Posted on 07/17/2014 12:25:45 PM PDT by lbryce
Temple Recommend Questions
1 Do you have faith in and a testimony of God the Eternal Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost? 2 Do you have a testimony of the Atonement of Christ and of His role as Savior and Redeemer? 3 Do you have a testimony of the restoration of the gospel in these the latter days? 4 Do you sustain the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator and as the only person on the earth who possesses and is authorized to exercise all priesthood keys? Do you sustain members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators? Do you sustain the other General Authorities and local authorities of the Church? 5 Do you live the law of chastity? 6 Is there anything in your conduct relating to members of your family that is not in harmony with the teachings of the Church? 7 Do you support, affiliate with, or agree with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? 8 Do you strive to keep the covenants you have made, to attend your sacrament and other meetings, and to keep your life in harmony with the laws and commandments of the gospel? 9 Are you honest in your dealings with your fellowmen? 10 Are you a full-tithe payer? 11 Do you keep the Word of Wisdom? 12 Do you have financial or other obligations to a former spouse or children? If yes, are you current in meeting those obligations? 13 If you have previously received your temple endowment: Do you keep the covenants that you made in the temple? Do you wear the garment both night and day as instructed in the endowment and in accordance with the covenant you made in the temple? 14 Have there been any sins or misdeeds in your life that should have been resolved with priesthood authorities but have not been? 15 Do you consider yourself worthy to enter the Lord's house and participate in temple ordinances? |
Utah is MORE heavily MORMON...
Some church has REALLY soured your experience!
Wanna tell us the WHOLE story?
It's a common thing to old guys in power...
The bothersome reply
"I don't know that we teach it. I don't know that we emphasize it. I haven't heard it discussed for a long time in public discourse. I don't know. I don't know all the circumstances under which that statement was made. I understand the philosophical background behind it, but I don't know a lot about it, and I don't think others know a lot about it."
The reporter wrote, "On whether his church still holds that God the Father was once a man, he sounded uncertain." That's an unfortunate conclusion. Of course I wasn't at the interview and neither were you but I'll bet the reporter mistook careful thoughtfulness for uncertainty. This doctrine is indeed deep territory and not something that is taught outside the LDS Church.
An earlier and similar interview
The San Francisco Chronicle, published an interview with President Hinckley in April of 1997. The reporter asked, "There are some significant differences in your beliefs. For instance, don't Mormon's believe that God was once a man?" President Hinckley responded, "I wouldn't say that. There is a little couplet coined, 'As man is, God once was. As God is, man may become.'"
He then said, "Now that's more of a couplet than anything else. That gets into some pretty deep theology that we don't know very much about." The reporter pounced on this. "So you're saying that the church is still struggling to understand this? " President Hinckley responded, "Well, as God is, man may become. We believe in eternal progression. Very strongly."
President Hinckley's response
President Hinckley said in October 1997 General Conference: "I personally have been much quoted, and in a few instances misquoted and misunderstood. I think that's to be expected. None of you need worry because you read something that was incompletely reported. You need not worry that I do not understand some matters of doctrine.
"I think I understand them thoroughly, and it is unfortunate that the reporting may not make this clear. I hope you will never look to the public press as the authority on the doctrines of the Church." And there lies the whole point of my post today. Some members did indeed become a little concerned by the exchanges they read in the press reports of those interviews.
Does the Church still teach this?
I know this is old news but it still bothers some people when they discover the anti-Mormon attacks floating around on the Internet. President Hinckley was right. We really don't know much about how our Heavenly Father became a God. The idea that he passed through a mortal probationary state like you and me is certainly not documented in any scripture of which I know.
However, it is still taught. In the Gospel Principles manual in the chapter on exaltation we read, "Joseph Smith taught: "It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God. . . . He was once a man like us; . . . God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 345-46)."
Summary and conclusion
I don't know why this should bother anyone. The doctrine is true. Joseph Smith knew a whole lot more about this than I do. President Hinckley also knew a whole lot more about this doctrine than he was willing to share with reporters who did not have the background to understand it. It must have been difficult for President Hinckley to hold back and not teach it in those interviews.
It didn't bother me when I read the interviews back in 1997 and it doesn't bother me today. However, I know it does bother some people. We each have trials of our faith. I have never depended on an intellectual understanding of the gospel in order to accept it and live it. There are some things that just can't be fully comprehended without the temple, prayer and faith.
There are some things that just can't be fully comprehended without the temple, prayer and faith.
Yeah, we’re gonna have to vote the little creeps out of office too..
Elsie, nice to see you are out of your cage this morning! Did your minders feed you and let you out to take a pee?
Yeah, but it could put his ACTITTIES in a bind?
so one post the map showing the Reids land holdings in Nevada then you’ll see what he and his kids are up to.
This poor lawyer has made a fortune off of his public offices.
I once sent a letter to Hatch when he was on the Judicial Committee and he voted for one of Clinton’s left wing appointees to the S.C., think it was Ginsburg.
I was a little upset because he said he had to vote for whom the President wanted, it was just fair. I was somewhat belligerent in my letter and called him a “spineless c-———r. He for some reason took offense at this and wrote me a personal letter, which I still have somewhere, framed. In it he said I was not a citizen of his state and basically to shut the he11 up among other things. Definitely not a form letter.
I have never really cared for Hatch and still am willing to call him what I did in the letter face to face. Wonder which list I am on or how many?
You talking about Hatch or Reid, your description fits both. Let me know.
Orrin ‘Petri Dish’ Hatch.
“I once sent a letter to Hatch when he was on the Judicial Committee and he voted for one of Clintons left wing appointees to the S.C., think it was Ginsburg.
I was a little upset because he said he had to vote for whom the President wanted, it was just fair. I was somewhat belligerent in my letter and called him a spineless c-r. He for some reason took offense at this and wrote me a personal letter, which I still have somewhere, framed. In it he said I was not a citizen of his state and basically to shut the he11 up among other things. Definitely not a form letter.
I have never really cared for Hatch and still am willing to call him what I did in the letter face to face. Wonder which list I am on or how many?”
Ditto for me! I don’t live in Utah either, but I have relatives there. Hatch was really petulant in his letter to me too. He’s gets more thin-skinned with each passing year. FWIW, Hatch is the longest-serving member of the Senate today. At 36 years, he beats out Cochran and Leahy. When you add up the “years of service” of those in the Senate who are 70 or older (total of 26, with Fineswine being the oldest at 80). you get a total of 498 years! I submit to you that this IS the problem in the Senate. They think they are SCOTUS Justices and are entitled to die in office.
Bump.
I'm standing here; knees pressed; doing a little dance!
I do so wish they'd HURRY!!!!
Thanks Ernest for the ping and the analysis!
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