Clayton christensen why i am a mormon

So I told my coach about this conflict and asked him what I should do. And he was just incredulous. He lets us by on things like this. And Clay, just this once, just this once, play this game and then go off and do whatever you have to do with your god and make peace with him and never do it again.

Well, then we played in the semi-final game, and my friend who was the back-up center got up-ended on a rebound and fell down on his shoulder and dislocated his shoulder, which then increased the pressure for me to play that game. So I went back into my hotel room after that game and knelt down and asked Heavenly Father if it would be all right, just this once, if I played that game on Sunday. You know the answer. And the reason that decision has proven so important to me is that my whole life has turned out to be an un-ending stream of extenuating circumstances, and had I crossed that line just that once, then the next time something came up that was so demanding and critical, it would have been so much easier to cross the line again.

The lesson is it really is easier to keep the commandments percent of the time than it is 98 percent of the time. The fifth decision that I wanted to recount for you, was the decision I made to call myself on a mission again.

I served a wonderful mission in Korea. As I mentioned I did most of it only being able to say that I believed the Book of Mormon was true, and I testified of those things that I knew to be true, and I felt the Spirit with me almost everyday when I was a missionary.

But when I returned I began to feel the Spirit less and less as my life progressed. We moved to Boston and I enrolled in the MBA program at Harvard, and I was called at the time to serve as a counselor to our bishop, and I was a busy guy. I just did everything I could to magnify my calling. I was studying the scriptures everyday, I was praying, and yet on a day to day basis it just seemed like I was feeling the Spirit less and less as time wore on.

Then we moved to Washington and I had the chance to take a job in the Reagan Administration. All of a sudden we were living with new people and I was working with new people and I was riding in on the bus with new people, and it gave me many more opportunities than I had had living in a stable situation in Boston to begin talking with people about my church.

Some of those opportunities then resulted in deeper opportunities to discuss the gospel, and I then invited one of my co-workers to come to our home with her boyfriend to hear the missionary discussions.

As they sang those words, I felt a beautiful spirit again come into the room and into my heart, and I realized that as I had begun working again to spread for the Kingdom of Heaven abroad as a member missionary, that the visions and blessings and glories of God had returned to my life. I was dreaming spiritual dreams and thinking happy, spiritual thoughts as I walked to the bus in the morning, and joy had come back into my heart, just as it had been there when I was a missionary. I realized what had happened to me is I had been released from my mission and had begun engaging in service in the church as a member that most of my assignments were in fact administrative in character, and as they were administrative in character, plain old Clay Christensen, with his plain old talents, was perfectly capable of doing most of the assignments that I was given as an administrator in the Church.

But when I made that decision to become again a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ, it was as if geographically I repositioned myself right on the front line, engaged in direct combat with Satan in this vicious war that he is waging over the souls of the children of men. And I am so grateful that I came to make that decision to be a missionary again because it has blessed our family in profound ways.

Russell Ballard gave a talk at that time where he invited us as members of the church to set a date, a point in the future, as a commitment to our Heavenly Father. He promised us that if we would do all that we could to engage in conversations about the gospel, with as many people as we could, that God would bless us by that date, that we would intersect with somebody who would accept our invitation to meet with the missionaries.

His talk just sunk into my heart. That night I went home and knelt by my bed and committed to my Heavenly Father that by a date I would find somebody for the missionaries to teach. The concept nonetheless is used today around the world, particularly with regard to entrepreneurs, startups and new technologies. Gilbert, now president of BYU-Pathway Worldwide , focused on online learning, was among many friends and family members who also praised him as kind, thoughtful, generous and an inspiring role model.

The lines in his mind between intellectual and spiritual truth seemed faint. His brother, Carlton, said that while a recent bout of leukemia took his life, Christensen had battled through years of health problems, including a heart attack, a stroke and earlier incident of cancer. Christensen was born April 6, , in Rose Park, the second of eight children.

It is a tragic and untenable situation for both sides. Even if we can love others without insisting that they share our beliefs, it remains difficult to feel loved by them while being unheard, misunderstood, or judged. It certainly gets in the way of feeling respect, acceptance, and unity when each side assumes the other is deluded. Religion sets countries, cultures, families, and individuals at odds with one another.

It definitely has a divisive effect. Patty Sessions is my relative. We saw her house. My mom asked me, can you feel the spirit it is so strong here? I told her no. Not a response she wanted to here. What an amazing man. Very classy. Unless I misunderstood, did Clay imply that a DNA test is being or has been conducted and we are awaiting results? There have been DNA tests, there is another test with the latest technology that is soon to come out.

Keep in mind that Windsor and Joseph were both married to Sylvia. It is a tragedy and an abuse of power that Joseph was able to do what he did to so many young girls, children and already married women, let alone what he did to Emma.

We will see when this DNA study comes out. Regardless of the outcome Joseph is no prophet and he is no less of a sexual predator. Thank you Clay, for another insightful interview. As in your first appearance, your kindness and generosity of spirit shine through. You are so fortunate that your immediate family supports you unwaveringly. The Church does not seem to understand the importance of truthfulness in regard to their foundational claims. The lack of transparency regarding historical facts and their unwillingness to entertain open inquiry and questions will continue to create problems for the hierarchy as well as a crisis of faith for many.

