cool. How about we all actually look at history and stop trying to use the bible as God’s written answer. Wake the fuck up people God didn’t write it. Mormons, Fundamental Christians, Protestants, Catholics, whatever you are stop preaching a policy of exclusive entry into heaven. If Jesus was the only way over half the world’s population would be wrong based simply on their environment and getting the shaft on losing the saved lottery of people who have no historical or conceptual vision of christianity. They can’t relate to it and it has no bearing on their life. I think the fundamental step in building any relationship with God should start with the absence of religion and then go from there. You don’t get saved by believing doctrine and stories from any book. An awareness of self and of religious/spiritual society is much more important than a life of intolerance and evangelical blinders.

Anyone that says that Polygamists come closer to the teachings of Joseph Smith than the church of Jesus Christ of LDS, is woefully misguided.

Joseph Smith said that, “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile.”

Joseph Smith never taught coersion. Joseph Smith never taught rape. Joseph Smith allways taught his followers to abide by the law and to be guided by their respective governments. Joseph Smith did teach polygamy and engaged in polygamy, but the Polygamy of Joseph Smith and that of Warren Jeffs are polar opposites. The polygamy once practiced more than a century ago by the church of Jesus Christ of LDS was an honorable practice commissioned between consenting adults.

The polygamy practiced by Warren Jeffs and the like is a sick twisted perversion that is far from any of Joseph Smith’s teachings. Joseph smith taught “love unfeigned” and the preservation of youthful virtue. He taught friendship and civility.

The things that the self-appointed “prophet” Warren Jeffs teaches us are cruelty, perversion, coersion, rape, destruction of virtue, and filth. The FLDS religion is merely a fascade used to help Jeffs and others try to justify their horrible acts.

I hope the FLDS can sue the pants off the state of texas.It is criminal to rip those kids away from their parents. That Azar idiot makes me want to throw up with his litany of how “the children are now safe, and we hope to get them to talk to us”, “this is a great day for the children, they now will have a safe life”…what a jerk.

I have just read all of the remarks above and am so very sorry that our Father’s Children continue to abuse each other. I can find no excuse for this. The two greatest commandments were to Love the Lord with all of our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves. We can differ in our beliefs and still be respectful of each other’s choices and beliefs. I have friends from all different religions and stations in life and have great respect for them as our brothers and sisters. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have been since I was baptized in 1941 by my father who held and still holds the Melchizedek Priesthood, yes even in heaven. I have lived for many years now and have searched and researched many religions and LDS doctrine as well as Anti-mormon claims. I was very far away from the church at one time in my life and it was during these times that I had made some pretty serious mistakes and even got to the point where I lost the spirit and was not sure of what I believed and I tried to deceive myself by saying I was trying to find the truth. The truth of this matter was that I had always known the truth, I just was not willing to accept it because in doing so I would have to accept responsibilty for what I had done and the sins I had committed. I came to a point in my life when I made a very important decision. I returned to the church and went to my Bishop and told him of the things I had been guilty of and he knelt with me and we prayed together and I cried as if my heart would break and I felt the long lost Holy Ghost return to me and it was as though a light came on in my mind and heart and I realized that I had been walking in complete darkness and was so amazed at how much clearer every thing was to me after receiving this. I knew without any doubt that I had come home and this is where I knew I should be. You can call this a subjective experience or anything else you would like to call it, but nevertheless I knew I had received the truth and I knew that He knew that I had also. You will never be able to convince anyone of the truthfulness of His Gospel by reading books or by listening to others discuss subjects either pro or con. The things of God can only be known through the Spirit of God. The different scriptures can be understood this way as well and only through this method can you understand them. Since God is no respector of persons would He be willing to reveal Himself to the Prophets in Old Testiment times and yet deprive His children to day of these same blessings. He is a just and merciful Father. He loves each of us equally and will give to each of us that which He knows will be best for us at any given time in our lives. Whether any of His children are willing to accept what He has given or will yet give to us is up to each one of us. If we reject it we will be held accountable for this. With Law we are judged by Law but to those who are without law he will not judge them by the law. Those who know the truth and then fight against it will be in dire straits on that great judgement day but those who do not know and understand will not be held accountable for that which they do not know. Members of His church who have chosen to leave the church have this right but those who have been enlighted by the Spirit will be cast out of His presence which is the second death. Once you have received this light and truth you are responsible for what you do with this truth. I pray for those who have left the church and have determined to fight against it because they will someday have to reap the rewards of this. I was almost there and I know the absolute hell that a soul can feel at this time. You can fight against God but you will never prevail. Those who feel that by doing this they serve God will one day realize what they have done. Take care that you do not do this. You see I do know that there was a need for a restoration of all things and that our Father did restore this through the Propeht Joseph Smith whether any one believes this or not. Those who fight against this truth will not prevail any more that many have for 175 years have. You may fight against God’s work but you cannot worlds without end destroy it. I have studied the Bible for many years and have read the Book of Mormon many times. I have read the Pearl of great price and Doctrine and Covenants more than once and studied from them often. And I have read all of the accusations against it by dissentors and those who have their own agendas but none have shaken my faith or belief in His restored Church. Remember one thing if you feel that any church can claim to be the true Church here upon His earth without His sanction you are wrong. Only He can do this and when He declares this before witnesses and there is a law of witnesses, you and I had best listen with our ears and our hearts and not be angry because he has declared this but be grateful that He has and listen to the spirit and let it guide us home.

