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The Origin of Man - Mormon (OPEN)
Ensign Magazine, From Improvement Era, Nov. 1909 ^ | Feb 2002 | First Presidency

Posted on 05/21/2010 8:22:46 AM PDT by greyfoxx39

Ensign » 2002 » February
 

The Origin of Man

By the First Presidency of the Church

First Presidency, “The Origin of Man,” Ensign, Feb 2002, 26

From Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, 75–81; capitalization, punctuation, paragraphing, and spelling standardized.

“God created man in his own image” (Gen. 1:27).

Image

In the early 1900s, questions concerning the Creation of the earth and the theories of evolution became the subject of much public discussion. In the midst of these controversies, the First Presidency issued the following in 1909, which expresses the Church’s doctrinal position on these matters. A reprinting of this important First Presidency statement will be helpful as members of the Church study the Old Testament this year.

Inquiries arise from time to time respecting the attitude of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints upon questions which, though not vital from a doctrinal standpoint, are closely connected with the fundamental principles of salvation. The latest inquiry of this kind that has reached us is in relation to the origin of man. It is believed that a statement of the position held by the Church upon this subject will be timely and productive of good.

In presenting the statement that follows we are not conscious of putting forth anything essentially new; neither is it our desire so to do. Truth is what we wish to present, and truth—eternal truth—is fundamentally old. A restatement of the original attitude of the Church relative to this matter is all that will be attempted here. To tell the truth as God has revealed it, and commend it to the acceptance of those who need to conform their opinions thereto, is the sole purpose of this presentation.

“God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” In these plain and pointed words the inspired author of the book of Genesis made known to the world the truth concerning the origin of the human family. Moses, the prophet-historian—“learned,” as we are told, “in all the wisdom of the Egyptians”—when making this important announcement was not voicing a mere opinion, a theory derived from his researches into the occult lore of that ancient people. He was speaking as the mouthpiece of God, and his solemn declaration was for all time and for all people. No subsequent revelator of the truth has contradicted the great leader and lawgiver of Israel. All who have since spoken by divine authority upon this theme have confirmed his simple and sublime proclamation. Nor could it be otherwise. Truth has but one source, and all revelations from heaven are harmonious with each other. The omnipotent Creator, the maker of heaven and earth, had shown unto Moses everything pertaining to this planet, including the facts relating to man’s origin, and the authoritative pronouncement of that mighty prophet and seer to the house of Israel, and through Israel to the whole world, is couched in the simple clause: “God created man in his own image” (Gen. 1:27; see Moses 1:27–41).

The creation was twofold—first spiritual, secondly temporal. This truth, also, Moses plainly taught—much more plainly than it has come down to us in the imperfect translations of the Bible that are now in use. Therein the fact of a spiritual creation, antedating the temporal creation, is strongly implied, but the proof of it is not so clear and conclusive as in other records held by the Latter-day Saints to be of equal authority with the Jewish scriptures. The partial obscurity of the latter upon the point in question is owing, no doubt, to the loss of those “plain and precious” parts of sacred writ, which, as the Book of Mormon informs us, have been taken away from the Bible during its passage down the centuries (see 1 Ne. 13:24–29). Some of these missing parts the Prophet Joseph Smith undertook to restore when he revised those scriptures by the spirit of revelation, the result being that more complete account of the Creation which is found in the book of Moses, previously cited. Note the following passages:

“And now, behold, I say unto you, that these are the generations of the heaven and of the earth, when they were created, in the day that I, the Lord God, made the heaven and the earth,

“And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I, the Lord God, created all things of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. For I, the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth. And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them, and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air;

“But, I, the Lord God, spake, and there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

“And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also; nevertheless, all things were before created; but spiritually were they created and made according to my word” (Moses 3:4–7; see also Moses 1 and Moses 2, and compare with Gen. 1 and Gen. 2).

