Posted on 12/12/2011 3:27:03 PM PST by Saundra Duffy
WASHINGTON, D.C. — News reporters and editors from around the country were urged to allow members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to define themselves rather than to exclusively look to sources outside the church for definitions of what it means to be a Mormon or to explain LDS doctrine or history.
"Define us by who we are and by our central beliefs rather than who we are not or by obscure or irrelevant beliefs," Michael R. Otterson, managing director of public affairs for the LDS Church, said during a Thursday morning session of a conference called, "Politics and Religion: Getting it Right in 2012."
--snip--
Otterson identified for the journalists what he considered the five most common stereotypes of members of the LDS Church — that they are not Christian, that they belong to a cult, that they are insular and secretive, that they are weird and that they practice polygamy.
--snip--
Otterson explained that members of the church are troubled when they are described as not Christian "because that suggests we are not followers of Jesus Christ, and Christ's divinity is a foundational belief in our faith."
(Excerpt) Read more at deseretnews.com ...
"Otterson explained that members of the church are troubled when they are described as not Christian 'because that suggests we are not followers of Jesus Christ, and Christ's divinity is a foundational belief in our faith.'"
I agree with statement as well (minus the last two words): Cromartie agreed. "What's important is the kind of choices the candidate will make as president," he said. "How will the candidate approach the job philosophically? What kind of Supreme Court justices will the candidate appoint? If those kinds of things are aligned, that's what matters — not theology."
“For example, he said, ‘the more you get to know Mormons, the more you like them. But if all you know about them are the parts of their doctrine that some people might find questionable, your perspective is limited. Then you get to know them and you find that they are good people, people you’d like to know — and you might even consider having one of them as president.’”
“Cromartie described as ‘unwise’ and ‘imprudent’ remarks made by Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress in which he classified the LDS Church as a ‘cult.’”
When you have organizations as diverse as the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, Southern Baptists, Lutherans, and Presbyterians all officially agreeing that Mormons are not fellow Christians, I would be inclined to agree with them.
After all, muslims claim to be followers of Jesus Christ -— the Jesus Christ described by Mohammed, that is.
Mormons have longed preached from their Temple Services that such “mainstream” preachers are servants of the Devil, so turn-about is fair play.
They have to go "outside", because LDS leadership doesn't provide anything on the "inside":
"...While certain doctrines are enunciated in the standard works and some doctrinal issues have been addressed in formal pronouncements by the First Presidency, there is nothing in Mormonism comparable to the Westminster Confession of Faith or the Augsberg Confession. Few of the truly distinctive doctrines of Mormonism are discussed in official sources. It is mainly by unofficial means -- Sunday School lessons, seminary, institute, and BYU religion classes, sacrament meeting talks and books by Church officials and others who ultimately speak only for themselves -- that the theology is passed from one generation to the next. Indeed it would seem that a significant part of Mormon theology exists primarily in the minds of the members... the absence of a formal creed means that each generation must produce a new set of gospel expositors to restate and reinterpret the doctrines of Mormonism...."
-- Peter Crawley, writing in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Autumn 1982
"Church Headquarters has been receiving an increased amount of correspondence from its members about doctrinal issues. Because of this influx of correspondence, the First Presidency reminded and encouraged LDS church members to utilize their local church authorities – bishops, branch presidents, stake presidents, etc — before resorting to contacting Church Headquarters.” In other words, the Mormon laity was told to quit bothering their church leadership on issues related to doctrine."
-- from the thread Quit pestering us, church leaders tell membership in letter
Myth busting:
“Otterson identified for the journalists what he considered the five most common stereotypes of members of the LDS Church — that they are not Christian, that they belong to a cult, that they are insular and secretive, that they are weird and that they practice polygamy.”
OK, so I’m weird, but that other stuff - not so much.
...And speaking of founders, how is it that the offshoot LDS sect, which doesn't use the Joseph Smith Translation of the bible after Brigham Young declared it a fraud, claim to be the only "Mormons", while at the same time telling the media not to use the term "mormon" when referring to the FLDS who have stayed true to their "prophet" Joseph Smith's teachings ?
Thank you for making my point and the point of the article.
Well, let's address the reality that the Mormon Church is "insular and secretive" first:
* Why the need for secret death oaths in the LDS Temple Endowment Ceremony? [Secretive Mormon church]
* ABC Nightline Mormon Secrets meets That 70's show v
Of course, when you have Mormon bizarre beliefs [I'll post some of them], mum's the word.
Secret, secret, secret
Fulness of the 'Mormon gospel' NOT in the Book of Mormon. Secret to prospects - they'd look in vain for the primary Mormon teachings to be taught there.
Original "gold plates" Joseph supposedly found. Secreted away.
The founder, Joseph not telling wife Emma about women he had affairs with (Fanny & others) 1831 & beyond. Secret. Mormons not putting the polygamy doctrine in writing until the 1850s. Secret.
Bloody victims' clothes & orphans from Mountain Meadows Massacre, 1857. Secret for two years.
