"Turn to the Lord"

After a series of events in these last few weeks, I've learned some valuable lessons. I've learned more about myself, and more about the God which I worship. It's been a very positive and happy experience overall, to say the least. It was also unexpected. To understand, I'll give you some background detail.

I had been working at a job since just after Trevor and I were married. It was a part time job, then quickly went to full time. I am a full time college student attending an online university (WGU), and studying accounting. In the last few weeks, I just hit my core accounting classes. For the previous 2 years, I had been able to skate through college, now, I just can't do that. While I was working, I was doing homework from 7 am - 9:30 am. This was about enough time for me to read a chapter. After work, I just didn't have time to do any homework.

The end of my term was coming up, less than 6 weeks. I still had 2 accounting classes to do. If I didn't pass both classes, I faced the chance of losing my half tuition scholarship. I took my pre-assessment for my first class and failed miserably, by 30 points.

That's where everything started. It hit me like a ton of bricks, that something had to change, something had to give. My dilemma make me think all weekend. I studied my degree plan and my classes. I pondered and prayed all weekend on what I needed to change.

I came to the conclusion that I had to ask for less time. I had to go part time. I am a college student. I'm not 30 or 40 something trying to go back to school to finish my degree. I am 20 and am trying to do the "correct" path the first time and just get the stinkin thing done with! Besides, this is the fun time in life where we get to take risks, knowing we are young enough to recover from just about anything. I found it difficult to believe that if billions of other students can go to a traditional university, do school and a little bit of work and be ok, and totally normal. Why can't I do the same thing??

So, Sunday night, I was still worried if I was doing the right thing, but I saw no other option. It had to be this way. Trevor and I had talked all weekend about my decision, he was just fine with my decision and we made it together. Right before bed, I felt strongly prompted to ask Trevor for a blessing. So, I did.

Trevor has given me 2 blessings now, and they have both been amazing and beautiful. The spirit is always so strong. In the blessing, he said that God loves me and that my decision has been made with the spirit of the Lord. (so, basically, I got God's approval). In both blessings I've been given, it's been said that the outcome of the situation is not know to us. This is because our decisions and actions might change, had we known the outcome, or certain conversations will be of value to the situation, and in the end, we have to grow from the trial/challenge. If we knew all the answers, where would the personal and spiritual growth be??

Near the end, he also reminded/told me that nothing is too small to take to the Lord. (I was nervous to ask for a blessing, because I didn't know if this was a "big enough of a deal" to ask for one.) In fact, He wants us to go to Him. That night, I learned a little bit more of what it meant to "turn to the Lord". It was very comforting, and I knew what I had to do. I also knew that I couldn't back down from my decision.

The the rest of the story is very simple. I went in on Monday, I explained I needed less time. They needed someone full time. So I zigged and they zagged. We parted ways. Walking out of that building for the last time, I had a huge smile on my face. It wasn't the outcome I was expecting, but as soon as everything was said and done, I knew it was the right one. Now, I'm studying school full time and it's very likely I could graduate this year, instead of another 24 months! :) (Maybe kids this year....?)

That's my story in a nutshell, now let me explain the lessons I learned.

1. If you live righteously, you'll have the spirit of the Lord with you to make big decisions.
       Looking back, I can now clearly see that my decision was made with the help of the Spirit.

2. Nothing is too small to take to God, no worry or need is to small to ask for a blessing. The priesthood is something God has given to righteous men to bless His children.
     This is something I'm so grateful for. There is a spiritual protection that comes from having the Priesthood in your home. It's also a huge source of comfort. The words spoken in a priesthood blessing come directly from God.

3. Life rarely goes "according to plan".
     Trevor and I had a 1 year, 2, year and a 5 year plan. It was all based on me working and bringing in money. Now, we get to change our plans, to an even better one.

4. God knows better than we do what we need. He also knows us better than we know ourselves.
        Only He knew how the whole situation was going to play out. If I had known before hand, I wouldn't have gone through with it. Job = security. No job = adventure?? Hahaha.

