Laurel, You seem to think that we can’t think for ourselves, How wrong you are!!!!!!!! I’m sorry that you are bitter, I hope that someday you might find peace. Pray to the Savior to help you find that peace. Paulette

The Bible if filled with events that require us to exercise our faith. We believe that Moses parted the Red Sea and that plagues came upon the Egyptians. We believe that young David slew Goliath with stones and a slingshot when an entire army couldn’t kill him. We believe things that we read in the Bible that we are unable to prove which take a complete leap of faith.

Yet I, as a Mormon, am often ridiculed for believing that an angel appeared to a 14-year-old boy in the 1800’s in New York State. I may not believe exactly what you believe, but I believe in a loving, miraculous God. Yes, He appeared to people in the Americas after He was resurrected. Isn’t the biggest leap of faith believing that He was resurrected? Not who He talked to afterward?

If you believe in the Bible, then you believe in unproveable, miraculous things. How does that make me so different from you? How can you prove your faith is right and mine is wrong?

What does my faith cause me to do? I have faith, hope and want to live like Jesus Christ. I also want to help others on their way. Why does this make you so angry?

Dennis Cobia wrote:
“Laurel, you really are bitter! Have your ever had a spiritural experience? Men are men, they make mistakes and the history is there to show it. The bottom line is if you want to find God and know if Jesus Christ is the Savior, you seek it out and pray and use faith to secure that knowledge.

Dennis, have you ever had a CULT rip your family apart? You are damn right I am bitter!

This isn’t about GOD !!! This is about a con artist who dreamed up a religion just like L. Ron Hubbard did (and the founder of the JW) and how they PREY on vulnerable people in society.

I dare say if one of your Mormon family members left the fold to become a Scientologist or JW and was completely sucked in and trapped by the deliberate mind control techniques these groups use you would be bitter too.

As for men and mistakes…yes, men are men, but according to your own D&C prophets are not expected to make the same mistakes men do. According to you, Joseph was a PROPHET. Why would a God choose a man that he knew would make mistakes and not be able to live up to the same standards God commissioned him to teach his flock? And Joseph was not just a mere man, he was a CRIMINAL, just like WARREN JEFFS. And THAT is one perfect example of the Mormon mentality. Joseph taught that the reason he received his vision ( well, make that plural, visions…) was because the church had been corrupted. Why would God choose a corrupt man to ‘fix’ was was corrupt already? I would think a God would be smarter than that.

Deny it if you will. Refute it with evidence, you can’t.

The bottom line is that bitter or not, what I have stated is FACT. Not belief, not conjecture, not anything you can refute with any educated debate or historical or biblical proof. You just pull out the pat Mormon reply…PRAY ABOUT IT, because that is all you have. And THAT, my friend, is blind faith. If there is a God, he did give you a brain and I would assume he would expect you to use it.

Paulette,

If you have ’studied’ for 50 years then you should have figured it out by now. IF you ’studied’ anything ‘not faith promoting’ then you have gone against what of your leaders and prophets have told the members of the church to do. If your study has been isolated to the sanitized version of the truth your church provides it’s membership then it is no wonder you still believe.

If you have truly studied the subject of Mormonism objectively and honestly and examined all sides, you would also know that there are many an ex-Mormons out there who were faithful to the church and the word of God as taught by the LDS church. You would know that many of them were very well respected members of their church. You would know that they are Bishops and priesthood holders and YW presidents and missionaries and stake leaders, men and women as young as 16 and as old as 86 (that I personally have knowledge of) who thought just the way you do. You would also know that being involved in the church and it’s activities does not mean that you have not been told lies. It just means that you have not recognized them (yet?).

When Mormons really are interested in the unvarnished truth they seek it out, and if the truth is really what matters to them they find themselves re-examining everything they ever believed. Yes, there are some very angry and bitter people out there whose lives and families have been severely impacted and at times totally destroyed by the LDS. Who can blame them.
You said,
“I would challenge people like Laurel to read the Book of Mormon”

I have, that is why I KNOW the book of Mormon is NOT true. I would challenge you to think for yourself, question the ‘authority’ that the men in the church have bestowed upon themselves as a means of becoming controlling and powerful, and get out there and find out just why people are angry at the LDS church. Find out what makes us bitter. Heck, even your own ‘devout’ members are out there expressing discontent.

Thomas Monson was not up at the pulpit during General Conference begging past members to return out of love for the flock. The church is losing members by the thousands and thanks to the internet and media and ex-members who are not afraid to share their stories, the ‘VEIL’ has been lifted.

There will always be the vulnerable, the needy, the lost and also those born into the church who are so brainwashed they don’t know how to think for themselves. But the facts are out there and they speak for themselves.

If any member of the church wants to believe what they are told and goes into that willingly and wants to pour their income into the million dollar condos the leaders live in while they control the churches purse strings that is their choice. What they don’t have the right to do is pursue and prey on young people struggling to find themselves, the desperate looking to find a way in the world, and the unknowing with no way to protect themselves from the lies the church tells.

