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Are Anti-Mormons Christians?
FAIR ^ | Russell McGregor

Posted on 03/16/2010 10:51:13 AM PDT by Paragon Defender

One of the popular themes used by critics is to pose the question, "Are Mormons Christian?" and to come up with the answer "no". This theme has appeared, without substantial variation, in a number of anti-Mormon publications over the years.

The approach has been trivially simple: to create a set of false dichotomies consisting of assertions to the effect that Christians (i.e. the critic's preferred flavor of Christians) believe X, while Mormons are (usually inaccurately) portrayed as believing Y, which X and Y are assumed (and not demonstrated) to be incompatible. Hence, Mormons cannot be Christian.

A number of responses have been made to this argument. Some have turned the critics' argument on its head; since LDS Christians believe A, and a given critic believes B, then that critic is not a Christian. This approach exposes the fallacy of the argument and pokes fun at it at the same time. An alternative approach, of interest to serious students of the scriptures, is to show the biblical support for the genuine LDS beliefs that the critics both misrepresent and dismiss.

This essay uses a third approach. It has always been the stance of the Latter-day Saints to live by the Golden Rule, as part of the teachings of Jesus, extending to others the same courtesy that they would like them to extend to us. Thus, we do not generally question the genuineness of another's Christian belief. However, the question "Are Mormons Christian?" is invariably based on the assumption that the questioner is a Christian (which we have generally not disputed) and that his or her Christianity is definitive. It is the first assumption that we shall question here, with the intent of restoring some balance into the debate. As we shall see, it is not the LDS Christians, but their critics, who need to be concerned about their Christian credentials.

This may seem, at first glance, to be a rather odd thing to say; the anti-Mormon movement has defined the debate in such a way that their Christianity is not open to question. Many of them are (or profess to be) clergymen, while most of them are conservative Evangelical Protestants of one sort or another. And yet the question remains and continues to be asked: is anti-Mormonism truly a Christian activity? The answer, both in the general case and in the particulars, is a clear and resounding no.

Let us consider the general case first. Before we do, it would be useful to define our terms, instead of relying (as our opponents frequently do) upon assumed meanings (which they too-often shift in mid-sentence). The word Christian I take to mean what the dictionary says that it means, namely, a follower of Jesus Christ. I explicitly repudiate the frequent anti-Mormon assertion, which parallels Parson Thwackum, that "Christian" means "historical Christian," i.e. one who agrees with the doctrines promulgated by the ecumenical councils. I rely upon the clearly understood definition that seems to be accepted for all purposes except religious polemic. As a noun, Christian means a disciple of Christ. As an adjective, Christian is an exact synonym of Christ-like.

The term anti-Mormon is herein used to describe any person or organization that is directly and actively opposed to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its doctrines, policies and programs. It is not, as critics sometimes mischievously try to claim, a catchall term for anyone who does not accept or believe in the Church, but is applied only to those who actively campaign against it. As an adjective, it applies to those specific activities that may with reasonable accuracy be described as attacks upon the Church.

The general case can best be discovered by investigating what the New Testament has to say about such activities. The New Testament is the logical choice because it is held to be authoritative by almost all Christians, regardless of their differences. And in examining it we find little that gives aid and comfort to the anti-Mormon cause, while there is considerable material that weakens their position.

For example, Mark 9:38-40 tells how the apostles saw someone casting out devils in the name of Jesus and so they forbade him, because he did not follow them. Jesus explicitly told them to "forbid him not," adding, "for he that is not against us is on our part." When Paul went to Rome he met with the leaders of the Jews in that city, and told them why he was there. They told him that they hadn't heard anything about him, but they wanted to hear what he had to say about the Church, "for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against." (Acts 28:22.) Paul (in Gal. 5:19-23) and James (in Jas.3:14-18) both contrast the peaceful, non-controversial Christian way of doing things with contentious and strife-ridden world. Paul calls it the "fruit of the spirit" versus the "fruit of the flesh" while James talks about the "wisdom from above" and the "wisdom from below." In both cases it is the inferior, uninspired article that produces contention.

Notwithstanding the hollow and insincere protestations of "Christian love" with which anti-Mormons frequently window-dress their attacks on our beliefs, their activities are nothing if not contentious.

A number of examples of religious controversy are described in the New Testament. Perhaps the most revealing is the account of the "Diana incident" in Ephesus (Acts 19:24-41). The following is a summary of that incident. Note the parallels to the activities of anti-Mormons in our day.

