This thread will bash anyone's religion that
gets in the way of it bashing anyone's religion
Posted on 12/17/2013 10:12:02 AM PST by Colofornian
66 years ago today (Dec. 17, 1947), an Old Testament "scholar" for BYU gave the annual "Joseph Smith Memorial Fireside" message in Logan Utah at the Lds Institute for Religion.
The Institute, geared to be a spiritual hub for Utah State University Mormon students, has grown from 114 students to it being perhaps the "second largest" LDS Institute of Religion in the world with over 7,000 students. See Perry honors 75 years of Logan Institute
The Logan Institute has made a significant "contribution" to the Mormon celebration of "Smithmas" by developing "Joseph Smith Memorial firesides" that "began in 1944 and have been held each year since, as close as possible to December 23, Joseph Smith’s birthday."
Source: “Praise To The Man”: A Review Of The Annual Joseph Smith Memorial Sermons
The Institute indeed held all but the initial fireside in December closest to Joseph Smith's Dec. 23 birthday from 1944-1973. At that time, it seemingly became difficult to garner December dates from Lds general authorities who served as speakers (perhaps they were protecting family time). And it was moved to January dates (and even many February ones) to accommodate these General Authorities of the church.
Lds "prophet" Joseph F. Smith -- Joseph Smith's nephew -- had suggested such birthday veneration toward Smith during the 50th anniversary year of Joseph Smith's death:
"I should like to see introduced among the Latter-day Saints...the practice of celebrating or commemorating the birthday of the Prophet Joseph Smith..." said Joseph F. Smith.
Source: MormonHeritage.com: ANSWER to FIRST DAY of Christmas Past
The suggestion wasn't seemingly widely accepted right away, but since the Sabbath falls just as often on Dec. 23 (Smith's birthday) as it does Jesus' celebrated birthday (Dec. 25), Joseph Smith essentially gets just as much "billboard time" at Lds wards across the world.
What do I mean? Well, take 1894 when Joseph F. Smith said Mormons should celebrate Joseph Smith's birthday: This was recommended on a Sabbath -- Dec. 23, 1894.
You see, Mormonism doesn't offer "special" Christmas Eve or Christmas Day services to celebrate that incarnational event unless it happens to fall on a Sunday -- Sabbath day.
So, over the past 187 years of the existence of the Mormon Church, that Sabbath winds up falling on either Jesus' birthday -- or Joseph Smith's. And as to which Historic person gets more attention that year could depend upon whose birthday falls closest to that fourth Sunday in December!
According to this BYU article: “Praise To The Man”: A Review Of The Annual Joseph Smith Memorial Sermons, what Sperry spoke about on this 17th of December in 1947 was the so-called Mormon "First Vision" and Mormonism's concept of God:
"The primary role of the First Vision in the Restoration leads us to what Sidney B. Sperry called 'the first and in many respects, the most important contribution of Joseph Smith in this realm . . . his concept of God,'”
Perhaps few citations size up the "Smithmasizing" occurring at regular interventions in the Mormon Church than to pluck a citation from a 1938 Relief Society Magazine article published by the Mormon Church.
As Mormons came off their centennial celebration of its church in 1930, and began ramping up for the centennial recognition of Joseph Smith's death (1944), Joseph Fielding Smith, the great nephew of Joseph Smith, compiled the "teachings" of Joseph Smith in a book published in 1938 under Deseret News Press called Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
That same year, Louise Y. Robison wrote a piece in the November Relief Society Magazine which seems to capture the very essence of the Mormon church:
"To know positively that our Father and His Son Jesus Christ did visit the earth and restore the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith...--this knowledge is more precious than life." (p. 768)
Yet, in all frankness, didn't Jesus Christ "visit the earth" via His embodiment as a babe in Bethlehem? Given that He stayed here a full 33 years -- verses the unnamed entities Joseph Smith said visited him briefly one day as a 14 or 15 year-old boy -- wasn't that 33-year visit "more precious than life" to the "Joy to the World" recipients?
You see, the following is often one of the missing keys re: any attempt to understand Mormonism. Mark it well:
In fact Bethlehem is so snubbed from the very roots of Mormonism that Joseph Smith even inserted "Jerusalem" as Jesus' place of birth in the Book of Mormon (see Alma 7:14)!
The book of Colossians in the Bible is at the heart of the Christian Gospel:
Jesus is HIMSELF the embodied deity, the One who came and dwelled bodily, "pitching an incarnational tent" among us...even making Himself common by appearing to people in general during His three-year public ministry (aged 30-33). This time frame of The Gospels featured Him feeding the 5,000, healing some in public throngs, and giving "Sermons on the Mount" along with other messages.