These two points being established, namely, the creation of man in the image of God, and the twofold character of the Creation, let us now inquire: What was the form of man, in the spirit and in the body, as originally created? In a general way the answer is given in the words chosen as the text of this treatise. “God created man in his own image.” It is more explicitly rendered in the Book of Mormon thus: “All men were created in the beginning after mine own image” (Ether 3:15). … If, therefore, we can ascertain the form of the “Father of spirits,” “The God of the spirits of all flesh,” we shall be able to discover the form of the original man.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is “the express image” of His Father’s person (Heb. 1:3). He walked the earth as a human being, as a perfect man, and said, in answer to a question put to Him: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). This alone ought to solve the problem to the satisfaction of every thoughtful, reverent mind. The conclusion is irresistible, that if the Son of God be the express image (that is, likeness) of His Father’s person, then His Father is in the form of a man; for that was the form of the Son of God, not only during His mortal life, but before His mortal birth, and after His Resurrection. It was in this form that the Father and the Son, as two personages, appeared to Joseph Smith, when, as a boy of 14 years, he received his first vision. Then if God made man—the first man—in His own image and likeness, He must have made him like unto Christ, and consequently like unto men of Christ’s time and of the present day. That man was made in the image of Christ is positively stated in the book of Moses: “And I, God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and it was so. …

“And I, God, created man in mine own image, in the image of mine Only Begotten created I him; male and female created I them” (Moses 2:26–27).

The Father of Jesus is our Father also. Jesus Himself taught this truth when He instructed His disciples how to pray: “Our Father which art in heaven,” etc. Jesus, however, is the firstborn among all the sons of God—the first begotten in the spirit, and the only begotten in the flesh. He is our elder brother, and we, like Him, are in the image of God. All men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother and are literally the sons and daughters of Deity.

“God created man in His own image.” This is just as true of the spirit as it is of the body, which is only the clothing of the spirit, its complement—the two together constituting the soul. The spirit of man is in the form of man, and the spirits of all creatures are in the likeness of their bodies. This was plainly taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith (see D&C 77:2).

Here is further evidence of the fact. More than 700 years before Moses was shown the things pertaining to this earth, another great prophet, known to us as the brother of Jared, was similarly favored by the Lord. He was even permitted to behold the spirit-body of the foreordained Savior, prior to His incarnation; and so like the body of a man was gazing upon a being of flesh and blood. He first saw the finger and then the entire body of the Lord—all in the spirit. The Book of Mormon says of this wonderful manifestation:

“And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold, the Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his finger. And the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear.

“And the Lord saw that the brother of Jared had fallen to the earth; and the Lord said to him: Arise, why hast thou fallen?

“And he saith unto the Lord: I saw the finger of the Lord, and I feared lest he should smite me; for I knew not that the Lord had flesh and blood.

“And the Lord said unto him: Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood; and never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so ye could not have seen my finger. Sawest thou more than this?

“And he answered: Nay; Lord, show thyself unto me.

“And the Lord said unto him: Believest thou the words which I shall speak?

“And he answered, Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie.

“And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.

“Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.

“And never have I showed myself unto man whom I have created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast. Seest thou that ye are created after mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in the beginning after mine own image.

“Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh” (Ether 3:6–16).

What more is needed to convince us that man, both in spirit and in body, is the image and likeness of God and that God Himself is in the form of a man?

When the divine Being whose spirit-body the brother of Jared beheld took upon Him flesh and blood, He appeared as a man, having “body, parts and passions,” like other men, though vastly superior to all others, because He was God, even the Son of God, the Word made flesh: in Him “dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” And why should He not appear as a man? That was the form of His spirit, and it must needs have an appropriate covering, a suitable tabernacle. He came into the world as He had promised to come (see 3 Ne. 1:13), taking an infant tabernacle and developing it gradually to the fulness of His spirit stature. He came as man had been coming for ages and as man has continued to come ever since. Jesus, however, as shown, was the Only Begotten of God in the flesh.

Adam, our first progenitor, “the first man,” was, like Christ, a preexistent spirit, and like Christ he took upon him an appropriate body, the body of a man, and so became a “living soul.” The doctrine of the preexistence—revealed so plainly, particularly in latter days—pours a wonderful flood of light upon the otherwise mysterious problem of man’s origin. It shows that man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal body to undergo an experience in mortality. It teaches that all men existed in the spirit before any man existed in the flesh and that all who have inhabited the earth since Adam have taken bodies and become souls in like manner.