A group of anti's identify the Church as a threat to their livelihood (24-25) and interpret the Church's teachings as an attack on their religion (26-27) despite the fact that the missionaries had not actually said anything derogatory (37). The anti's chanted religious slogans (28) and set about creating a riot (29-32) in the course of which two of the missionaries were dragged into court (29). The members protected the visiting General Authority (30-31) and put forward a spokesman to make a defense (33). However the anti's silenced him by chanting their religious slogan for two hours(!) (34). Things could have turned out very badly (as they have, all too often in this dispensation) but for the intervention of a wise and fair-minded public official who pointed out that the missionaries had neither done nor said anything wrong (37) and that there was no cause for such an uproar (40). (Isn't it just as well that the town clerk was not a first-century Governor Ford!)

The parallel is exact. Anti-Mormons today are the legitimate heirs of Demetrius the Silversmith, while the ancient saints behave strikingly like the modern ones.

The one passage that critics sometimes cite to justify their position is found in 1 Peter 3:15. But if this verse is the best they can do, then they are in trouble, because it is pretty weak. It tells Christians to be ready to answer questions about their beliefs, not to attack those who believe differently. In other words, it says that if someone approaches a Christian and asks, "what do you believe, and why?" then Christian needs to be ready to answer in terms of his or her own beliefs. Anti-Mormons who use this passage as a proof-text would presumably answer with, "I believe them Mormons is out to lunch because?" That is not what Peter is telling us. The New Testament gives the anti-Mormon cause no help; the generalities of the case are all against them.

The particulars of the case are not any more helpful. In practice, anti-Mormons exhibit various degrees of hypocrisy in their work. Consider the following statement, found on a Web site maintained by Jason R. Smith:

While we are not LDS we are not "Anti's," either, as some would like to label us. We are, however, interested in the Restoration Movement, in all of it's [sic] facets. I myself spend a lot of time studying the works of the LDS and RLDS churches in hopes of coming to a clearer understanding and focus of their beliefs.

This would seem to be saying that Jason is interested in learning about the LDS Church and gaining an understanding of its teachings. It seems a little odd to establish a Web site for this purpose, since Web sites are far more effective at disseminating information than gathering it. However, he immediately lets the cat out of the bag in the very next paragraph, thus:

Why do I do this? Because I consider such ideas as the Doctrine of the Apostasy and the First Vision attacks against the Christian Faith.

The hypocrisy of Jason's position is so utterly transparent as to be obvious to all but the most dedicated anti-Mormon. An exact parallel would be for a LDS to say, "I'm not an anti-Baptist; I just spend all my free time maintaining a Web site finding fault with the Baptist Church because I believe that Baptist ideas about cheap-grace solafidianism are attacks against the Christian Faith." In reality, to characterize the beliefs of any group of sincere Christians as "attacks against the Christian Faith" is about as "anti" that group as it is possible to get.

Many anti-Mormons take Jason's position, claiming that they are actually "defending" something called "the Christian Faith" against the Latter-day Saints, whom they see as attacking it. Never mind that there is no book or pamphlet published by the Church that attacks, denigrates, undermines or belittles the beliefs of any other church; we are attacking them simply by believing such "ideas" as the First Vision.

The flaw in this reasoning should be obvious from the outset: not only does every church have beliefs that are in some way inimical to the truth claims of other churches, but the mere existence of each church is an implicit vote of no confidence in all of the others. The choice to belong to a church that baptizes by immersion is at least an expression of a preference not to belong to a church that sprinkles.

If everyone agreed that all was well in Rome, there would have been no reformation, and hence no Protestants, while the huge number of Protestant sects is testimony to the dim view which the reformers take of each other's work. Every church believes-or at very least, once believed-explicitly or otherwise, that it is in some way better than all others; in other words, that all others are inferior to it.

Does that mean that every Christian is automatically "attacking" everyone not of his or her sect? Of course it does not, but that is the absurd rationale that anti-Mormons adopt when they say that believing in the First Vision is an attack on the "Christian Faith." Actually, since Latter-day Saints are Christian, it follows that LDS doctrines, including the Apostasy and the First Vision, are part of their Christian Faith and therefore not an attack on it at all. In fact those doctrines teach not that there is anything wrong with the Christian Faith, but simply that those who profess to hold it have lost track of parts of it. It takes no great genius to realize that a restoration of the gospel can only be proclaimed by those who think that the gospel is a rather important thing.

