Hi I'm Ben

I would make a great agnostic. I majored in philosophy. I devour books and ideas. I've wrestled with the ideas of the doubters, from Nietzche to Voltaire. I recognize and appreciate the explanatory power of science and rationalism. I have friends without a fleck of religious belief who are wonderful people. But I have also felt God and found God too often in my life to pretend like there's nothing there. I have felt him not in just some vague sense, but at specific times in response to specific requests and in a way I could not manufacture on my own. I have asked him if the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and I have felt through the Holy Ghost that it is. I have been counseled by many friends and leaders in the church who have said things that I needed to hear, things they couldn't have known except by inspiration. I am a Mormon because I have felt God in my life, because I have felt the power of the scriptures -- both the Bible and the Book of Mormon -- and because I see inspiration at work in the Church and in my family. I can't always understand how everything fits, but this belief keeps winning against my doubts.

I volunteer in my local congregation to work with new members of the church and people who are looking into joining. I try to be both kind and good, to live with charity. I pray fitfully, often, and as sincerely as I can. I read scriptures like the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I'm doing my best to help my children feel and understand how God is real, and that the grace of Jesus Christ can save us from sin and death.