It is held by some that Adam was not the first man upon this earth and that the original human being was a development from lower orders of the animal creation. These, however, are the theories of men. The word of the Lord declared that Adam was “the first man of all men” (Moses 1:34), and we are therefore in duty bound to regard him as the primal parent of our race. It was shown to the brother of Jared that all men were created in the beginning after the image of God; whether we take this to mean the spirit or the body, or both, it commits us to the same conclusion: Man began life as a human being, in the likeness of our Heavenly Father.

True it is that the body of man enters upon its career as a tiny germ embryo, which becomes an infant, quickened at a certain stage by the spirit whose tabernacle it is, and the child, after being born, develops into a man. There is nothing in this, however, to indicate that the original man, the first of our race, began life as anything less than a man, or less than the human germ or embryo that becomes a man.

Man, by searching, cannot find out God. Never, unaided, will he discover the truth about the beginning of human life. The Lord must reveal Himself or remain unrevealed; and the same is true of the facts relating to the origin of Adam’s race—God alone can reveal them. Some of these facts, however, are already known, and what has been made known it is our duty to receive and retain.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, basing its belief on divine revelation, ancient and modern, proclaims man to be the direct and lineal offspring of Deity. God Himself is an exalted man, perfected, enthroned, and supreme. By His almighty power He organized the earth and all that it contains, from spirit and element, which exist coeternally with Himself. He formed every plant that grows and every animal that breathes, each after its own kind, spiritually and temporally—“that which is spiritual being in the likeness of that which is temporal, and that which is temporal in the likeness of that which is spiritual.” He made the tadpole and the ape, the lion and the elephant, but He did not make them in His own image, nor endow them with godlike reason and intelligence. Nevertheless, the whole animal creation will be perfected and perpetuated in the Hereafter, each class in its “distinct order or sphere,” and will enjoy “eternal felicity.” That fact has been made plain in this dispensation (see D&C 77:3).

Man is the child of God, formed in the divine image and endowed with divine attributes, and even as the infant son of an earthly father and mother is capable in due time of becoming a man, so the undeveloped offspring of celestial parentage is capable, by experience through ages and aeons, of evolving into a God.

Joseph F. Smith
John R. Winder
Anthon H. Lund
First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
November 1909



TOPICS: General Discusssion; History; Other non-Christian; Theology
KEYWORDS: beck; christian; glennbeck; inman; lds; mormon
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To: restornu; colorcountry; Colofornian; Elsie; svcw; Zakeet; Tennessee Nana; FastCoyote; ...
There have been individials praying for me saying I believe in Pagan god, or follow satan etc!

Photobucket

Incredible!

41 posted on 05/22/2010 11:25:48 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (I have discovered Campbell's Senior alphabet soup....it comes in large type.!)
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To: restornu; houeto
Paradise is that part of the spirit world in which the righteous spirits who have departed from this life await the resurrection of the body.
It is a condition of happiness and peace.
However, the scriptures are not always consistent in the use of the word, especially in the Bible

Houeto, this is a misleading and simplistic statement of mormon belief regarding the "afterlife" according to mormon belief or "Three Degrees of Glory". Note that "righteous sprits" is code for those spirits who either in this life, or after they die, are baptized and confirmed members of the mormon church and the lowest degree, "Telestial Kingdom" is reserved for souls who "Received not gospel of Christ" (received, accepted mormonism).