Your example can only serve as a beacon of hope to those who are struggling with these issues. Each time the Church behaves in this way — they loose big time. I wish you all the best as you honorably lead your family into a new day of truth and honesty. Wonderful comments, and a wonderful outcome.

Clay, you are obviously a man of integrity…oh how I wish I felt Church leaders were the same! Thanks for your courage. I am sure you will be a catalyst for providing help to many! Thank you Clay! I m still in but I wish more than anything I could do what you have done. You are a strong example of finding out the truth. I am in because I fear the pain of my younger kids loosing the love of their cousins.

Thank you for telling the story of your son. That brought me so much peace. Your younger kids will most likely be shunned by their cousins I have seen this and it hurts, no matter what age. I am an old man with lots of advice so please pardon me, but I think you should be more concerned that your kids will grow up and find out on their own. They may find out from asking too many questions in seminary or they may just have too many doubts to serve a mission.

There is a great deal of trauma for teenagers who find out. There are far too many stories of regular teen age angst mixed with faith crisis angst that end tragically or have more long-term consequences than the trauma of being shunned by cousins. I have seen a lot more than I have talked about publicly. It is extremely sad what the church does to youth. I plead with you to consider getting them away from the church while they are young.

Please also consider what may happen if they become fully indoctrinated members. There is also so much trauma and sadness for people who are in the church. At the very least, so much time and money wasted, so much of their lives will be devoted to a fraud. Please do not risk letting that happen.

Clay In your first podcast you exhibited a fresh and hopeful countenance mixed with the startling realization that you found yourself a part of the many people deceived for so many years of their lives. This time your conviction is stronger but quieter. It seems you have also had to deal with hurtful and self righteous attitudes from people you love and trusted. Much is said in your silence. And the notice for a disciplinary council of course is sobering.

Congrats on keeping your power and removing your name. The Church will not be able to label you and use you as a negative example with any credibility. Huge life changes take time. You are so fortunate to have your family together in your decisions. The Church permeates and entangles every aspect of our lives.

It takes awhile to find just who one is without the Church telling you. Not only that but I completely relate to your hesitation to join another Church. There is so much good in the world and in others to discover. I appreciate this so much! Thank you Clay and John Dehlin. I listened to and watched the original long podcast, and it was great. So good to hear and listen to Clay as to where he is now. My best to you and your family! I spent a large portion of my life as a member of a church. I was active, participated in ceremonies, and served in minor positions of authority in that church.

Most members of my family are still believing members of that church. Immediately after I left that church, and up to today, my only feeling about that church is indifference. If I go home for a holiday and my family members invite me to a church meeting, I politely attend and try to appreciate it for what it is.

Perhaps I am not paranoid about how they feel about me because I treat them, and their beliefs, with respect. Behaving thus would obviously be insulting, and not normal familial behavior. Who mocks their family and friends anyway?

I certainly would never spend any of my time and money discrediting and attempting to recruit others to join me in my unbelief. What I try to do is just keep the good reject the bad, and politely explain my position when anyone asks it from me. King, That is so wonderful that you never felt ostracized by your family.

So much of what you say is wise. I deeply care about it. I care so deeply that I was deceived by the institution that I thought stood for truth and righteousness on the Earth. Student Life. Quick Links. Search Term Search. Link to twitter. Link to instagram. Link to youtube. Link to facebook. Link to linkedin. January 24, When I was a young man, just barely married, I was serving as a counselor to our bishop in the Cambridge First Ward in the Boston Stake.

And I was magnifying my calling as best I could. We had a massive ward that took over about half of Boston at the time. I was studying the scriptures every day, I was praying diligently, and yet as time passed, I just felt the Spirit in my life less and less, especially when I compared with how I felt the Spirit on almost a minute-by-minute basis as a missionary.

As President Richards mentioned, I got a position in the administration of President Ronald Reagan, which caused me then to go down to Washington, and we rented a place where we had new neighbors. I remember, before a colleague and her boyfriend were going to come for their first missionary lesson, we were trying to clean up our home. And all of a sudden, a warm and wonderful spirit came into our home and just went deeply into my heart, and I realized that the Spirit had come back into my life.

When I was sleeping, I was having dreams of spiritual things, and when I was walking to catch the bus, I just started to sing the hymns of Zion.

And I had not felt like this since when I was a missionary. And I realized a way to frame, I think, what had happened. And you just have a few of the state-of-the-art weapons that you can give to your soldiers. Who are the soldiers that you would give the best weapons to?

You would give the best to the soldiers who were right on the front line, engaged day-to-day in direct conflict with the enemy. And I realized what I had done in my life, is I had geographically repositioned myself. My calling as a member of the bishopric was behind the lines, administrative in character.

And I had geographically repositioned myself right on the front lines, in direct battle with Satan in the war over the souls of the children of men. It was such a distinct difference in how I felt every day, to have the Spirit with me, that I just decided that I would call myself on a mission, which I did. And I hope that, at the end of our talks today, that I will have inspired some of you to go home and call yourself on a mission, and spend your life serving our Heavenly Father.

And we think that if we just retreat from the front line, and seek safety in the core of the Church, spending our time with other members of the Church, we somehow think that we will be protected against what Satan wants to do. Paradoxically, I think it is just the opposite. We have the greatest strength when we go right out there to the front line and try to bring people into the gospel of Jesus Christ, because we have the Spirit that helps us live righteous lives.

There was a time when we thought this was the core of Zion and Boston was the mission field.