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Mormon missionary shot and killed in Chesapeake, Virginia
The Virginian Pilot ^ | 1/2/2005 | Jim Washington

Posted on 01/02/2006 7:39:23 PM PST by gregwest

CHESAPEAKE - A 21-year-old Mormon missionary died Monday night after he and his partner were shot while going door-to-door in the Deep Creek area.

The other missionary, age 19, was in serious condition at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital Monday night, Chesapeake police said.

Police did not release the victims’ identities.

According to police the two missionaries were walking in the 2600 block of Elkhart Street off George Washington Highway about 6 p.m. when they were approached by another man. The man shot them both and fled on foot.

One of the victims ran to The Charity House, a nearby nursing home, to seek help.

Police described the suspect as a black male, about 5’10’’ wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans. He was last seen heading toward Janice Lynn Court, which backs up to Elkhart.

The two missionaries had bicycles, but were not riding them at the time.

A group from the Mormon church, known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, waited in the consultation room at the Norfolk General emergency room Monday night. They declined to comment.

According to the church’s official web site there are more than 60,000 Mormon missionaries, mostly young men and women who volunteer to spread the church’s message for one and a half to two years all over the world, at their own expense.

There are apartment buildings at the end of Elkhart Street, and some residents could not leave or return to their homes for a time Monday night.

Police, working in a moderate rain, had the street blocked off a short way off George Washington Highway.

“This is close to home,’’ said resident Bobby Gatling. He has lived on the block for two years. “Nothing like this has ever happened here before.’’

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.

Reach Jim Washington at (757) 446-2536 or jim.washington@pilot online.com.


TOPICS: Other Christian
KEYWORDS: banglist; black; crime; donutwatch; ldschurch; missionary; mormon; mormonmissionaries; shooting; urbanbarbarian; virginia
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To: Californiajones

I didn't claim to know the boy. I have sympathy for his family and friends and appreciation for those posters here who used it as a forum to send prayers to heaven for the boys and their families. I do believe that was the original point of the post and many latched onto it immediately. I don't believe that it is appropriate to bash a religion during an announcement of a tragedy involving that religion's preachers. I don't believe I have seen that same reaction on some of the other posts involving religious people, like the family gunned down in their airplane in South America, or the preacher who was electrocuted accidentally, or Christians murdered in foreign countries.

As I said earlier, I believe there is a time and place for everything and this isn't the place for Mormon bashing, especially in the disrespectful tones you and a few others are using. Understand that symbols of a religion (including what you call "funny underwear" or "magic eyeglasses") are sacred to that religion and ought to be treated with some modicum of diplomacy whether you accept their sacred nature or not.


281 posted on 01/03/2006 6:45:50 PM PST by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things.)
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To: Palladin; Californiajones
Thank You Palladin! You live up to your name!

LeftCoastJones I hope when you get over your illness you
become a human again.

282 posted on 01/03/2006 6:48:56 PM PST by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken.)
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To: caseinpoint
I guess my heartfelt prayer to the Lord for this young man's family and his wounded compadre was pulled so you didn't get to read it.

If Joseph Smith and God decide for us all to wear holy undergarments, I'm not trying to make a joke, they already have.

Please don't stifle honest debate in the name of sentiment or inappropriateness. We are not at a funeral and we don't know the family. Again, I think it is totally appropriate to discuss the belief system of this child who was out there trying to proselytize people into his belief in Mormonism. If he was just a Mormon father, for instance, or this was about Elizabeth Smart, their beliefs would not be pertinent to their news story. But here, sorry, the boy's beliefs are totally pertinent -- dude -- that's WHY he was in Virginia in the first place.
283 posted on 01/03/2006 6:55:48 PM PST by Californiajones ("The apprehension of beauty is the cure for apathy" - Thomas Aquinas)
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To: higgmeister
Uh, watch the personal attacks like your pal Palladin.

This California Girl is not a leftie. Don't 'preciate the slur.