5. Sometimes, the worst case scenario, really isn't that bad.
       I think that sometime we psych ourselves out about that "worst case". Right now, what is the worst thing that can happen, if I don't have a job? We take out a loan. We don't want to, but that's the worst that can happen...really not that bad.

6.  We are young, and should live life adventurously.
        When I came home and told Trevor I parted ways with my job, he was surprised and nervous. But hey, we are young. Let's live adventurously (but still be smart about it.)

7. We are young and can recover from just about anything.
       I'm getting a degree in accounting, Trevor is getting a degree in civil engineering. We are young, and will be leaving school with 2 very good degrees. We can recover from just about anything.

8. Sometimes, God really gives us what we want, even when we think we couldn't have it, nor did we think it was an option.
       Deep down, I didn't want to work. I didn't like my job a whole lot. (Customer service is no fun). All I wanted was to do school full time, just like EVERYBODY else in Provo. But I just didn't see that as an option. So I never considered parting ways with my job (which is what I wanted deep down). God gave me what I wanted, even though I didn't think it was an option. :)

9. If you're not happy, then change it.

       This is something I've known for a while. If you're not happy, change it. Happiness is mostly a choice. Some dire situations really do just stink and can't be changed, but change your situation or attitude to be happy. Life is to short to be miserable. 

10. God has a sense of humor. I'll leave it at that. 

11. Life isn't suppose to be easy. God gives us trials and challenges to learn from them. If we knew how every situation would turn out, how would we learn or grow? 

So, 3 weeks down the road, where am I? Any minute now, I could be approved to take my pretest again, (remember the one I failed 30 points on?). After I pass this one, I can take the real test and be done with it! YAY! In the next 30 days I'll have my second class done and pass all my classes this term. Life has been so much better from this whole experience and I'm super grateful for it. I've learned valuable lessons and have been able to draw closer to God from this experience. Life is good. :)

- SamiMae

9 Mind-Blowing Facts About the LDS Conference Center

In just less than a week, my last blog post, “5 Reasons Mormonism is Actually Kinda Cool,” got way more pageviews than I was expecting (150+ and counting!), and a share on Facebook.

That's really cool. So, thanks, guys.

As a way of showing my gratitude, here's another! Hopefully this one will interest and amaze you even more. May I present:

9 Mind-Blowing Facts About the LDS Conference Center:

First, some background: The Conference Center is the world's largest indoor amphitheater ever constructed. Announced in 1996 by then-President of the LDS Church, Gordon Hinckley, it had an ambitious schedule for design, planning, and construction. Hinckley asked that it be ready by the first General Conference of the new millennium, in April 2000. (A General Conference, in Mormon parlance, is a biannual general meeting of the Church, where we listen to our leaders impart spiritual guidance, Church business is discussed, and announcements that affect the entire Church are made.) The new Conference Center is used to host General Conferences twice a year, as well as cultural performances and community events year-round.

A panoramic view of the main Assembly Hall of the Conference Center. (Source: Wikipedia.)

The scope of this building is tremendous – it takes up an entire 120-acre city block. On the top of the roof, there is an entire garden: three acres of grass and hundreds of trees dot sloped terraces. An honest-to-goodness river crosses the roof before descending 67 feet along the side of the building in a waterfall. In the main assembly hall, it seats 21,000. You could fit an entire Boeing 747 comfortably in there. (Wikipedia says you could fit two, but that's not sourced, so I dunno...)

So, with that in mind, here are the nine most amazing facts that I could come up with about it, in no particular order.

