?Would you change anything?