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The reverence for Joseph Smith really is close to worship

Alas, sigh. That bugs me too. The line between “revere” and “worship” gets straddled way too often. I suspect that many Catholics feel the same way about the treatment of Mary.

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Possibly. When I was LDS, my knee jerk reaction was “we don’t worship Joseph Smith!”, but as I grow in Christ I see that far too many LDS DO worship Smith and put him above everyone else, even if they don’t realize it.

Back to testimony meetings. How many times have you heard “I know Joseph Smith was a prophet”, or “I am grateful for Joseph Smith” before “I love ‘the Savior’” (always impersonal) or “I know Jesus is the Christ” (what DOES that mean exactly? I could never get a simple definition). And many times testimonies only have the name of Christ at the end (isaythisinthenameofjesuschristamen).

I don’t think they necessarily realize it but they often do put Smith above Jesus.

And I am glad that bugs you as well. Christ should be the FIRST and ONLY part of our testimony.

I am doing some research into the “Jesus Movement” of the hippie generation and their music. One of the songs I was listening to last night is a very simple chorus.

“Let all the applause in this place be to Jesus, let all the Praise go to Him”. And that is what our testimonies should be and how we should treat Christ. God/Christ is the ONLY one we should sing praise to.

Contrast that with “Praise to the man” during conference this year. Do you think that is a song God wants to hear, singing a hymn about Joseph Smith?

The LDS often complain about Christians who applaud in church, but it makes sense if you realize that it is not to the ‘performer’ or pastor, but it is applause to God. It is a form of Praise. It took me a long time to see that, I admit.

Good to hear things are calming down at work. I understand. Did you ever finish that book I recommended? I was wondering about your take on it.

Things are busy but otherwise fine here and btw, I am a ‘she’, not a ‘he’. ;)