'First vision visitation' of LdsIsm trumps Jesus' incarnational visitation via Bethlehem [Vanity]

66 years ago today (Dec. 17, 1947), an Old Testament "scholar" for BYU gave the annual "Joseph Smith Memorial Fireside" message in Logan Utah at the Lds Institute for Religion.

The Institute, geared to be a spiritual hub for Utah State University Mormon students, has grown from 114 students to it being perhaps the "second largest" LDS Institute of Religion in the world with over 7,000 students. See Perry honors 75 years of Logan Institute

The Logan Institute has made a significant "contribution" to the Mormon celebration of "Smithmas" by developing "Joseph Smith Memorial firesides" that "began in 1944 and have been held each year since, as close as possible to December 23, Joseph Smith’s birthday."

The Institute indeed held all but the initial fireside in December closest to Joseph Smith's Dec. 23 birthday from 1944-1973. At that time, it seemingly became difficult to garner December dates from Lds general authorities who served as speakers (perhaps they were protecting family time). And it was moved to January dates (and even many February ones) to accommodate these General Authorities of the church.

'SmithEmphasisMas': The origins of Joseph Smith's birthday being emphasized within the Mormon Church

Lds "prophet" Joseph F. Smith -- Joseph Smith's nephew -- had suggested such birthday veneration toward Smith during the 50th anniversary year of Joseph Smith's death:

"I should like to see introduced among the Latter-day Saints...the practice of celebrating or commemorating the birthday of the Prophet Joseph Smith..." said Joseph F. Smith.

The suggestion wasn't seemingly widely accepted right away, but since the Sabbath falls just as often on Dec. 23 (Smith's birthday) as it does Jesus' celebrated birthday (Dec. 25), Joseph Smith essentially gets just as much "billboard time" at Lds wards across the world.

What do I mean? Well, take 1894 when Joseph F. Smith said Mormons should celebrate Joseph Smith's birthday: This was recommended on a Sabbath -- Dec. 23, 1894.

You see, Mormonism doesn't offer "special" Christmas Eve or Christmas Day services to celebrate that incarnational event unless it happens to fall on a Sunday -- Sabbath day.

So, over the past 187 years of the existence of the Mormon Church, that Sabbath winds up falling on either Jesus' birthday -- or Joseph Smith's. And as to which Historic person gets more attention that year could depend upon whose birthday falls closest to that fourth Sunday in December!

What is the often unexplored theological roots of 'Smithmas'? (And how does this intersect with the long-standing Christian understanding of the incarnation of the Son of God?)

"The primary role of the First Vision in the Restoration leads us to what Sidney B. Sperry called 'the first and in many respects, the most important contribution of Joseph Smith in this realm . . . his concept of God,'”

Perhaps few citations size up the "Smithmasizing" occurring at regular interventions in the Mormon Church than to pluck a citation from a 1938 Relief Society Magazine article published by the Mormon Church.

As Mormons came off their centennial celebration of its church in 1930, and began ramping up for the centennial recognition of Joseph Smith's death (1944), Joseph Fielding Smith, the great nephew of Joseph Smith, compiled the "teachings" of Joseph Smith in a book published in 1938 under Deseret News Press called Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

That same year, Louise Y. Robison wrote a piece in the November Relief Society Magazine which seems to capture the very essence of the Mormon church:

"To know positively that our Father and His Son Jesus Christ did visit the earth and restore the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith...--this knowledge is more precious than life." (p. 768)

Yet, in all frankness, didn't Jesus Christ "visit the earth" via His embodiment as a babe in Bethlehem? Given that He stayed here a full 33 years -- verses the unnamed entities Joseph Smith said visited him briefly one day as a 14 or 15 year-old boy -- wasn't that 33-year visit "more precious than life" to the "Joy to the World" recipients?

You see, the following is often one of the missing keys re: any attempt to understand Mormonism. Mark it well:

'First vision visitation' of Mormonism trumps Jesus' incarnational visitation via Bethlehem

In fact Bethlehem is so snubbed from the very roots of Mormonism that Joseph Smith even inserted "Jerusalem" as Jesus' place of birth in the Book of Mormon (see Alma 7:14)!

'9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form...' (Colossians 2)

Jesus is HIMSELF the embodied deity, the One who came and dwelled bodily, "pitching an incarnational tent" among us...even making Himself common by appearing to people in general during His three-year public ministry (aged 30-33). This time frame of The Gospels featured Him feeding the 5,000, healing some in public throngs, and giving "Sermons on the Mount" along with other messages.

