Posted on 04/06/2012 9:32:25 PM PDT by Colofornian
The Christian World just recently celebrated Easter. But as a general rule, it seems to me that Easter Sunday is NOT properly observed -at least in the ward's I have belonged to.
I remember vividly an Easter Sunday (15 years ago) wherein the sacrament meeting was a missionary farewell--no particular emphasis on Easter, Christ's Atonement of Resurrection.
I went to Sunday School--the instructor simply taught the next lesson in the manual--no emphasis whatsoever on Easter related topics.
I went to Priesthood Meeting--same story in my Elder's Quorum. Finally, after going from classroom to classroom I discovered that the Priest's quorum of having a lesson on Easter.
This last Easter, the sacrament meeting program was very much Easter centered with the choir singing an Easter Cantata (by Gerald Lund and His wife--very nice!). However, the congregational hymns (3) WERE NOT from the Easter hymns in the hymn book.
The Sunday School class I attended had an Easter Centered Lesson, but that is only because I taught it! (Gospel Essentials).
What is the deal? It seems to me that this is the one Sunday on which we could deviate from the lesson manual just enough to focus on the central doctrine of our Church and Christianity!
I recently voiced this opinion in Correlation Meeting and received a lecture from our Relief Society President that it would be completely inappropriate to deviate from the lesson schedule!
What has been your experience?
Is there some church policy that I am not aware of that prohibits us from having a special lesson on Easter?
Are Church instructors so mindless that they can't do anything but blindly follow the manual?
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Excerpt) Read more at pacumenispages.yuku.com ...
Obviously, various Mormon wards vary as to their recognition of resurrection Sunday. [Mormons don't set aside any special corporate emphasis on Good Friday or the week leading up to Easter]
Anyway, this observation by this person has been documented by BYU: BYU study: Disconnect between Mormons and Easter
Excerpts from this link by the Lds Church-owned newspaper: ...survey respondents ranked their families' celebration of Easter a distant third behind Christmas and Thanksgiving, with only "slightly more planning than the Fourth of July," he said. [My note: So, Easter gets "slightly more planning than the" July 4th weekend among Lds? This BYU prof says Easter should "rightfully should be the celebration of all celebrations." But, he says, it gets "usurped...overshadowed" by the Lds throwing a conference that lands on Easter 1/4th of the time. And that this is both incongrous, "awkward," and a "disconnect with the LDS observance of it." "...Look what we do to prepare for Christmas: caroling, ward parties, advent calendars that help you count down to the holiday," Wilson said. "For most Latter-day Saints, we have nothing like that for Easter..." [My note: Wilson said he thinks Latter-day Saints could overcome both the general conference timing and the holiday's moves around the calendar with wider acknowledgement of the historic events that lead to Easter Sunday's celebration of Christ's resurrection, suggesting it might help to remind members on Palm Sunday of the events that happen during holy week. "My students did a little poll this year — 350 to 400 of them — and only 2 to 3 percent of their wards even mentioned Palm Sunday. It's like we're afraid that's another Christian fabrication of mainstream Christianity and we don't want to buy into it."
Other Mormons have also acknowledged this play-down pattern of Easter: See Preparing for Easter through Holy Week
From this Eric Huntsman (Mormon author) article: While the LDS community does not formally observe Holy Week, the period from Palm Sunday to Easter morning… Suddenly I realized that my observance of Easter was rather pale by comparison… No cross on their church or temple buildings. (In fact, they replace Christ with an “angel” Moroni on their temples).
Few Mormons wear crosses, depicting their aversion to it. For more on this, see:
* No-Cross Protocol ["New" Mormon tradition]
* Sunstone speaker attempts to explain LDS 'aversion' to cross [published by Mormon church owned Mormon Times]
Of course, Mormons have services on Easter. But that’s because it’s a Sabbath like any other. Some of their facilities recognize Easter in some special way; many do not. And when they do, it’s usually because of some realization by a local leader of the “paleness” in which they have been previously focused on Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection – as this author describes during his time as an Lds bishop.