1. The construction team and schedule were unprecedented. Three local construction companies – Okland, Jacobsen, and Layton – submitted a joint bid, and called their joint team “Legacy Constructors.” Why? Because any one of them simply didn't have the manpower to get the job done, and they wanted to compete for the job with the national firms. When they won the bid, they only had 17 months to go from groundbreaking to substantial completion. “On any given day during the height of construction, as many as 1,000 workers were on site.” Source
2. The teleprompter is wicked cool. The custom-designed teleprompter displays words ONLY to the folks who are directly at the pulpit. I actually had a physics class from Dr. Justin Peatross, one of the guys who designed  this thing, where he described it to us. By cutting a Fresnel lens in half, he was able to use the principles of optics and light waves to  create a projector that focused the teleprompter's words exactly on the podium. Not to the left, or to the right, but right there. Someone who's even a few feet to one side of the podium won't see what the telepromptor is saying.
3. There are 116,000 total cubic yards of concrete found in the Conference Center. That's almost twice the amount used in constructing the Empire State Building, or enough to fill an entire football field to a depth of almost two stories.
4. There are over 27,000 tons of steel in the building also. That's just massive. There are no interior columns, so all the seats have an unobstructed view of the pulpit. This is done through use of massive truss beams that extend from the back of the assembly hall to it's main, “King” truss at the front. From there, the weight is taken down two massive concrete columns into the ground.
   The demand on these trusses is made even greater because there is tremendous weight on the roof from the landscaping, gardens, and river on top of the building. In some places, the roof loads surpass 500 pounds per square foot – more than five times the weight on most other roofs.
5. The King Truss is beyond big. In order to build a truss that was big enough to support the enormous loads (millions of pounds) that are weighing down on it, they couldn't find a normal piece of steel thick enough. Instead, they welded two of the largest steel shapes they could find, back-to-back, just to get it strong enough. It is 152 feet long and weighs 621 tons.

   

   Yes, this is the King Truss. And yes, those are people standing on top.

   And just think: this thing is directly above the podium where all the Mormon leaders speak twice a year. Better hope the engineers ran the calculations on that thing right!
6. The Conference Center is designed to last at least 150 years. That was a tall order, especially since Salt Lake City is right in the middle of a seismic zone. They had to go above and beyond the requirements of normal seismic building code (which is based on withstanding the largest earthquake in 75 years or so) to make sure that it could withstand the largest earthquake that would occur in 150 years.
7. Most of the actual building, including the podium, is underground. The architects couldn't go above 75 feet above ground because of local zoning restrictions. This created huge engineering challenges, because the walls had to withstand the tremendous weight of all the dirt pushing against them, trying to cave them in. Some of the walls in the deepest part of the building (the parking garage) are made of concrete up to 14 inches thick!
8. The pipe organ is a masterpiece. It is composed of 7,667 individual pipes, and was designed and built by Schoenstein & Co., the oldest and largest organ builder in the Western United States. It's so big and complex, it wasn't ready for use until three years after the Conference Center was completed. This thing is massive, and sounds absolutely beautiful in real life.
   

   

   The Conference Center organ is a true work of art.

9. The acoustics are mind-bogglingly complex, and yet beautiful. Imagine trying to build an auditorium this large and complex, with its  many and varied uses, flat walls, microphones and speakers out your eyeballs, and get anything besides endless feedback and echoes. A pretty tall order, but one that has been pulled off admirably. During Conference, you can always hear a little bit of echo, but overall the building can adapt very well to varied and seemingly contradictory acoustical demands. “Careful calculation was necessary to place loudspeakers precisely to compensate for a sound lag ... caused by the relatively slow speed of sound vibrations in air.” Source.

There you go. I love this building more every time I think about it, and I hope you've enjoyed reading this blog as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I'm always impressed and thankful for everyone reading these things. It's a joy to be able to spend a little bit of time every week sharing little-known or less-discussed aspects of my church and my faith with others, and I'm glad you guys are willing to come and read. I think I'm going to make this a regular thing, posting here every week or so.

So, I want your opinion on where to take it. Next week, would you rather read about “7 Interesting Mormon Beliefs You May Not Have Heard Of,” or “5 Things You Should Do The First Time You Attend a Mormon Worship Service”? Or, maybe you'd rather heard about something else entirely. Write a comment, and whichever idea has the most support will get it's own blog next week.

5 Reasons Why Mormonism Is Actually Kinda Cool!

5 Reasons Why Mormonism Is Actually Kinda Cool!

Alex Boye is a Mormon, and has sung with
N' SYNC and the Backstreet Boys

I think that Mormonism has a reputation for being a church of conformists run by stodgy old white guys. Granted, there are limits to what we legitimately should or should not do that not a lot of other non-Christians live by. And even amongst fellow Christians, we've gotten some raised eyebrows (no coffee?!?!?! I'll never live!!!). But it's actually kind of a cool place, as long as you're OK with wholesome fun.

