I guess they were expecting a re-haunting from the previous '90s:
1890s(April-->May, 1893): The Haunting of the Salt Lake City Temple opening
Official Mormon church sources claim that when they opened their temple in the Spring of 1893, "Some Latter-day Saints saw...past Presidents of the Church and other ceceased Church leaders." (Our Heritage: A Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1996, p. 102)
I live in Utah, and have heard about this type of stuff happening quite a bit in the LDS Temple...very creepy.
My thought is, these people are not seeing their dead relatives, but demons or some other such thing. The Bible seems to imply that the dead cannot reach us. Remember the Rich Man and Lazerus (sp)? The Rich Man wanted to go and reach his brothers to warn them about Hell, but was told that a “great casim (sp)” was fixed and he could not cross it to warn his brothers.
What makes the LDS Temple particularly creepy are all of the occultic sysmbols adorning the stone work and other parts of the exterior. They have inverted pentagrams, Saturn Stomes, Moon Stones, an All seeing eye, and on one wall, the Ursus Major “The Big Dipper” constellation. Yet not one symbol that’s associated with The Lord Jesus can be found: Cross, Fish, Lamb etc.
Joseph Smith was brilliant in making it so later “revelations” overruled Scripture, so any contradictions could be waved away. It’s also funny that the current LDS doesn’t even follow Joseph Smith’s words.
I only know of one person who has seen a passed relative. I haven’t but I do believe it is possible. You may believe differently. Have a lovely day.
I also understand that they starve children, rape the rain-forest, build glass ceilings, burn churches in the south, blow holes in the ozone, want sick people to die quickly, and are racists.
Well....that's what I heard.
To my knowledge, no other religion is quite as obsessed with the dead as mormonism. Millions of hours are spent in searching records for names of dead to be submitted to temple workers, who spend millions of hours doing proxy baptism and arcane masonic rituals on "behalf of the dead" with the belief that the dead will "choose" to accept these rites and the firm conviction that the dead are in a position to actually MAKE such choices.
While Catholics are known for "praying" for the souls of the dead, there is no requirement for proxy work by the living in an attempt to convert the souls of the dead.
Boyd K. Packer, The Redemption of the Dead, Ensign, Nov. 1975, 97
"On October 3, 1918, President Joseph F. Smith was pondering on the scriptures, including this one from Peter: For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. (1 Pet. 4:6.)
There was opened to him a marvelous vision. In it he saw the concourses of the righteous. And he saw Christ ministering among them. Then he saw those who had not had the opportunity, and those who had not been valiant. And he saw the work for their redemption. And I quote his record of this vision:
I perceived that the Lord went not in person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them; but behold, from among the righteous he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men. And thus was the gospel preached to the dead. (Vision of the Redemption of the Dead, The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Jan. 1919, p. 3.) http://books.google.com/books?id=u78UAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA5&ots=3gm4eYOMw4&dq=Vision+of+the+Redemption+of+the+Dead+1919&output=html
We have been authorized to perform baptisms vicariously so that when they hear the gospel preached and desire to accept it, that essential ordinance will have been performed. They need not ask for any exemption from that essential ordinance. Indeed, the Lord Himself was not exempted from it."
FR thread on "The Redemption of the Dead"
I think the entire article is well worth reading for a disturbing description by a mormon leader of the baptism for the dead
The author misstates the meaning of necromancy. Here is how Merriam-Webster defines the term:
necromancy n 1 : the art or practice of conjuring up the spirits of the dead for purposes of magically revealing the future 2 : MAGIC, SORCERYMormons do not practice necromancy. We do not "summon up" the dead for any purpose.
I have read a number of accounts about dead persons (usually relatives) appearing and communicating to living Latter-day Saints. Such appearances are extraordinary; they occur only as God permits them. I know of no case in which the living person conjured up the dead person.
Such encounters are never condoned by the Bible and as such, should be shunned rather than encouraged.
Tell that to Jesus, who spoke with two dead prophets, Moses and Elias, on the Mount of Transfiguration:
28 ¶ And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.
30 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:
31 Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
32 But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him.
33 And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said. (Luke 9:28-33)
Not only did Jesus talk to two dead men, but they spoke of the future!
If the spirits of the dead came to Jesus, and He spoke with them, it cannot be wrong.
How could there possibly be any evidence showing that someone did or did not, communicate with dead people?
Is it the attempt or the looking forward to communicating, that people are really being condemned for?
Nah...
We get WET for dead people!
--MormonDude(Praise the Restored® Gospel!)
Are their dead still voting? Are their dead still getting government handouts?