Why do you think that that majority of conversions are in underdeveloped countries? Because the others have caught on and are spreading the word. And just how credible can a church be who preys on people like that just to add to it numbers?

It is time that the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints recognized that the biggest enemy it has out there are the ex-members it has lied to and deceived. While there are certainly just inherently bigoted people out there who will bash anyone different from themselves, that is NOT the majority of those who are out there speaking out against the church. And while I do agree (and know because I have heard it myself) that the Baptist church has a history of bashing LDS, they are not the ones you need to worry about either. Anyone who stands up against another claiming to be the ‘true’ religion is in the same destructive vein as the LDS. That is wrong no matter what church you belong to. What the church needs to concern itself with is those who are spreading the word and backing it up with the very history and documents that the LDS church sustains.

I would challenge any member of the LDS church to take what I have written to their ward on Sunday and ask the members to disprove the things I have said and back it up with more than just and ” I know the church is true.” First, if you bring this into church your leaders will have a fit, and if you mention it to the congregation, the leaders will have a fit. And if it got beyond that, there would be a long lecture on the hold Satan has on all of the ‘antis’ and how you should strengthen your testimony by going home and praying about it. But in the end, I believe not one Bishop would encourage his congregation to go and do the research and refute it, because they are afraid of what you will find. And THAT is a church that is controlled with fear and brainwashed.
But you are welcome to prove me wrong.

Oh, and you could also ask them if the COJCOLDS will be using any of it’s billions to help those poor families in Texas. I would to hear that reply.

To Laurel;

Well said.

It is too bad that people like Laurel can think they know all there is to know. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints and I have not been taught lies or followed blindly the things I have been taught. I have prayed and studied now for over 50 years to find the truths that our Father in Heaven and His son Jesus Christ have given us in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, as well as Latterday revelations. I would challenge people like Laurel to read the Book of Mormon then sincerely pray about what she has read and then after giving a sincere effort to receive an answer to her prayers she listens to the inspiration she receives.
Paulette

Aidan wrote:

“Not once do we say anything negative about any other religion…”

Aw, now Aidan, isn’t it a sin to lie? Look it up, pal, especially old Brigham, he had a LOT to say ( Journal of Discourses) . And don’t forget the BOM that calls ALL other religions the Whores of Babylon. According to the Book of Mormon, the great and abominable church was formed soon after the life of Jesus and is responsible for the Apostles’ deaths and the Great Apostasy (1 Ne. 13:5-6). The church was said to be instrumental in corrupting the Bible and removing from it “the most plain and precious parts of the gospel of the Lamb” (1 Ne. 13:34). The BOA states that there are “two churches only”: one that follows Jesus, and another that follows the devil (1 Ne. 14:10-11); therefore, referring metaphorically to all non- Mormons as followers of Satan.

I would say that is just a wee bit negative now, wouldn’t you?

chili wrote:
“hmmmmm…..that would mean, you’re not going to find out what ‘mormons’ believe by asking your minister.
Again we state….go to http://www.lds.org”

Well, you are right there. You will find out what Mormons believe there. Unfortunately, it is not the TRUTH about what the LDS church is. For that, you will have to dig deep into Mormon doctrine and other church documents. The truth IS there, if you really look for it AND want to see it.

wefivehappyfamily wrote:

“please, oh, please ask a Mormon”

…please, oh, please look for the FACTS, research yourself, find the TRUTH, something most Mormon’s either DON’T know or don’t WANT to know.

But enough about that, so, as the article states, FLDS is not the same as LDS. The are two totally different but equally disturbing entities.

The question now, how does our country, regardless of WHAT you believe, help those in Texas recover from the mental, physical and spiritual abuse and how do we keep abusive religious organizations from continuing that abuse by controlling the vulnerable in our society?

Seems to me that the LDS church has scads of $$$$$$. How about all the LDS getting together and petitioning their leaders to help heal the hurtful legacy of Joseph Smith and getting some help for those affected? `Do you think you can get the rears of the leaders out of those posh General Conference chairs and in gear for a cause they should have already begun championing rather than worrying about their darn image??? Maybe they can use all of their talent and PR skills to ‘choose the right.”

I won’t hold my breath though.

I believe that the best information about any church or group is going to be obtained from people inside that church or group. Don’t ask a Baptist what a Catholic believes and certainly don’t ask a Baptist what a Mormon believes. You will end up with hate-filled “lines” they learn in their anti-Mormon classes (who knows what or why on that subject)! I have yet to hear a Mormon profess to be the expert on the Baptist faith, and I have yet to hear of an “anti-Baptist, etc.” class being taught in the Mormon church. It’s obvious that the awful tragedy unfolding in Texas has nothing to do with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And, whomever wants to know what the Mormon church believes, please, oh, please ask a Mormon and not a Baptist (or other type of evangelical Christian group with a negative mission). Or, go to the Church website. The Mormon church specifically addresses their stand on this group in Texas (lds.org) under the news and media section. Might as well go straight to the source, right? And, NOT the wrong source!

