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To: DelphiUser

No, I do not like it. This kind of "trap them before they know any better," tactic is abusive in my opinion.

Have you read the statistics about how many converts actually stay active in the Church after this "meat doctrine" is introduced.

This is from the Salt Lake Tribune http://www.sltrib.com July 26, 2005
Excerpt: ‘The problem originates in the faith's tradition of rapid conversion of investigators to the church according to David Stewart, a church member and researcher who has studied the problem of member retention in the church.

Stewart, who has studied the question for over 14 years, said that such quick conversions are a "recipe for inactivity."

"I'm encouraged that there is a little bit of awareness of the problem," he said.

The American Religious Identification Survey of 2001 the Graduate Center of City University of New York said in a report that the same number of people had left the Mormon church in the United States as had joined it.’


226 posted on 05/01/2006 5:46:13 AM PDT by colorcountry (He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.)
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To: colorcountry; All

Getting back to the topic of plural gods:

"- In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it. (April 1844, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 349; History of the Church 6:308)"


Is this "official"?


231 posted on 05/01/2006 6:47:30 AM PDT by bonfire
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To: colorcountry; DelphiUser; Utah Girl

I had such a strong witness I could not deny it!

At the time I had no knowledge about Joseph Smith testimony and his feeling that he could not deny it just to get along with clergy!

It came solely from the Book of Mormon I had not even read the book but the Holy Spirit was so sweet and brought such great JOY I just needed to know more and I took to it like a Duck Takes to Water!

For the first time in my life I had truth!

Moroni 10
3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

6 And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is.

7 And ye may know that he is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever.

When I first heard about he Godhead I knew it was true no way could the Heavenly Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost be composed in one blob!

1- It is a fact the Jesus has a resurrected Body of Flesh and Bone!

2- It is also true that as written in JOHN 5 ~ JESUS CAN DO NOTHING BUT WHAT HE SEES HIS FATHER DO!

3- It is the fact the Holy Ghost is a Spirit!

4- It is a fact that Lucifer/Satan never kept his 1st estate so he did not receive a body of Flesh and Blood as the rest of us Children did!

5- Gen 1:26-27

26 ¶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our LIKENESS: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in HIS OWN image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

6- Spirits are formless they are NOT Created nor Made into an image!

7- So if one is creating a image it is a Body image of a Body!


232 posted on 05/01/2006 6:55:39 AM PDT by restornu (An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire. - Prov.16: 27)
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To: colorcountry

>>This kind of "trap them before they know any better," tactic is abusive in my opinion.

Funny, what you call a trap, I call good teaching technique. I guess when I started with Algebra and they didn’t just dump me into Trig. That was a trap, man I really despise my teachers for trapping me into knowledge as I could understand it! (Get a Grip, you usually sound reasonable, you need to work on this area of your argument).

>>Have you read the statistics about how many converts actually stay active in the
>>Church after this "meat doctrine" is introduced.

Sadly, you are right, we lose too many by feeding them too fast, we should slow down.

My first reaction to your Trap statement was to laugh; you know how easy it is to get out of the LDS church, or just to go inactive (look how many figured it out in the second part of your post).

Be honest, how long would it take you to get your name removed? Could you do it by Mail? Is the cost of postage too much? Then go in person too your bishop, he’s got a form letter I’ll wager.

I mean come on! A trap is typically “Hard to get out of”.

The church is nothing but easy to get out of. Go back to your sins tell the Bishop to go to the warmest place you can think of and that you want out, he’ll set you up REAL fast, because he does not want to “add condemnation to your soul”. I’ve read the General Handbook of Instructions, I know.

So, can we dispense with this whole “Trap” claptrap, or can you substantiate your claims that it is a trap? (This is liable to be real fun :-)


261 posted on 05/01/2006 12:09:01 PM PDT by DelphiUser ("You can lead a man to knowledge, but you can't make him think")
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