Posted on 08/23/2010 3:19:13 AM PDT by markomalley
The ads are catchy. Upbeat music plays as the surfer, the artist or the skateboarder states his or her beliefs about life.
They all end with, "And I'm a Mormon."
On July 26, Pittsburgh became one of nine test markets for the advertising campaign that cheerfully counters stereotypes of Mormons as straight-laced, white, humorless and sexist. The campaign from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints includes a revamped website at www.mormon.org.
The ads arrived on the heels of an anti-Mormon backlash by some gay rights activists on the West Coast. But the campaign's designers said it responds only to numerous survey findings that half of Americans don't know a Mormon.
"It's time to reintroduce ourselves," said Scott Swofford, the director of mormon.org.
"We hope the spots portray Mormons as diverse people who are united in their belief in Jesus Christ. ... We hope [Americans] see that Mormons are friendly, charitable, giving to others. We aren't perfect, but our behavior ought to reflect our beliefs."
(snip)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that it is the true church, which God restored in the 19th century, long after other churches had lost the complete message of Jesus. The Book of Mormon, considered by the church to be an equal companion to the Bible, says that ancient Israelites came to the Americas around 600 BC and that the resurrected Jesus visited their descendents in America.
The Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches don't recognize the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Christian because it rejects the doctrine of the Trinity. It teaches that God is the father of the spirits of all people born on the earth. Jesus is considered the first of God's spirit children and also God's physical son.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
I say vindictive because things are deliberately taken out of context to create distrust and ill feelings towards the LDS and when it gets to that point who ever started this and continues this is doing the work of the wicked one!
So...it's "vindictive" to post factual information about mormonism, but it's perfectly fine for 52,000 mormon missionaries to be out everyday lying about Christianity and salvation, along with ongoing multi-million dollar PR campaigns touting mormonism on TV, the internet and radio...
The correct answer is that mormons believe that Jesus is "a" god, one among an uncountable multitude throughout the universe, though only one of three gods that comprise a 'godhead' for oversight of this planet.
I disagree here. Certainly there are plenty of funds required to support the church’s worldwide mission, but those funds are a means to an end.
This looks like a good place to remind folks that the leadership of the mormon church consists mainly of men whose expertise is in business and commerce, NOT in Theology.
While the Church employs an independent auditing department which provides an annual report to the Church[1], it has not published full financial reports since 1959.
The Council was established by church founder Joseph Smith, Jr. on 8 July 1838.[2] As of April 2009, the members of the Council are:
“Do Mormons believe that Jesus is truly God?
The correct answer is that mormons believe that Jesus is “a” god, one among an uncountable multitude throughout the universe, though only one of three gods that comprise a ‘godhead’ for oversight of this planet.”
So do they believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation?
I’m well aware that the church has a business arm, and I’m glad if it successful.
Most of the church’s assets, such as meetinghouses, temples, universities, visitors’ centers, historic sites, etc. are money consuming, rather than money producing. They serve to support the mission of the church, which is to invite all to come unto Christ.
I believe that the LDS church is led by a prophet and apostles who are servants of Jesus Christ and who act under His direction. I don’t worry about how the funds are managed.
I am also well aware of how members of the church work without monetary compensation. I have contributed many hours of my life in the Lord’s service without any temporal pay and consider it a pleasure and privilege. I always feel happy to play my small part.
That is a two-part question Bear (in fact could go many other ways with it as well - is the mormon Jesus the same as the Biblical Jesus of Christianity). Part 1 is salvation is the free gift of resurrection that Christ's atonement provides to everyone (whether atheist or faithful believer in Christ) so that they may have their spirits and bodies reunited after death to appear before God for judgment. Remember, mormons believe in a 'heaven' with three levels. This permits ALL to at least be in on the lowest level of heaven - a type of universalism. These will not be in the heaven with the Father.
Part 2 of mormon salvation is salvation by "grace" (synonymous with exaltation to godhood). This is summarized out of the book of mormon -
2 Nephi 25:23 -"For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do".
Basically, all their works, such as becoming a temple mormon, being baptized for the dead, being married and sealed in a temple, following the word of wisdom, doing other 'good works', etc earns them points (so to speak) on the advancement chart to becoming a god (males only) and attaining the highest level of the heavens. They are required by their own efforts to become perfect and sinless to be worthy of exaltation. Women can only become goddesses by the will of their husbands.
The matter becomes very complex in that their doctrines require perfection and sinlessness BEFORE "grace" can be obtained.
Now this brings to mind another point - probably highly debated by mormons - and that is that Joseph Smith has the final say upon those entering 'heaven' because of his exalted state of being the one to 'restore' 'true' Christianity to the world.
Finally, on the sin question, which is critical to the issue of salvation, mormon teaching also state that mormons can cleans themselves of sin and save themselves.
Confusing? It certainly is, so in summary mormons believe that salvation under Jesus permits ALL to be resurrected and then to progress on the basis of their works to godhood.
