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Posted on 05/08/2008 5:04:47 PM PDT by Grig
I am posting this on behalf of many LDS freepers. They will post their own 'signature' to this in the comments below. --- Some of you have noticed lately a lot of LDS (ie: Mormon) threads here on FR. I'm going to tell you why.
For many years there have been several active LDS freepers here. We post to all the forums on relevant issues, and were happy to have a site where conservative values were so openly welcomed.
Those conservative values include faith in God, and freedom of religion. We fully respect the rights of all posters to express their opinions and views on religious matters, even when people choose to use those rights to express criticism of our own faith. We also support the ideas embodied in FR rules against religion bashing. There is no need for hostility and there should be no room for bigotry on FR. Every religion has it's miracles and mysteries. Every faith has things in it that are not or can not be proven, and things that run contrary to what secular science would have us believe. Someone mature and confident in their own faith generally doesn't feel the need to belittle the faith of others.
We have, to the best of our ability, conducted ourselves with civility and dignity. We do not feel that that respect has been returned by some posters (putting it mildly).
When Mormon missionaries were murdered, the moderators were kept busy pulling jubilant posts off the thread. When Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her home, we contended for months with posters who appeared to be motivated by religious bigotry doing all they could to smear the family and accuse the father. Several posters openly admitted their religious motivation in opposing Mitt Romney and confessed that no matter how conservative any Mormon was, they would never vote for one for President of the USA. When the Pope died, I don't think any Mormon poster posted anything unkind, yet the thread about the passing of our President recently needed many comments removed.
Nearly every thread having any connection with Mormons, or Utah winds up being hijacked by anti-Mormon activists who copy and paste the same false accusations over and over even when it has been clearly and factually pointed out to them on multiple occasions that they are bearing false witness against our faith. Everything possible is done by these activists to make FR a hostile place for Mormons, and for at least some of them, bashing Mormonism is all they do here. Their most recent project is trying to blur the fact that the polygamous FLDS is a separate and distinct religion from ours, just as Lutherans are a separate and distinct religion from Catholicism.
In our opinion, such poster do a great disservice to FR and to their fellow freepers by spreading disinformation and promoting hostility towards a people known for walking the walk of conservative values.
Why the moderators here don't see the behavior of these anti-Mormon activists as religion bashing is a mystery to us, but it is the moderators call to make and we respect their right to do so. That doesn't mean we have to be passive however. We have all spent many hours refuting the accusations leveled at our faith, but these wind up buried deep in a flood of comments, effectively shouting us down.
Recently some of us have decided to take a more proactive approach. Rather than try to wrestle the pig into taking a bath, we are just going to hose it down. We will actively define our faith here rather than just respond to accusations.
So expect to see lots of Mormon threads, now and for as long as we see fit to keep posting them (although probably not as many as there are Catholic threads). They will be about our basic doctrines and responses to common accusations. If you want to know what our faith is about, read the articles we post. We will post them as open threads and I encourage you to compare the difference in tone and spirit between what we post and what our critics say.
But if you drink your Postum hot, don't you violate The Word of Wisdom? (see D&C 89:9) just as much?
(Maybe that's not really a problem...after all, Joseph Smith and his buddies fortified themselves with wine after he was arrested for ordering the destruction of the opposition press. It's more of a suggestion than a rule, right?)
No, my comment about the frozen chosen was a throwaway line to exit the topic of which church is the right church.
I believe that the only requirement for salvation is a faith in Christ Jesus, and Him crucified. A CORRECT faith is a trinitarian faith, one that believes in the scriptures, that does not elevate what is not in scripture, etc.
But a correct faith is not necessary for salvation. And for whatever incorrect aspects of faith Mormons are confronted with in their teachings, they CAN have a saving faith in Christ Jesus. While some will argue the WORDS have a different meaning, the words each person utters will have the meaning THEY intend, not what the church has tried to make them.
I still witness to my Mormon friends. Take no chances, that’s my motto. But I won’t condemn them to hell — that is God’s job. My job is to clearly articulate MY understanding of scripture, not to judge whether someone else has reached an understanding.
And yes, I can reconcile witnessing with my belief that God chooses us. But I do understand the apparent contradiction.
I won't name names, I won't go down that rabbit hole again.
I agree with most of what you said. I have a nutty uncle who belongs to the black helicopter crowd when it comes to religion. All religions except his are doomed!
I don't know any Mormons; I do know some Seventh Day Adventists and I know very little about their faith. I just know that they go to church on Saturday. I love them dearly and I would never bring up their religion.
Its a lot easier to discuss and argue religion with complete strangers on the web. In person is good too as long as things don't get personal.
As for Scientology, I think that religion is whacked. Made up by a weirdo. :)
My term “general claim” was not meant as a contrast to a specific claim, but to reference the entirety of the discussion, outside the specific example of one faith and practice.
Parts of that are interpretation of scripture. While we may agree on that interpretation, in my opinion you do not need to confess in that manner in order to be saved. The man on the cross with Jesus said much less and was accepted into Paradise.
If you are not careful, you will get the Christian evolutionists on your case. They tend not to like the idea that Jesus created things.
So did Brigham Young. There were vineyards in So. Utah to make their own sacramental wine. The word of wisdom was “Given for a principle with promise, adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints.”
http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/89/3#3
The adoption of it as a commandment rather than merely a principle happened as the new church and new converts who spent their whole lives drinking and smoking put off the natural man. That took a generation. I’m grateful, as Isaiah said, that the Lord gives us line upon line, precept on precept, here a little, there a little.
We aren’t expected to run faster than we have strength.
I really don't know of the repression and forced conformism. All of the control appears to begin within the family, moving upward. With their Church government being an oligarchy, there is a propensity to be very dogmatic, but I see that as one reason they have retained their strong family values.
The secrecy and resentment is understood from the need to cloak or defuse the inconsistencies and scandals inherent in the earliest beginnings. I am still amazed when I reread Mark Twain's firsthand account and later journalistic revelations.
As you responded, I will repeat my apology here. You obviously have no need to ping a banned freeper, something I did not know when I pinged him.
I can do whatever I want but I want to follow the Word of Wisdom. I have no idea why that ticks you off.
As I certainly do not read every post, I can’t say you are wrong. I’ll just say I haven’t read any defenses of polygamy. And since I have been accused of defending polygamy when I don’t believe in it, I do view with some suspicion claims that others have advanced the practice.
as long as some insist on preaching to other freepers they can expect more and more freepers to distrust or dislike Mormons.....some of you really come across as arrogant....
I've known a ton of Mormons.........work with them..live next to at least one.. belong to the same groups etc...No one has ever openly tried to sermonize anyone... NO Mormon that I know has ever even brought up the subject of them being Mormon except if its a direct question....
so why would any Mormons do it on a blog that is centered on news and politics?
I’ve got to move on. Good night, all.
Here is a Catholic link to help you understand the Catholic take on the Mormon religion.
http://www.catholic.com/library/noncatholic_groups.asp
if its the policy now to allow blatant religious sermoning on the main threads, I guess that is news to me....perhaps this should be clarified....
You are on the Religion Forum.
Illbay, now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. What ever happened to him?
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