Houshou
The Church, however, may be a true church. That is a good statement to me. So long as the Church teaches what Jesus taught, and to teach to put all your faith in him, and that through him we may be forgiven of our sins and return to live with him again.
I can certainly respect that. I don't know if you're up to it but, would you like to talk about it? The church does not believe we hold the monopoly on the truth, there surely have been millions of pagans whose lives have been as acceptable to the true God as the lives of the same number of so-called Christians. You may not be too far away from how our leaders feel, I have many-many quotes you might enjoy reading which I'll post a few:
David O. McKay again: "Members of the Church are admonished to acquire learning by study, and also by faith and prayer, and to seek after everything that is virtuous, lovely, of good report, or praiseworthy. In this seeking after truth they are not confined to narrow limits of dogma or creed, but are free to launch into the realm of the infinite, for they know that 'truth is truth where ere 'tis found, whether on Christian or on heathen ground'" (McKay, Gospel Ideals, SLC, 1942: 440; the latter couplet is quoted frequently by Elder Orson F. Whitney: e.g., his pamphlet, Strength of the Mormon Position (1917): 33, and earlier as a Bishop and newspaper editor in Ogden.
John Taylor: "A man in search of truth has no peculiar system to sustain, no peculiar dogma to defend or theory to uphold. He embraces all truth, and that truth, like the sun in the firmament, shines forth and spreads its effulgent rays over all creation. If men will divest themselves of bias and prejudice, and prayerfully and conscientiously search after truth, they will find it wherever they turn their attention" (Journal of Discourses 16 (1874): 369).
President Hugh B. Brown told a group of Protestant seminarians: "In this divided and imperiled world of chaos and confusion it is incumbent upon the various and differing churches to seek a better understanding of one another. Frank and friendly discussion should increase our sympathetic appreciation of the religious beliefs and practices of our neighbors and cause us to review and clarify our own. We might perchance find kernels of truth in what we considered to be nothing but chaff. The world needs understanding and friendship" (Brown, Mormonism: 1).
B.H. Roberts, in his Response to the Ministers Reply, wrote: "/The LDS/ hold that in any age...when an intelligence, a man, shall learn...that it profiteth everything to yield obedience to that law /of God/, and repentance takes hold of him, and he stretches out his hands toward God--through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the hand of God will find the man's hand and bring him unto salvation."
D & C 84.46-8: "And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit. And every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father. And the Father teacheth him of the covenant which he has renewed and confirmed upon you, which is confirmed upon you for your sakes, and not for your sakes only, but for the sake of the whole world"
Alma 29.8: "The Lord doth grant unto all nations... all that He seeth fit that they should have."
Brigham Young: "In reality, the inhabitants of the earth do not vary so much in their sentiments as they do in the explaining of them to each other.... When feelings and ideas are explained, people vary more in language than in sentiment" (Journal of Discourses 1.74)
B. H. Roberts: "While the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is established for the instruction of man and is one of God's instrumentalities for making known the truth, yet God is not limited to that institution for such purposes, neither in time nor place. He raises up wise men and prophets here and there speaking to them through means that they can comprehend; not always giving a fulness of truth such as may be found in the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ; but always giving that measure of truth that the people are prepared to receive. Mormonism holds, then, that all the great teachers are servants of God among all nations and in all ages. They are inspired men, appointed to instruct God's children according to the conditions in the midst of which he finds them. Hence it is not obnoxious to Mormonism to regard Confucius, the great Chinese philosopher and moralist, as a servant of God, inspired to a certain degree by him to teach those great moral maxims which have governed those millions of God's children for lo! these many centuries. It is willing to regard Gautama, Buddha, as an inspired servant of God, teaching a measure of the truth, at least giving to these people that twilight of truth by which they may somewhat see their way. So with the Arabian prophet, that wild spirit that turned the Arabians from worshipping idols to a conception of the Creator of Heaven and earth that was more excellent than their previous conceptions of Deity. And so the sages of Greece and of Rome. So the reformers of early Protestant times.. Wherever God finds a soul sufficiently enlightened and pure; one with whom his Spirit can communicate, lo! he makes of him a teacher of men. While the path of sensuality and darkness may be that which most men tread, a few to paraphrase the word of a moral philosopher of high standing, have been led along the upward path; a few in all countries and generations have been wisdom seekers, or seekers of God. They have been so because the Divine Word of Wisdom has looked upon them, choosing them for the knowledge and service of himself." B. H. Roberts, Defense of the Saints I: 512-3; also quoted in B. H. Roberts, The Seventy's course in Theology, first year (1907): 125-6 (reprinted, Grandin Books, Orem, Utah 1994)
