I’m thinking that the absence of a cross on, or in, their ‘worship’ buildings might be a tip-off also....
It’s way harder to put a little garden on a chain or pictures of gardens in the ward.....after all mormonISM teaches that the cross is sorta an after thought, it is the garden that the lds jesus paid the price.
I’m thinking that the absence of a cross on, or in, their ‘worship’ buildings might be a tip-off also....
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That’s true. In LDS meeting houses, they have pictures of Joseph Smith, a picture of Jesus (that looks A LOT like Joseph Smith - I think Elsie has the pictures), a picture of the current Mormon prophet, and a picture of one of their temples. At least that was what was there when I was LDS.
No cross. Now, the Mormon ‘pat answer’ (which sounds good to nominal Christians who don’t know their bible) is...”We don’t use crosses because we focus on the Savior’s resurrection, not his death”
That sounds reasonable to people who don’t know better but what the LDS DON”T tell you (intentionally) is that they believe the payment for sin (actually just a loan that you have to pay back) and shedding of blood took place IN THE GARDEN NOT ON THE CROSS. To Mormons, the cross is simply a murder device - no different than a gun, rock, guillotine and that Jesus could have died at any time after he paid for sin in the garden (even old age) because the ONLY thing his death accomplished was that he was resurrected and proved we would ALL be resurrected.
When a Mormon says “Jesus died for me” what they REALLY mean is “Jesus died so every human could be resurrected” (universal salvation) not, as Christians believe, “Jesus bled and died on the cross to pay for my sins so I can live with Him again”. To a Mormon, the only way you get back to God the Father is by YOUR own WORKS and ‘grace’ only ‘kicks in’ after all you can do and you spend your life ‘paying Jesus back’ for any sins he paid for by your works.
So, the real reason they don’t use crosses, is they deny Christ’s work on the cross as payment for our sins.
If a Mormon would like to challenge me on this, I can provide documentation from Mormon sources.