Anti-Mormons consider it "Christian" to do things that, if the tables were turned, they would consider completely unChristian. And they would be right, too. "Be sure to get the facts from the true Christians picketing outside the temple" screamed an Internet buffoon recently, referring to the Preston (U.K.) Temple open house. Let us pause for a moment and reflect; can anyone imagine a group of Latter-day Saints picketing, say, a Methodist Church? Of course not. That would be an utterly unChristian thing to do, and since we are Christians, we don't do such things. Let us consider again the incident from Acts 19, discussed earlier. Can anyone imagine Paul and the other missionaries picketing the temple of Diana? It is pretty clear that they did no such thing. Turn it around; can we visualize the "antis" of that time picketing Christian places of worship? Yes, very easily. Anti- Mormons do such things, because anti-Mormonism is not Christian. There are, in fact, no "true Christians" picketing outside any LDS Temples, since that is not what true Christians do.

At this juncture, it is altogether apropos to consider the terrible consequences of anti-religious polemic in general. In the past it has led to such historical highlights as the feeding of Christians to the lions for public amusement, the burning of heretics, the crusades and the Seven Years' War, while it is at least partly responsible for the Nazi death camps. The epithet of "Christ-killers" applied to Jews is nothing if not religious polemic, while ghettos and yellow stars of David were conscious borrowings from medieval Catholic anti-Semitism. Anti- Mormon polemic in particular has led to the Boggs extermination order, the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the expulsion from Nauvoo, Johnston's army and the Edmunds-Tucker act. When we see the anti-Mormon fraternity loudly repeating the very same charges that led to those nineteenth-century atrocities, we cannot but wonder if some (if not most ) of them secretly yearn for a return to the glory days when their fulminations caused lynchings, mass murder, wholesale rape, and the crushing of women's voting rights.

The use of false accusations by anti-Mormons has been discussed in some detail by others. The Satanic nature of this activity (Satan means "accuser" or "slanderer") needs no commentary; but what is really interesting is the way that anti-Mormons quite clearly (and it may be argued, deliberately) transfer their misdeeds to us. For example: "Mormons don't know their own doctrines." This common anti-Mormon claim is a cover-up for the fact that the critics don't know our doctrines; at least, they very consistently get them wrong. "Mormons misrepresent their own beliefs." This is quite a blatant reversal of the truth; actually the critics misrepresent our beliefs.

"Mormons are racist." This is truly ironic. We remember that the Saints were driven out of Missouri because they were mostly Northern and therefore opposed to slavery, while the Baptists, Episcopalians and others in the South supported that institution. Actually the very frequent playing of the race card by the Church's critics is a pretty clear indication that they have very few valid criticisms to make.

Perhaps more significant is the fact that anti- Mormonism is almost exclusively a white mens' club; the few exceptions are white women. When we connect this with the fact that the geographical home of anti-Mormonism is KKK country, there may be an explanation ready at hand. In times past it was a popular joke in some quarters that the Procol Harum song "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was the South African national anthem. That nation is no longer eligible to use that song, but maybe the anti- Mormons could make use of it.

"Mormons repress women." Utah territory was the first place in the U.S. where women voted. The antipolygamy "crusaders," the anti-Mormons of just a few generations ago, managed to get women's suffrage suppressed in Utah because Utah women supported plural marriage.

Anti-Mormons frequently dismiss LDS testimonies as mere rote repetition. "This testimony is normally repeated as if by memory, with little inflection or emotion," says Michael H. Reynolds in Sharing the Faith with Your Mormon Friends, p. 18. In what FARMS reviewer Daniel C. Peterson calls "a richly ironic touch," that "little falsehood is followed almost immediately" by an earnest recommendation that "Christians" (i.e. anti-Mormon proselytizers) should memorize and practice reciting their testimonies. Rote repetition is clearly acceptable for anti-Mormons to use, but not for Latter-day Saints.

"The Mormon Church is money-hungry." And so we ask, when we see these televangelists with their multi-million-dollar incomes, their corporate jets and their mistresses, why are none of them LDS? Why are all of them Evangelical Protestants of some shade or another?

