mormons

[easygoing]

Thanks for being concerned about this and while yes, some people are very passionate about what and what not to believe i do agreee that we should all be careful when judging when responding to threads but at the same time we need to have discussions to get things out in the open and talk about them and come to our own conclusions with common sense and facts.

I was never planning on converting to the mormon religion i just posted this because i work in these churches at my job sometimes and read the first couple of pages in the book of mormon one time and wanted some peoples thoughts and firsthand knowledge of it. I have not come to a solid conclusion about the mormons yet but i have an idea as to what they are about and will keep it to myself and simply pray about it. In the meantime i continue to follow the word of god and let jesus lead me where he wants me to be because he is the one i trust.

 

[pagie]

I would just like to say about the doctrine of trinaty that it was in 325 ad the first council of nicia was atended by bishops from all around the christian world, recently before that christianaty had no political power infact when you look at Romen history christians seemed to be the scum of the earth, the christian church as a whole was called the Catholic church even before christianaty was adopted as the official Religion of rome the word means "universal", the first council of Nicea was called by romen emperor constanine because in his conversion descided to make it the romen religion and on that note wanted to settle the matter of the differant teachings of the christian world since in that time it was not all together clear, it makes sence that if it were to be adopted as the Romen religion it should be clear what it was, at that time they didnt have a cannon of scripture most likely since there was great persacution for christians up to that time, it seems clear when you look at it the teachings that a man named Arias taught seem to be compleatly new to the hundreds of bishops who came from all around the known christian world at that time, the matter of the council of Nicea wasnt perticurly to do with weather Jesus was God or not God but simply to clear up the muddled teachings that contradict each other about who Jesus was, his nature, and his teachings about God, the matter was to be that these hundreds of Bishops had to come to a conclusion. Arias was expeled from a congragation of christians in Alexanrea in Egypt years before the council of Nicia for teaching what they considered to be a Heretical doctrine, before he was expeled he was a profesor in the schools and taught his teaching there, after that he went to Antioch were he continued to teach his doctrine, over all if you look at the evidence it seems that what he taught seemed to be raletively new to the christian world at that point in time, since the over all majoraty of the christian world considered it herecy and how small in scale his teachings seem to have been in his day, the council of nicea came to there conclusion with what is known as the Nicean creed which was sighned by many bishops from all over the christian world, so in regard to the catholic church making up the doctrine of the trinaty in those days the term was the universal (catholic) church meaning the church as a whole was a catholic church and was called this even before the christian religion was adopted by Rome, it stayed the romen religion over the hundreds of years which over time slowly became corupt with there adopted teachings which martine luther aposed in the 1500ds which brought about the reformation of the church, over the past 500 yrs Arianism has taken an advantage from the history of the church in making claims, which when you look over the history of the past 2000 yrs there is not much evidance to show that what they claim are reliable facts,

 

[pagie]

just to make another quick note, about the catholic church and the upside down cross, traditionaly the catholic church holds that the apostle paul brought the gospel to the romens and founded the church there and it was also there that they claim that he was crucified upside down on a cross in his death. now I dont perticurly believe that but this is what catholics traditionaly hold to, so I think the claim made earlier about it being in satanic origen isnt worth much more than if you were to say that the star of david is satanic, I am not catholic and I dont like the Catholic doctrines which contradict the bible either, but I believe that men who hold to beliefs that are contrary to my beliefe are still equaly vallid to God just as much as any of us are, and are entitled to propper respect, that if debated at should not be ridiculed with acusations but we should all equaly have a right to evidance of history archiology litriture and doctrine,

 

[Baptistrw]

just to make another quick note, about the catholic church and the upside down cross, traditionaly the catholic church holds that the apostle paul brought the gospel to the romens and founded the church there and it was also there that they claim that he was crucified upside down on a cross in his death. now I dont perticurly believe that but this is what catholics traditionaly hold to, so I think the claim made earlier about it being in satanic origen isnt worth much more than if you were to say that the star of david is satanic, I am not catholic and I dont like the Catholic doctrines which contradict the bible either, but I believe that men who hold to beliefs that are contrary to my beliefe are still equaly vallid to God just as much as any of us are, and are entitled to propper respect, that if debated at should not be ridiculed with acusations but we should all equaly have a right to evidance of history archiology litriture and doctrine,

Doctrinal heresies are valid to God? Read the Book of Jude and see the warnings given there to apostates and their doctrines.

 

[Slepsog4]

When a belief is based on a clear statement of Scripture it is a doctrinal matter of revealed truth. (Romans 10:17) NOTE: This is to be taught.

When a belief has no basis in Scripture and does not contradict Scripture it is a matter of opinion. (Romans 14:22) NOTE: This is to be kept to oneself.