You can criticize me on Biblical grounds, however, if you can.
284 posted on 01/03/2006 6:58:24 PM PST by Californiajones ("The apprehension of beauty is the cure for apathy" - Thomas Aquinas)
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To: frgoff

wow this thread has become exciting. Too bad the mormons are winning this debate. I now see why they have so many conversions each year.

the mormons, I suppose they are mormons, come back with some pretty good answers, which some I don't understand but such is life. the response they get is is just a switching of arguments, which usually returns to previous arguments for that the mormons already had good answers for. I'm sorry but it seems like you guys are just swimming while the mormons are standing on solid ground in thier responses. looks like you need to be trained better in your mormon bashing.

by the way, frgoff, I'm Baptist,and have never been officially baptized. several Baptist denominations don't really baptize anymore.

God bless all and especailly the families of those involved in this tragedy,

JaRon R.


285 posted on 01/03/2006 7:01:00 PM PST by JaRon R
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To: Californiajones

This is my point, you think your right at whatever the cost.Those who crucified Jesus thought They were right also. You do not have to believe what I believe to be my friend, you just need to work with me toward a comen goal. When ever the right fights among itself, the left cleans house. This young man died doing what he beleived God wanted him to do while not harming anyone. He worked to better himself and help others, wont you do the same?


286 posted on 01/03/2006 7:07:53 PM PST by teancumspirit (The name is pronounced Te'anc'um Spirit A Nephite, A Warrior, a man who gave his all)
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To: JCEccles
"Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!"

Yeah, it's my daily opener with the Lord.

And I get in trouble when I fail to use my gifts in Him. How 'bout you?

I never said this dead boy was going to hell. That's between him and the Lord. I never said I have the omnipresence to look upon his heart.

All I have been saying is that we have to judge Mormonism against the word of God and I get pilloried for it because I'm doing it on a thread that has to do with a kid who died while he was out proselytizing Mormonism.
287 posted on 01/03/2006 7:07:55 PM PST by Californiajones ("The apprehension of beauty is the cure for apathy" - Thomas Aquinas)
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To: Californiajones

" If Joseph Smith and God decide for us all to wear holy undergarments, I'm not trying to make a joke, they already have."

You weren't trying to make a joke by mocking something others hold sacred here, either, right?

You know, your example of Paul saying "received" is right on. He saiand wrote things after this, why was this able to be received? Because it wasn't changing the gospel that had already been set out, it wasn't changing the Lord's gospel. Then why did he have to say more? Presumably to further teach the Gospel, or to clarify uncertainties. This is exactly what Joseph Smith and other latter-day prophets have done. They aren't changing Christ's gospel, they aren't adding anything.

Please show me what Mormon theology contradicts anything in the Bible. Not merely something that isn't specifically in there - that's what Paul did, too. Show me something contradictory.

Furthermore, people have been kind enough to sddress all of your doctrinal questions (and jokes in poor taste) concerning mormonism, so why not answer a couple of ours? Here are a few:

1. If faith is all that is needed, then please explain James 2, which clearly states that faith without works availeth a man nothing.

2. If baptism is not necessary, how do you explain John 3:5 (Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.)?

3. You say baptism for the dead is some outlandish concept - then why is it that Paul acknowledged and endorsed baptism for the dead in 1 Corinthians 15:29?

That's just a start. I would appreciate it if CalJones could answer this without resorting to name-calling, damning of others, and jokes in bad taste, but I would also appreciate sincere responses from anyone less offensively outspoken who can explain to me these issues. Part of this is indeed an admittedly un-Christlike retort to Cal's vitriol, but part of it is also a sincere question I would like to have answered.


288 posted on 01/03/2006 7:12:13 PM PST by ScratchHatch
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To: JaRon R

Thank you JaRon.


289 posted on 01/03/2006 7:13:09 PM PST by ScratchHatch
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To: JCEccles

If you go know that my prayers go with you, a young elder has crossed the vail and my wife and I have spent time thinking and praying for his family. We have no children of our own but have sent out several on missions, both near and far, and have one in the Northern Territory's at this time. May God grant this family peace.


290 posted on 01/03/2006 7:18:54 PM PST by teancumspirit (The name is pronounced Te'anc'um Spirit A Nephite, A Warrior, a man who gave his all)
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To: teancumspirit
Sir, this is a discussion of Christianity, not politics.

Reminds me how some commentator recently, I think it was Rush, dug up a quote from Abraham Lincoln about a particularly vicious Copperhead (seditionist) who held some office at the time. Lincoln said that the Copperhead's seditious words were more responsible for stirring up insurrection than the boys who actually carried out a recent crime against the Government and the Civil War.