"The LDS church's missionary program is one of proselytizing, rather than evangelism. Its goal is not to lead lost sinners to faith in Jesus, but to detach people from their churches and attach them to the LDS church." So says Robert McKay. And what, may we ask, is the famous SBC missionary effort in Utah about, if not to detach people from the LDS Church and attach them to the Baptist church?

"The Mormon Church's leaders are crooks and charlatans." Walter Martin, Dee Jay Nelson and Ed Decker, to name just a few examples, are/were liars and charlatans. Mark W. Hofmann is a crook; the very pseudo-scholarly Tanners are charlatans. Criminality and charlatanry are firmly at home in the anti-Mormon camp, having been firmly rebuffed by the Latter-day Saints.

A variation on the above statement is the oft-proclaimed opinion that "The Mormon Church's leaders must know that the whole thing is a fake." What a world of smugness and arrogance is encapsulated in that single sentence! The anti-Mormon has reached a conclusion that "the whole thing is a fake," and so naturally no well-informed person could possibly hold a contrary opinion; and nobody is better informed on this subject than the Church's leaders. Therefore, when they tell the rest of us poor deluded souls that they actually believe in the Church to which they have devoted the better part of their lives, they are lying to us. The utterly astonishing conclusion to which this leads is that not one of the Church's general authorities has ever been an honest man, or even a decent human being.

"The Mormon Church teaches salvation by works." Real Christians, we are told, need only the grace of God through Christ. Very well, so what is all this anti-Mormon activity about? Can't Latter-day Saints be saved by grace through faith in Christ? Well, apparently not. As Peterson so cogently writes, And it is clear, frankly, that there is one work, one human action, that our Baptist critics do regard, however inconsistently, as essential for our salvation: "If for some reason you should trust a Jesus other than the one who is revealed in the New Testament," says Michael Reynolds, "then your trust is in vain, even if by some chance the rest of your theology is intact. ... [T]here is no hope for those who trust in this different Jesus."

Obviously, in Reynolds's view, theological error is the one unforgivable sin. And theological rectitude is the one indispensable work. That is to say, in the anti-Mormon's eyes, in order for Latter-day Saints to be saved by grace, we have to first do a work, which is to renounce our belief in Mormonism.

This becomes extremely significant, for of the major doctrinal differences between Latter-day Saints and "mainstream" Christians, differences on the matter of salvation would have to rank among the first three. And the cacophony that is the anti- Mormon chorus reaches a near unanimity when the critics insist that all real Christians believe in salvation by grace alone, and that we will be damned unless we give up our "heretical" beliefs. And yet the second statement expressly contradicts the first. Although this poses no problem for Latter-day Saints, other Christians can only resolve the dilemma by accepting the first statement as it stands, and then concluding that those who make the second statement are not real Christians on their own criteria, since they insist on a works-based salvation.

So we return to the question with which we began this survey: are anti-Mormons Christian? The answer: of course not. They were never even in the hunt. Their clerical collars and pious platitudes are simply a smokescreen to hide the ugly reality that anti-Mormonism is one of the clear manifestations of the darkest side of human nature; the side that made possible the death camps and burning crosses, the massacre of the Hutus and the wholesale slaughter of the Native Americans. Just as vicious and repressive dictatorships like to give themselves grandiose and liberal-sounding titles like "The People's Democratic Socialist Republic of Such-and-such", so these nasty religious haters appropriate the label of "Christian" in order to claim for themselves a specious respectability that their deeds and attitudes do not merit.

Notwithstanding all of the above, Latter-day Saints are, and continue to be, more than willing to allow these folk the right to call themselves Christians. All we ask is that they return the same courtesy.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Other Christian; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: antichristianthread; antimormonthread; christian; lds; mormon; mormon1
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To: Saundra Duffy

a bucket of water from an unidentifed individual = persecution.

Having lived in Germany for 5 years, I found native germans respectful. Moslem emmigrants on the other hand were something else. They thought nothing about throwing rocks or other things at Americans - so it is likely your ‘sister’ was ‘persecuted’ for being an American. Since the water incident wasn’t linked to witnessing - it has even less effect.


441 posted on 03/17/2010 11:39:40 AM PDT by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: Saundra Duffy
They are representing the Savior in a very hostile world.

Actually no, they are not. They are an expertly trained sales force representing the LDS Inc.

That all of these young people are aware of that or not is debatable, that many are brainwashed is not.