Yet at the 125th anniversary of Joseph Smith's death -- just nine days prior to Smith's birthday (Dec. 14) -- 44 years ago...during the 1969 Lds "Smithmasfest"...Lds "apostle" Mark E. Petersen proclaimed just how badly Mormon leaders have tanked Jesus' bodily incarnation:
Petersen announced then that "At NO TIME has God made himself common by appearing to people in general...but always in the past He has restored the true knowledge of himself by appearing to divinely chosen instruments on the earth...Their testimonies then would become a basis for a proper and intelligent worship of the Deity and through that worship, with proper obedience, mankind could be saved. This is why...Joseph Smith was permitted to see the Father and the Son."
Source: BYU article: “Praise To The Man”: A Review Of The Annual Joseph Smith Memorial Sermons
What? Had this Mormon "apostle" never studied Colossians 2:9 or the Gospels about how Jesus -- God Himself in the flesh -- appeared to people in general in the very PERSON of Jesus Christ? [Note: Petersen was of THE worst Lds "apostles" in history by way of his racism revealed through his article entitled "Race problems as they effect the Church" (August 1954)" Some Mormon general authorities have been denser than others]
And here the BYU Religious Studies Center thought this Petersen quote was THE highlight of Petersen's entire 1969 message @ the Joseph Smith Memorial Fireside?
The apostle Paul brings this out in Colossians 1:15. Paul is summing up that Jesus Christ is God Himself appearing in Human flesh. The deity from eternal past -- appearing for the very first time -- in bodily form of man. Yet, the typical Mormon looks @ this passage -- and at 2 Corinthians 4:4 -- and thinks the essence of it is to convey that Heavenly Father somehow has a physical body just like Jesus' and was a man who grew up into the god job.
(2 Corinthians 4:4: "4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.")
Mormons are indeed "believers"...but "believers" in what? (Many gods -- none of which are THE ULTIMATE GOD)
When the apostle Paul writes about "the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" -- he is highlighting not only...
...Colossians 2:9 "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form..."
...but EVERYTHING the Son of God Jesus said about His in-person PERSONAL REVELATION of who God is.
It's NOT seeing the Mormon "first vision" through the eyes of teen Joseph Smith that is "believing"; it's believing Jesus Christ Himself is the embodiment of God and is HIMSELF the Glad Tidings of Great Joy which is indeed seeing!
What did Jesus and the New Testament writers say about this?
* Believing Jesus is believing God (see John 12:44; John 14:1)
* Receiving Jesus is receiving God (see Mark 9:33)
* Seeing Jesus is seeing God (see John 12:45; John 14:9)
* Knowing Jesus was knowing God (see John 8:19, 24; John 14:7)
* Honoring Jesus is honoring God (see John 5:23)
* Hating Jesus is hating God (see John 15:23)
* He who denies the Son, will be denied before the Father (see Matthew 10:33)
* He who confesses the Son, is confessed before the Father (see Matthew 10:32)
* To have God is to have the doctrine of Christ (2 John v. 9)
* 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. (Hebrews 1:3)
Well, guess what, "Brother Sperry"? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the Manifested Living Word, already accomplished that!!!
In essence, Joseph Smith, and all ensuing Mormon leaders, somehow claimed or at least assume that Jesus Christ failed in that mission outlined in those Biblical verses cited above...That Jesus somehow failed to HIMSELF BE the perfect vision of the Father for people to believe, receive, see, know, honor, and confess in embracing the doctrine of Christ Himself!
Hence, they prop up a few-minutes of unnamed entities appearing to Smith (For example, read Joseph Smith History 1 in the Pearl of Great Price and you will see no proper names given...no mention of God, Jesus Christ, Son of God...just one generic reference to a "son" portending to be the son of the other unnamed guy).
Heber C. Kimball was one of the top three hierarchists in the Mormon Church during Brigham Young's reign. In 1857 he claimed that to know the Lds First Presidents was "the way" to know God/Jesus Christ, when Jesus Himself claimed to be the Only Way:
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by Me." (John 14:6)
Kimball's version of that?
"Did you actually know Joseph Smith? No. Do you know Brother Brigham? No. Do you know brother Heber? No, you do not. Do you know the Twelve? you do not, if you did, you would begin to know God, and learn that those men who are chosen to direct and counsel you are near kindred to God and to Jesus Christ, for the keys, power, and authority of the kingdom of God are in that lineage."
Source: Journal of Discourses: Volume 4, March 1, 1857
Mormons, this Christmas: Please, reconsider the stumbling blocks you are placing in others' spiritual pathways: Jesus Christ, the embodied divinity, is the lone way back to God.