So in no particular order, here are 5 reasons that Mormonism is a fun, cool experience:

1. Man, are we ever full of musicians, actors, athletes, you name it. Check out famousmormons.net if you don't believe me. There are the well-known ones, of course: Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite), Lindsey Stirling (rock-violin chick), David Archuleta (came in 2^nd on American Idol), and Brandon Flowers (lead singer for The Killers), the entire band “Imagine Dragons,” etc. etc. etc. But there are also less-known Mormon celebrities that you may have never heard of. For instance, did you know that one of silent film's greatest celebrities, John Gilbert, was Mormon? He was ranked 28 in the top 100 most influential people in the history of film. Or, that Alex Boye sang alongside N'SYNC and the Backstreet Boys? True stories. How about this – that the inventor of television, Philo Farnsworth, was a Mormon who lived in little Rigby, Idaho? Or that the inventor of the Ruby programming language - Yukihiro Matsumoto – is an active member of the Church also?
   Also, there are plenty of once-Mormon or lapsed Mormon celebrities. I think my favorites are Aaron Eckhart (Two-Face on “The Dark Knight”), Paul Walker (R.I.P. - From “The Fast and the Furious” series), and Amy Adams (The Princess on “Enchanted.”)
2. We've got some pretty fun traditions. They range from the well-known to the hilariously obscure. I mean, anyone can go visit the lights on Temple Square around Christmastime, but who hasn't wanted to go on a “Brigham Date”? Popular at the Church-sponsored Brigham Young University, a Brigham Date is where one or two guys will take four or five girls out at once. And yes, I get it, it is tongue-in-cheek. We can laugh about that stuff, too, you know.
   If you're trying for something more down low, though, try the annual ward Christmas Party, where a local geographic congregation gets together to hang out, make lasting friendships, and eat good food. Don't expect to see booze or skanky girls at this “party,” but it really is fun, in a good, clean, wholesome way.

3. 

   Joseph Smith was a pretty cool guy, though
   Mormon history has covered that up a lot.

   Our first prophet, Joseph Smith, was quite a rabble-rouser. Nowadays in Sunday school, we get the impression that he was a priestly, almost stogy character, but nothing could be further from the truth. He was innovative, impressive, charismatic, and kept absolutely everybody on their toes. (A small example: mission calls used to be read from the General Conference pulpit... with no advance notice to those who would be called!) Although you'd be hard-pressed to find such an adventuresome spirit in the Church nowadays, Joseph the Prophet was actually pretty rad.
4. Mormons take create a family atmosphere that nurtures fun recreational activities. Every Monday night, Mormon faithful gather in families to play games, sing songs, shoot the breeze, and generally enjoy each other's company. What exactly happens at these “family home evenings” depends entirely on the family, their own preferences and interests, and how they're feeling on any particular night. Couples also work to regularly go on dates and keep the flame alive, whether married or just dating. I personally have known middle-aged and older couples who still make it a point to date each other every week. I'm actually very impressed.
5. Mormons get technology. Whether it's the work of BYU animators who are being recognized for their creation of good, clean fun films (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/when-hollywood-wants-good-clean-fun-it-goes-to-mormon-country.html?pagewanted=all), to the proponderance of Mormons who gravitate towards Pinterest, to Mormons who come up with good-natured memes all over the place (Examples: search Youtube for “Tom Cruise on Home Teaching,” or “Book of Mormon Style” will know what I'm talking about. Or a quick Google Images search for “Uchtdorf memes,” “Jeffrey R. Holland memes,” or “Hey Girl Mormon Memes.”), you'll find us hanging out, chatting, and just enjoying ourselves online.

A screenshot from "Estefan," a Student-Emmy
winning animation put together by BYU students.