442 posted on 03/17/2010 11:40:39 AM PDT by ejonesie22 (Palin bashers on freerepublic, like a fart in Church...)
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To: colorcountry

Ive had a shot gun held at my head for preaching the real Gospel...

Cocked and loaded...I watched him load it...

Oh what did you do Nana ???

Cry ???

No, you oughta know me by now...

I just kept on preachin’ the REAL Gospel...

Plus I was teling the man that Jesus loved him...

After a while he lowered his shot gun and went to his own home...

I was standing outside another persons house at the time, and when the man with the shot gun left, the family all got gloriously saved...

:)


443 posted on 03/17/2010 11:46:47 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: Tennessee Nana

Sister is Christ it is good to know you.


444 posted on 03/17/2010 12:06:03 PM PDT by svcw (Jesus comforts the uncomfortable and makes uncomfortable the comfortable.)
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To: RaceBannon
 
Mormonism is VERY proud...
 
Ya think??

 

MORMON
ATTITUDES OF SUPERIORITY
 

  1. I’m Superior; I have a special gift of the holy Ghost -- you don’t!
  2. I’m Superior; I have God’s true priesthood power -- you don’t!
  3. I’m Superior; I can go in God’s secret Temple -- you can’t!
  4. I’m Superior; I’ve been Endowed with special Gifts and Knowledge -- you’re just normal!
  5. I’m Superior; I’ll have my family with me in heaven -- you’ll be with strangers!
  6. I’m Superior; I’m becoming a God -- you aren’t!
  7. I’m Superior; My women know their place as servants of man and yours don’t.
  8. I’m Superior; YOUR creeds are wrong because they come from man - mine comes from God (you can find each one printed in our Scriptures).
  9. I’m Superior; I don’t HAVE a creed - I’ve 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. I’m Superior; I can lie with impunity about such things as church membership, church growth, church doctrine, church history, church influence, etc. —                           -- You can’t.
12. I’m Superior; I am right (everybody knows) when I say 'evangelical' Christians are lunatics --                            -- You’re 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. I’m 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. I’m Superior; I have magic underwear to protect me from the bogey man -- you don’t.
18. I’m Superior; I have secret clasps and grips to give the angel so I get admitted to the celestial kingdom -- you don’t ;so you can’t.
19. I'm Superior; I know secret handshake codes for afterlife entrances-- you don't.
20. I’m 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                              -- You’re on your own; when you get to wherever you’re going!
21. I’m Superior; I’m going to hie to Kolob -- you’re going to who knows where.
22. I’m Superior; I get to have a harem and act like a celestial stud for time and all eternity -- you don’t.
23. I’m 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. I’m 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.

Why can't the RESTORED gospel be found in the Book of MORMON; like Salt Lake City SAYS that it can?

445 posted on 03/17/2010 12:08:39 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Tennessee Nana

You are a great saint who shows an example of takin’ it to the world. Thank you!

But did anyone actually throw water on you? Until then you just can’t know persecution. < /sarc>


446 posted on 03/17/2010 12:08:39 PM PDT by colorcountry (A faith without truth is not true faith.)
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To: Saundra Duffy; colorcountry; Colofornian; Elsie; svcw; Zakeet; Tennessee Nana; FastCoyote; ...
What on earth? This takes the cake. Now I know what I am dealing with. A Sister Missionary, serving and loving the people of Germany, gets a bucket of water thrown on her and you think it’s a small matter.

Why no, it is NOT a small matter. When fifty-five THOUSAND mormon missionaries PER DAY are sent out to proselytize in many areas of the world, it is not a small matter indeed when ONLY ONE gets a little WET!

When you can come back and provide proof, (which I haven't seen for your little story) of missionaries being beaten, tarred and feathered (which Joseph Smith WAS, BTW) or killed (and not dying in an accident or from illness) for spreading the message of mormonism, bring the news...AND the source.

Even then, if you can come up with ten or one-hundred and ten who have actually been physically HURT, the percentage of actual "persecutions" to the the astounding numbers of missionaries out there every day will, I guarantee, be miniscule!

Actually, once she realized she was being persecuted for the sake of the Kingdom of God, for our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ, I’m sure she rejoiced in it.

Persecution....hogwash!

447 posted on 03/17/2010 12:08:51 PM PDT by greyfoxx39 ("The Economy Is So Bad, Even 'Rosy Scenario' Lost Her Job"-Jim Geraghty)
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To: Leoni
Protestants do not agree among themselves as to what constitutes a Christian, therefore, a Mormon can call themselves a Christian.

