Posted on 12/11/2010 11:46:45 AM PST by delacoert
In our conversations with Mormons we are bound to test what they believe about key issues and how they stand on things we might have heard about Mormonism. It pays to know that it is easy for a Mormon, on the pretext of giving you “milk before meat”, or simply because they don’t know their own faith very well, to be disingenuous in their answers. Here are a few typical “answers” on key subjects: “We believe in the same God as you. ‘We believe in God the eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost’(Mormon First Article of Faith)” “Of course we trust and believe in the Bible” This, again, is a disingenuous answer. The Eighth Article of faith of Mormonism declares: “We are Christians and respect other Christian denominations. We would never attack other churches as some attack us.” The Book of Mormon however declares: “All their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: ‘the draw near with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.’” (Joseph Smith History, 1:19) It seems Mormonism “doesn’t play well with others” despite their protestations to the contrary. “Of course Mormons aren’t polygamists. We renounced polygamy in the nineteenth century and those who practice it today have nothing to do with us.” It seems that the polygamist groups currently denounced and disowned by SLC Mormons are just keeping the practice warm for the day when all Mormons return to the principle. Meanwhile it is not uncommon for a SLC Mormon male to be “sealed” to more than one wife in the next life while practicing monogamy in this. It does seem less than honest to deny liability when the very texts that teach polygamy still form an integral part of Mormon “Scripture”. There is a curious irony in the fact that the familiar SLC Mormons have much in common with breakaway polygamist groups and yet they deny any family connections, instead trying at every turn to associate with the Evangelical Christian Church, with which Mormons have nothing in common. GOD
Although it has the appearance of a Trinitarian confession this does not come close to what Mormons believe about God. Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of Mormonism, said:
"God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man…It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God…and that he was once a man like us…and you have got to learn to be Gods yourselves…the same as all Gods before you." (King Follett Discourse) THE BIBLE
"We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God"
The Bible is the only book of Scripture in Mormonism that is regarded as unreliable and its content is only respected so far as it appears to confirm the Mormon message. The message of Mormonism, such as their teaching on the nature of God, is brought to the Bible and if the Bible does not agree then it is the Bible that is considered wanting. While the Book of Mormon is considered the book of the restoration the Bible is regarded as the book of the apostasy. OTHER CHURCHES
"Behold, there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great and abominable church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth" (1 Nephi 14:10)
There doesn’t appear to be any room for “other denominations” here and it might be worthwhile asking a Mormon which church they think you belong to. Certainly, anyone who has studied Mormonism knows that it is founded on harsh and uncompromising attacks on other churches. In his official history Joseph Smith uncompromisingly declared that God said of other churches: POLYGAMY
Two things worthy of note:
1. Polygamy is still an integral part of Mormon Scripture. Mormons might argue that the practice of circumcision is part of Christian Scripture but is no longer practised. This is comparing apples and oranges because circumcision was a mark of the Old Covenant, which was superseded by baptism under the New Covenant in Jesus Christ. Polygamy, however, is taught as an eternal principle and regarded as the order of heaven. It is described as the “new and everlasting covenant”:
"And again, verily, I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant…they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation. Then shall they be gods." (D&C 132)
The reference to Mormons becoming gods by the “new and everlasting covenant” is instructive in light of what we have already seen of the teaching that men become gods. While the familiar Salt Lake City Mormons do not currently practise polygamy, it seems it will be reinstated, if not in this life then in glory.
Jen,
I was a faithful believing ‘active’ Mormon for several years (as were those pinged above). What Nana said is correct. Mormons use Christian vocabulary but give different meanings to the words such as saved or atonement.
Mormon teaching is that Jesus sweat blood in the Garden to pay for sin (not on the cross) and that He only died on the cross so He could be resurrected, not to pay for sin. The atonement kicks in only after a person has done all they can do for their own salvation (being a good Mormon, going to the Temple and taking oaths that used to be blood oaths, going on a mission if at all possible, paying tithing, etc). That is directly from their own Book of Mormon. Jesus death and resurrection only proved that we would all be resurrected.
They also teach that Jesus and Lucifer are ‘spirit brothers’ and both vied to be the Savior but Jesus won so that is why Lucifer rebelled. They also teach that they can and will become Gods themselves with their own planets and that God the Father was once a Mortal (Mormon) man.
