PR problem? I'm shocked!
Now that I would like to see...
It would appear that they need help with their 'PR challenges'.
The church finds itself struggling in this information age.
People can too readily Google behind the Christian facade and delve into the history and less-public parts of their doctrines and practices.
This leaves the church in the awkward position of telling their members “You’re not supposed to be reading that”, and non-members “We’re really not a creepy cult. Really really”.
Yesterday my wife and I sat in the home of a Mormon couple who completed their transition out of the church and professed their complete faith in Christ’s work on the cross. It was a good day.
ping for later reading.
Bears repeating.
>> that man is God and the universe in miniature, and that man can develop the divine spark within him until he masters the entire universe and himself becomes God.<<
The very same sin Satan committed to get damned to eternal hell. The same sin Eve committed that brought sin to the world we know. Can there be any doubt who was behind the writings of Smith?
Anyone involved with the Mormon cult needs to understand the dire consequences of following such heresies.
Again, here is another example of the ubiquitous mormon persecution complex weaved into an article that is supposed to be about "defending the faith". "The church", it's always about "the church". It's never about the doctrine, can't present it that way. Have to "personalize" it.
Anyone who dares to dispute or challenge the ISM [the system that is mormonism] is "mean-spirited" and is "publically attacking" mormons.
So, already, they're trying to define a potential debater as "mean-spirited", marginalizing their "opponent" by discrediting them in a manner akin to a liberal.
Placing them on the defensive right out of the gate, trying to force them to address the "when did you stop beating your wife" position without having the chance to rebut the mormon doctrine.
Typical, I see it here on FR quite frequently, from mormons and their "friends" alike.
The Mormons I know are wonderful people. But their religion is not christian. It is something else. They either need to change the doctrinal teachings of the LDS church or they need to stop calling it a christian religion. Until they do either of the above, PR will continue to be extremely difficult.
Of course I would still not buy it, it is a cheap knock off of classy real wood siding, but...
I would like to emphasize one particular "experience" that mormonism has used with maximum effect from the early days, and that is the "persecution" experience. There is not a day that goes by that we do not see this "persecution" meme used on these threads as a means to attempt to censor.
In counting up historically all the "experiences", one can find a relatively small number of deaths in this "persecution" directly caused by enemies of mormons and the mormon church over the past 180 years....possibly fewer than the number of victims from the heinous, Mountain Meadows Massacre [The Original 9/11 of American History] and hundreds of thousands fewer that many Christian sects have seen caused directly by enemies in the past hundred years. We have seen the laughable action of a bucket of water thrown at a mormon missionary compared to the worst Christian persecution.
Most of what mormons have used to buttress the persecution claims was brought about by actions by the mormons themselves in setting themselves apart and above the state and federal government laws and above their "gentile" neighbors, that resulted in non-mormons making things so tough on them they felt compelled to leave certain areas.
The commemorating of the hardships in re-enacting the "Pioneer Trek" is an example of the decades old practice of using to the mormon church's advantage the losses that were caused more by poor planning and parsimony of church leaders in funding the ill-conceived and ill-planned journey than any actions by enemies of mormons or mormonism. This commemoration gives members the ability to keep this so-called "proof" of their persecution fresh as a reminder of the "us versus them" factor in the religion.
The Salt Lake mormons completely ignore the fact that the "enemies of mormonism" left Emma Smith and Joseph Smith's family to their own devices and the Smith family kept their lands and properties, unmolested.
It's interesting the way the "persecution card" wasn't dealt to them, wasn't it?
So, in 2010, we have a sect that takes advantage of being seen as different by using the "we are victims" ploy when it suits, and at the same time they demand that Christians not only recognize them as equal, but are expected to grant them equality while the non-Biblical doctrines and practices and denial of Christian beliefs are to be NOW (under the Mormonism Affirmative Action rule), left intact even though they have been inimical to settled and accepted Christianity since the inception of mormonism by Joseph Smith.
Mormonism not only demands a "seat at the Christian banquet table", it demands to set the menu, control the guest list, collect the funds from the ticket sales, and choose its own non-Biblical unedited and false message from its chosen speaker, all the while whining about being persecuted.
PR problem? I'm shocked!
If you peruse the Free Republic religion forums you will notice a pattern. There's an anti-Mormon group of people here that spends a great deal of their time attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They post regurgitated propaganda on an almost daily basis.
They have a misguided obsession. You can witness many different tactics employed that you might find quite interesting. The straw man argument is a big favorite and is frequently preceded by cherry-picking quotes or other material. After the "quotation" the attacker will misrepresent what has been said or what was meant and then attack their own interpretation.Later they will have the audacity to claim they were "only" quoting our own material.
They will of course insist ad nauseum that they are merely using our sources and are therefore innocent of any deceptive practice. LDS persons have no issue whatsoever having our scriptures or leaders quoted as long as it is presented fairly and accurately. This is rarely (if ever) done.
Another favorite is posting scripture or statements which on their own really present no dilemma. They make something out of nothing while never bringing up a single objection that hasn't been addressed a hundred times before.
You might note a couple of other tactics used to try to antagonize is the use of disrespectful or insulting terms or language and/or pictures. That's a Christlike thing to do right? Yeah I don't think so either. It does speak volumes about them though.
Sometimes they cruise the headlines of the day seeking any story that might be twisted into making the Church look bad. Anything will do, just watch the progression of posts following it and see what I mean.
After reading their posts, I invite you to seek the truth about whatever "issue" they seem to be "revealing" or "exposing". I promise that if you do so with honest intent, the "ahah" moments you will have will be many and frequent. You will start to recognize the tactics employed to cleverly twist and attack and will likely chuckle the more you see. In actuality, there's nothing new here. It's all been addressed many times before.
The latest twist in the anti-Mormon propaganda machine is to actually go to the links provided, but then they cherry pick what they want, then quote and straw man attack that. Clever. It almost appears that they are helping you, the seeker of truth out by doing some footwork for you. Not so much. Don't be insulted, look for yourself. It's not the haystack they want you to think.
Here's a few links to get your started from a different viewpoint. I have found that the vast majority of the "issues" brought up can be found and addressed at http://www.fairlds.org/ but here's more:
http://scriptures.lds.org/
http://www.lds.org
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Main_Page
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/index.html
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
http://www.answeringantimormons.com/index.htm
http://promormon.blogspot.com/
Now you will likely notice the "you never address our points" posts pop up as usual. All after providing the answers just as you have here.
Sometimes it is claimed that these sites present a needle in a haystack. Far from it. But if you give up before you try you won't know will you?
Will you wear blinders too? Seek truth. Find out for yourself. Want to chat with someone on any topic? A few of these sites provide just that. So do your homework sincere seeker of truth. Listen and read from both "sides". Make up your own mind.
I witness to you of these truths and wish you the best, in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