Even the Book of Mormon declares Jesus as the only way (Alma 38:9)
Even some of female Mormons occasionally get that right:
* "There is only one way, and Jesus is that way." (Man, Woman, and Deity, Bookcraft, 1991, p. 43)
* "Christ must be at the forefront of ALL our teaching, as well as the pattern for our daily life." (Margaret D. Nadauld, BYU Speeches, Nov. 2, 1997, p. 12)
* "...coming unto Christ means walking away from the world. It means placing Christ AND CHRIST ONLY at the center of our lives so that the vanities and philosophies of men lose their addictive appeal." (Sheri L. Dew, CEO/President of Deseret Book Co., as quoted in Ensign, Nov. 1999, p. 98)
From the article:
Louise Y. Robison wrote a piece in the November (1938) Relief Society Magazine which seems to capture the very essence of the Mormon church:
"To know positively that our Father and His Son Jesus Christ did visit the earth and restore the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith...--this knowledge is more precious than life." (p. 768)
Yet, in all frankness, didn't Jesus Christ "visit the earth" via His embodiment as a babe in Bethlehem? Given that He stayed here a full 33 years -- verses the unnamed entities Joseph Smith said visited him briefly one day as a 14 or 15 year-old boy -- wasn't that 33-year visit "more precious than life" to the "Joy to the World" recipients?
You see, the following is often one of the missing keys re: any attempt to understand Mormonism. Mark it well:
In fact Bethlehem is so snubbed from the very roots of Mormonism that Joseph Smith even inserted "Jerusalem" as Jesus' place of birth in the Book of Mormon (see Alma 7:14)!
The book of Colossians in the Bible is at the heart of the Christian Gospel:
Jesus is the embodied deity, the One who came and dwelled bodily, "pitching an incarnational tent" among us...
D&c 325 Test #2 [Merry 'SMITHMAS!' BYU class says Joseph Smith is both 'Rod' and 'Root' of Jesse]
This thread explains how this same BYU prof, Sidney B. Sperry, promoted the idea in his commentaries that Joseph Smith himself usurped the Messianic prophecies belonging to Jesus Christ in Isaiah 11:1-10. If you've ever sung @ Christmas time:
"Oh come, Thou rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan's tyranny From depths of hell Thy people save And give them victory o'ver the grave", from the Christmas hymn "Oh come, Oh come Emmanuel" then you have lauded the Messiah as the "Rod of Jesse" -- a prophecy reinforced by the apostle Paul in Romans 15:12.
Yet Sperry had the audacity to claim that Joseph Smith was both the "rod of Jesse" as well as the "root" (stem) of Jesse.
If you click on the link above, you'll find Sperry's 1944 and 1966 articles touting this in post #1.
And the Mormon Church sanctioned this interpretation in multiple ways:
* It published it in their "Gospel Manual" church curricula;
* It published it under its Deseret Book Co. title in a Sperry Symposium 1989 book in the chapter written by BYU prof Rodney Turner;
* It cited Sperry's 1966 article in its Doctrine & Covenants study manual.
* And Deseret News -- owned by the Mormon Church -- touted it in a December 2010 article.
Oh come, Oh come EmmanSMITHuel????
What did Jesus and the New Testament writers say about this?
* Believing Jesus is believing God (see John 12:44; John 14:1)
* Receiving Jesus is receiving God (see Mark 9:33)
* Seeing Jesus is seeing God (see John 12:45; John 14:9)
* Knowing Jesus was knowing God (see John 8:19, 24; John 14:7)
* Honoring Jesus is honoring God (see John 5:23)
* Hating Jesus is hating God (see John 15:23)
* He who denies the Son, will be denied before the Father (see Matthew 10:33)
* He who confesses the Son, is confessed before the Father (see Matthew 10:32)
* To have God is to have the doctrine of Christ (2 John v. 9)
* 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. (Hebrews 1:3)
Well, guess what, "Brother Sperry"? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the Manifested Living Word, already accomplished that!!!
In essence, Joseph Smith, and all ensuing Mormon leaders, somehow claimed or at least assume that Jesus Christ failed in that mission outlined in those Biblical verses cited above...That Jesus somehow failed to HIMSELF BE the perfect vision of the Father for people to believe, receive, see, know, honor, and confess in embracing the doctrine of Christ Himself!
Hence, they prop up a few-minutes of unnamed entities appearing to Smith (For example, read Joseph Smith History 1 in the Pearl of Great Price and you will see no proper names given...no mention of God, Jesus Christ, Son of God...just one generic reference to a "son" portending to be the son of the other unnamed guy).
It’s truly terrifying that intelligent people can be convinced of so obvious a lie. Not only wasn’t Joseph Smith a prophet, he was a liar, thief, cheat, loony and an all-around scoundrel. It would be like someone building a new religion today around the writings and sayings of Whitey Bulger.
Indeed. Lds have many intelligent people.
Intelligence doesn't always equate to spiritual discernment.
I do not believe Joseph Smith was any more a Prophet than the man in the moon.
Also i have been to other churches who claim they have Prophets.
