Posted on 11/14/2012 10:44:44 PM PST by reaganaut
Members of the LDS Church are familiar with the charge that Mormonism isn't a Christian faith. They hear it often enough, but they really don't understand why people think that. "We are Christians," Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley insisted. "We have the name of Jesus Christ right in the name of our Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We follow Christ. We worship Him. We love Him. He is the center of all we do"("Inspirational Thoughts," Liahona, June 1999, 3; 2 Nephi 25:24-29).
In the summer of 2005 we asked Mormons in Nauvoo, Illinois to take a quiz we called "Guess Who?" The quiz consisted of 15 relatively recent statements made by LDS leaders; we asked the participants to see if they could determine who their Church leaders were talking about. We invite you to take the same quiz. The answers will be at the end; see if you can do this without scrolling down for the answers.
His teachings "are the foundation of our faith. Everything we have is a lengthened shadow of [him]."
"I pray we may learn from his example, that we might incorporate into our lives the great principles which he so beautifully taught; that we ourselves might emulate him;..."
"I honor and revere [his] name... I delight to hear it; I love it. I love his doctrine... I am his witness."
"He died for those he loved. He reigns in the realms above."
"The more I learn of him, the more I love and revere him."
"I look to him. I love him. I seek to follow him."
"He not only gave us joy, happiness and opportunity here, but also a great hope in the life to come."
"Today, this Sabbath day, in many thousands of congregations, perhaps as many as twenty-one thousand, in many areas of the earth, our people have sung or will sing the praises of [him]."
"Of noble seed, of heavenly birth, he came to bless the sons of earth."
He was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief."
"Church members are interested in learning more about [him] because they love him and they love the gospel he brought forth."
"How great indeed is our debt to him. ...Great is his glory,... We stand in reverence before him... Let us not forget him. Let not his memory be forgotten in the celebration of Christmas."
"...and he shall stand in due time on the earth, in the flesh, and fulfill that to which he is appointed."
"The light, provided to the world by [him], illuminates the confusion, clarifies the principles of the gospel, and helps lead men and women to their own eternal reward, if they will but endure to the end."
The "work that has been carried out by President Young and his brethren [of the Twelve] has been in accordance with the plans, and designs, and Spirit, and instructions of [him]."
How did you do?
If you thought these statements were about Jesus—the One Mormons claim to worship and adore, the One they say is the center of all they do—you are incorrect. In each statement above, the speaker was talking about Joseph Smith.
Quotes with References
His teachings "are the foundation of our faith. Everything we have is a lengthened shadow of [him]." (15th President Gordon B. Hinckley, Church News, 3/19/2005, p.3.)
"I pray we may learn from his example, that we might incorporate into our lives the great principles which he so beautifully taught; that we ourselves might emulate him;..." (Thomas Monson (First Presidency), Ensign, 6/1994, p.7.)
"I honor and revere [his] name... I delight to hear it; I love it. I love his doctrine... I am his witness." (2nd President Brigham Young, quoted in Ensign, 1/1996, p.7.)
"He died for those he loved. He reigns in the realms above." (3rd President John Taylor, Hymns #296, "The Seer, Joseph, The Seer." While this hymn was written in the 18th century, it is still in use as evidenced by its performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during the 175th Semi-Annual General Conference of the LDS Church in October, 2005.)
"The more I learn of him, the more I love and revere him." (Apostle Joseph B. Wirthlin, Church News, 2/19/2005, p.5.)
"I look to him. I love him. I seek to follow him." (15th Gordon B. Hinckley, Church News, 12/13/2003, p.3.)
"He not only gave us joy, happiness and opportunity here, but also a great hope in the life to come." (Apostle L. Tom Perry, Church News, 7/3/1993, p.4.)
"Today, this Sabbath day, in many thousands of congregations, perhaps as many as twenty-one thousand, in many areas of the earth, our people have sung or will sing the praises of [him]." (15th President Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, 9/1994, p.62.)
"Of noble seed, of heavenly birth, he came to bless the sons of earth." (John Taylor, Hymns #296, "The Seer, Joseph, The Seer.")
He was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." (BYU Professor Robert Millet, Ensign, 9/1994, p.19.)
"Church members are interested in learning more about [him] because they love him and they love the gospel he brought forth." (LDS Church Historian Glen M. Leonard, Church News, 12/6/1997, p.4.)
"How great indeed is our debt to him. ...Great is his glory,... We stand in reverence before him... Let us not forget him. Let not his memory be forgotten in the celebration of Christmas." (15th President Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, 12/1997, p.2.)
"...and he shall stand in due time on the earth, in the flesh, and fulfill that to which he is appointed." (Church News, 7/19/1994, p.5.)
"The light, provided to the world by [him], illuminates the confusion, clarifies the principles of the gospel, and helps lead men and women to their own eternal reward, if they will but endure to the end." (Church News, 12/13/1997, p.16.)
The "work that has been carried out by President Young and his brethren [of the Twelve] has been in accordance with the plans, and designs, and Spirit, and instructions of [him]." (George A. Smith (First Presidency), quoted in Church News, 12/20/1997, p.7.)