Yet at the 125th anniversary of Joseph Smith's death -- just nine days prior to Smith's birthday (Dec. 14) -- 44 years ago...during the 1969 Lds "Smithmasfest"...Lds "apostle" Mark E. Petersen proclaimed just how badly Mormon leaders have tanked Jesus' bodily incarnation:

Petersen announced then that "At NO TIME has God made himself common by appearing to people in general...but always in the past He has restored the true knowledge of himself by appearing to divinely chosen instruments on the earth...Their testimonies then would become a basis for a proper and intelligent worship of the Deity and through that worship, with proper obedience, mankind could be saved. This is why...Joseph Smith was permitted to see the Father and the Son."

What? Had this Mormon "apostle" never studied Colossians 2:9 or the Gospels about how Jesus -- God Himself in the flesh -- appeared to people in general in the very PERSON of Jesus Christ? [Note: Petersen was of THE worst Lds "apostles" in history by way of his racism revealed through his article entitled "Race problems as they effect the Church" (August 1954)" Some Mormon general authorities have been denser than others]

And here the BYU Religious Studies Center thought this Petersen quote was THE highlight of Petersen's entire 1969 message @ the Joseph Smith Memorial Fireside?

The Son is the image of the invisible God

The apostle Paul brings this out in Colossians 1:15. Paul is summing up that Jesus Christ is God Himself appearing in Human flesh. The deity from eternal past -- appearing for the very first time -- in bodily form of man. Yet, the typical Mormon looks @ this passage -- and at 2 Corinthians 4:4 -- and thinks the essence of it is to convey that Heavenly Father somehow has a physical body just like Jesus' and was a man who grew up into the god job.

(2 Corinthians 4:4: "4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.")

Mormons are indeed "believers"...but "believers" in what? (Many gods -- none of which are THE ULTIMATE GOD)

Believing is seeing; not seeing (Mormonism's First Vision) is believing

When the apostle Paul writes about "the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" -- he is highlighting not only...

...Colossians 2:9 "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form..."

...but EVERYTHING the Son of God Jesus said about His in-person PERSONAL REVELATION of who God is.

It's NOT seeing the Mormon "first vision" through the eyes of teen Joseph Smith that is "believing"; it's believing Jesus Christ Himself is the embodiment of God and is HIMSELF the Glad Tidings of Great Joy which is indeed seeing!

To believe, receive, see, know, honor, confess Jesus is to believe, receive, see, know, honor, confess God Himself!

* 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. (Hebrews 1:3)

Back to Sperry's Dec. 17, 1947 contention that Joseph Smith's primary role of the First Vision is unveiling 'his concept of God'

Well, guess what, "Brother Sperry"? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the Manifested Living Word, already accomplished that!!!

In essence, Joseph Smith, and all ensuing Mormon leaders, somehow claimed or at least assume that Jesus Christ failed in that mission outlined in those Biblical verses cited above...That Jesus somehow failed to HIMSELF BE the perfect vision of the Father for people to believe, receive, see, know, honor, and confess in embracing the doctrine of Christ Himself!

Hence, they prop up a few-minutes of unnamed entities appearing to Smith (For example, read Joseph Smith History 1 in the Pearl of Great Price and you will see no proper names given...no mention of God, Jesus Christ, Son of God...just one generic reference to a "son" portending to be the son of the other unnamed guy).

The Mormons have it backwards

Heber C. Kimball was one of the top three hierarchists in the Mormon Church during Brigham Young's reign. In 1857 he claimed that to know the Lds First Presidents was "the way" to know God/Jesus Christ, when Jesus Himself claimed to be the Only Way:

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by Me." (John 14:6)

"Did you actually know Joseph Smith? No. Do you know Brother Brigham? No. Do you know brother Heber? No, you do not. Do you know the Twelve? you do not, if you did, you would begin to know God, and learn that those men who are chosen to direct and counsel you are near kindred to God and to Jesus Christ, for the keys, power, and authority of the kingdom of God are in that lineage."

Mormons, this Christmas: Please, reconsider the stumbling blocks you are placing in others' spiritual pathways: Jesus Christ, the embodied divinity, is the lone way back to God.