From the Eric Huntsman (Mormon author) article: Moving to Tennessee and being immersed in the Baptist Bible Belt probably helped. Perhaps that is where I picked up a bit of my “evangelical” flair. I did not always agree with my Protestant friends in details of doctrine, but I was always moved by their commitment and love of Jesus Christ. Later as I become more of a student of history, I became more “high church” in sentiment as I became attracted to the liturgical patterns of the older, more traditional Christian communities. I came to appreciate their use of the calendar, seasons, and scriptural events as teaching tools...
(Thank the Lord that His evangelical people are a light to Mormons in Tennessee! It seems when Lds move into contact with them that they indeed “appreciate their use of calendar, seasons, and scriptural events as teaching tools…”)
For other info on Lds & Easter, see also: What is the Significance of Easter for Mormons?
Simply stated, Mormons do not place a cross on their houses of worship or celebrate Easter for the same reason that Muslims do not place crosses on mosques or celebrate Easter.
This one post really puts it all in perspective concerning Mormonism.
There is no life, there is no resurrection, there is no salvation in the doctrine of Mormonism.
Then caan we say that Mitt Romney is not a Christian?
Because he doesn’t celebrate The Resurrection of the Lord?
We do not wear Crosses because to do so would be to celebrate the murder weapon that killed Jesus.
Gal. 6:14
Eph. 2:16
1 Cor. 1:18
Col. 1:20
Col. 2:14
1 Pet. 2:24
John 3:14-15
Yes, the cross is a horrible device. Our eternal life depends on it, since he bore our sins there.
lds do not wear crosses or display crosses because mormonism teaches the lds jesus paid the price in the garden.
lds do not wear crosses or display crosses because mormonism is in no way related to Christianity.
lds do not wear crosses or display crosses because the cross means little to nothing in mormonism.
So because the apostle Paul "gloried" in the cross..."boasted" in the cross (Galatians 6:14)...you are accusing him of celebrating the murder weapon that killed Jesus?
Really? Are you consistent with that? If you get to heaven, will you lodge that accusation directly to the apostle Paul's face?
Here's the verse:
14But God forbid that I should GLORY, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Apostle Paul, Galatians 6:14, KJV)
Same verse, NIV version: May I never BOAST EXCEPT except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Just finished study the Christian religions. Morman was not listed. I asked pastor why and he said because they are not a Christian faith. They do not believe in the Trinity or Grace as we understand it.
TO understand what they are read first two chapters of Tricia Erickson’s book CAN MITT ROMNEY SERVE TWO MASTERS? Free on Amazon.
My uncle the bishop and my aunt who can trace her family to Joseph Smith both said they do not display crosses or wear them because it was decided about 1875 (by the 12 I guess), that mormons did not want to be identified as Christians, so the cross was removed from all “wards” and homes.
Hey, if I were a Mormon, and FINALLY noticed Easter was ‘just another Sunday,’ I think a little light would go off.
Surely you jest? Didn’t Christ say we all take up our Cross and follow him? And that Cross is a reminder of our path to salvation.
Interesting here at “ask a mormon” what they say about the cross or lack of the cross.
http://www.askamormon.com/why-dont-mormons-wear-crosses.html
What timing!!! With Easter just a few days away, I suggest we all go down to our local Mormon chapel and find out if they celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ for ourselves.
http://mormon.org/meetinghouse/
Happy Easter!
-Roscommon
Happy Easter. :)
So because the apostle Paul "gloried" in the cross..."boasted" in the cross (Galatians 6:14)...you are accusing him of celebrating the murder weapon that killed Jesus?
Really? Are you consistent with that? If you get to heaven, will you lodge that accusation directly to the apostle Paul's face?
Here's the verse:
14But God forbid that I should GLORY, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Apostle Paul, Galatians 6:14, KJV)
Same verse, NIV version: May I never BOAST EXCEPT except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
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