Really bad logic!


But, for the sake of argument, let's let the SLC branch of MORMONism call themselves MORMON.

Why then won't THEY let the Flds folks call THEMSELVES MORMON?

448 posted on 03/17/2010 12:12:59 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: greyfoxx39; colorcountry; svcw; T Minus Four

They play up persecution the same way they down play sin.

Shows their self righteousness plainly.


449 posted on 03/17/2010 12:13:46 PM PDT by reaganaut (Don't mind me, I did a little to much LDS in the 80's (Star Trek IV reference))
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To: Tennessee Nana
set one group onto another so we leave mormonism alone and get into his drama...

I'll GET you!

And your little dog; too!

450 posted on 03/17/2010 12:14:01 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: metmom
Yes; I AM that sweet!
451 posted on 03/17/2010 12:15:40 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: colorcountry; svcw

No, alas no water as yet...

Ah me Oh me...


452 posted on 03/17/2010 12:18:24 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: Tennessee Nana

scissors and paper...


453 posted on 03/17/2010 12:18:43 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Elsie

Rock-in-hat


454 posted on 03/17/2010 12:19:22 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: Paragon Defender
It simply brings into light that Anti-Mormons (like a few on here) aren’t behaving in a Christ-like manner at all.

Don't be GUTLESS!!

Name names!!

455 posted on 03/17/2010 12:19:39 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: MHGinTN

Yer
Own
Private
Interpretation
Of
Scripture

It seems to be used mostly by catholics - the Roman kind.


456 posted on 03/17/2010 12:21:07 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: greyfoxx39

I kinda liked the DESPICABLE ones the other day.


457 posted on 03/17/2010 12:25:32 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: T Minus Four
Elsie, did I mention I LOVE you :-)!!!!!!!

Aw... shucks...

(Kicks dust with foot)

458 posted on 03/17/2010 12:27:13 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: greyfoxx39
When what's written down just ain't ENOUGH!


 
 


NIV Matthew 2:5
 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:

NIV Matthew 4:1-11
 1.  Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
 2.  After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
 3.  The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
 4.  Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' "
 5.  Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
 6.  "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "`He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' "
 7.  Jesus answered him, "It is also written: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' "
 8.  Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 
 9.  "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
 10.  Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: `Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' "
 11.  Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
 

NIV Matthew 11:10
    This is the one about whom it is written: "`I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'
 

NIV Matthew 21:13
    "It is written," he said to them, "`My house will be called a house of prayer,'  but you are making it a `den of robbers.' "
 

NIV Matthew 26:24
    The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him.
 

NIV Matthew 26:31
   Then Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: "`I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' 
 

NIV Mark 7:6-7
 6.  He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "`These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
 7.  They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'
 

NIV Mark 9:11-13
 11.  And they asked him, "Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?"
 12.  Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected?
 13.  But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him."
 

NIV Mark 11:17
    And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: "`My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations' ? But you have made it `a den of robbers.' "
 

NIV Mark 14:27
    "You will all fall away," Jesus told them, "for it is written: "`I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'
 

NIV Luke 1:1-4
 1.  Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled  among us,
 2.  just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.
 3.  Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 
 4.  so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
 

NIV Luke 4:17-19
 17.  The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
 18.  "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,
 19.  to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
 

NIV Luke 7:27
    This is the one about whom it is written: "`I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'
 

NIV Luke 10:26
    "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
 

NIV Luke 18:31-33
 31.  Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.
 32.  He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him.
 33.  On the third day he will rise again."
 

NIV Luke 20:17-18
 17.  Jesus looked directly at them and asked, "Then what is the meaning of that which is written: "`The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone ' ?
 18.  Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."
 

NIV Luke 21:22
    For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written.
 

NIV Luke 22:37
    It is written: `And he was numbered with the transgressors' ; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment."
 

NIV Luke 24:44-47
 44.  He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."
 45.  Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.
 46.  He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,
 47.  and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
 

NIV John 2:17
    His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
 
NIV John 6:31
   Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: `He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' "
 

NIV John 6:45
   It is written in the Prophets: `They will all be taught by God.'  Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.
 

NIV John 12:14-15
 14.  Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
 15.  "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt."
 

NIV John 12:14-16
 14.  Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
 15.  "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt."
 16.  At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.
 