Well, there you have it. Five reasons why Mormonism is kinda fun, kinda cool. I echo the words of early Mormon leader Heber C. Kimball, who asserted, “I am perfectly satisfied that my Father and my god is a cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured Being. Why? Because I am cheerful, pleasant, lively and good-natured when I have His Spirit.” I know I've felt that Spirit when I've been in Church and with others of my faith.

Temple Work!

My mom has really gotten into family history work. She's found a ton of names of people who's temple work still needs to be done. She's even gotten our whole family to participate. Just last night, for me, everything clicked.

Mom had given me a bunch of names of people whose temple work needed to be done. She's gotten the baptisms and confirmations done already. She's left it to Trevor and I to do everything else. It's been an amazing journey. Last night, I caught the spark of excitement that is involved in family history work. Mom has been giving us whole families. Mother, father, brothers and sisters.

Last night, on my dinner table, I sorted out all the different families. You can see the different families below. :) We have the Starling family, the Wood family, the Goodchild family, the Fillmore family, the Lambert sisters, and the Wilson family.

The Starling family is the biggest, with 10 KIDS! Holy cow! All of the sister's work has been done, Trevor has three out of the four brothers left to do. After that's done, we are going to go and get them all sealed to their parents! What a wonderful day that will be for the Starling family. I can imagine the happiness of Josiah and Mary as they receive each one of their 10 children, sealed to them for time and all eternity. They will be a sealed family forever! I don't know these brothers and sisters, but I love them dearly as I've done the work for the sisters. At times, I've been able to feel their sweet spirits, and I know they are there.

The children are in order by age. Look at that! 4 boys first, and then 6 girls! What a family!

We also have the Wilson family. These are again in order by age. 1 boy, then 2 girls, 1 boy, 2 girls, 1 boy. What a nice pattern! :) We also are going to seal one of the brothers to his wife! Again, what a wonderful day that will be fore this family. :)
The Lambert sisters are below. This is all that I have for them, and maybe there were only 2 sisters, but soon they will be sealed to their parents and be an eternal family! How wonderful. :) 

At the top, we have Asa Rufus Wilson, which is the oldest child of the Wilson family (See above picture) He had a daughter. We are going to seal Asa to his wife, then his daughter to him and his wife, and then his daughter, Elizabeth, to her husband! Isn't this amazing?! 

Now, we have the Fillmore family. It goes in order of boy, girl, boy, girl. If you look at the bottom two names. Mister Fillmore and Lily May Fillmore were TWINS! I'm wondering if the boy whose name we don't have, died in childbirth. That could explain why we don't have the name. If this is the case, then it goes to show, that even if a child dies prematurely, they are not lost!
We also have the Goodchild family. Jane will be sealed to her parents, as soon as her parents are sealed together. 

These are the remaining names that we have, which I could not put together in a family. Maud Fillmore, I am wondering is she is related to the other Fillmore family, but couldn't match her up, because her parents are different, and neither were in the previous family. The male names above are men whose work we are doing, but cannot do sealing, because we don't know their parents. (Or at least I don't know.) 

As you can see, this sparked a huge interest in me. We are putting families together on the other side! These are all people in my family line. In some way, (which I don't know, but Mom would) I'm related to them. It doesn't matter how we are related, all that matters is their work is being done, so they can be families forever, and through temple bindings and covenants, we are all sealed as a family. I've enjoyed going to the temple. I'm so grateful for my own temple sealing to Trevor. As I've felt the sweet spirit in the temple, it's strengthened my testimony of temple work, and love for my ancestors. Because of the temple, FAMILIES CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER! What an amazing blessing our Father in Heaven has given us. We are especially blessed to have one so close to us, within walking distance. I encourage all of you to go to the temple and feel of the spirit and help those on the other side, waiting eagerly for their work to be done for them. They are saving ordinances. It's an amazing experience to feel, so close to heaven, and so close to those family members who went before you. I love the temple. I love to see the temple. I love to go to the temple. :) I hope you do to.

