Posted on 04/26/2007 6:03:35 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
o.k.
Seek the truth. Why are you LDS?
What does your church say is the reason someone should become a member of the Mormon church?
Why should one be LDS? That answer is up to each individual. To me, being very curious religously and feeling like I hurt too many people, I prayed nearly 24 hours straight alone. All through the day, then all through the night I prayed. As the first rays of the morning started to shine in my bedroom, I felt the most undescribable feeling of immense love. I feel a taste of the intense love which God has for us. I feel the love of his Son just overwhelm me. I couldn’t look at another being again without thinking that God loves everyone too. This feeling is still in a very small measure is still with me today. I have had a similiar feeling when I read the Book of Mormon, and the New Testament. I can’t deny it, ever. I know I felt the charity of Jesus Christ and it motivates this imperfect soul to follow Jesus Christ and his commandments of love with all my heart.
I really feel this is the Church of Jesus Christ fully authorized by him and directed through imperfect men by Him. I believe God has a ground game along with his air game and the ground game is this Church. God works in mysterious ways and I believe his ways are working in this Church. The Saints are here among us today as stated they will be in Revelations. These Saints in these Latter Days are in the Church of Jesus Christ.
Because I received a revelation by the power of the Holy Ghost, before I knew anything of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Afterwards I read the Book of Mormon and the more I studied more, I knew at last my quest was answered and I no longer was Thirsty!
No man, no organization it was a one on one with the Lord and this I can never deni!
Comprendo?
Just to add my two cents worth, “comprendo” means “I understand” (1st person singular). 2nd person conjugation is “comprendes” (familiar).
¿Comprendes?
You asseeted, “The Saints are here among us today as stated they will be in Revelations ... These Saints in these Latter Days are in the Church of Jesus Christ.” So, let me get this slear, your religion teaches that the Book of Revelations speaks of the Mormon church in these ‘latter days’? Is that correct, you believe that is what is written in the Revelation as offered in the Bible?
Yes, and I can guess where you are going.
Also, I put a lot of value in the words of Jesus. If one wants to condemn as non-Christians then do so with Jesus’ one words. That doesn’t mean I devalue the other words of God. It Jesus the Sermon on the Mount, the Parables of Jesus are touch my heart strings everytime.
Well, just so you don’t trip yourself up in your apologetics, I’m making a personal list of the odd things Mormon apologist affirm in their belief system. This one regarding LDS foretold in the Book of Revelations is worthy of the list.
Well, it is not just Revelations as the only place for the term Saints. We find many useful themes in Revelations in terms what is going to happen before Christ comes. We see the Angel declaring the Gospel
Here is a short lds article I found about the term Saints.
Latter-day Saints (LDS)
by Robert Bennett
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (D&C 115:4) sees itself as a restoration of the original Church of Jesus Christ “of Former-day Saints.” (See Restoration of the Gospel home page) Members of the Church in the time of Christ are often referred to as “saints.” Actually, the word “saint” predates Christ, and it is used thirty-six times in the Old Testament. It appears sixty-two times in the New Testament. The term “Christian” appears only three times in the New Testament, used by others to identify the followers of Christ. At the time of Christ and the Apostles, the term “saint” was accepted as a proper name for anyone who was a member of the Church, and was not used as a term of special sanctity as in earlier and later traditions. The phrase “latter days” designates the period leading to the last days and the series of events that will culminate in the reappearance of Christ to all the world. (See The Second Coming of Jesus Christ home page) By referring to themselves as Latter-day Saints, members of the Church reaffirm their historical tie to original Christians (the Former-day Saints of the New Testament) but differentiate the two time periods. Also, they are striving to become sanctified through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.
The name unites three themes: (1) the restoration theme, since the term has a New Testament origin; (2) the preparation theme, since the Saints in the latter days anticipate the coming of Christ; and (3) the revelation theme, since the name was received by revelation and recorded in Doctrine and Covenants, section 115.
It is interesting to some that the people of the dead sea scrolls also called themselves Latter-day Saints. These individuals believed themselves tied to the prophets and the covenant (hence the name Saint) and anticipated the imminent coming of the messiah (hence the term Latter-day).
(See Frequently Asked Questions home page)
Bibliography
Nelson, Russell M. “Thus Shall My Church Be Called.” Ensign 5 (May 1990):16-18.
Cross, Frank M., Jr. The Ancient Library of Qumran. New York, 1961.
“angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel...” Revelations 14:6
From Revelations too. This is why we put an angel on most of our temples.
If you want useful apologetics sites then I recommend:
www.jefflindsay.com
www.mormonwiki.com
www.fairlds.org
farms.byu.edu
I am sure you can find all sorts of stuff there!
One final note, a common theme I hear at my weekly services is that it is the basics that matter most.
Thanks for the links, I shall use them in the future. The Lindsey one is the only one I don’t recall being offered earlier on another thread. I’ve enjoyed your posts ... instructive. I particularly enjoy the faith and works discussions because I do believe this is one area where Protestants have faulty reasoning ... dead faith is ego reaching to grab God by the hem, living faith is found in action, in the fruits of the faith alive and working in the believer, manifest in the bride of Christ. Have a pleasant and safe rest of the weekend.
How about you dispense with the ad hominems.
I appreciate your truthful answer about how you choose to be LDS, however, I have one question for you to ponder. You describe the feeling you had and that you just knew it was from God. Have your “feelings” ever been wrong? I ask this with all sincerity. I have heard this description of salvation before. However, if you base all actions on feelings and not on truth, you could be wrong. Let me explain by example.
When many people get married, they “feel” the person they are about to marry is their soul mate. Shortly there after those “feelings” change and they can no longer stand to be in the same room as that person. That is why it is critical for those who are married to build their relationship on the right foundation, the foundation of Jesus Christ. It is natural to have feelings that change throughout your life and most often we base our actions on what we are feeling at the moment. But, if you have a foundation built on truth, then when those “feelings” change you still can do the right thing (with the power of the Holy Spirit). You do it, even if it doesn’t “feel” right. You stick with that person and ride it out and then eventually something happens, you start to love that person again because you are doing what God tells you do and to think about the needs of that person, not yourself. The more you practice what God tells us to do, the easier it is to love that person. I have been together with my spouse for 21 years, I know what I am talking about.
Now, if you base your eternal salvation on a feeling than how can you be sure that it is the right feeling? Please base it on truth. Base it on what God’s word says. Base it on what God reveals in the scripture. Who he says we are and why he had to send his Son in the first place. Why did Jesus die on the cross? Because he was a good teacher? No, because it was the only way to reconcile us to God. The bible is God’s gift to us, to teach us and instruct us. It is to be used to examine truth. To find out what is from God and what is from satan. I beg you to apply truth even if you don’t feel like it.
No man, no organization it was a one on one with the Lord and this I can never deni!
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Do you believe there can be more than one god? If you mentioned you read the Book of Mormon and that is when you had this one on one with the lord, how do you know it is the God of the bible whom you worship? You didn’t mention that you read or studied the bible.
Please see post 232. Please I beg you to base your salvation, the destination of your eternal soul on truth. On what God says, not what you think or feel. Truth is not a feeling. It is truth!
No I belive in the family of Heavenly Father, his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost!
Good advice. Yes, I agree that our feelings of the spirit needed to be grounded in some form of reason. I also believe firmly that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, THE ONLY way, the light, and truth. I don’t believe he is just a good teacher. I believe Christ suffering in the garden and that Christ’s physical death, suffering, and blood spilt on the cross was absolutely essential for our salvation.
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