For the correct and official description, taken from approved doctrine, here is a chart laying it all out with a longer description to be found at the LDS official website

HERE

Perdition and the Three Degrees of Glory

Doctrine and Covenants 76:30-112; 131:1-4

 

Eternal Habitation

Verse

Actions/Works

Consequences

Perdition

(no Kingdom or Glory)

31

Known & partaken of God’s power

 

31

Suffered selves to be overcome by devil

 

31

Deny the truth and defy God’s power

 

33

 

Vessels of wrath

33

 

Doomed to suffer wrath of God

34

 

No forgiveness in this world/world to come

35

Denied Holy Spirit after receiving it

 

35

Denied Only Begotten Son

 

35

Crucified Son unto themselves, to an open shame

 

36

 

Go into lake of fire/brimstone w/ devil and angels

37

 

Only ones whom second death shall have any power

38

 

Not be redeemed in due time of the Lord

48

 

The end, width, height, depth and misery none understand

 

 

 

 

Celestial Kingdom

51

Received testimony of Jesus

 

51

Believed in Christ’s name

 

51

Baptized in water in his name

 

52

Keep commandments

 

52

 

Washed and cleanses from sins

52

Receive the Holy Spirit by laying on of hands by one ordained

 

52, 53

Sealed by power of the Spirit

 

53

Overcome by faith

 

53

 

Holy Spirit shed on them

54

 

The Church of the Firstborn

55

 

Father gives all things into their hands

56

 

Are priests and kings

56

 

Received of God’s fullness and glory

57

 

Priests after the order of the Only Begotten Son

58

 

They are gods/sons of God

59

 

All things are theirs

60

 

Shall overcome all things

62

 

Shall dwell in God’s and Christ’s presence forever

63

 

Shall come with Christ to reign over the earth

64

 

Have part in the first resurrection

65

 

Come forth in resurrection of the just

66

 

Have come unto Mount Zion, city of living God, holiest of all

67

 

Come to general assembly and church of Enoch/Firstborn

68

 

Names written in heaven

69

 

Are just men made perfect through Jesus

70

 

Bodies are celestial, glory as the glory of God

131:2

Enter the new and everlasting covenant of marriage

Enter into highest heaven/degree in celestial kingdom

131:3-4

Does not enter into covenant

Cannot have an increase

 

 

 

 

Terrestrial Kingdom

72

Died without the law

 

73

Spirits kept in prison

 

74

Received testimony of Christ in spirit world

 

75

Honorable men of the earth

 

75

Blinded by craftiness of men

 

76

 

Received glory but not fullness

77

Received presence of Son, but not the Father

 

78

 

Bodies are terrestrial

79

Not valiant in the testimony of Jesus

Obtain not crown over kingdom of God

 

 

 

 

Telestial Kingdom

82

Received not gospel of Christ

 

82

Received not testimony of Jesus

 

83

Deny not the Holy Spirit

 

84

 

Thrust down to hell

85

 

Not redeemed from devil till Christ has finished his work

86

Received not of Christ’ fullness in eternal world

 

86

Received Holy Spirit through ministration of the terrestrial

 

88

Receive the administering of angels

 

88

Heirs of salvation

 

89

 

Telestial surpasses all understanding

99-100

Those who are  some of one and some of another

 

102

 

Not be gathered with the saints, church of the Firstborn

103

Are liars, adulterers, whoremongers, loves and makes lies

 

104

 

Suffered wrath of God on earth

105

 

Suffer the vengeance of eternal fire

106

 

Suffer the wrath of God until fullness of times

109

 

Were as innumerable as the stars

112

 

Be servants of God

112

 

Cannot go where God and Christ dwell

 


42 posted on 05/22/2010 11:47:57 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (I have discovered Campbell's Senior alphabet soup....it comes in large type.!)
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To: greyfoxx39; bone52; Saundra Duffy; urroner; JDW11235; Normandy; killermedic; Paragon Defender; ...

I address what he post in his post you are trying to throw meat at him because it is known if he learn the way the Lord said...

10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

he would discover the truth by the power of the Holy Ghost!

What is being taught today by many in the mainstream is the God of Philosophy not the God of Condescension!

http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/basic/godhead/Condescension_EOM.htm

Jesus is the only God formed as stated in...

Isa 43

10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

Jesus is the only begotten Son of Heavenly Father as stated in...

Eph 1

17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,


43 posted on 05/22/2010 12:21:29 PM PDT by restornu
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Isa 51

9 ¶ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?