-SamiMae

20 Reasons to Embrace Christianity!

The other day, on the front page of a Google search, I happened upon a piece online called “20 Reasons to Abandon Christianity.” While I wasn't really impressed with what it had to say, I figured that it would be good to write a rejoinder. And even though I don't expect this blog page to show up on the front page of a Google search anytime soon (although one can dream!), may I present, for your reading pleasure, my own personal

20 Reasons to Embrace Christianity!

*Please note: Point 20 will include frank and open discussion of sexual topics – definitely PG-13 material. If you're not OK with that, skip over that one. You've been warned. *

1. Christianity teaches us to be good to each other and to love one another. - It's probably well-known by now, but Christ was the world's greatest moral teacher ever to live, bar none. His teachings on truly loving those who truly hate you, and turning the other cheek to those who smite it, are the loftiest ideals ever recorded, and remind us all that we have farther to go than we ever could in this life. As my New Testament professor would often say, when reading the Sermon on the Mount, “you should feel uncomfortable” with yourself.

2. Religion – and Christianity specifically - provides the basis of our government's foundation. As little as the irreligious like to admit it, this nation was founded with the implicit understanding that it would be religious. Granting religious tolerance for the irreligious, always, but distinctly religious. The best example that I've ever found is tucked away in the little-known fourth verse of our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which reads as follows:
   “Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
   Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
   Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
   Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
   Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
   And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
   And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
   O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

Also, who can forget John Adams's bold assertation that “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other”?

Or Abraham Lincoln, who said “I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from The Savior of the world is communicated to us through this Book.” I could go on, but I think the point is clear.

2. 
   
   
   
3. It is the protector of heritage and culture. Call it backward if you'd like, but there are reasons that Christianity doesn't accept every new thing that comes along. One of them is because Christianity links us to our past and where we've come from, to a web of beliefs, stories, and values that stretches back two thousand years or more, and which provides an enduring foundation for shared morals, and from there, a harmonious society. Holding onto things just because they are old isn't a good idea, but neither is throwing something out because it's old, either. Christianity helps prevent the latter and strives to avoid the former.
4. Christianity teaches the basis of sound personal finance. If anyone has a doubt of this, listen to Dave Ramsey, the nation's leading expert in helping people get a hold of their finances, and try seeing how long until he quotes something out of the Bible about avoiding debt, transforming your life, or saving money. It won't be long, usually.
5. Christianity fosters independence, calculated risk-taking, and a host of other virtues that lead to a robust and bustling society.
6. It removes despair by helping us to look forward to a brighter tomorrow. God's promises in the Bible and throughout time have always given the believers hope, and whether or not you accept them, their positive effect on the psyche of the believer cannot help but be accepted.
7. It has always fostered beautiful music, art, and literature. Would you rather listen to “Messiah” by Handel, or “Comatose” by Skillet? I think my point is made.
8. Christianity isn't for the perfect. It is for every one of us that wants to live a better life, if we can work to cast off our own hypocrisy and not become offended when we see hypocrisy in others. In other words, it was designed for you. And for me.
9. The moral teachings in the Bible point us toward a higher life, and on the whole, Christians are more moral people for it. I echo the words of C.S. Lewis who said basically (although I regrettably cannot find the direct quote) that, if you see a wicked Christian, I only invite you to imagine how he would be if not a Christian.
10. It gives us tremendous examples of character to look up to. Not only Jesus' perfection in all aspects, but also Paul's zeal in spreading the truth, Job's patience in tribulation, Joseph's courage in resisting temptation, Peter's willingness to grow to a better person, and even Mother Teresa's tireless work in helping the poor and needy! (And I'm sure I've left out many, many examples from this list of the pious and virtuous.)
11. In a world of fast food, fast gratification, fast answers, (and its accompanying epidemics of obesity, drugs and superficiality), Christianity teaches us about how to develop content and hopeful waiting for a better tomorrow. Or in other words, patience.
12. It provides a ready-made social circle. - In a world of increasing isolation and mistrust, Christianity brings a pre-made set of friends that are united in a common bond of trust, hope, and peace.
13. Christianity teaches true humility: even Christ himself washed his follower's feet, which in his day was a dirty, disgusting, slimy task, one that implied servitude. (Regarding the number 13: Christ hung out all the time with his 12 apostles, presumably for a total of 13 people. So is 13 really all that unlucky a number?)
14. Christianity teaches family values that social science is only now beginning to understand are good for society. Two-parent homes raising biological children in wedlock – a Christian ideal, or a scientifically proven basis for happier children and a more cohesive society? Now that science is catching up, the answer can finally be both.
15. Christianity isn't afraid to take on influences that are prevalent in society that lead to unhappiness, regardless of how popular those influences or practices may be. (In Christian terms, these are known as “sins.” God typically isn't a fan of any of them.) The one that comes most strongly to mind in modern times is pornography. Although Christian leaders have rallied against it for decades, it only seems to have grown in popularity. And this at a time when the research is showing that it warps the brain, destroys our ability to have healthy relationships, and is addictive as any drug.
16. Christianity teaches us about God, and in so doing, teaches us about ourselves. Christianity teaches that man was made in God's own image and likeness, and so Christians learn about how our nature is toward goodness, happiness, and all other God-like attributes.
17. In Christianity, “scaring the hell out of someone” isn't just an expression of superlative surprise. Whether or not you believe in the actual existence of a being of surpassing badness and a realm of eternal misery set aside for those who follow him, you should agree that a belief in Satan and Hell has a tendency to scare people into doing good and being good throughout their lives, mainly because the alternative looks significantly less attractive.
18. Christianity helps us to put our mistakes in the past. We learn a lot about God's grace, and that we can be forgiven, even of what would otherwise appear unforgivable. That leads to inner peace and self-acceptance.
19. Personally, Christianity has given me answers when other places had no answers. In so doing, it helped me to hold on to my psyche and my childlike goodness in multiple times where I might have otherwise become embittered, psychologically fractured, and just plain stupid. So, although I'm wary to project my experience directly onto the circumstances of others (we're all very different, after all), I am thoroughly convinced that Christianity has the ability to help others in a similar way in their own lives. It has answers to questions that otherwise have no answers. Let's never forget that in a world where science and technology answer more and more questions, but can never quite answer them all.