Mormon male spiritual bureaucrats could learn a little from female Mormons

* "There is only one way, and Jesus is that way." (Man, Woman, and Deity, Bookcraft, 1991, p. 43)

* "Christ must be at the forefront of ALL our teaching, as well as the pattern for our daily life." (Margaret D. Nadauld, BYU Speeches, Nov. 2, 1997, p. 12)

* "...coming unto Christ means walking away from the world. It means placing Christ AND CHRIST ONLY at the center of our lives so that the vanities and philosophies of men lose their addictive appeal." (Sheri L. Dew, CEO/President of Deseret Book Co., as quoted in Ensign, Nov. 1999, p. 98)

(and at Christmas time too)

ANY time is a good time to EXPOSE false Christs and False religions; don't you think?

1 Timothy 4:1-2
1. The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
2. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

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 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.

Temple Recommend Questions

1 Do you have faith in and a testimony of God the Eternal Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost?

2 Do you have a testimony of the Atonement of Christ and of His role as Savior and Redeemer?

3 Do you have a testimony of the restoration of the gospel in these the latter days?

4 Do you sustain the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator and as the only person on the earth who possesses and is authorized to exercise all priesthood keys? Do you sustain members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators? Do you sustain the other General Authorities and local authorities of the Church?

5 Do you live the law of chastity?

6 Is there anything in your conduct relating to members of your family that is not in harmony with the teachings of the Church?

7 Do you support, affiliate with, or agree with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

8 Do you strive to keep the covenants you have made, to attend your sacrament and other meetings, and to keep your life in harmony with the laws and commandments of the gospel?

9 Are you honest in your dealings with your fellowmen?

10 Are you a full-tithe payer?

11 Do your keep the Word of Wisdom?

12 Do you have financial or other obligations to a former spouse or children? If yes, are you current in meeting those obligations?

13 If you have previously received your temple endowment:

Do you keep the covenants that you made in the temple?
Do you wear the garment both night and day as instructed in the endowment and in accordance with the covenant you made in the temple?

14 Have there been any sins or misdeeds in your life that should have been resolved with priesthood authorities but have not been?

15 Do you consider yourself worthy to enter the Lord's house and participate in temple ordinances?

(and at Christmas time too)

Read the rules. Just SEE if we get ANY time off for holidays!!