When a belief has no basis in Scripture and does contradict the Scripture it is a false doctrine. (Jude 3-4) NOTE: This is to be defeated.

 

[Annie]

hmmm, have you checked out the site I told you yet???

 

[Baptistrw]

I wish more Mormons would see that the Book of Mormon is fallible, I think alot of them would reconsider being apart of that group if they did.

 

[MahogonySnail]

Pagie I think you meant Peter not Paul.

 

[pagie]

haha yes peter

 

[Eric84]

A couple things I saw people comment on that I disagree, not trying to flame, but it is a discussion isn't it?

1. Someone said that the word of God needed no addition, using Revelations 22:19 as the basis for this opinion. If you know your history, you would know that the Bible was not put together until LONG after the Book of Revelations was written, thus the book was on its own for a very long time. It's pretty common sense that John was commenting on making sure no one would add or take away from HIS book, the Book of Revelations. The Bible is also not in Chronological Order as it was written, which could mean the Book of Revelation could very well have been written BEFORE other books in the Bible(which many Bible Scholars now believe), which, using your logic would mean we should take those books out. Of course that would be silly, so in short, we shouldn't ever take away from the Word of God, but who are we to say God can't talk anymore if he wanted to...

2. Terry said : The Best advice anyone can give you is STAY AWAY FROM THE MORMON church. I speak thru experience. I was fooled into becoming a mormon and even lived in Salt Lake City, UT. for 6 yrs. I don't want to bash anyone in particular so I won't talk about my experiences there. I will say however that before I joined I had to make a Promise that I would attend thier church every week, as well as give 10% of my income as thithes. Whenever I needed help, the first thing that I was asked is, "Are you a Full Thithe payer?" When I had a question about something that made the person I was speaking to uncomfortable because he couldn't answer it, I was told that my testimony is weak.
In thier services they spend more time saying that the mormon church is true, and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God more than talking about the Lord. They also believe, and say that Nephi had taken his family across the ocean to the American continent. Which, according to thier beliefs is the ancestors of the American Indians.
If any member openly questions the mormon beliefs/practices, that person is threatened with excommunication.
This happened a few years ago (I cannot remember the year) when someone announced that he had DNA evidence that the indians were descendants of the asians and not people from the middle east. The person I refer to was, if i remember correctly, had a PhD or some other degree. In any Case, he was a professional in his field of study. He was also a member of the mormon church.
If joining the mormon church is something you are thinking about doing, I strongly advise against it. But that is your decision so before you make that commitment then at least research them as thouroughly as you can. "
A - You were "fooled"...sorry, but in my view this lessens your credibility drastically.
B - You "promised" to go to church each week, and pay 10%, of course, isn't that what the Bible asks of us? We are commanded to meet together often, and many churchs have a form of tithing they use. Promising that you will follow God's commandments before joining a church just gives credibility to the church.
C - This is regarding being asked if your a tithe payer when you went to the church for help. I feel like your taking this completely out of context, or just didn't understand the reason for this. Since we know God blesses those who follow his commandments, and that tithing is a commandment, we know God will bless those that pay their tithing. So if your having a hard time, and your not paying your tithing, perhaps your missing out on some blessings God can help you with, and that you can get for yourself. God is much better at helping us out than the church is. I have seen COUNTLESS people who don't pay a penny of tithing receive help from the church, members and non members alike, so I really can't agree with you on this.
D - Because I have been in many of the church meetings(since I am a member), I know first hand experience how much emphasis is placed on Joseph Smith compared to Jesus Christ, and your comment is just not true. Who is the church named after? Who do we pray in the name of? Just walk around the church, how many pictures of Joseph Smith are there compared with Jesus Christ? It doesn't even come close. Some people talk about Joseph Smith alot, and that is their own choice, but the church has Jesus Christ as its focal point, because he is our Savior, not Joseph Smith.
D - "If any member openly questions the mormon beliefs/practices, that person is threatened with excommunication." - To me it wouldn't make sense to have members of your church who refuses to believe in the teachings of it, right? But the church doesn't excommunicate people on a whim, you have to specifically go against the foundation principles of the church to be excommunicated.


3 - Someone posted some websites that are run by former Mormons. I know from experience that "ex's", whether in a relationship, church, employement, etc, tend to have a very pessimistic view of their former station. This isn't always the case, but it is very common, so I just recommend you take what is said with a grain of salt. www.mormon.org and www.lds.org is the church's official websites(mormon.org geared at people that don't know much about the church). But ultimely it comes down to how you feel in your heart. Just remember that people even accused Christ of false charges, you can't really know until you see for yourself, and pray about it.