Mountain Meadows Massacre culprits. Conspired amongst each other to never tell. Secret.
Mormonism openly false 19th century teachings like Adam-is-god and blood atonement. Unacknowledged as former teachings. They wish these were a secret.
Mormon polygamists hiding out from the feds in 1880s. Secret hideaways.
Hundreds of Lds Plural marriages 1890-1910. Secret.
Still today:
Lds temple ceremonies. Secret.
Lds weddings in temples. Secret.
Secret underwear power. Very secret.
Mormons believe thousands of deceased Mormons practicing polygamy in another realm. "Open" Secret.
History not "faith promoting" to Lds church and former leaders. Tendency to tuck away. Secreted away.
fLDS families -- the "living daguerreotype" of what 19th century Mainstream Mormon families were often like -- tucked away in out-of-the-way communities. Treated like the crazy aunt to lock away in the basement closet.
No wonder a BYU history prof wrote a book, "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View." "Magic" is a sub-category of the occult. And what does the word "occult" mean? (Yup, Latin for "hidden" -- as in secret).
“’Jeffress doesn’t represent the norm of the evangelical community,’ Cromartie said.”
Since all those denominations you mentioned broke away from the Catholic Church and then broke away from themselves to start other churches, do you not see how it could be said that these churches are not qualified to judge the Christianity fitness of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?
Clarified
they are not Christian
They are not -
"This is not just another Church. This is not just one of a family of Christian churches. This is the Church and kingdom of God, the only true Church upon the face of the earth..."
- Prophet Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 164-165
that they belong to a cult
Yes, they deny every essential doctrine of Christianity and meet social criteria for a cult as well as religious criteria.
that they are insular and secretive,
Are all your temples now open to the non-recommend public as well as your 'secret/sacred' ceremonies including the little creation film/play?
that they practice polygamy
Hmmmmm D&C Section 132 is still mormon scripture and orthodox mormons practice it.
If you want to invite a bashing then lecturing Big Media how they should be covering you.
If you want to invite a bashing then lecturing Big Media how they should be covering you.
Journalists urged to allow Mormons to define themselves
____________________________________________
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Sandy old boy...
whatever can that mean ???
Mormons are always expounding and defining themselves on “Im a Mormon”
Isnt it working ???
“This is the Church and kingdom of God, the only true Church upon the face of the earth...”
All the other Churches believe that about themselves. Why shouldn’t Mormons?
From discussion about a podcast earlier this year: 42: Pros and Cons of Keeping Mormonism “Weird”
First list from a poster @ Mormonmatters.org named ChanceFrisson; 2nd from a poster named Glen Fullmer. Both of these lists at above link:
Examples of Mormon 'Weirdness':
Garden of Eden in MO
Jesus and Satan are brothers
Kolob
"own planet" [My comment: Lds believe Mormon males can become gods of own planet]
"magic underwear"
pre-mortal existence
differences in concept of agency
purposefulness of "embodiment"
everything has spirit
satan controls the water
bigfoot-as-cain
end of the world/last days
accessories/props -- oil, seer stone, etc.
mother in heaven
three degrees of glory
work for the dead
genealogy
...
polygamy
sealed together
differences in concept of angels
views on blacks
*************
Adam is God the Father
Polygamy is an eternal concept
Mother in Heaven
-- Mother in Heaven has polygamist sister wives
Preexistence
-- Jesus is not only our spiritual brother but Satan's also
-- we chose our parents
Jesus was conceived by God the Father having personal sex with Mary
God (Mother-in-heaven/Father-in-heaven)
Blacks are inferior and were fence sitters in the preexistence
God was once a man like us
-- He learns "precept upon precept"
Jesus sacrifice does not cover all sins, but shedding of ones blood is required
-- works is required before grace
If you loved your wife and her adulterous lover it is OK kill both [My note: Brigham Young taught this]
Commandments from the Priesthood takes preference over morality or scripture
Danties were commissioned from God via the Priesthood to carry out those commands
Proxy ordinances
-- without them our ancestors can not be saved
Temple ordinances
-- are essential to salvation
-- committing all one has to the Church, not to God
-- knowing the handshakes, tokens, etc is require to get into the top heaven
-- given a temple name
-- Holy underwear is required
There is more than one God
There is no hell, or at least for most people
When the Prophet makes a statement the thinking is done
The GAs are paid but say that there is no "paid ministry"
The Church is the only "true" Church
The Prophet converses with God and gets His/Her direction for Church and World
The finances of the Church are not public
Scripture is sacred and the Word of God, but it can be changed
God is not consistent and changes His mind and His Word
P.S. Jesus Christ is my Savior.
______________________________________
Yeah we know...
The LORD Jesus Christ an afterthought
a PS in your thoughts...
Wanna know what the average person who doesn't know a lot about Mormonism but simply scans the Internet to see what he can find discovers about Mormonism?
Well, here's a Youtube of a guy who did that.
And he didn't "lecture" Mormons. Actually, he encouraged them to respond to his Youtube by making their own.
He came up with a decent Internet-based list:
Weird Stuff Mormons Believe
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