Nor do I. In fact I faced death already more than once.
However, the same cannot be said for allof mankind over the span of his existence.
Fear of mortality is primal, and man has often sought ways to rationalize it and construct immortality for himself.
Incidentally, I do beleive that human souls are eternal.
Now if you will excuse me I have to go and try to explain to my almost 5 year old why a man and another man dressed like a mommy are kissing on TV, and do so in such a way that he wont get sent to a reeducation camp or me arrested for a hate crime.
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Its time to blow up your TV
So there are some absolutes...
So one must have Jesus in their to truly know right and wrong, or at least have an easier time of it...
So...
If I have extra time, I can be a Buddhist and arrive in the same place you will, despite the very clear words of Christ himself...
Cool, I can get discounts on Asian food...
Or, if I decide to follow Christ I can pick and choose what he says that I will listen to...
But of course then I have to ask how do you know that having Christ in your life is a good thing...
Read svcw’s posting history for the last couple days before condemning him about Mormonism.
chris, do you know Mormonism from the inside? Do you have family who are Mormons? Do you know what Mormonism can do to folks?
As I have stated previously, if you insist upon going on the attack, then prepare to be attacked.
As others have stated, what occurs here is getting tiresome.
I have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
I do not follow or practice any religion.
Furthermore, I do not care at all about Mormon doctrine or any other doctrine. I have no interest in religion whatsoever,
Mind your own business if you can, but I bet you can’t.
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Then why are you on the RF?? I will not ‘mind my own business because my FAITH demands that I tell others the truth and warn them of false gospels. That is from Jesus himself. Now if you think Jesus should have ‘minded his own business’ you take it up with Him, because had he done that, we would ALL be headed for a very deserving Hell.
BTW, attack away, I can handle it. But you are being a hypocrite - Godzilla is correct.
It’s simple. Stop bashing Mormons.
Think what you want of my posts, I think your posts are the most obnoxious of all on this website.
What kind of elitist statement is that about the pre-borns?
So infants killed post-abortion are somehow "worth" more than infants dismembered in the womb? [Remember: Romney advocated -- even post pro-life "conversion" -- that if a mom's "health" (loosely defined) wasn't up to her druthers...then her baby & body parts were up for grabs...Likewise, Romney advocated giving embryos up for 'research'...Aren't you glad your parents -- when you were an embryo -- didn't exercise that option?]
I guess you can thank God you got thru the womb, yes?
I want freepers to witness first hand the coverup.
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Yep. I want them on record as denying the LDS church teaches things like that.
Religions are as religions do.
There are many similarities throughout.
Thus I do not practice or follow any.
I notice that you never added that you don't wish to control.
Which is a good thing you didn't add it, because we'd all see through it in a heartbeat.
For objecting so strenuously to others controlling you or others, you don't seem to have much problem DOING the controlling.
Ya think...
Yet another self-refuting statement...If you really believed this -- and practiced it yourself -- you'd let Reaganaut believe whatever makes her feel better, and let her do that...vs. attempting to veer her in another direction.
You're the religious hypocrites of hypocrites...because you make religious impositional statements...that are meant to apply to others -- yet never seemingly yourself...
Yet you call Jesus' words "religion" and "doctrine". Sounds like a pretty poor relationship. Jesus called it hiding your light under a basket.
No doubt that is true for the unbeliever.
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reaganaut:I have no such fear. I’m perfectly willing to die for my faith and perfectly fine if I die today.
Count me in for that, too.
My eternal destiny is my business.
It is not your business, and just because you BELIEVE that Jesus commanded you that my eternal destiny is yor business does not mean that I am going to allow you to make it your business.
You know I cannot see the difference between what you are saying you were commanded to do and what Muslims say they were commanded to do.
It amounts to the same thing, and that is control of others.
From your uninformed perpesctive that is a reasonable view. You might also, never having been burned by fire, tell me that your soup is 'HOT'. Given your lack of perspective you think your are right when you tell me that fire is also hot.
Many religions can and do control to an extent....A "soup is hot" extent.
I have burned in the FIRE of a works righteous cult. I have felt a tinge of hell on earth that nearly killed me. You have no more concept of what we warn others about than the man who has had soup but never been burned by fire.
You claim you do not like religion which I compare to soup, how much more then would you not like mormonism which I because of my experience liken unto fire ?
You mock soup (religion) because it is hot, then mock us because we warn of the heat of fire (mormon cult) ? What exactly is your point ?
Consider that God put us here to warn you so that you do not need to burn, as we did, before you believe.
Because that is an aspect my belief system.
It is not an absolute, it is what I have chosen to do in my life and my life alone.
I expect that if others chose the same, they would find that choice beneficial, but others may not agree with me.
What they choose to do is up to them.
Jesus told us to share the gospel - you call Jesus' words 'religion'.
Thus I do not practice or follow any.
Clearly don't follow Jesus' words on this point as well.
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