Posted on 12/28/2010 3:24:14 PM PST by mnehring
What is this, Mormon forum day?
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.
Some of them claim being some sort of special witness to you as being supposedly former Mormons. So someone who is an ex-member of any organization would never have an axe to grind or have reason to try to justify their actions by any means? Perhaps not but perhaps so. The LDS Church gains members from other denominations as well as others faiths all the time. This doesn't make them an expert on anything and you certainly won't hear them attacking their forner Church.
Frequently 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 or answer 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? They often state that these sites provide no answer. They just don't want you looking. It is as simple as that.
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.
No, Buddhist forum day.
IAPD spam
You might qualify to post it if you have a 'burning busom'.
I didn’t know that the International Association of Plastics Distributors were involved in religion.
lol
Where are these spam posts that provide no evidence... only links? I found my posts with links to truth but don’t see what you refer to.
Perhaps they are on some other board you attack Mormons on daily and have it confused with this one? That seems plausible I suppose. /shrug
LOLOLOL!
LOL...Oh, too funny...!!!
Goodness, you’ve posted this exact same spam post six times today? Sheesh...
If I live to be 100, I will not have studied and absorbed all there is to the LDS doctrine. I could re-read the scriptures each year and still find things that I didn’t find the first time.
Having said that, I could never find time to study other doctrines much less find time to show they are incorrect.
It appears that some on this site spend more time trying to “save” us from Mormonism than they do making sure they have studied their own doctrine.
I pray that they will be blessed and have their hearts open and realize that Satan spends much time making sure Christians fight among themselves and tear each other down.
I have a friend that is Catholic and one that is evangelical and we spend our time sharing our beliefs and doctrine. We have one rule, we must share our doctrine without tearing down the other’s doctrine or trying to get the others to change religions.
We have our differences but always come back to the fact that we all have Christ as the center and the enemy is not other religions but Satan.
As of December 31, 2009, there were 51,736 LDS missionaries serving in 344 church missions throughout the world. Their work, often in cooperation with local members, resulted in 280,106 convert baptisms in 2009.[12] Author David Stewart points out that the number of convert baptisms per missionary per year has fallen from a high of 8.03 in 1989 to just 4.67 in 2005.[13] He argues that the number of converts would increase if Mormon missionaries made greater efforts in meeting new people; he points out that the average companionship spends only four or five hours per week attempting to meet new people.[13]
How terrible it is that a handful of Christians post a handful of threads per week on FreeRepublic to counter the proselytizing efforts of the missionaries and public relations campaign of the mormon church.
How many millions do you think are directed by the mormon church to TV and radio commercials? Every time a mormon missionary or member boasts of the "Great Apostasy" and "Restoration of the Gospel" they are running down Christianity and saying that THEY and they alone are the "true" church.
Restoration must be at the forefront of interfaith dialogue
In the Sacred Grove, Mormons believe Joseph Smith was told that the sects of the day were false. In the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord tells members that they are part of "the only true and living Church".
"Latter-day Saints had a desire to separate themselves from all other forms of religions they were different from any other organization of religion, not the least because the Lord had told them that they belonged to "the only true and living Church" (D&C 1:30)," Holt said. "Latter-day Saints defined themselves not only by the unique beliefs they held, but also by recognizing the beliefs they did not."
-SNIP-
"This is not the purpose of interfaith dialogue from an LDS perspective; we don't seek ecumenism, we seek interfaith relationships and dialogue, but we do not seek ecumenism, because the purpose of it is to bring the churches together," Holt said. "That's not an LDS teaching, and we must be honest about it."
If I live to be 100, I will not have studied and absorbed all there is to the LDS doctrine. I could re-read the scriptures each year and still find things that I didnt find the first time.
Having said that, I could never find time to study other doctrines much less find time to show they are incorrect.
It appears that some on this site spend more time trying to save us from Mormonism than they do making sure they have studied their own doctrine.
I pray that they will be blessed and have their hearts open and realize that Satan spends much time making sure Christians fight among themselves and tear each other down.
I have a friend that is Catholic and one that is evangelical and we spend our time sharing our beliefs and doctrine. We have one rule, we must share our doctrine without tearing down the others doctrine or trying to get the others to change religions.
We have our differences but always come back to the fact that we all have Christ as the center and the enemy is not other religions but Satan.
Very well said.
Goodness, youve posted this exact same spam post six times today? Sheesh...
You might have noticed theres a gang of anti-Mormons posting propaganda here constantly. I provide links to truthful rebuttal. If they stopped, I wouldnt need to.
Check out Scientology. Particularly the aspect of becoming gods, or gods on other planets. I always wonder whether or not L. Ron Hubbard started out as a Mormon.
Check out Scientology. Particularly the aspect of becoming gods, or gods on other planets. I always wonder whether or not L. Ron Hubbard started out as a Mormon.
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