Lincoln threw the office holder in jail!

In the same sense, I believe our beliefs determine who we are -- and determine what we do. Our beliefs our powerful. The truth is neither you nor I know if the dead young man "caused any harm" or not, right?

But it is pertinent to discuss, in a generalized way, the religious cause for which this boy was working for when he was slain.
291 posted on 01/03/2006 7:20:43 PM PST by Californiajones ("The apprehension of beauty is the cure for apathy" - Thomas Aquinas)
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To: ScratchHatch

I will answer. But where, my Mormon friend, did I do any name calling?


292 posted on 01/03/2006 7:23:11 PM PST by Californiajones ("The apprehension of beauty is the cure for apathy" - Thomas Aquinas)
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To: Californiajones

"I will answer. But where, my Mormon friend, did I do any name calling?"

I think some of the worst were deleted, but for starters, I believe you have called Mormons cultists, false teachers, ignorant, and outmoded. There are probably more, but these are a few I'm pretty certain can be attributed to you.


293 posted on 01/03/2006 7:36:39 PM PST by ScratchHatch
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To: Californiajones
We are not "even to share a meal with such". Stating Mormon facts is not bias, it's something that the Lord and Paul and Peter etc., require of me.... But perhaps I need to forgive all the Mormons I have known for their passionate ignorance and desire to deceive as they tried to proselytize me.

FWIW this is really an inappropriate thread to be questioning the motives of Mormon missionaries or the correctness of their doctrine.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: (Ecc 3:1 KJV)

This not the time.

294 posted on 01/03/2006 7:37:39 PM PST by P-Marlowe
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To: Californiajones; teancumspirit
Sir, this is a discussion of Christianity, not politics.

No, this is a discussion about a young man's brutal and senseless murder.

As a former Mormon I find your zeal misplaced and wholly ineffective to its intended purpose.

295 posted on 01/03/2006 7:42:34 PM PST by P-Marlowe
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To: Quester; ScratchHatch
The claim of the champions of the Bible scriptures have been accepted by the church.

Joseph Smith's claim has yet to be accepted.

The Bible of what we have of it was decided under the state of political uprise.

Constantine the Great

Now Constantine was given a vision to put the symbol of the Cross on his Uniforms

Although greatly outnumbered, Constantine had been advised in a dream to put the sign of the cross on his soldiers shields and he would prevail in battle.

Many like to romantisized this by saying Constantine fully embraced Chistianity, but is it not true all we know is what was told to us years laters on Constantine death he asked to be baptized.

Any religion convertion I heard of where one has a vision and one fully embraces the faith they take on the mantel of Christ right away such as in Saul/Paul etc.

They don't wait until their death bed!

Shortly after his victory, Constantine established the new city of Constantinople on the ancient site of Byzantium (now Istanbul) relocating the capitol of the Roman Empire. Located on the Bosphorus, a strategic position between the East and West, it was a strategic move. It also left a large amount of the political baggage in old Rome.

With Christianity now tolerated and embraced by the sole Emperor of the Roman Empire, the fortunes of Christianity surged forward. If Constantine sought a unified religion in which to advance his political agenda, he was to be greatly disappointed. The Christian church was far from unified, itself going through power struggles for leadership.

At best we could say Constantine was a Friend to the Christians!

Constantine died in 337 CE in Nicomedia, a few days after he was baptized into the Christian faith by the Arian bishop Eusebius. His support of Christianity, the building of several churches in Rome (St Peter’s Basilica) and several in Constantinople (Hagia Sophia), and the lifting of the persecutions against Christians earn him the title of founder of Christianity. Whether he embraced the new religion for political or spiritual reasons is now academic; he gave Christianity it’s first important advancement toward becoming what it is today.

****

The Lost Books of the Bible

Forbidden Not Lost
Constantine began what was to become a centuries long effort to eliminate any book in the original Bible that was considered unacceptable to the new doctrine of the church. At that time, it is believed there were up to 600 books, which comprised the work we now know as the Bible. Through a series of decisions made by the early church leadership, all but 80 of those books, known as the King James Translation of 1611, were purged from the work, with a further reduction by the Protestant Reformation bringing the number to 66 in the "Authorized" King James Bible.

