>>Who asked you to do this? Is there a possibility you are mistaken?
>>How do you know its *your* job to protect the world from Mormons,
>>we are not so bad, you aren’t a bad person, and you used to be one of us.
>>Where do you get your authority? Our authority resides in the Great Commission
>>of Matthew 28, which was prefaced by Jesus saying "ALL [not some] authority in
>>heaven and earth has been given unto me, go and make disciples of all
>>nations...baptizing them in the Name [notice it says Name--singular, not the
>>LDS plural] of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."
(BTW I really am enjoying this, you are fun to talk to)
So who exactly GAVE Christ this authority if he is the only God involved why not say I have all authority…
I notice Christ is talking to his disciples, not all the body of the church, this is an exclusive gathering of his apostles, people he CALLED and ANOINTED to this position.
BTW, I don’t see anything there that says “And never let a positive word about Mormons go unchallenged”
Maybe I am dense, so spell it out for me. When exactly did God ask you to debunk the Mormon religion for the entire world to see? If God didn’t ask you to, then who did?
Or is it possible that when you left our fellowship you still had a burr under your saddle, could it be you are not at peace and this is why you attack anything positive said about Mormons?
Colorfonian, I honestly believe you to BE a good person at heart. I believe you are doing this because you think it is the right thing to do. I also believe it is a canker on your soul. Christ never told anyone to destroy the faith of another (show me one scripture please)
>>If your authority came from a line of living prophets, where did they get their
>>authority? If it came from an LDS Jesus, where did he get his authority? If that came
>>from Elohim, where did his authority come from? If that came from a previous god,
>>where did his authority come from?
>> an LDS Jesus
There is only one Jesus Christ. You might claim we do not understand him, you may claim we are wrong about him, you might even claim we are going to hell for our misunderstandings. But to claim we are not talking about the same “Only Begotten of the father” is disingenuous and you know better.
Our claim of authority Direct from Jesus Christ without going through Peter is one of the things that makes us unique in the Christian world. God the Father Gave all authority to Jesus Christ as you so ably showed in Mathew 28. All authority over us began with him, he created us.
>>If Elohim's grand-god delegated authority, from where did that come from?
>>Run it as far back as you can, and you can find no Original, Ultimate god in LDS
>>theology. There is no god from Eternity-Past. There is no Original, Ultimate Source or
>>Author of Authority from which is triggered all other lines of authority. They were all
>>created as mere mortals who ascended to godhood. Joseph Smith said matter was
>>eternal. But apparently matter pre-dates any LDS god, who then in turn organized it.
>>Can you imagine a military with no ultimate chain-of-command where the buck stops?
Since Authority begins with the creator who cares where his genealogy goes? Did your dad have to get permission from Adam to spank you? This is a spurious argument at best, who’s only purpose is to muddy the waters with a Mormon belief that we are the literal son’s and Daughters of God. That this world is a type and a shadow of things to come and things which have happened. Jesus Christ’s very life is a blue print of our whole existence.
Consider this, Jesus during the Old Testament was pre-mortal being, during most of the New Testament was a mortal, and now, a resurrected, post-mortal being is a God. WOW what an example, how much clearer can it be?
COME ON! Ya gotta admit if we are indeed wrong, we did it with style!
>>Our Authority can only come from One who says, "Before Abraham was, I am." He is
>>the Eternal "I Am" who has always been and who always will be. He is the One who
>>created all things (John 1, Col. 1, Heb. 1). As Paul says in Colossians, nothing was
>>made that hasn't been made by Him!
Eternity, Yeesh So, If I am here before you are born, and will be here after you die with no change, am I not, to you, eternal? We speak of “Eternal Mountains”, Some Dream of “Eternal Youth”, still others seek “Limitless Wealth” What do we mere mortals know of eternities and absolutes? Everything is relative, to us God is “Eternal”.
So, back to my original question. “Who asked you to do this? Is there a possibility you are mistaken? How do you know its *your* job to protect the world from Mormons, we are not so bad, you aren’t a bad person, and you used to be one of us.”
One way to understand authority & submission (the two ends of lordship) is to first look @ it through the eyes of marriage.