Christianity cuts through this, stating that we can be in heaven (there is only one) by grace (God's unmerited - meaning we don't have to work for it) favor through the act of faith in believing in the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Led by prophet
or
led by profit
To take issue with the "data" you posted."...was ranked as number one in total units and number one in membership..."
Registration numbers are statistics. Since each LdS ward will have a Cub Pack, a Blazer program (11 year old Scouts), a Boy Scout Troop, a Varsity Team and a Venture Crew that is 5 "units". They register every "member" of Scouting age living in the ward boundaries irrespective of whether they attend meetings or not. How do I know that? I worked the "unit" recharters for a couple of years and to get the Chartered Rep to "drop" boys from the registration due to inactivity, no church attendance, etc. was impossible. SLC directive he told me.
So, in other words, those statistics you refer to are meaningless. You want to challenge my assertions? Go right ahead. I was very involved in LdS Scouting for many years, both as an active and inactive member.
For that piece of PR you posted, the reality where I live is that the LdS run some of the most inept programs around. They have "good" numbers, but their programs are rudimentary at best. The culprit? Turnover. The turnover rate for leaders is tantamount to criminal because once a leader is trained (IF you can get the Scouting leaders to get trained) they're "released" from their callings within a very short time.
The average tenure for an LDS Scouter (leader) is 7-9 months (with no overlap for continuity) whereas tenure for a non-LDS Scouter (leader) is 5-12 years.
The few LdS Scouters that I admire and respect bemoan the "management" of Scouting within the LdS. Yet, they "submit" to their ward leadership with little chance of success lest they be labeled as a troublemaker. What we have seen is that SLC gives a lot of lip service about how important training is and how important the program is, yet, the reality is a heck of alot different than what SLC is saying. Why are wards disobeying SLC?
LdS Scouts are eyed with a certain amount of skepticism when going to their Eagle BoR. Why? Ever hear of the term "basketball Eagle"? Is it unfortunate? You betcha! And whose fault is it? Who pays the price for an ineffectual program and leadership?
You may or may not be aware of a pretty grim, yet important statistic; in the BSA, the Lds have approximately 17% of the boys registered nationally, yet, ~ 50% of the fatalities arising from activity-related accidents were in LDS sponsored units. You can search google and read the stories, most are a result of ineffectual leadership.
What matters most is how the program is operated. In my experience, it's poorly.
Being a Mormon surely goes against many truths in the Bible doesn’t it. It makes a mockery of the statement “lest any man should boast”.
That is correct Bear. And as you've encountered already just with the word "salvation", mormonism tries to hid its other doctrined behind redefinitions of commonly used Christian terms and Biblical scriptures.
Through Jesus ALL our sins are taken away and it is God that does the work within us to change us. We've done nothing to deserve God's love and grace - nor is there anything we can do on our part to merit the same. Mormonism takes the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel of Christ and perverts it into a life long Sisyphian effort of rolling the stone up hill, only to have it roll back to the bottom and start all over again.
Be sure of your Christian doctrines and beliefs - for if you don't know what you stand for, you can fall for anything.
I know from my time as a scout in a non-mormon troop, BSA was a multicultural and religious organism. I see that lds troops are just another arm of the church and that a non-mormon would find no place within it, whereas other troops would integrate the boy into the program with no difficulty.
Through Jesus ALL our sins are taken away and it is God that does the work within us to change us. We’ve done nothing to deserve God’s love and grace - nor is there anything we can do on our part to merit the same.
An interesting statement, Godzilla. So are you saying that some are predestined to be saved, some predestined to be damned, and there is nothing anyone can do about one’s eternal fate?
IMO, you posted like a classic cult member.
I wish you well...
Thanks, Osage Orange.
No, don't even try to go down that road norm. My statements are straight from the Bible. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Once we are saved by faith in Christ, through grace and not of any works to merit that grace. NOTHING in that statement has anything to do with predestination nor the inability of one to affect their eternal fate. Jesus give us the choice - receive Him or reject him - that is the only thing one can do about one's eternal fate.
Does what you have said...have any correlation to "climbing the ladder"...in the mormon religion?
How many ways has it been done already in LDS, Inc's past? Thousands?
I figure they have teams of re-writer's and shredders.....
I am noticing lately that articles I have archived, especially from Meridian magazine have had the link changed. When you google something from Meridian, sometimes the link provided is dead and you have to go though several steps to find the article that you originally saved.
They know ALL the tricks!
Thanks for clarifying, Godzilla. I wasn’t quite sure what you meant.
Gee you want to get technical
From day one the Theh Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints followed the teachings of Jesus Christ!
Christian; is one who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ who anointed you to change the definition!
After all Paul would be described as Christian being a follower yet all his epistles address were to the saints the term Christian was not even used.
Christian is only mention 3 times in the Bible used in a derogatory way!
Yes!
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