I do not go to these type of Churches, in fact i do not go to any Church who has any books except the Bible.
I will allow more than one version of the bible as long as every thing is verified by the KJV.
I also do not go to any Church who calls Sunday the Sabbath.
Well said!
The same thing is happening today, but those who can see it in Barack Hussien Obama still think Joseph Smith was a prophet. It is truly terrifying.
That is the ONLY reason why seemingly "smart" and prosperous people fall for this perversion of the truth - it IS a spiritual blindness perpetuated by Satan's lie that man can become God. I had very real concerns and hesitations in voting for Romney this past presidential election. As horrid as a choice Barrack Obama was, the thought that putting a man who could be so blinded to truth as to fall for a con game and dedicate his life to leading ever more souls into that game, bothered me more. I did vote for Romney as the "lessor of two evils" and I deeply regret I had to do so. I sincerely hope I never have to hold my nose to vote for a Republican like him again.
“It’s truly terrifying that intelligent people can be convinced of so obvious a lie. Not only wasn’t Joseph Smith a prophet, he was a liar, thief, cheat, loony and an all-around scoundrel.
It would be like someone building a new religion today around the writings and sayings of Whitey Bulger.”
Uh, wait a minute . . .
“I also do not go to any Church who calls Sunday the Sabbath.”
the mind explodes
Miaton Sabbathon=the first day of the week.
(Don't you have Christmas cards to write? Eggnog to drink? Shopping to do? Or are you a good multi-tasker who can do all of the aforementioned -- all as you bash others as "bashers"???)
Here, allow me to give "Self-Refute" Lesson #351:
Let's say, Laotzu, you scolded a poster about...
...oh, let's say "judging others."
In scolding him/her/them, you then said, "Thou shalt not judge."
Certainly Jesus judges others righteously and accurately. As such, He has the right to tell us not to judge.
When we tell others not to judge, it's usually tied in as some sort of response to what others have uttered. Guess what? We thereby engage in "judging" them -- all for being "judgmental."
(Yeah, I know...It's quite ironic, isn't it?)
Hence, a boomerang is employed. Once you judgmentally scold somebody for being "judgmental," you have released the exact same scold upon yourself. You have undermined -- refuted, if you will -- your very accusation.
Likewise, the same goes for labeling others as "bashers."
To subjectively call another a "basher" is itself to engage in "bashing."
It's kinda like verbally criticizing somebody else for being verbally critical.
Hence, I've got to say it: Laotzu, you're pretty good at throwin' that boomerang!
According to this BYU article: “Praise To The Man”: A Review Of The Annual Joseph Smith Memorial Sermons, what Sperry spoke about on this 17th of December in 1947 was the so-called Mormon "First Vision" and Mormonism's concept of God:
"The primary role of the First Vision in the Restoration leads us to what Sidney B. Sperry called 'the first and in many respects, the most important contribution of Joseph Smith in this realm . . . his concept of God...'”
Perhaps few citations size up the "Smithmasizing" occurring at regular interventions in the Mormon Church than to pluck a citation from a 1938 Relief Society Magazine article published by the Mormon Church.
As Mormons came off their centennial celebration of its church in 1930, and began ramping up for the centennial recognition of Joseph Smith's death (1944), Joseph Fielding Smith, the great nephew of Joseph Smith, compiled the "teachings" of Joseph Smith in a book published in 1938 under Deseret News Press called Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
That same year, Louise Y. Robison wrote a piece in the November Relief Society Magazine which seems to capture the very essence of the Mormon church:
"To know positively that our Father and His Son Jesus Christ did visit the earth and restore the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith...--this knowledge is more precious than life." (p. 768)
Yet, in all frankness, didn't Jesus Christ "visit the earth" via His embodiment as a babe in Bethlehem? Given that He stayed here a full 33 years -- verses the unnamed entities Joseph Smith said visited him briefly one day as a 14 or 15 year-old boy -- wasn't that 33-year visit "more precious than life" to the "Joy to the World" recipients?
You see, the following is often one of the missing keys re: any attempt to understand Mormonism. Mark it well:
**********************************
Mormon leaders keep on doing this:
Lds "Prophet" Ezra Taft Benson superceded Jesus' Incarnation, the Cross, the Resurrection and His Ascension as what/Who we are to "bear testimony" about in place of Joseph Smith's 'First Vision':
"The First Vision of the Prophet Joseph Smith is bedrock theology to the Church...You should ALWAYS bear witness to the truth of the First Vision."
Source: Benson's address given in Salt Lake City, May 20, 1984, p. 2, as recorded in Ezra Taft Benson, Addresses 1943-89, Church Archives – and cited in Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, p. 547
Christmas time is the ideal time to highlight an antiChristian sect that claims to be Christian.
Tomorrow, the Jooooos.
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