Replies

I realize there is no hope of anything good occuring from this post, but let me just suggest that none of you sounds like you've convinced each other of anything.

And please, before you chime in with "well that's not true, I didn't understand this or that but now I do" let's please just be honest. Threads like this aren't about anything close to truth. They are an open forum for faceless people to slander those whose religious beliefs they don't agree with. Those being slandered feel compelled to respond lest what they consider to be lies be heard by a casual reader and repeated to others. It becomes a contest of wills, of who will post last and thus appear to have had the last word. I can't think of anything less Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or Intellectual than forums like this.

The truth is, and this is the TRUTH, matters of faith cannot be understood through reason alone. If you aren't a faithful person, then you don't have any business telling someone else what their faith should be. In fact just stop reading my post because none of the rest of this will make sense to you. If you do happen to be a faithful person, and your faith contradicts that of another, then you know as well as he that the dispute can't be settled through reason. The two recent posts quoting Timothy are a perfect example. Anyone notice that the WORDS of Timothy are quoted differently in each post? Are we now going to debate the correct translation of these words?

The only way for a faithful person to come to know truth is to exercise faith in his or her source of truth. In other words, pray about it! If you feel, after having prayed about it, that the Mormons are wrong, then DON'T BE ONE. But don't base your decision on what some ex-Mormon said, and don't base your decision on what some Mormon missionary said. Ask YOUR god what the truth of the matter is.

And if you don't believe that your god can answer that question, then I don't know what to tell you. My god hears and answers my prayers. I can feel when He is pleased with my choices and when He isn't. If your god doesn't give you those feelings, maybe your actions on this and other threads has made you numb to his promptings. Try living the faith you claim to defend and see where that gets you.

And no I don't want to hear from the athiests or the I-used-to-be-ists. I know you're more enlightened than the rest of us silly faithfull people combined. Are you happy now?

The only way for a faithful person to come to know truth is to exercise faith in his or her source of truth.

I'm reminded of something recently posted here:

The after-effect of 9-11 has been a general decline in the credibility of what's called "post-modernism," the belief there are no such things as moral truths. You have your moral truths, I have mine and no version whatever can claim to be really true. This means that the people who deliberately murdered 3,000 innocent civilians had just as good a claim to be right as those who thought otherwise. Nobody, apart perhaps from professors of "ethics," can swallow that line any more, and this has thrown the whole post-modern phenomenon into doubt.

So, are you saying that we should NOT follow what has so clearly been written to us?

That we should NOT contend for the faith as it has been delivered to us?

That we should NOT try to correct error when we find it?

Matthew 28:19-20
19. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20. and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

2 Thessalonians 2:15
15. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

1 Timothy 1:3-4
3. As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer
4. nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work--which is by faith.

1 Timothy 4:6
If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.

1 Timothy 6:3-5
3. If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching,
4. he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions
5. and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

2 Timothy 1:13
What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
16. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
17. so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Titus 2:1
You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.

Titus 2:15
These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

Jude 1:3
Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. (<-- not the LDS organization!)

1 Peter 4:11
If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

I think I'll CONTINUE to post the word of GOD, in a modern translation that is understandable.

If you do not like Shakespeare's plays, ask yourself why. The LANGUAGE perhaps?