And they do hide doctrine from non Mormons and will occaisionally lie (called Lying for the Lord) to non Mormons about doctrine and teachings. When i was preparing to serve an LDS (Mormon) mission, I was taught to lie about certain teachings. That is part of what started me on my way out and into traditional Christianity.
Some great sites to do research are:
wwww.exmormon.org
www.utlm.org
www.irr.org/mit
Colofornian (who comes from an LDS family background) can also provide you with some resources.
If you have any questions or would like my exit story, feel free to contact me via freepmail.
They do believe in lying for the Lord. I was taught it as a Mormon. Google the phrase.
I say CONCEPTS, you say DETAILS.
I say DETAILS are not important, and you demand DETAILS.
You, of all people, should be more concerned with CONCEPTS than DETAILS.
You know as well as I do there are many parables in the Bible, and that they were made up to get across a point.
I’m not trying to attack the Bible or Christianity. My point was they have things in them that we ‘accept on faith’, and yet are no more provable than some Mormon concepts.
Maybe you need to get a life too.
and you are posting in the FR Religious forums because ... ?
No one said that. No one appreciates that characterization.
That seems rather "thin-skinned" and a form of "making it personal". You may want to consult the Religion forum guidelines on the Religion Moderator's profile page.
That's the ticket, lets pretend that your post #31 (now deleted) never existed.
Thanks
And yes that is suppose to be Joey Smith...
But the mormon jesus is depicted the same...
only with robes on...
Blonde hair, blue eyes...
The Word of God, the Third person of the Trinity became flesh and dwelled among us (John 1:14) as a Jew, a man from the Middle East, brown eyes black hair...with a beard...(Isaiah 50:6)
but that doesnt stop the mormon artists from painting their idea of jesus as a fairskinned white and delightsome man with blue eyes and salon perfect blond hair...
the twin of their paintings of Joey Smith...
the same guy posed for both...
12 years here and you accuse me of "pretending ignorance"?
Your tone was set in posted accusations like “on a quest to destroy” and “obsession”. Make nice all you want. You aren’t a very convincing friend of Christianity, even if you use the royal we here and there.
BTW
When Da Vinci was painting his Last Supper he did Jesus first...
He used a man who he felt portray Jesus in piety and nice containance of face and form...
Years later he finally found his Judas...a broken down drunkened and criminal looking type...
The man told Da vinci that he had previously been the model for Jesus...
In addition to reaganaut’s specific testimony to you that she was taught to “lie for the lord”, you might watch this short mormon missionary training video. In it, missionaries are taught to avoid the truth.
http://newnewsnet.byu.edu/flv/overcomingobjections.html
You can also review this extensive collection about mormonism and lying for the lord:
http://www.mormonwiki.org/Lying_for_the_Lord
Then, please come back and rephrase your comments. :-)
best,
ampu
There is One who can.
Jen,
... One Mormon blogger writes, “When I was a missionary,
the church’s Official Missionary Guide instructed
missionaries to avoid providing direct answers or
solutions to investigators’ questions or concerns.”
On his mission, he “fell back on rhetorical tricks
or even outright denials.
[from mormonwiki article referenced above]
If you wanna ride... Don’t ride the White Horse.
Ride the White Pony.
Yeah, no, it isn’t really that. It’s what I didn’t add that leads you to think I might not know.
I really would like to see the total annihilation of islam from the planet. That includes all of it’s adherents. And in the truest Christian sense that prolly isn’t so good. See what I mean?
And by thinking I can hand my problems off to Christ and thereby give myself enough free time to point out the flaws in others who are trying to come to a better understanding of Christ doesn’t get me there either.
Especially since I asked for and received a perfect, for me, understanding of the true nature of The Only Begotten and yet still seem to let the foibles of my life mar that understanding.
Telling the truth in love is never hate. Hate would be to say nothing and let people self destruct for eternity.
Yes, I understand. Better to pray for their conversion to the living God. It seems though, that they are stuck with their false ones.
Conversion does happen among the Islamists and it is very dangerous for them to do so in this world but the rewards in the next, far out weigh what they might suffer here.
Keep seeking, when He knocks, let Him in.
You are in my prayers.
So I'm trying to get the nub of your gist here.
Are you saying that the Christmas story is a lie made up by Christians and that that is on par with say:
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