Life wasnt meant to be easy.

My boss and I work together for 8 hours a day. Just me and him in the shop and most of our discussions are on the news, religion, or our families. Today we talked about religion and he being a man that doesn't believe in God thinks that one reason people want to believe in God is because its easy. He said People use religion as a cop-out, to do your wrongs and then just repent and go on with your lives having a clear conscience. Religion may be like this for some but not for those who truly have faith.

If anyone who believes that believing in God is easy then I don't know the God in which they believe. I believe in God, The Eternal Father. I believe in the Ten Commandments and all of the teachings of Jesus the Christ and all the directions that our prophets give us from the old testament to this day. When we try to apply all these things to our lives I find it's no easy task. I have even heard that being a member of this religion (mormon) is not for the weak. Our religion believes in "callings" these are assignments that you have been called from God to fulfill. This supports the notion that idle hands are the work of the devil. Its also said that if we are not moving forward then we are moving backwards, there is no standing still. These callings help us to be in service to our fellow man and to become closer to God, but as with anything you only get out of it that what you put into it. If we truly believe in God, who gave us life and loves us unconditionally, then by sitting around in idleness we will feel guilty for not doing all that we can to return to Him. So I wouldn't say believing in God is easy but that maybe ignorance is bliss for some, at least for now.

Some people may also think that repentance is a cop-out and an easy way to not have to take responsibility for what you have done. I would say on the contrary that if we truly repent that it is because we want to take responsibility for what we have done and so we can make sure if doesn't happen again. I have heard the word repentance described as change. If we truly repent it is because we have seen the wrong in what we do and we have a true desire to change and to do whatever it takes to do so. Although i do not understand the atonement fully this is why i believe that there is no death bed repentance. We have to repent while there is time to change our ways and be examples in Christ. Now there is time to accept the atonement in the after-life but who knows if we will still have that burning desire to do so. This is why we must repent once we recognize the wrong doings we are committing. Most of the time if not all of the time this is fighting of the natural man. The natural man is in all of us. It comes with the bodies we have attained. These are the desires that we have, for example, instant gratification. But the Gospel teaches us to follow God's ways, which are contrary to the natural man. This involves self-mastery and diligence day in and day out. These things are not easy. My boss drinks coffee every morning and i mentioned to him that he should just try to stop for a little while. He laughed and said yea maybe i will, but he never tried. Many members have had to give up things that they wanted to have so they the can change and complete the repentance process. This is NOT an easy task and nobody that has ever struggled with something and then truly repented would ever call it a cop-out.

I believe that my boss wasnt completely wrong with his comments and that their are people who take their religion lightly and go to church to just feel good about themselves, but i know that in my life, as i have went from trying to fake it til i make to a devoted man living the gospel teaching of Jesus Christ, that its no easy task. But that the blessings that you recieve from putting all of your heart, might and mind into doing the will of the Lord is well worth the challenge.