Posted on 09/20/2009 2:46:15 PM PDT by Colofornian
SNIP
Sharing testimonies is an important part of the Latter-day Saint experience. We bear testimonies in many settings in the home with family and among friends and associates or in missionary experiences. In Church, one Sunday is set aside every month for the bearing of testimonies during sacrament meetings.
SNIP
In his address at the October 2004 general conference, Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve...said that his experience throughout the Church leads him to worry that too many members' testimonies linger on "I am thankful," and "I love," and too few are able to say with humble but sincere clarity, "I know." As a result, he noted, meetings sometimes lack the testimony-rich, spiritual underpinnings that stir the soul and have meaningful, positive impact on the lives of all those who hear them.
He...counseled, "We need to replace stories, travelogues and lectures with pure testimonies. Those who are entrusted to speak and teach in our meetings need to do so with doctrinal power that will be both heard and felt, lifting the spirits and edifying our people."
SNIP
As we listen to general conference this October, we will hear many bear pure testimony. Numerous times over the years, we have heard President Thomas S. Monson, first as an apostle and now as president of the Church, bear such testimony. May we, as Primary children sing, be inclined to "follow the prophet" in our endeavor to nurture, strengthen and share our testimonies that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us, that Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith was the prophet who was raised up to restore the fullness of the everlasting gospel...
(Excerpt) Read more at ldschurchnews.com ...
If I read your post right, you think that "at the same time" somehow contradicts the Nicene Creed and the understanding of the Trinity?
We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
You keep it...
Wouldnt want to take your only lifeline to your mormon gods...
Why did you think I needed pinged to this? Am I on your Mormon-bashing pinglist? If so, please remove me.
We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.The bolded section would preclude God the Father and Jesus Christ being in the same place side by side because they are the same substance. The two ideas of God and Christ appearing in two separate bodies and the Nicene creed are incompatible. I have had this very conversation with priests of many religions, and trust me everyone ends up not wanting Jesus to be God's son, but God the father himself. Oneness through out the Bible is not a oneness of substance. The Nicene creed makes that jump, for no Biblical reason. The Greek influence on the beliefs of the church was that nothing corporeal can be all powerful or eternal and thus they created a mystery, something that cannot be comprehended, or understood and told people that was the beauty of it.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Isn’t it amazing that they are so lacking in confidence in the overall body of works (bom, pogp, d&c) that they find it necessary to start brainwashing small children to “follow the prophet..”
I find it repulsive, and telling. Personally, I would never place so much of my trust in the word of a single man - especially one so obviously falsely representing himself as a prophet.
G_d condemns those who “cause these little ones to stumble”.
I have made clear to my (lds) wife that our child(ren) will not be indoctrinated with such bovine excrement, nor sing songs such as that, or the well known “hymn” about the phony and nonexistent planet, ‘Kolob’.
Even at that, as soon as our child(ren) is/are old enough to comprehend, I will be teaching in earnest about what a twisted pervert, profligate, liar, cheat, and practitioner of forbidden occultic arts Joey-boy was, and that if the tree trunk be rotten, it can yield no fruit of worth or nourishment.
A.A.C.
Any/all of the testimony contained in the bom which is not lifted wholesale from the Bible and without change or alteration - is more phony than the Nauvoo “bank notes” once issued by Joey-boy and his bunch of lying grifters.
Jesus Christ has naught to do with the bom or any of the fruadulently concocted doctrines thereof - except reaching out to save sinners in spite of such heresies...
- like for example the one which teaches that Jesus and Lucifer were “spirit brothers”, or the one also mentioned in “Elder” M. Russell Ballard’s book about the eating of the fruit which precipitated the “Fall from Grace” to original sin in the Garden of Eden - being not sin but rather a “wise choice” ...
There have been ordained, Christ-seeking G_d-fearing, and honourable men in my family lineage since at least as far back as the mid 1500s in England - across many denominations over the centuries, and I refuse to accept the blather of a fork-tongued liar like Joseph Smith who says that they were part of any alleged “Apostasy”.
Joe Smith’s breeches were not the only thing about him full of crap..
Wise choice, my left butt cheek! It was wrongful and introduced sin into mankind - nothing less than that, and no amount of revision or neo Arianism mingled with gnosticism and egyptian mysticism can “reinterpret” that.
I cannot imagine myself as anything but happy and fulfilled in a world where the bom did not exist...like the simple majority of true Christians in the world - who have been on this earth continuously testifying to the love of their saviour since the time of Christ’s ministry, I do not regard the bom as anything other than a work of fiction so poorly written and full of contradictions that it has needed more “updating” (not even accounting for grammatical errata and colloquial variances) since 1830, than real scripture ever has, or will.
My testimony is this: Joseph Smith was a liar of constancy and (ill) consequence.
Joseph Smith’s lies, profligacies, and thundering boasts brought down not the honour of martyrdom, but the curses of the Most High of Israel around his head.
He had the temerity to create the shadowy group known as the “Danites” to exact judgment/revenge upon those who opposed/displeased him.
May he (continue to) burn in Hell, right beside “Bring’em” Young, and others like them in authority, who pretended that polygamy - including documented marriages to underage girls, and flings their own wives did not willingly assent to - was a right “divinely” granted to them - the so-called “Law of Abraham” - which was NEVER a law.
They had the audacity to lie about this before publicizing the “revelation” that gave them divine imprimatur, and the dishonesty to defy the authorities (long after signing a contract with the gov’t to stop the practice) by officially solemnizing such unions by virtue of having church representatives at the ceremonies.