10 Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?

11 Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;

13 And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?

14 The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

15 But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The Lord of hosts is his name.

16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.


44 posted on 05/22/2010 12:26:17 PM PDT by restornu
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To: restornu; Religion Moderator

REsty, what we do it post what is taught by the LDS, from their own websites. I doubt anyone ever said YOU believe such-and-such.

I have found that many LDS are unaware of their church’s teachings and/or don’t believe the teachings.


45 posted on 05/22/2010 12:55:00 PM PDT by T Minus Four (Abortion: one dead, one wounded.)
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To: T Minus Four

Before I ever jointed I did extensive investigation on the LDS and other faiths also...

I know for a fact that mainstream seminaries has danced around the doctrines of the Lord maybe because some after after so many years what has been passed on many were so entrench in tradition never gave it a thought.

But I care not what others thinks I choose to go to the source and that is God and his written word.

When one hears truth and is a truth seeker they know their Master voice

I had combed the earth for almost 2 decades and I am so thankful the Lord gave me an excellent tour of what is out there but what belongs to him is unmistakable there are imitators and deceivers galore

One of the first things I understood was the war in Heaven and the fall of Lucifer and the promise that the opposition would in the latter days would seek control of world economics and as I witness in 2010 it is very clear now what rang so true to me it is endless what the Holy Ghost has witness to me.

So many here scoff and mocked this revelation and even today they will deny it because it would mean they would have to admit they were wrong!


46 posted on 05/22/2010 1:35:52 PM PDT by restornu
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To: restornu; houeto; reaganaut
I address what he post in his post you are trying to throw meat at him because it is known if he learn the way the Lord said... 10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: he would discover the truth by the power of the Holy Ghost!

MY! What a "condescending" statement...as if houeto is unable to understand the "meat" and must be guided like a child to understanding...of course, the mormon offering of "understanding" via stones in a hat.

So, it appears you have found another mormon cudgel to pound Christians with..."God of Philosophy"...my response is those who are "taught" by the servant of the "father of lies" Joseph Smith, should be very careful that the stones they cast don't bounce back and hit them in their precept!

47 posted on 05/22/2010 1:40:16 PM PDT by greyfoxx39 (I have discovered Campbell's Senior alphabet soup....it comes in large type.!)
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To: greyfoxx39

How come your list doesn’t list “apostates”? ;)

— - - - - - - - -

Probably because the Mormon god didn’t know we weren’t going to keep our ‘second estate’ (Mortality for those of you outside the Zion curtain).

Doesn’t matter anyway, we are all headed to ‘outer darkness’ (the closest the LDS get to ‘hell’) for rejecting Mormonism.


48 posted on 05/22/2010 1:46:02 PM PDT by reaganaut (Ex-mormon, now Christan - "I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see")
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To: restornu
When one hears truth and is a truth seeker they know their Master voice

Unfortunately, there are those who mistake the voice of Joseph Smith as their "Master's Voice".

49 posted on 05/22/2010 1:52:46 PM PDT by greyfoxx39 (I have discovered Campbell's Senior alphabet soup....it comes in large type.!)
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To: restornu
Isa 43
10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

Interesting resty - mormonism is polytheistic in that it admits that there are multitudes of gods - yet you cite scripture that flat out refutes that doctrine. Well done resty!

50 posted on 05/22/2010 2:07:10 PM PDT by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: restornu; greyfoxx39
Jesus is the only God formed as stated in...
Isa 43
10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

Excuse me resty - did the mormon jesus here have a mind cramp? He does not acknowledge the existence of heavenly father - another mormon god, nor the council of gods seated in Kolob. How can this be!

51 posted on 05/22/2010 2:10:09 PM PDT by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: greyfoxx39

When one hears truth and is a truth seeker they know their Master voice

Unfortunately, there are those who mistake the voice of Joseph Smith as their “Master’s Voice”.

***

When I received the witness of the Holy Ghost I never knew of Joseph Smith so there goes that theory of yours!


52 posted on 05/22/2010 2:14:19 PM PDT by restornu
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To: greyfoxx39; restornu
Wait a minute now.

