Doctrinal Essays

I believe in the importance of church activity, and have for the most part attended my meetings faithfully for the majority of my life. Having said that, I confess that while my mind understands the importance and necessity of church and temple attendance, my heart has not always been with my body as I have sat through those meetings. I would even say that nine times out of ten I leave the church and temple place empty handed. To be clear, I do not believe this weakness of mine has anything to do with a failure to understand the doctrines of the gospel. Rather, I think it has more to do with the way I hold those doctrines in my sometimes empty heart. This emptiness has caused me deep feelings of regret and guilt. When I hear others talk of their rewarding, spiritual, and uplifting experiences from church and temple worship, I feel even guiltier. I feel glad for those people and their experiences, but frankly I can't always relate. But I'm trying to. In 1997 I was inspi...