My Proclamation

A while ago I came across an old journal from a seminary class I took during my Senior year of high school. I really hated high school, and I hated the ridiculous, sappy, boring high school seminary program even more. And I definitely hated it when they would have us write in those lame paper journals they would give us each new semester.

Keep in mind, this was all back in high school, and I was a bit immature and unappreciative.

But I remember having to write this journal entry specifically (it is, unfortunately, undated), and I'll never forget what a surprisingly great experience it was to be able to write it. The lesson that day was on The Family: A Proclamation To The World, and how its proclamation affects our lives. This resulted in great discussion amongst the class, which then led to the teacher instructing us to write our own proclamations to the world in our journals. I now want to share what I came up with after about ten minutes of writing, re-writing, and further editing:

DECLARATION

"I, Andrew Stratford, solemnly proclaim that all men were created in the image of God, and that all people on the earth are sons and daughters of God, and that he knows them individually by name and loves them dearly.

I solemnly proclaim that our beloved Father in Heaven does hear every prayer said by his children upon the face of the earth.

I solemnly proclaim that the Savior Jesus Christ walked on the earth 2000 years ago and organized the true church of God upon the face of the earth during his mortal ministry.

I solemnly proclaim that this church, after hundreds of years of dark apostasy on the earth, was in fact restored again to the earth by God the Father and his beloved Son, Jesus Christ, when they appeared to the modern-day prophet Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove in 1820.

And, finally, I solemnly proclaim that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, except through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. He is the light of the world. And if men will drop their nets of the world and come to Him as did the apostles of old, then will they feel the true joy that He gives freely to all men that follow him."

The moment that I wrote that was a defining moment for me in my religion. As I wrote it I felt that it was inspired by God. Then as I read it to the class a few minutes later it was sealed to me as Truth by the power of the Holy Ghost. After that day in seminary, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was more than just a culture to me: it was the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Way to happiness in this life and in the life to come.

And now I will say this:
I feel exactly the same about my religion now as I did back in my senior year of high school.