20. Christianity leads to true sexual freedom. This one is a direct response to one of the “20 reasons to abandon Christianity,” which asserted that Christianity leads to sexual repression. The implication was that monogamous Christians don't have the freedom to experiment sexually with multiple partners (or other sexual practices considered taboo.) This one takes the cake for their point which I agree least with, because Christianity leads to greater freedom with one's partner. First, the emotional freedom is so much greater: how many non-Christian non-monogamists are there that have to worry about emotional fallout from failed relationships, or don't receive the greatest possible blessings emotionally from the sexual act? So many that see sex as the fulfillment of a primal urge, and not what it really is: the expression of enduring, abiding, deep and lasting love? I can't even imagine sex without being able to say “I love you,” and really mean it, and know that I'll always mean it. Second, it leads to freedom physically, because monogamy with a monogamous partner is a surefire way to prevent STDs, and “protection” becomes unnecessary. I have it on good authority that “protected” sex is generally less fulfilling, and although I've never tried it, it would truly be a limit to sexual freedom. Thus, Christianity leads to true sexual freedom.
    I agree with the words of Roger Staubach, a legendary quarterback who said “I enjoy sex as much as [the next guy]. Only I do it with one girl.”

So there you have it, 20 reasons to embrace Christianity. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether or not to do so, but that's one of the beautiful things about it: God can invite and persuade, but never force us to embrace anything.

P.S. - With every passing year, it looks like Christianity inches closer and closer to becoming a minority, in a country that recently was (arguably) the most Christian nation on Earth. But 2,000 years ago, we were an even smaller minority, and a deeply hated one at that. If we were to become a small, hated sect once again, I don't think it wouldn't affect my belief in it at all. In fact, I think that would allow more easily for the fulfillment of some of the bigger prophecies found in the scriptures. The fact that Christianity would be in the minority wouldn't mean that it's any more or less true, and it wouldn't affect any of the points I've raised here. You've got to watch out for the old bandwagon fallacy.