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 Jesusthe One Mormons claim to worship and adore, the One they say is the center of all they doyou 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.)
????
Moo.
Moo.
The owner of this site can do as they will.
That’s what I said
Well, as you plainly don't like his policies, since he IS doing what he wants, what are you doing here?
Why don't you go start your own site and then you can ban those whom you can't here?
You misinterpreted my correcting your friend as a complaint. It was nothing of a kind. I am capable of complaining or leaving when I think I want to.
Thanks for the wrongheaded advise.
Now I’m engaged with a freepmaler about prostate cancer, so in the immortal words of ob stand down.
Ok, before we go round and round, I was agreeing with you.
Of course we don’t know how many people get banned or for what reasons, the ones I have noticed are the ones that start calling people nazi or murderers or other such stupidity.
The liberal trolls, well either I am dense or just never realized they were gone.
Best wishes
We already KNOW that there are people right here on Free Republic that have come out of false cults SPECIFICALLY because of people like you who are compelled by the love of Christ to shine the light of truth to those caught in a false religion you once were as well. I get it! The motive is NOT hatred - if it were you wouldn't bother saying a thing, you would instead say, "To hell with them, it's not my fault I got mine!". I hope that you do not let such comments discourage you but will continue to speak as the Lord moves you to. We never know who reads these threads. But it is the Holy Spirit who takes the truth of God's word and does not let it return void - it accomplishes what He sends it out to do.
For those who misunderstand what you are trying to do here and who take offense "for" others, we can only pray that they begin to see that what is going on is light shining. It is putting a candle on top of a stand and not under it. It is pointing the way to the only savior there is - the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. (Luke 14:23)
The motive is NOT hatred - if it were you wouldn’t bother saying a thing, you would instead say, “To hell with them, it’s not my fault I got mine!”.
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Bingo and thank you for the support. There have been a lot of times I wished I hadn’t been called to this, but God keeps pulling me back to it. It is for HIS glory alone, not mine...never mine.
God bless you, BB.
Now I promise, no matter what you say or what lie you respond with, were done.
Good; for hit-and-run accusers are about the lowest form of life on FR.
You've claimed LIE and SPIN.
Show your work, Student.
Moo is a word...
Dang!
At 1:20 AM I'M pretty well gone, too!
But; like a pesky wart - they will be back; just as I will.
When you 'gently instruct' a MORMON; they pat you on the head, say "Thank you; run along now." and go merrily on their way.
Perhaps that gentle thing works AFTER you take a 2*4 to the noggin to get their attention first.
(Notice that REPENTANCE comes before KNOWLEDGE?)
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.
When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.
But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.
Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.
But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself.” Ezekiel 3:17-21
Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone. Those who believe and are baptised will be saved. Those who do not believe will be damned. Mark 16:15, 16
Moo.
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