Barry:

The entire Protestant tradition is one where we’re ordered to be killed or get advance notice that some country is going to invade one that turned Protestant (Anti-Catholic), and not for conversation. The 30 years war in Germany wiped twenty percent of the population, and that was because Protestants had a strange notion that the Pope might not always be right, and the Vatican (and why wouldn’t they?) believed otherwise. John Hess, 100 years earlier, got Moravia into a boatload of trouble after getting burnt at the stake, with his adherents readying themselves to tackle an advancing army. Whether religious or political or both, it was bad news for those who wanted to reform the One True Holy Roman Apostolic Catholic church. So bad that they broke off, and then these churches had to justify their truths. If Jesus is the Truth, and Jesus dwells wherever two or more are gathered in His name, then there’s more than one True Church. QED. The Protestant excuse to not come back to a Catholicism that’s become foreign to us.

America was built on people running away from people who wouldn’t let them worship God the way they thought was the one true way to do it on the face on the planet that they felt with every fiber of their being, yea, even to their core.

At any rate, the Christian community is really good at ruffling each others feathers — the Latter-Day Saints bearing a constant testimony that theirs is the only church that matters is like getting your sons and daughters together and then telling your favorite child that he or she is your only son or daughter. It stings, especially if you’re one of the other 34,000 Church bodies that claims a universal (small ‘c’ catholic) truth in Christ.

So the Protestant defense coming from a Protestant sounds perfectly plain and rational, but to a Latter-Day-Saint it might come across as Bible bashing or speaking in ignorance or being a damn dirty liar, and our so-called Christian-ness might be called into question.

And if you’re part of the atheist brigade this whole blog is a pointless exercise over who gets to go into which building because they have merit badges and monopoly money that doesn’t make a scrap of difference outside of metaphysics.

In sum, believe what you want, but don’t be surprised if YOUR testimony might be so different, and so plain and precious and true TO YOU, that you end up in a different building, using the same books, and practicing some doctrines that others might view as a little, well, illegal.

I was brought up in a church which was affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. My parents and my sister were also members. When I graduated from high school I started going to the Methodist Church because my girlfriend was Methodist and they were more liberal toward drinking and such than the Baptists. I met a young woman in college who was a Catholic. Another denomination that Baptists warned us against. We fell in love, married in the Catholic Church, but each of us kept the religion we had when we married. Five years and two children later we joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, whom many call the Mormons.
My sister and brother in law joined before us and later my mother and father became members. However, my wife’s Catholic family disowned her and still does to this day, some 40 years later. All of this hype about a different Jesus and so forth is nothing but propaganda put out to discredit, marginalize and foment hate toward another people. We have 5 sons who served missions for the Church in New York, Las Vegas, Nevada, Arkansas, and Brazil. They all graduated from college and three have professional degrees. They grew up in a town where “Mormons” were a minority and the town was substantially Baptist, Church of Christ and Evangelical. Oddly enough, the Methodist Church there acted more like Baptists than the Methodist Church I had previously known. I served my country as an Officer in the US Marine Corps, as did one of my sons and a son-in-law. I was elected District Judge and served in that capacity for 15 years until I retired. I think the community we lived in for over 31 years had a good opinion of our family. Our 8 children were active in sports, choir, drama, mock trial, and cheerleading. They also served in student government. Now, I am offended when so-called journalists listen more to a Baptist preacher who explains to them what “Mormons” belive than they do to a Church leader or even a member such as I. We know what we believe and I don’t need someone from another church telling me what I believe or telling me I am not a Christian. Compared to people that questions somebodies faith, I am not THAT kind of christian. My faith in Jesus Christ is not dependant on what Baptists or others think. As for polygamy, it stinks!!! I never accepted that as a principle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and never will. I have done a great deal of research into the subject and have concluded that it was not a true principle of the Gospel, but a terrible mistake made by men who I believe listened to the wrong voice. I have never accepted that Joseph Smith, Jr. was the one who came up with that so-called principle. I have never found any conclusive proof to that premise. I am not a blind follower of our Church leaders. We are not asked to do that or taught to do that. We are entitled to our own personal revelation as to what is correct and incorrect. I can bear testimony that I know that Joseph Smith, Jr. was a prophet of God. That he was the instrument God used to restore the full gospel to this earth and to this blessed land we call America. I know that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, and that God, our Heavenly Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct separate beings who are united in purpose. I also know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true and living Church on the earth today. I bear this witness in the name of Jesus Christ.

As a Latter-day Saint it often puzzles me why so many so-called Christians would preach or promote anything contrary to that of love and tolerance and respect for all people, regardless of their religion or race. At church we preach about the apostacy (or falling away from truth), which happened at the death of the original 12 disciples. We also discuss the restoration of those same truths to Joseph Smith, through devine revelation. Not once do we say anything negative about any other religion, only that they have not recieved the fullness of the gospel as taught in the LDS church.
We praise the reformers for their desire to seek the truth and their commitment to the Lord and ask all those who profess to follow Christ to open their hearts to the gospel message we share and seek to find out if it is true for themselves. I have done this and have found the everlasting gospel of the Lord and know that it provides the only true path back to the presence of our Father. It is a path of love for one another and joy in serving the Lord.