What we now have in Bible-based religion, whether labeled as "Catholic", or Protesting Catholic, known as “Protestant", is unrecognizable form either the Hebrew religion, now known as the Jewish religion, or the church established at Jerusalem by the Apostles and disciples of Jesus. The practices of this first church are not practiced by any major religion and they are almost unknown, despite being clearly outlined in the existing New Testament. In its place are doctrines and practices first established in the first "true" Reformation of Christianity begun by Constantine.

There is much controversy over how many books the Bible should actually contain but considering the depth and scope of those few works remaining in the "accepted" Bible, we see but a fragment of incredible wisdom and history. A study of the Lost Books of the Bible is incomplete without a clear understanding that this is not a matter of simple loss, but a campaign by the Roman Catholic Church to purge books variously classified as heretical, dangerous, and corruptive. To the public they are “lost”; to the Church they are “forbidden”. Although the exact number of books purged is known only to the Church, and not shared knowledge, some can be determined by the discovery of their presence in the church prior to the reformation resulting in what became known as the Roman "Universal" Church.

One of the more obvious forms of discovery comes from the surviving books themselves, which sight works not present in the existing collection. Also many do not know that the Apocryphal books were actually included in the King James translation until they were officially purged by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1885. Other writings also connect many books to the first church. Whatever the number before the purge by the formation of Catholicism by Constantine; even one lost book is a great loss indeed.

We claim no expertise concerning the authenticity of any the lost books and leave this judgment to the reader. We do, however, strongly reject the self-proclaimed authority of any dogmatically motivated and church-controlled mortals who think themselves qualified to make such decisions. One of the most logical and realistic concepts in the Bible is the caution that one should prove all things. We believe that proving the veracity of a given thing is an individual responsibility, which must not, and should not be the duty of those who think themselves better judges.(non-LDS site)

The point is to be able to hear one another than to review, ponder and pray over those things that have loose ends, the LDS believe that the Lord has not left us groping in the dark, but that the Holy Spirit does witness to those things that are of the Lord!

296 posted on 01/03/2006 7:47:46 PM PST by restornu (Everyone has a photographic memory some just don't have film!:)
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To: ScratchHatch
Please show me what Mormon theology contradicts anything in the Bible. Not merely something that isn't specifically in there - that's what Paul did, too. Show me something contradictory.

Mormon belief says that men can become Gods, right ?

The Bible says that there is only one God, ... has only ever been one God, ... and will ever only be one God ...
Isaiah 44:6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Isaiah 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

--------------------------------------------------------------

Isaiah 45:21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.

297 posted on 01/03/2006 7:50:51 PM PST by Quester (If you can't trust Jesus, ... who can you trust ?)
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To: ScratchHatch
1. True faith produces good works. I don't see what you are asking. When we die, God will judge our good works by fire. Either they will burn up because they weren't done in the proper spirit, or they will endure and we will get a reward. In other words, you cannot do good works if you don't have true faith. So your question about all that is needed is faith is simply a rhetorical one. But you knew that.

2. If the Mormons aren't adding anything, then why did they have to write the PoGP, D and Covenants and the Bof Mormon as sacred texts on par with the Bible? That's adding something, friend. If J. Smith didn't add anything to the gospel delivered in the New testament, they how come you all don't just throw out the Book of Mormon and just read the Word?

You can't throw it out because Smith added something, therefore changed the gospel delivered by Paul and the New Testament. Your question about why Paul had to "say more" after he wrote the letter to the Galatians is not a matter of quantity of writing, as you imply, but a matter of quality. Paul said that we must adhere to the gospel he had already preached. It does no harm to keep preaching the same gospel, in fact, that is what all Christians are charged to do. It does do harm, though, to preach ANOTHER GOSPEL that adds things to what has been received.

Mormonism is another gospel added to the Bible. What part of that don't you understand?


3. The idea of being born of water and spirit -- seems to me that the necessity of Baptism is not the physical act itself but of the public acknowledgment of our commitment to Christ and our repentance before Him. Being baptized is a public act. Jesus warns us that if we forsake Him before men, He will forsake us in Heaven. I think it might have been a stern warning to Nicodemus that he need to be born from above -- born again with the Holy Spirit -- but that the work was incomplete until he made a public validation of his conversion in water like how John the Baptist was baptizing. From all I know, Nicodemus's belief in Jesus was private. Like his admonition to the rich man, Jesus was telling Nicodemus it was not cool that his faith was secret and unrepentant!