The Rules

Learn and obey all missionary rules.
Keep your thoughts, words, and actions in harmony with the gospel message.
Read only books, magazines, and other material authorized by the Church.
Don't debate or argue.
Center your mind on your mission.
Dress conservatively. Elders: white shirts, conservative ties, and business suits. Sisters: conservative colors and skirts that cover your knees. No floor-length skirts or dresses.
Cut your hair regularly.
Keep your hair clean and neatly combed at all times in the approved style.
Be neat and clean.
Bathe frequently.
Use deodorant.
Polish your shoes.
Iron your shirt and business suit.
Arise at 6:30 A.M.
Study for 2 hours every morning.
Proselytize for 10 hours between 9:30 A.M. and 9:30 P.M.
Turn off your lights at 10:30 P.M.
Exercise regularly.
Write in your journal regularly.
Follow the "Missionary Gospel Study Program" (31157) for your personal study.
Regularly study the Missionary Guide and the Discussions.
Attend Sunday priesthood or Relief Society meetings, Sunday School, and sacrament meeting.
Attend the general session of Stake Conference.
Attend general conference broadcasts if available.
Avoid all other church meetings unless you have a special assignment or are brining an investigator.
Proselytize as much as possible on weekends and holidays because this is when you'll find people home.
End your preparation day at 6:00 P.M. and proselytize from 6:00 P.M. to 9:30 P.M.
Wear your missionary uniform in public on preparation day while not engaged in recreational activities.
Arise at 6:30 on preparation day and study for 2 hours from the approved books.
Take care of your physical preparation for the week on preparation day: wash your clothes, clean your apartment, wash your car, get your haircut, and shop for groceries.
Write to your parents every week on preparation day.
Write less frequently to your siblings, friends, and acquaintances.
Don't communicate with any friends or acquaintances that are within or close to your mission boundaries, except as a part of official mission business.
Plan safe, wholesome, and uplifting activities for preparation day.
Stay with your companion during all activities.
Do not go on road trips.
Do not leave your assigned area without permission
Do not watch television.
Do not view unauthorized videocassettes.
Do not listen to the radio.
Do not listen to unauthorized audiocassettes or CD’s.
Do not participate in musical groups.
Do not participate in athletic teams.
Do not sponsor athletic teams.
Do not engage in contact sports.
Do not engage in water sports.
Do not engage in winter sports.
Do not engage in motorcycling.
Do not engage in horseback riding.
Do not engage in mountain climbing.
Do not embark on a private boat.
Do not embark in a private airplane.
Do not handle firearms.
Do not handle explosives.
Do not swim.
Do not play full court basketball.
Do not play basketball in leagues.
Do not play basketball in tournaments.
You may play half-court basketball.
Never be alone.
Seek advice from your mission president if your companion is "having difficulties".
Be loyal to your companion.
Ask your mission president for help if your companion doesn’t obey the rules.
Pray with your companion every day.
Study with your companion every day.
Plan your work with your companion every day.
Take time at least once a week for companionship inventory.
Seek to be one in spirit and purpose and help each other succeed.
Always address your companion as Elder or Sister.
Sleep in the same bedroom as your companion.
Do not sleep in the same bed as your companion.
Do not arise before your companion.
Do not retire after your companion. (apparently, being together is more important than getting the correct amount of sleep that your unique body requires.)
Frequently study with your companion the Missionary Guide section on companions.
Never be alone with anyone of the opposite sex.
Never associate inappropriately with anyone of the opposite sex (conversely, they don't mention whether or not it is against the rules to associate inappropriately with anyone of the same sex).
Do not flirt.
Do not date.
Do not communicate via phone or letter with anyone of the opposite sex living within or near mission boundaries.
Do not visit a single or divorced person of the opposite sex unless accompanied by a couple or another adult member of your sex.
Try to teach single investigators in a member’s home or have missionaries of the same sex teach them.
Always follow the above rules, even if the situation seems harmless.
Use the commitment pattern to get referrals from members.
Keep your dinner visits with member briefs and during the customary dinner hour in the area.
Remember to say thank you to those who feed you.
Visit members and nonmembers only at appropriate times.
Do not counsel or give medical treatment.
Do not stay in the homes of people when they are on vacation.
Only write letters to family members and friends at home.
Do not telephone parents
Do not telephone relatives.
Do not telephone friends.
Do not telephone girlfriends.
Contact your mission president in case of an emergency.
Take problems and questions to your mission president.
Do not write to the President of the Church or to other General Authorities. Letters from missionaries to General Authorities are referred back to the mission president
Respect the customs, traditions, and property of the people who you are trying to convert.
Obey all mission rules.
Obey the laws of the land.
Do not get involved in politics.
Do not get involved in commercial activities.
Do not give any information about the area.
Respect the customs and cultures of those who you are trying to convert to your own customs and culture.
Respect the beliefs, practices, and sites of other religions.
Do not say or write anything bad about the political and cultural circumstances where you serve.
Do not become involved in adoption proceedings.
Do not suggest or encourage emigration. (This rule is a bit ironic, given the now-defunct doctrine of gathering the believers to Zion)
Be courteous.
Provide community service.
Do not provide community service that isn’t approved by your mission president.
Do not provide more than 4 hours a week of community service.
Do not provide community service during the evening, weekend or holidays—those are peek proselytizing times.
Your mission president must approve your housing.
Keep your housing unit clean.
Do not live with single or divorced people of the opposite sex.
Do not live where the spouse is frequently absent.
Your living unit must have a private bath and entrance.
You may occasionally fast for a special reason, but generally the monthly fast is sufficient.
Do not fast longer than 24 hours at a time.
Do not ask friends, relatives, and members to join in special fasts for investigators.
Maintain your health.
Eat a healthy diet.
Sleep from 10:30 to 6:30.
Follow the approved exercise program.
Keep your body, clothes, dishes, linens, towels and housing unit clean.
Dispose of your garbage properly and promptly.
Follow the safety rules for all of your stuff.
Seek medical care if you are in an accident or become sick.
Be immunized.
Spend your money only on things relating to your mission.
Budget your money carefully.
Keep a record of what you spend.
Do not spend more than your companion.
Do not loan money.
Do not borrow money.
Keep a reserve fund of $50 to $100 at all times for transfers.
Pay your bills before leaving an area.
Pay cash for all resale literature and supplies ordered from the mission office.
Do not waste money on souvenirs.
Do not waste money on unnecessary items.
Be a frugal photographer.
Do not accumulate excess baggage.
Obey custom laws and regulations.
Pay fast offerings each fast Sunday to the bishop or branch president where you serve.
Pay tithing on outside sources of income (i.e. interest) to your home bishop or branch president.
Evaluate your funds a few months before the end of your mission. If you have more than you need, ask that less be sent so that you can return home without excess money.
Do not drive without a license.
Drive only Church-owned vehicles.
Do not drive members’ cars.
Do not drive nonmembers’ cars.
Do not give rides to members or investigators in Church-owned cars.
Use cars only on approved mission business.
Use cars only within the assigned geographical area.
Be conscious of safety at all times.
Drive defensively.
Wear your seat belt.
Pray for the Lord’s protection while driving.
If your companion is driving, assist him or her.
Do not tamper with the vehicle’s odometer.
Know bicycle safety rules.
Use extreme caution on your bicycle.
Do not ride your bicycle after dark.
Do not ride your bicycle in heavy traffic.
Do not ride your bicycle in adverse weather conditions.
Go directly to your new area when transferred.
Find your new companion without delay when transferred.
Have a maximum of two suitcases and a briefcase.