I testify that Joseph Smith was a huckster of the utmost capability, a perpetual liar, on whose word I would not rely to know the colour of the sky on a sunny summer day...and that his hubris knew few boundaries. I testify that the organization he founded, “the mormon church” aka “latter day saints”, may include good and kind people who desire to know and serve the real Christ, but that the Christ represented and taught in official church doctrine is in no manner to be regarded the same as the “Only begotten Son of G_d, One in Being with the Father, Through Him all things were made, for us men and for our salvation, he came down from Heaven...by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, For our sake He suffered, died and was buried. On the third day, He rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures. He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father...He will come again in Glory to judge the living and the dead and His Kingdom will have no end...”
My first testimony for Christ is to the truth and completeness of Scripture, as represented in the Old and New Testaments, (I accept the Canonical stature of the books of the Apocrypha, because there are no internal contradictions between them and the remainder of all the “books”...) and to the Word which was made Flesh and dwelt among us - through whom we beheld the Glory of the Father, full of grace and peace.
My second Testimony is that I accept Jesus Christ as the Only begotten Son of G_d, and the only Giver of Salvation - into my heart and soul
- Yea, that my sins are forgiven me, His grace is restored unto me, and I am born again, a new creature in Him - and there is nothing I can or may do to earn or improve upon that salvation.
It is a gift of G_d, and the Word says “The gifts and callings of G_d are without repentance...”
I have more I may testify about, but these first two portions are all which are necessary to lead another person to understanding of their own inherently sinful, unacceptable-to-G_d sinful human nature, and to a saving knowledge of the only provision - G_d’s Son and Heir, Jesus Christ.
Like Paul - if all else fails - I lay aside all pretenses and vanities, throw up my hands and claim I “know nothing more than Christ, and Him Crucified...”
Not “Christ, and Him praying in Gethsemane” - Christ and Him Crucified...for only there did He raise his precious, Sacred Head and declare, “It is finished/perfected.”
My Redeemer Lives.
A.A.C.
Sounds much like a couple of ladies on FR.
Then why do you feel like you have to DO so many other things to make your salvation ASSURED?
AMEN!
I've heard it said recently...
Are you telling me that even though the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, is believed by the "FUNDAMENTALIST Mormons" who are INDEED members of the FUNDAMENTALIST Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints, STILL are not ALLOWED to be called MORMON by the snooty folks from SLC who claim the RIGHT and AUTHORITY to say who is and who AIN'T a MORMON!
(At LEAST the Flds folks happen to actually FOLLOW Mormon 'scripture' found in D&C 132!)
Speaking of this - just WHAT do MORMONS put along the roadside to comemorate loved ones death on the highway?
It sure isn't a CROSS!
I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true.
17 It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the otherThis is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!
18 My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)and which I should join.
19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.
20 He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home. And as I leaned up to the fireplace, mother inquired what the matter was. I replied, Never mind, all is wellI am well enough off. I then said to my mother,
Ah...
Maybe this explains those early MORMON church leaders: they were IGNORANT of what the Bible and the BoM said about one wife.
Uh....
--MormonDude(I sure THOUGHT they were in there! Does that mean I am IGNORANT?)
.
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. Get a life, Dude.
MORMON
ATTITUDES OF SUPERIORITY
1. Im Superior; I have a special gift of the holy Ghost -- you dont! 2. Im Superior; I have Gods true priesthood power -- you dont! 3. Im Superior; I can go in Gods secret Temple -- you cant! 4. Im Superior; Ive been Endowed with special Gifts and Knowledge -- youre just normal! 5. Im Superior; Ill have my family with me in heaven -- youll be with strangers! 6. Im Superior; Im becoming a God -- you arent! 7. Im Superior; My women know their place as servants of man and yours dont. 8. Im Superior; YOUR creeds are wrong because they come from man - mine comes from God (you can find each one printed in our Scriptures). 9. Im Superior; I dont HAVE a creed - Ive got 13 Articles of Faith. 10. I'm Superior; I have 4 "Bibles"-- the standard works (5 if you count the JST) -- you've only got one: in as far as it is translated correctly. 11. Im Superior; I can lie with impunity about such things as church membership, church growth, church doctrine, church history, church influence, etc. -- You cant. 12. Im Superior; I am right (everybody knows) when I say 'evangelical' Christians are lunatics -- -- Youre a hideous narrow-minded bigot, who is persecuting me by practicing discrimination by saying I'm not a Christian. 13. I'm Superior; I have a testimony about a prophet -- you don't. 14. I'm Superior; I have a Scripture-producing Amos 3:7 prophet -- you don't 15. Im Superior; I have a Living Prophet who talks to god every day -- you have a dim-witted hireling of Satan who only talks to himself. 16. I'm Superior; I have my calling & election made sure -- you don't. 17. Im Superior; I have magic underwear to protect me from the bogey man -- you dont. 18. Im Superior; I have secret clasps and grips to give the angel so I get admitted to the celestial kingdom -- you dont ;so you cant. 19. I'm Superior; I know secret handshake codes for afterlife entrances-- you don't. 20. Im Superior; I will see Joseph Smith setting on the right hand of GOD, when I get to Mormon heaven, and he will recognize me and judge me favorably -- Youre on your own; when you get to wherever youre going! 21. Im Superior; Im going to hie to Kolob -- youre going to who knows where. 22. Im Superior; I get to have a harem and act like a celestial stud for time and all eternity -- you dont. 23. Im Superior; I have sun stones, moon stones, sky stones, cloud stones, Saturn stones, and the evil eye of Osirus guarding my temple -- all you have is a stupid cross. 24. Im Superior; My church has billions in assets stashed away -- yours has taken a stupid vow of poverty. 25. I'm Superior; Last - we have the power to keep a whole race out of our priesthood if we wanted to reinsert our 148-year legacy (we ARE still keeping an entire GENDER at bay!) Revision 46.1
Semi-Official creed of the EXclusive club of Freeper Flying Inmans.
All rights liable to be abused. |
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