Just recently a certain person posted that it was the holy ghost that told them that every thing joseph smith said was true.

So was that the truth or is this the truth?

Just to refresh, R said: When I received the witness of the Holy Ghost I never knew of Joseph Smith so there goes that theory of yours!

53 posted on 05/22/2010 2:48:07 PM PDT by svcw (Habakkuk 2:3)
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To: greyfoxx39; restornu; houeto

The whole ‘milk before meat’ concept is condescending. The LDS use it as a way of not telling their prospective converts all of the LDS doctrine because they ‘do not yet have enough light and knowledge’ to understand.

What this leads to, in reality, is a ‘bait and switch’. Prospective converts are told one set of doctrines and practices and then are often shocked when they find out the ‘meat’ doctrines. This practice is part of the reason why (IMO) that there is a huge inactivity rate among converts by the first year. This is especially true with people who leave right after going to the temple for the first time.

When I was taking my mission preparation class at BYU, I was given a list of ‘meat’ doctrines not to teach. When I asked why, if we had the truth we were not up front, I was told that if we taught them, no one would join.

Contrast this doctrine/idea/policy with Christianity. Christian churches do not do a ‘bait and switch’. We are up front with our beliefs and practices and do not hide doctrines or beliefs from those we are witnessing to. there is nothing to cover up or hide in the Gospel of Grace.


54 posted on 05/22/2010 2:48:44 PM PDT by reaganaut (Ex-mormon, now Christan - "I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see")
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To: Colofornian

Adam is “god”

in 1873, the Deseret News noted Young saying “How much unbelief exists in the minds of the Latter-day Saints in regard to one particular doctrine which I revealed to them, and which God revealed to me—namely that Adam is our Father and God...).

He had been teaching Adam worship since the early 1850s: “Now, if it should happen that we have to pay TRIBUTE to Father Adam, what a humiliating circumstance it would be! Just wait till you pass Joseph Smith, and after Joseph lets you pass him, you will find Peter...” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 5, p. 331, 1857)

Our Father Adam is the man who stands at the gate and holds the keys of everlasting life and salvation to all his children who have or who ever will come upon the earth. I have been found fault with by the ministers of religion because I have said that they were ignoratn. But I could not find any man on the earth who could tell me this, although it is one of the simplest things in the world, until I met and talked with Joseph Smith. (Brigham Young, Deseret News, June 8, 1873)

Now that was Brigham Young later in life...26 years AFTER he arrived in Utah. From the get-go of the mass-volumed “Journal of Discourses” — from vol. 1 in the early 1850s — Brigham Young was teaching that Adam “is our Father and our God, and the ONLY God with whom we have to do. Every man upon the earth, professing Christians or non-professing, must hear it, and will know it sooner or later.” (vol. 1, JoD, p. 50)


55 posted on 05/22/2010 2:48:48 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: greyfoxx39

Unfortunately, there are those who mistake the voice of Joseph Smith as their “Master’s Voice”.

- - - - -
Worth a repost. The LDS confuse Christ and Smith.


56 posted on 05/22/2010 2:49:35 PM PDT by reaganaut (Ex-mormon, now Christan - "I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see")
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To: restornu; greyfoxx39

I never knew of Joseph Smith so there goes that theory of yours!

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BUT you DID know Smith’s words/teachings (through the Book of Mormon) so Grey’s theory stands.


57 posted on 05/22/2010 2:50:48 PM PDT by reaganaut (Ex-mormon, now Christan - "I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see")
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To: houeto

LOL

Welcome to these threads...

Sounds like you believe like the Christians in these threads...

Jesus is God...

The Trinity consists of Three Persons...

God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit...

The Holy Three-in-One...

:)


58 posted on 05/22/2010 2:56:08 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: greyfoxx39

Oh noez...

Someone cares...


59 posted on 05/22/2010 2:57:02 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: Tennessee Nana

60


60 posted on 05/22/2010 3:01:25 PM PDT by svcw (Habakkuk 2:3)
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