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Thanks for the link!

Thanks for all you do Jim!

The students physically and sexually assaulted the victim in a handicap stall
I feel sickened by many of the replies to this article. No matter what the girl thinks she is the boys assaulted her. That is just wrong.

I was raised Catholic. As an adult I joined the mormon church and left after 20 years.
Never have I thought to be an atheist.

Gaffer I have been there also with two of my daughters. Suicide is such a sad thing no matter who the person is.
This young girl had her whole life a head of her and cut her life short.
Prayers for her family.

Barbara Walters is not my favorite person but I can not believe some of the comments on this thread.
I have to wonder how many adults are actually posting. Or how many so called Christians are posting.

My prayers are with Barbara and that she has a speedy recovery. I enjoy watching The View's hot topic segment and listening to the different views the ladies have.

I am glad I saw this post. Very good reading and discussion this Sunday.
Thanks.

Thanks for the thread. I will read through last weeks to make sure I don't ask any questions that might have already been asked;)

Thanks for the laugh!

I don't consider myself as a critic of the LDS church. It was with much prayer and soul searching before I decided to leave. I actually had considered going over to the RLDS (I think those are the right initials) but when I began to study some of their doctrine I didn't feel comfortable.
We all find our own place in life and no two people are going to agree on everything. For me I had major problems with the changes in the church and felt for the reason the church needed to be started up on earth (because all the other churches had fallen away from the true teachings and were wrong) that there were too many changes in the history of the LDS church. I had major problems with some of BY's teachings and felt that as a true prophet of God that his teachings should still stand true today.
I had stacks upon stacks of old church magazines I had bought at a thrift store years ago. I spent hours devouring them. I bought up all the LDS books I could find in thrift stores. I love history and so it was natural for me to read all I could on the history of the church I had joined. A fun time at my house was having my family at the table with the missionaries and playing Celestial Pursuit.

I helped convert a few family members and also spent time defending the teachings of the church against other family members.

I have nothing against the members of the church. I do have major problems with much of its doctrine and as posted before I eventually had my name removed from their membership rolls.

It is apparent why they have to hide this (as well as other things) from the general public's examination.

Partly I think it is because there are a lot of mormons running around that have no idea about all the teachings of the church.
Then there are those mormons who will 'lie for the Lord' or maybe that should be 'Lie for Joseph Smith' because some doctrine is just too sacred for the common folk to understand and hence they shouldn't know about it.

I have actually seen posts with mormons arguing back and forth over some of the doctrine.

I keep seeing this used as if it were bad. It is one of the small sound bites many use to pretend this teaching is something that it is not, and to mislead people. You might find it interesting if you study the whole of the teaching for yourself and find it does not mean what your writings seem to imply it means. That is if you want to.

It means exactly what it says and is no small sound bite. Having spent 20 years of my adult life in the LDS church I was taught and studied much of former prophets doctrines. I know what was taught and what is in earlier church material.
I also know much that was openly talked about years ago no longer is openly talked about.
Having Joseph Smith waiting at the gates of heaven to let us in or deny us access is against all teachings in the Bible. It is NOT Christian.
By denying this was taught are you also denying that previous prophets of the LDS church were NOT real prophets but just spouting nonsense?? I ask that in all seriousness.

Oft times people leave a group over petty offenses like hurt feelings and such.

No there are good and bad people in all churches. If that was the case I would have just stopped going or gone to another ward.

I wish you well if still you search.

Thanks. It has been over 10 years since I left the LDS church but never had to search further than my own Bible.
I don't belong to any certain church and honestly have no desire to have a membership with one. I like the freedom of enjoying many different Christian Churches without checking the name written outside their building. I have been baptized twice so feel at least one is valid.

For Christians Jesus is the ONLY way.
For Mormons they must go through Joseph Smith to gain entrance into heaven.
I don't have time to search for all the references to this but it is common knowledge with most LDS members.
In my Bible I find no mention of any Joseph Smith judging me when I die.
On October 9, 1859, Young said, "From the day that the Priesthood was taken from the earth to the winding-up scene of all things, every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are -- I with you and you with me. I cannot go there without his consent" (Journal of Discourses 7:289).


You teach that there is only one true church and all others are wrong. And you teach it is wrong for others to also say there is only one true church. OK for you to do it, but wrong for others.

Christian churches follow the Bible. You can go to ANY Christian church and will basically get the same type of sermons. There may be small differences in some churches in how they teach from the Bible but basically they are all teaching the same message.
Then go into any LDS church and sit and listen to their sermons/talks. Skim through their hymnal and see how many songs are directed to their prophets instead of Jesus. Or how many speakers talks are actually quoting from the Bible or end their talks professing their beliefs in Joseph Smith and the mormon church. Bring a piece of paper and a pencil and keep track of who is mentioned more often or what 'scriptures' are referenced to most.

There is a BIG difference in Christian Churches and LDS Churches.

Would I be overly bold to ask why you left the LDS church?

It was a combination of reasons. I had read something in one of the earlier church magazines that basically said not to let the birth of Jesus overshadow the birth of Joseph Smith who I assume was born in December. Not sure of the exact wording but it really opened up my eyes and I felt like instead of holding a magazine filled with inspiration I had in my hands words of satan.
Covering up the past of the church teachings also had a lot to do with leaving.
I did have a 'testimony' of the Book of Mormon and that caused me much soul searching. I reread the 'scriptures' in the book I had marked that had moved me and realized they were the parts that are also found pretty much word for word in the Holy Bible. I could have had a 'testimony' of any book or magazine that had had the same scriptures written in it but it didn't make the rest of the content true.
For the record to any LDS reading this my decision came from endorsed LDS reading materials and not the so called 'anti mormon' books.

millions more watching on TV, the Internet or via satellite to LDS meeting houses across the globe.
I used to have a member call my house just to see if my line was busy which meant I must have been online. Could have been I took it off the hook because I didn't want to listen to her. She made sure to report to the bishop I was using the internet. It was very evil according to some way back when.
Even explaining that the church had an offical website online didn't make it better. That was for non members.
I don't remember if there was ever an official announcement on not going online but some of the wards that had put their own websites up took them down.

Quite so as any disagreement or exposure of LDS history and doctrine is called an attack by the LDS leadership. How many LDS posters are willing to explain what they are actually taught about Adam, who and what he was and what supports their view?

I don't think newer members are taught about Adam. When I left the church 10 years ago many early teachings (that were openly discussed in classes when I first joined the church) were being hushed up.
It was about the same time we were told to ditch old RS manuals and other materials.
Reading through the Romney threads I saw many LDS posting and I truly believe they have no knowledge of early teachings. Everything is sugar coated now.
Being good and faithful LDS they are NOT going to do actual research because 'heaven forbid' they might end up at an 'anti mormon' site.

I almost had soda coming out of my nose from laughing so hard at your post!

"Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future."
The problem with this is they want to hand pick their past that makes them look good and ignore the rest.
For them to claim the men that were 'prophets' are still considered 'prophets' but dismissing some of their teachings/doctrine is part of the reason I left the church.
Plus most of the 'helping others' came down to missionary work on the part of members. It is all about their image and if they are lucky getting new members.
There is good and bad in all churches but it irks me when I hear about the 'good' the LDS church does for others when I know what is behind it.

Makes you wonder if Bush doesn’t go if she will show up at the last second trying to get brownie points for some pretend peace mission she will say she is on.