It is also not cool for us to ever forsake knowing the Lord or being a Christian.

Your last question about baptism for the dead. Geez, it is so laborious and easy. I got this from a Forerunner Commentary Does Paul Condone Baptism for the Dead (I Corinthians 15:29)?

The practice of being baptized for those who have died is based upon a wrong understanding of I Corinthians 15:29. The New Testament Church did not follow this practice, and the apostle Paul did not teach it. This custom was introduced into the professing Christian world about AD 150 by Marcion, a man who created his own religion and established his own church in Rome in AD 144.

The Bible clearly shows that, before a person may be baptized, he must first repent (Acts 2:38) and believe (Mark 16:16; Acts 16:31, 33). The dead are not able to repent or believe, because "the dead know nothing" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). Baptism is for the living; it is a symbol whereby the living acknowledge their sins, figuratively die with Christ in a watery grave, and rise out of that watery grave to live a new, righteous life through Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Romans 6:4; 8:9; Galatians 2:20).

Baptism is also a symbol of the resurrection. To rise up out of the watery grave is to acknowledge belief in the resurrection of the dead (Romans 6:1-5). To surrender one's life to Christ now, to crucify the self now, to be baptized—all this is foolish unless there is a resurrection of the dead. If there were no hope of the resurrection, life could be summed up this way: "Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die" (I Corinthians 15:32).

I Corinthians 15:29 now becomes clear. The whole of I Corinthians 15 concerns the resurrection from the dead. Paul cites the example of those who were baptized as a proof of the resurrection. Their actions symbolized their hope that they would live again. The resurrection is the hope of the dead.

Paul's question seems to be, "Why are they baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all?" (New King James Version). However, this verse is not correctly translated from the Greek. Paul is not talking about being baptized "in the place of," "on behalf of," or "for" the dead. The Greek word translated "for" is huper, and it has several meanings: "above," "over," "instead of," "for the realization of," or "for the hope of," depending upon the context.

For example, Paul declares, "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). As in I Corinthians 15:29, the Greek word translated "for" is huper. In Philippians 2:13, huper cannot mean "instead of." It would be senseless to say, "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do instead of His good pleasure"! Correctly translated, it means, "God works in you both to will and to do for the realization of His good pleasure" (The Analytical Greek Lexicon). What is God's "good pleasure"? "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom," says Jesus (Luke 12:32). God works in us "in the hope of" giving us His Kingdom!

Thus, according to the context, hyper in I Corinthians 15:29 should be translated "for the hope of." Notice the verse again: "Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the hope of the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they then baptized for the hope of the dead?"

What is the hope of the dead? The resurrection! Baptism illustrates the hope of the resurrection. One who is baptized rises out of a watery grave, symbolic of the resurrection. Paul is thus saying, "What good is it to be baptized if we do not rise in a resurrection from the dead? Why then should one be baptized for a hope that would never come true?" However, Paul affirms that, because Christ died and rose again, we have this true hope, the resurrection, to look forward to (I Corinthians 15:17-22).

This verse, then, has nothing to do with the false doctrine of baptism on behalf of the unbaptized dead.
298 posted on 01/03/2006 8:06:21 PM PST by Californiajones ("The apprehension of beauty is the cure for apathy" - Thomas Aquinas)
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To: ScratchHatch
"I think some of the worst were deleted, but for starters, I believe you have called Mormons cultists, false teachers, ignorant, and outmoded. There are probably more, but these are a few I'm pretty certain can be attributed to you."

Wrong. I did no name calling here. That was some other Palladin dude and some Maui momma.

To say someone is in a cult, or a false teacher or stuck in the 19th Century and then prove it is not name calling, unlike some of the other posters here.
299 posted on 01/03/2006 8:10:08 PM PST by Californiajones ("The apprehension of beauty is the cure for apathy" - Thomas Aquinas)
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To: P-Marlowe
"No, this is a discussion about a young man's brutal and senseless murder."

No this is a discussion about the beliefs of the young man who was brutally and senselessly murdered.

The same beliefs that brought him to the Virginia suburbs to proselytize.
300 posted on 01/03/2006 8:14:54 PM PST by Californiajones ("The apprehension of beauty is the cure for apathy" - Thomas Aquinas)
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