NIV John 15:25
   But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: `They hated me without reason.'
 

NIV John 20:30-31
 30.  Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
 31.  But these are written that you may  believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
 

NIV Acts 1:20
   "For," said Peter, "it is written in the book of Psalms, "`May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,' and, "`May another take his place of leadership.'
 

NIV Acts 7:42
   But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: "`Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
 

NIV Acts 13:29
   When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
 

NIV Acts 13:32-33
 32.  "We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers
 33.  he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: "`You are my Son; today I have become your Father. '
 

NIV Acts 15:15-18
 15.  The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
 16.  "`After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,
 17.  that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things'
 18.  that have been known for ages.
 

NIV Acts 23:5
    Paul replied, "Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for  it is written: `Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.' "
 

NIV Acts 24:14
   However, I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the Prophets,
    and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. 
 

NIV Romans 1:17
   For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,  just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
 

NIV Romans 2:24
   As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."
 

NIV Romans 3:4
    Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge."
 

NIV Romans 3:10-12
 10.  As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 
 11.  there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
 12.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."
 

NIV Romans 4:17
    As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations."  He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
 

NIV Romans 4:23-24
 23.  The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone,
 24.  but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness--for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
 

NIV Romans 8:36
   As  it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
 

NIV Romans 9:13
   Just as  it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
 

NIV Romans 9:33
    As  it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
 

NIV Romans 10:15
    And how can they preach unless they are sent? As  it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
 

NIV Romans 11:7-10
 7.  What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,
 8.  as  it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day."
 9.  And David says: "May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
 10.  May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever."
 

NIV Romans 11:26-27
 26.  And so all Israel will be saved, as  it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
 27.  And this is  my covenant with them when I take away their sins."
 

NIV Romans 12:19
  Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for  it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"  says the Lord.
 

NIV Romans 14:11
   It is written: "`As surely as I live,' says the Lord, `every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'"
 

NIV Romans 15:3-4
 3.  For even Christ did not please himself but, as  it is written: "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me."
 4.  For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
 

NIV Romans 15:7-12
 7.  Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
 8.  For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews  on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs
 9.  so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as  it is written: "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name."
 10.  Again, it says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people."
 11.  And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples."
 12.  And again, Isaiah says, "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him."
 

NIV Romans 15:21
    Rather, as  it is written: "Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand." 
 

NIV 1 Corinthians 1:19
    For  it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
 

NIV 1 Corinthians 1:31
   Therefore, as  it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
 

NIV 1 Corinthians 2:9
   However, as  it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" --
 

NIV 1 Corinthians 3:19-20
 19.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As  it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness" ;
 20.  and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."
 

NIV 1 Corinthians 4:6
   Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, "Do not go beyond what is written." Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.
 

NIV 1 Corinthians 9:9
   For  it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain."  Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
 

NIV 1 Corinthians 10:7
   Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as  it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry."
 

NIV 1 Corinthians 10:11
   These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
 

NIV 1 Corinthians 14:21
   In the Law  it is written: "Through men of strange tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me," says the Lord.
 

NIV 1 Corinthians 15:45
   So  it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being" ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
 

NIV 1 Corinthians 15:54
   When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
 

NIV 2 Corinthians 1:13-14
 13.  For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that,
 14.  as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.
 

NIV 2 Corinthians 4:13-14
 13.  it is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken."  With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak,
 14.  because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.
 

NIV 2 Corinthians 8:15
   as  it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."
 

NIV 2 Corinthians 9:9
 

NIV Galatians 3:10
   All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for  it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."
 

NIV Galatians 3:13
   Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for  it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
 

NIV Galatians 4:22
  For  it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.
 

NIV Galatians 4:27
   For  it is written: "Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labor pains; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband."
 

NIV Hebrews 10:7
   Then I said, `Here I am-- it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, O God.'"
 

NIV 1 Peter 1:16
   for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
 

NIV 2 Peter 3:16
   He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
 

NIV 1 John 2:12-14
 12.   I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
 13.   I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you young men, because you have overcome the evil one.  I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.
 14.   I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

459 posted on 03/17/2010 12:29:33 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Saundra Duffy
A Sister Missionary, serving and loving the people of Germany, gets a bucket of water thrown on her and you think it’s a small matter.

For YOU to infer that it was because of the difference in religious beliefs makes you a MINDREADER.

460 posted on 03/17/2010 12:31:58 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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