 

[MaggieMye]

#7 onwingsaseagles:

cath⋅o⋅lic Note especially, #2 and #3:

  /ˈkæθ

ə

lɪk, ˈkæθ

lɪk/

Show Spelled Pronunciation [kath-uh-lik, kath-lik]

Show IPA
Use catholic in a Sentence
–adjective
1.
broad or wide-ranging in tastes, interests, or the like; having sympathies with all; broad-minded; liberal.

2.
universal in extent; involving all; of interest to all.

3.
pertaining to the whole Christian body or church.

The word 'catholic' does not always refer to the RCC. In the apostles creed, the meanting is that of #3 and #2, not RCC. RCC'ers like to take it to mean the RCC and so claim ownership that the apostles, namely Peter, started the church. This is wrong. The CHURCH…the body of believers, believing on Christ as their Savior, was started BY JESUS. The REAL Church, also includes all those in the OT that believed God and His word and His prophecies; the OT being FULL of prophecies of the coming Messiah AND promises for those that believed
Is just sad what I read here, so very sad. I never thought Id read so many offesive comments from good people. Why?
Go to lds.org easygoing, we have your answers there, but more than anything, when you read, dont ask anyone about what you read, ask the very Lord, and He shall give you the answer you need. You can talk to me whenever you want.

Note: Mormonism is fashioned after the very wicked Free Masonry, an occult religion, whose members, when they reach certain levels, realize that they are trapped in a satan-worshipping, life-controlling mess. The very top masons are ill um in ati. (typing that word in full online draws attention from them and they mark you as a terrorist.)
Likewise, the RCC pope answers to the 'Black Pope' who is also ill um in ati.
Consider, the two wealthiest religions? Roman Catholicism and Mormonism.
Now…take THAT to the bank!
Maggie

 

[whiteknite]

I am a service tech for heating and a/c and we regularly maintain and fix systems in the latter day saints churches around my area and i took it upon my self to look at one of their books of mormon today.
I have heard ramblings of this religion from all sorts of people and just wanted to take a peak at what all the talk is about, so i just read over the beginning of the book if mormon where it explains the basis of their religion.

I was shocked at some of the findings.
I did not memorize any of it but will try my best here...apparently a man named mormon took the teachings of jesus christ, taught it to his son moronai and then moronai added some of his own stuff to it and sent it up to god for safe keeping. Then in like 1836 i think it was, moronai was resurrected and called down the teachings from heaven and gave them to a prophet named joseph smith which were no less on metal tablets, and from there joseph smith had like 8 and then 5 wittnesses to verify the tablets were real (don't recall the exact number of wittnesses but it was something close to that) Then it went on to name the wittnesses and from there they went out to teach these in the americas.

I will leave off there because i couldn't read on any further due to the fact i was working and had stuff to do.
I am looking for anyone who might know this a little better than i do, as i am not a mormon and maybe someone out there might have studied this or even been part of this church before to kind of give some insight.
From what i gathered, these people say they believe in jesus christ but are using their own belief system in doing so and not really following the bible. I am just curious about this really because here i am in these peoples church surrounded by all of this and cannot get past the feeling that they are making up their own rules and not following the word of god. making me feel unclean being there really and it is to the point that i may be asking my employer that i not return to these places because i don't want a debate or something negative coming of this, especially since they say we are required to call these people brother or sister, which is something i luckily have not yet had to encounter.

I don't really know but some thoughts would help, and lets try to keep it clean and not turn into a bashing section.

I don't want to bash the mormons, or any other religion either. That said, I use to be a Mormon and do not, I repeat: I DO NOT consider them to be Christians. They spend more time talking about Joseph Smith than Jesus Christ. Their services are like this, Sacrament, Sunday School, Elders Quorum for the men and relief society for the women. Maybe not in that order though. They also talk about avoiding the "appearance of evil," but use the example: If a man is seen with a woman who's not his wife: that's the appearance of evil." Never mind who that woman is or where they were seen at.

Once a month, usually on the 1st Sunday of the month, is their "fast and testimony" where a lot of the people get up and give their testamony. They pretty much say the same thing: "They know the church is true. And Joseph Smith was a prophet of God."

There was a lot of discussion in another thread about paying tithes & offerings. With the Mormons, if you don't pay your tithes in full, they won't give you any help or even want you around. In fact, when I lived in Salt Lake, UT. They didn't want me around even when I WAS a full tithe payer. I wasn't part of their group; an outsider, & convert.

I could go on but don't want to cause i'm afraid I'm starting to bash them, even though I am speaking from my experiences with them. The best advice I could give to anyone is to stay a Christian and DO NOT JOIN THE MORMON CHURCH!!
They are as bad as the Catholic church. Only the Catholic church tries to take away a person's individuality from what I've seen when I went to their Mass with a catholic woman I dated before.