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.)
I'm beginning to see why...
Ah HA!!!
I was right!
I wuz right!!
I was RIGHT!!!
--Chris38(YOU ARE ALL inSanE!!!!)
ROFL! The default settings of the web site cause you to post here? Really?
So...the ONLY person in the world who absolutely "knows" that there isn't anything ultimate to "know" purpose & origins wise is Chris...because he has ruled on what EVERY person who has ever lived "knows"...
Yet...
I do not believe that my belief system is some type of universal law... [Chris37, Post #57]
So, first he presumes to speak out universally on what people "know" -- including all people in history...and then he tells us with a straight face that these kinds of beliefs aren't "universal," after all...
Is Chris ever going to get some kind of consistent coherent belief system, and stop contradicting himself????
ROFL! The default settings of the web site cause you to post here? Really?
Indeed!!
;-)
Well at least you admit you aren’t a Christian. Thank you for that.
It’s your eternity...
If you can get past the hijack attempts you might be interested in these quotes about Joseph Smith in the OP.
Nope. Look at the side bar and just double click on news/activism.......and wala no religion forum.
So simple so very simple.....
You need to try to find that on your old posts (google) and put it together again. I’ve been looking for those pics as well.
See, I can delegate. ;)
Still not as creepy as the statue of Smith with an erection.
No way...........eeewwwwww gross
That is something you wouldn't know much about huh? Yet you called that religion and doctrine. Do you really know what you believe - your statements waffle severely. [Godzilla]
The pitiable thing is that Chris seemingly has no convictions worth defending...no central core...emptiness
Whereas for us, that gospel Chris references was worth defending by the apostle Paul --..I am put here for the defense of the gospel (apostle Paul, Phillippians 1:16) -- just as its worth our defense!
Do you exclude yourself from that statement.
Is everybody crazy but you?
In LDS meeting houses, they have pictures of Joseph Smith, a picture of Jesus (that looks A LOT like Joseph Smith
_________________________________________
The Mormon jesus usually has BLUE eyes and light brown hair and looks very European pale skin and all...
and looks like the prissy runway model Joseph Smith...
Were our 1st Amendment rights of Freedom of Speech attacked ???
Right click on an open area of your desk top or lap top, select "New", on the sub menu that opens select "short cut", copy and paste the U.R.L. of "News/Activism" and you will have created a short cut to nothing but News/Activism. When you open F.R., use that short cut exclusively to do so.
Then you won't be forced to even see any Religion Forum titles, ever again, much less be forced to click on one.
0bama Zombies. That was an easy one.
But yet you come to these threads to ridicule and offer no facts to what the article states.
Is that what you think is going on?
Have you ever read any of the articles that have been posted?
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