"Just picture yourself."

     Michael committed me, saying "Just picture yourself. Where would you be if you were not in the church for about eleven or twelve years? What would your life be like?" An explanation of this vision may need to be written, for many of us, including me, has been raised in a life with a great knowledge of truth that gives us great strength. We may not recognize how the spirits on the other side of the veil wish that they could live a life in the Restored Gospel in mortality. 

Many have to endure life without the Gospel, and they do not know how to progress in life. When a man receives the gospel, he is left, feeling years behind a man raised in the Gospel. He sees many things that he has never learned. Many little things are hard to add as habits. Not living the Gospel weakens us from the potential of a more full statue of Christ. As we learn to observe all the little things of the teachings of God throughout our life, we shine as a disciple of Christ. Some people are intimidated by this, and great patience is to be exercised by all to accept the progression of faith. 

      I see many fruits to the appreciation that we can obtain by exploring this idea. You will be able to relate and understand others better. This understanding has importance to work with all types of people in patience and love to have a mutually inspiring friendship. I interviewed Josh Aufderheide how it is like to live without the gospel to help me write this article. In alluding to this article at our last Fast and Testimony meeting and the first thing that Josh said to me concerning this topic. 'People feel their way in the world, doing what they think is right in hopes to find the truth.' Do you feel how it is like to be in the person that Josh described? I feel like a blind man or a man in pitch darkness.
     I see that the atonement and many doctrines therein is lost from their understanding. A key principle that is often hard to learn is the concept of grace and forgiveness. People without the gospel feel like all their sin is mounted on them, and they do not know what to do with it. Everything from the beginning of their lives weighs on their soul. There is a great burden on their shoulders, and their eternal welfare is uncertain. This feeling of no source of forgiveness gives little incentive to live righteously.
     A source of relief seems to be any source of hope. Hopelessness may abound, but people seek out truth. Josh said his goal a future happy family prevailed in his mind throughout his life. He never gave up in finding the truth, and peoples desire to do so may vary. Faith and hope comes of knowledge. Although the knowledge of truth is limited, there is a little hope that each person has.
     There is also a feeling that there is no source to find a resolution to problems. There is a lack of a real healing that comes; although, there are many sources to which people can find a partial comfort. In this condition, people may not feel abandoned, but in they are often ignorant to the blessings of God in their life. Drinking and other common sin are appealing according to carnal desires, and are often indulged in. The atonement heals and solves all problems, and nothing else in the world offers that. Josh spoke of the pain that plagues many veterans called post traumatic stress disorder. He went through counseling, but the efforts sought to resolve temporal problems. He said it was "learning how to live with the problem." Josh has powerful testimony that the atonement of Christ has healed his soul according to his great faith and effort to do God's will. He has been healed by the priesthood power, overcoming most of the afflictions that he has suffered in the world as he has received the restored Gospel.
     Since there seems to be no source of healing, there is little to trust. Trust is lacking on many fronts. There seems to be little truth. Referring to a source of world Josh said "other churches want to blanket everything." They are not personal, trying to wrap everyone into doctrines of their faith. Everyone seems to lack truth, so each person interprets the word for themselves. The Bible is confusing and contradicting. There is no need to be train at seminaries to know the truth because there is a lack of truth therein. This is how people feel as they don't understand the need for prophets or the authority of God; however, the light of Christ is is powerful offering light according to our faith.
    There is a lot more to this article's topic that I don't can't explain, but each person has faith. It is inherent in every person. We need to ignite the spirit of the person within the soul, letting the real personality express itself according to the person's free agency. We need to embrace each person. When people find God our Father and how loving he is, learning of his nature, they have a great desire to serve him and seek after a strong testimony, working from the beginnings of faith. Let us reach out to all.