This thread will bash anyone's religion that gets in the way of it bashing anyone's religion

You make a lot of comments aBOUT Bashing.

Can we get a ruling from you on these QUOTES???

Questions put to Joseph Smith: "'Do you believe the Bible?' [Smith:]'If we do, we are the only people under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do'. When asked 'Will everybody be damned, but Mormons'? [Smith replied] 'Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119).

Joseph Smith: "for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible" (from Pearl of Great Price 1:12). "What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270).

Brigham Young stated this repeatedly: "When the light came to me I saw that all the so-called Christian world was grovelling in darkness" (Journal of Discourses 5:73); "The Christian world, so-called, are heathens as to the knowledge of the salvation of God" (Journal of Discourses 8:171); "With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world" (Journal of Discourses 8:199); "And who is there that acknowledges [God's] hand? ...You may wander east, west, north, and south, and you cannot find it in any church or government on the earth, except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.24); "Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity" (Journal of Discourses 10:230).

Orson Pratt proclaimed: "Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the 'whore of Babylon' whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. Any person who shall be so corrupt as to receive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent" (The Seer, p. 255).

Orson Pratt also said: "This great apostasy commenced about the close of the first century of the Christian era, and it has been waxing worse and worse from then until now" (Journal of Discourses

, vol.18, p.44) and: "But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for a great many centuries past, until the present century, the people have lost sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the Christian Church should be established, and they have denominated a great variety of people Christian Churches, because they profess to be ...But there has been a long apostasy, during which the nations have been cursed with apostate churches in great abundance" (Journal of Discourses , 18:172).

President John Taylor stated: "Christianity...is a perfect pack of nonsense...the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century." (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.167); "Where shall we look for the true order or authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom." (Journal of Discourses , 10:127).

James Talmage said: "A self-suggesting interpretation of history indicates that there has been a great departure from the way of salvation as laid down by the Savior, a universal apostasy from the Church of Christ". (A Study of the Articles of Faith, p.182).

President Joseph Fielding Smith said: "Doctrines were corrupted, authority lost, and a false order of religion took the place of the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it had been the case in former dispensations, and the people were left in spiritual darkness." (Doctrines of Salvation, p.266). "For hundreds of years the world was wrapped in a veil of spiritual darkness, until there was not one fundamental truth belonging to the place of salvation ...Joseph Smith declared that in the year 1820 the Lord revealed to him that all the 'Christian' churches were in error, teaching for commandments the doctrines of men" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, p.282).

More recent statements by apostle Bruce McConkie are also very clear: "Apostasy was universal...And this darkness still prevails except among those who have come to a knowledge of the restored gospel" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol 3, p.265); "Thus the signs of the times include the prevailing apostate darkness in the sects of Christendom and in the religious world in general" (The Millennial Messiah, p.403); "a perverted Christianity holds sway among the so-called Christians of apostate Christendom" (Mormon Doctrine, p.132); "virtually all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ whom they vainly suppose to be a spirit essence who is incorporeal uncreated, immaterial and three-in-one with the Father and Holy Spirit" (Mormon Doctrine, p.269); "Gnosticism is one of the great pagan philosophies which antedated Christ and the Christian Era and which was later commingled with pure Christianity to form the apostate religion that has prevailed in the world since the early days of that era." (Mormon Doctrine, p.316).

President George Q. Cannon said: "After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They all belong to Babylon" (Gospel Truth, p.324).

President Wilford Woodruff stated: "the Gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the Lord, and stops all communication with Him. I want nothing to do with such a Gospel, I would rather prefer the Gospel of the dark ages, so called" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 2, p.196).

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