Posted on 12/27/2013 8:33:08 PM PST by Colofornian
...For eight years, I had been a professor at Brigham Young University...
I looked down on Christians...They had part of the gospel, but I had the fullness of it. I kept the laws and ordinances of Mormonism.
Three weeks before the end of his two-year mission, Micah called to tell us he was being sent home early—a horrific disgrace in Mormon culture. He had been reading the New Testament. There he encountered a different Jesus than the one I was taught about in Mormonism—a God of grace, not of works, so that no one can boast...
To a roomful of missionaries at his parting testimony, Micah had professed faith in Jesus alone and not the Mormon Church. He told them he had found a deep and genuine faith—one that didn't include Mormonism. It did not go over well. Church leaders told us that Micah had the spirit of the Devil in him, sent him home, and subsequently, back in Utah, invited us to bring him before the high council...
Micah pleaded, "Mom and Dad, please read the New Testament." We commenced. As I read, I became increasingly consumed by reading about the God of grace. I barely ate or slept. It's all I wanted to do.
...In John's gospel, I read, "These are the very scriptures that testify of me yet you refuse to come to me to have life." Salvation did not require the Mormon Church, only Jesus...
...on a chilly October evening in 2006, Michael and I settled in with Katie in our basement to watch the movie Luther. My heart pounded as I learned of the reformer's struggle against the Catholic Church. I seemed to be facing a similar struggle: Did I believe the Mormon system of obedience to laws and ordinances would secure my forgiveness?
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
Havin’ fun, Els?
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.)
http://www.mrm.org/guess-who
Resty, do YOU believe these things about Joseph Smith?? (see post above)
Well, you’re certainly entitled to your opinion but the priest’s word was law and heaven help the person who questioned a NUN.
TempleStudy.com Fireside Discussion – Introduction
http://www.templestudy.com/2012/08/05/templestudycom-fireside-discussion-introduction/
The Reason behind Christmas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd6d9Qq9Wmk
Silent Night
http://www.byutv.org/watch/8902bf73-c22d-4a8b-964d-d30772e6a154/silent-night-silent-night
Discussions on the Old Testament
http://www.byutv.org/show/8e989562-a610-427c-ba89-f0e358a7385b
Our Savior in the Gospels
http://www.byutv.org/show/e1ae5313-4a4c-4ea1-84bd-89e0fedc26f4/our-savior-in-the-gospels
The Acts to Revelation: Discussions on the New Testamenthttp://www.byutv.org/show/eff182e5-5b17-41bb-90b2-9daac5cad3d3
The Dead Sea Scrolls and Latter-day Truth
http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=c3448ebebcd6c010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____
“Heed the words of Cyril of Jerusalem.”
____________________________________________________________
An excellent idea.
“And while the kings of particular nations have bounds set to their authority, the Holy Church Catholic alone extends her power without limit over the whole world; for God, as it is written, hath made her border peace. But I should need many more hours for my discourse, if I wished to speak of all things which concern her.
28. In this Holy Catholic Church receiving instruction and behaving ourselves virtuously, we shall attain the kingdom of heaven, and inherit Eternal Life; for which also we endure all toils, that we may be made partakers thereof from the Lord. For ours is no trifling aim, but our endeavour is for eternal life.”
http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/catholic_church.htm
Got any ‘witness’ of tcojcolds?
The periodic & theological Reasons behind Smithmas elucidated on this thread:
* What makes 'Smithmas' Smithmas? [Vanity]
The Mormon leaders haven't been so silent on Joseph Smith in December:
* D&c 325 Test #2 [Merry 'SMITHMAS!' BYU class says Joseph Smith is both 'Rod' and 'Root' of Jesse]
* 'First vision visitation' of LdsIsm trumps Jesus' incarnational visitation via Bethlehem [Vanity]
* Joseph Smith Nativity [A Virtual 'Merry Smithmas' 'Greeting Card' circa 2005]
* Mormon Tabernacle Choir conductor: 'Praise to the Man'...hymn praises Joseph Smith [Smithmas vanity]
* How would YOU score on this 26-question quiz about 'Smithmas?' [Vanity, Part A]
* What a Liturgical Order of Smithmas Sacrament Meeting Might look like! [Vanity, Part B]
* 'Twas the Night Before Smithmas! [WalterMartin.com]
* Joseph Smith 'gave us everything' & XMAS vs. LMOS (Local Manifestations of 'Smithmas') [Vanity]
* 'SmithEmphasisMas': Over-the-top renditions of Christmas themes applied to Joseph Smith [Vanity]
* MormonTimes - Remember the Prophet Joseph Smith's birthday [Merry 'Smithmas' Morning!]
* ANSWER to FIRST DAY of Christmas Past [Origins of Mormonism's 'Smithmas': Dec. 23, 1894]
* “What should be different about a Mormon Christmas?” [Why Joseph Smith's birthday! Of course!]
* What makes 'Smithmas' Smithmas? [Vanity]
* Church Hopes to Expand Reach of Joseph Smith Movie on Hulu [Smith-smitten 'Smithmas' on Hulu]
Well; it produced... Pope Stephen VI, Pope John XII, Pope Benedict IX, Pope Boniface VIII, Pope Urban VI, Pope Alexander VI, Pope Leo X, Pope Clement VII... so what SHOULD an outsider think?
Your chosen church's past leaders have said (reply #67) other stuff.
Do you now either...
1. Publicly repudiate those words?
2. Ignore them
3. Attempt to spin them away?
4. Fully embrace them as true?
Nice try, but Mormonism is non-Christian in it's very roots.
Even 'insincere' ones will note what battle you choose to fight.
HMMMmmm... I wonder how many RCC members there be that HATE Protestantism?
Or at least what they THINK it is...
Can you smell the brimstone that BY said is coming your way?
It also produced a lot of good and holy men. So what’s your point? The Church has never taught that the papacy requires, or confers, some kind of personal holiness in the man elected. He is simply preserved from error in teaching fundamental matters of faith and morals.
HMMMmmm...
# 67
Yup; that Book of ABRAHAM in the Standard Work of The Pearl of Great Price has sure been made clear!
Clear to ANYONE with an once of gray matter that it is a COMPLETE fabrication.
HMMMmmm...
Inquiring minds want to know:
Why isn't the JST sitting in FIRST PLACE in the 'standard works'??
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