Posted on 06/30/2011 12:33:48 PM PDT by Colofornian
...The church's assets are thought to be worth more than $30 billion.
...The church reportedly receives more than $5 billion in tithes every year.
The church also has substantial real estate and for-profit business investments, managed by Deseret Management Corp. The company is one of the largest owners of farm and ranch land in the U.S. It owns the country's largest nut producer, AgReserves, Inc., the 14th largest radio chain, Bonneville International Corp...
Economic entrepreneurialism is...part of Mormon doctrine — 88 of...112 revelations received by... founder Joseph Smith deal with fiscal matters.
SNIP
The Twilight saga is actually about the Mormon belief in eternal marriage.
The Twilight series, by Mormon author Stephanie Meyers, is an allegory for the Mormon concept of "celestial marriage" - the belief that a couple that is "sealed" in a Mormon temple will stay bound together forever...
Edward and Bella's bond is sealed when Edward bites Bella. As with a Mormon marriage, there's no turning back for Bella, who is transformed into a vampire for eternity.
SNIP
The Mormon church thinks polygamy might be okay in the afterlife.
...(the official Mormon church)...still believes...the divine principle of plural marriage may apply in heaven. In the case of death or divorce, Mormon men can be sealed to another wife and all of their celestial marriages will be honored in eternity.
The LDS...tried to distance itself from...40,000 fundamentalist Mormons who still practice polygamy...
SNIP
Mormons wear special undergarments called a "temple garment"...designed to give "protection against temptation and evil."
Many Mormons believe the underwear provides spiritual protection.
SNIP
Mormons believe that when Jesus returns, he's coming to the U.S.
Mormons believe...all the...Christian churches fell into apostasy...
...Jesus will personally return to reign over a paradisaical Kingdom on earth. His headquarters will be at the...temple in Jackson County, Missouri...
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Ity seems the mormons can leave the so called “church”
but the so called “church” cant leave them alone
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Because admitting people have a valid reason to leave throws a whole bunch wrenches into their feelings of self righteousness.
***yawn***
What is the address of your church so I can drop by and have you all convince me?
And so goes the claim of Living by the commandments eh AMPU.
Sorry dude, I still gotta call you on this one. Your research is too detailed on the other topics, you MUST know that bishops do not get paid, even in the 80s. (Can’t speak to the 30s and before, but based on the appalling state of church finances at that time, I bet not then either). I have too much direct contact with this topic, so either you are trying to distort the truth intentionally on this point, or all of your research is suspect.
I guess I don’t feel challenged by you. I am very comfortable in my faith.
I enjoy watching you guys go nuts...like Palin haters. It’s amusing to me.
I would have liked to have had ben’s answer, short and to the point, yes or no. It appears ben is not reading the posts, just surfing over the comments. Can you blame a Mormon for not reading the truth quoted from the archived teaching of that religion? I mean, if Joe Smith was supposedly a prophet of God, he would not have spoken the blasphemy in #218 above. The statement from Smith quoted in #218 is directly opposite what the Bible tells us about God. A true prophet of God would not make such a blasphemous assertion and then go on to teach that blasphemy as fundamental to the religion such as mormonism. The Lorenzo Snow couplet is famous, but ben apparently doesn’t realize from whence came that couplet, whom began the blasphemy. Can you blame a Mormon for not allowing their mind to record the truth of what their false prophet taught?
I am still amazed at the number of LDS who are converts (or claim it) who claim to have been ‘antis’ before joining.
Really, it is silly. I think they think that by reading one ‘questionable’ article or watching the Godmakers it makes them an ‘anti’.
And for someone to claim to have been an anti (which BTW atheists never start out as antimormons, they start out as anti Christians or anti religion or anti theists) you would think that they could actually rebut the arguments if they knew them and so far we have seen none of that. Zip, Zero, Zilch. So, I’m not buying the ‘atheist anti turned mormon’ bit at all.
BTW, I’ve been at this a long time (almost 20 years now) and every single Mormon convert I have seen who claimed to be an ‘anti Mormon’ then joined the LDS was either lying outright (again normal for Mormons) or exaggerating.
Remember Sandy’s claims of being an ‘anti’??
Oh no. You got me.
Ha! You guys are hilarious. I can’t tell you haw funny this is to me. I went into DU one time and it was just like this.
Ha!!!
OK. Going to read to my kids now.
Talk again sometime I am sure! Ha!!!
there was a Buddhist sect that would engage in vein repetitious prayer and hand out flyers saying there was millions of members of this buddhist sect in the U.S.
- - - - -
Oh you mean lying like the Mormons lie about THEIR numbers, esp here in the US?
Gee, irony that it made you mad when your ‘church’ does/did the ezact same thing.
Oh yeah from an athiest ‘anti’ to a missionary at 21. Gee, some atheist you were.
Delph, Sandy, PD, there have been several momronism apologists who have made that claim. Perhaps they are taught to fall back on that ‘little white lie’ when they’re losing credulity.
Spoken by a TBM. More concerned about the church being true than the actual truth.
I enjoy watching you guys go nuts...like Palin haters. It’s amusing to me.
Actually, you are doing us all a great service displaying who / what mormons are. You may think we are writing to you ben, but our audience is the lurkers out there ben - and they can see you bopping, weaving, accusations, etc, in contrast to the very specific points we raise. It reinforces the standard impression of TBM-
Arrogant
Prideful
condescending
evasive
in addition to many others. You've managed to hit just about every box ben. Inquirers see how you handle (or in your case - don't handle) the issues and doctrines.