Christ submitted to death & more on our behalf. Likewise, Eph. 5:25 says husbands should submit to ultimate sacrifices on behalf of wives. It's a form of submission. Eph. 5 talks about mutual submission in a husband-wife relationship (Eph. 5:24ff). Submission is not the negative concept feminists have made it out to be; it's a divine practice within God, Himself. Jesus on his knees washing the disciples' feet was not the first time He submitted; it's what He's done from eternity. As Lord, He didn't grasp after authority, even though He had the "right" to do so. He waited until He was granted the exercise of all of it. (Matt 28:18-20).
Lastly, you can't understand this concept unless you grasp something of Philippians 2:6-7: "Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness..."
There was a 4/25/06 thread on the LDS Church posted by Utah Girl. On post #53, I responded to a comment by Utah Girl, who wrote:
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have worked hard to pass initiatives across America to preserve marriage to be between a man and a woman. We have worked in conjunction with our friends and neighbors and with other faiths who have the goal: to preserve traditional marriage.
My response to Utah Girl was: This is a true statement. I know LDS were prominent in helping to pass Prop 22 in California. So it is good that LDS have been willing, from their leadership on down, to be on the forefront of this issue. It is indeed commendable.
The apostle Paul had three priorities worth emulating:
(1) He followed up on previous churches he started (hence the NT epistles).
(2) He desired to go where the gospel had not been preached (Rom. 15:20).
(3) Paul hung out where the religious folks were. In fact, he made it a priority whenever he arrived in a new area: "As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures..." (Acts 17:2...see also Acts 19:8). Apollos did the same thing, speaking boldly where the religious people were (the synagogue)--see Acts 18:24-28. Apollos "vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures..." (Acts 18:28).
If unsaved Jews were hanging out @ the synagogue, Paul prioritized that as a good location to go. If unsaved religious folks are hanging out at different posts today, we can be like Paul and go where they are.
So, you're telling me that when "anyone says to you, 'Look here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!'" (Matt 24:23), we are to believe that, 'cause there's only one Christ? Sorry, you flunked the Matt 24 test:
"do not believe it," says Jesus, "For false Christs and false prophets will appear..." (Matt 24:23-24).
Paul talks about "another" Jesus in Gal. 1:8.
How can your Jesus, who did not Create anything out of nothing, be my Jesus, the creator of all things and all beings?
How can your Jesus, who is the spirit brother of Lucipher, be my Jesus, who created Lucipher?
How can your Jesus, whose blood was so anemic that not only is Calvary almost irrelevant (LDS' belief that Jesus atoned for sin by sweating blood in Garden) but that it paid only for Adam's sin but not for your personal sin or my personal sin...be compared to the all-purifying nature of Christ's blood on the cross--a cross strangely missing from the LDS facilities' landscape?
How can your Jesus, one most LDS say they don't even pray to, be compared to my Jesus who loves to hear me pray [I mean, even the Nephite disciples prayed to Jesus!!!].
How can your Jesus, who LDS apostle Bruce R. McConkie told BYU students @ a devotional in the 1980s that they should not seek a special personal relationship with, be compared to my Jesus who said the very nature of eternal life was defined by knowing Him (John 17:3)?
Let's face it. Don't make me dig up the quote. But even Ensign Magazine years ago said that the Christian church "worships a different Jesus" than LDS do.
I'm sorry. But you can't claim special revelations coming down from on high in Ensign magazine, only for other Ensign mag comments to be totally disregarded by you.
LDS are the ones who make the huge deal out of having a priesthood. And this is because LDS authority is perceived to be so wrapped up in it. Therefore, the laying on of hands is indeed huge in Utah & the LDS concentric circle. The rite of passing on authority is LDS' own construction, so don't tell me that I'm making a spurious argument when so much rides on that for LDS.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard an LDS missionary talk with pride about his priesthood authority, and either in subtle or more open ways point out that he perceives a vacuum of authority within "Christendom."
I mean, just look, for example, at how many times in this thread alone you bring up the question of how/where we're authorized to several posters. It's even in your blood!
The chain of authority within the LDS is huge. How dare you make light of it or downplay it.