Perhaps you can look back and see what a representative of joseph smith you were.
You can’t have an intellectually honest conversation.
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ROFL!!!! This from the guy who has YET to address any comment made to him with anything but ad hominum remarks while Godzilla has backed up things with facts and scripture.
You don’t seem to get (like most Mormons) that we are CALLED BY GOD to do this. TO share the truth and shake the foundation of Mormons. We couldn’t move on if we wanted to because GOD has called us here and most of us work in other missionary endeavors as well (none for pay btw). So we are here to stay and if you open your eyes you might learn something, like SZ and some other (now ex) Mormons have.
I know of at least 4 pple who have left the LDS because of what we do here and 1 who was taking the missionary discussions and planning on converting who changed his mind. That’s pretty good for a group that is only about 3 yrs old.
Really guys, I think this one is a hands down winner for the Flying Inman player of the week. He makes our jobs so easy.
Sandy? Who the heck is Sandy? Or Williard???
Are you on drugs???
Going to read to my kids now.
And, its the truth. I was a hardcore atheist. My parents still are. My mother is a liberal Democrat that worked on Obama’s campaign and lives in L.A. I argue politics with her all the time. She thinks anyone who believes in God is an “idiot.” That’s you AND me.
My dad is a Doctor. Went to church until he was 16 and never went again. He was a Protestant. He doesn’t believe in the existence of God.
My best friend is a Mormon and one of two kids in our grade in high school that was one. I have known him since 4th grade. I used to really get after him for believing in God. It wasn’t just a Mormon thing. I argued with anyone and everyone who believed in God at my high school...I apologized to the ones that came to our 20 year reunion.
I owe apologies to a few others. I persecuted Christians verbally.
I have come to know my Savior Jesus Christ and the power of the atonement in my life. I have been forgiven of my sins and continually try to live the best life I can. Trying to abide by the “greatest commandment” and love my neighbors and fellow man. I try to do good deeds and raise a good law abiding family. So far, so good.
Best to you and I mean that sincerely.
Ben
Ummm...its JESUS not a ‘church’. Would you like the quote by the LDS leader who recently said the LDS church was ‘the way the truth and the life”?
Directly contradicts the Bible. Jesus didn’t form an organization.
/eyeroll
You’re a real trooper!
________________________________
No kid I’m a sinner saved by Grace...
and kissing up to me is not going to help you
Nothing but the Blood of Jesus saved me...
I didnt earn salvation
I didnt work for salvation
I didnt pay for salvation
All the earning, working, paying was done by God in the form of the LORD Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary..
Meanwhile until you bow your knee to the LORD Jesus Christ and confess that He and He alone is LORD youre still as atheist as you claim you were in hi8gh school
Still as proud
still as arrogent
still as ignorant of God
and still in need of forgives and salvation
The reason you mocked the mormons in high school if you indeed did so...we dont know you and you have told some whoppers so far in this thread.. was because you thought they were Christians
Its Christians you were against...because they belonged to the God you hated then as you hate Him now...
You have proven that over and over again against all my wonderful Christian FRiends in this thread
But kid mormons were not Christians when you were in high school anymore than they are Christians now
Mormons hated Christians right from the start and preached against Christianity and and wrote doctrines against Christianity
Its only been the last 10 or 20 years that mormons have decided that it would been advantageous to be considered “christians”
I had the unfortunate experience to run into my first mormon when I was 19 and that mormon was the very devil...
and never claimed to be a “christian” anything but
and since then all the times a mormon has knocked on my door to harass and proslytize the false religion, and insist I get my dead Christian ancestors dead dunked into mormonism, and threatened that I would be a slave since I refused to denounce my christian beliefs, none have ever said they were “christians”
There has never been any such animal as a “mormon christian”
Mormons knew mormons were mormons
and Christians knew Christians were Christians
TWO totally different religions
Like night and day
When Joey Smith invented his new religion, he kept as far away freom Christianity as he could get
to the extreme of writing doctrines that contradicted the Christian Bi8ble and the Judeo-Chroistian Ten Commandments
As you are new to mormonism, we all realize that you dont know much about your chosen religion or the history and doctrines
But we do recognize the pride and arrogance anhd the hatred for all people and things Christian...
The Christian Bible ???
Yes its part of the mormon “quad”
But its not believed or read...
after all the mormons claim the Bible is full of errors
ao why bother reading something God inspired and be spiritually fed
When you can chock on the ramblings and plagarism of a pediphile, thief murderer and showman that would put Barnum to shame. joey smith
The mormons sing Praise to the man and worship joey smith as savior
The Christians sing Holy Holy Holy God in Three Persons Blessed Trinity and worship and honor God
But thats just one of the differences between mormnonism and Christianity
You are a wonderful guy.
Best of luck to you.
Wonderful. You are living such a fantastic life!
Continued success to you.
Like I told him - he's the one on candid camera and it is his apologetic (or rather lack of one) and behavior we want lurkers to see and recognize for what it is.
The Soka Gakkai reference was merely an example of when I was consumed with the idea of proving a faith wrong. It gets you nowhere.
- - - - - -
Wrong. Actually trying to prove Mormonism TRUE is what got me out of the LDS cult, but trying to prove Born Again (Evangelical) Christianity ‘false’ (that there was an apostasy) DID get me somewhere, it got me the Hell out of Mormonism and for that I am eternally grateful.
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