I’m truly amazed at the high-and-mighty, self-righteous, Bible-thumping, out and out faith-bashing going on in this forum. Anyone who calls themselves a Christian (or at least a decent human being) should be ashamed of themselves for trashing the Mormons (or any other faith for that matter). This article is about the media and world confusion between two separate religions, and there are some of you in here who are gleefully taking it as an opportunity to turn the Mormon church on its ear and win your own “converts” in an anti-Mormon free-for-all. Look, I realize you, too, have free speech, but please, Grow up! and have something meaningful and constructive to say. You’re sure to win more friends than enemies.

Let me ask you, If a woman broke off from catholocism claimed she was a priest and started practicing things that were morally reprehensible in the face of the catholic church, would you still consider her catholic? Why then do you lump all these offshoot, groups with the true followers of Jesus Christ. We love the saviour and we strive to be like him. Jesus Christ must weep in heaven when he sees a child abused. As followers of Christ certainly we can not condone or accept such things. I am surpised about the ignorance of people concerning our faith. If you want to know about the protestant faith, you would ask a practicing protestant. If you want to know about our faith why don’t you look at our website. Mormon.org, lds.org
Regardless, truth is truth, and all the lies and bad publicity in the world can not change that. I am surprised that instead of joining with us to fight against the evils of the day; woman and children abuse, violence, poverty and ignorance other religious persons and communities would prefer instead to argue about the precepts of our faith. Maybe I should not be so surpised, that is always how the adversary ( the devil) has worked from the begining, creating conflict and dissention. When people our divided they can not stand together. I urge all good people everywhere, of every religious organization, to stand up against this division to accept and embrace the good and fight against things that are inherently evil violence, child abuse, and such. We should not be spending our time arguing about who is right. We should be standing up and fighting for the right. Everything good comes from GOD, we are all brothers and sisters regardless of race, faith or creed, and we need to stand together.

Although current Mormons do not include the polyandrous list on familysearch.org for JS Jr. they have to really look at the current trend with Mormon leadership. As quoted by Dr. Wendy Ulrich the former President of the Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists:

“I want to talk about this because I am keenly aware that the people who are being affected by the onslaught of pornography in our culture are not just freaky people over in the corner doing strange things that you know are kind of weird. The last four or five couples that I have worked with who have had addiction to pornography as one of their central issues, the men in every case were either at the time or are currently serving in bishoprics.”

“I was having a brief conversation with someone in the Counseling Psychology Department yesterday who’s husband is a therapist. She said his experience was that the people who are coming in with this problem are not people who have really quirky personalities who are sitting in a room by themselves or who don’t have good values. People who are good folks, in positions of leadership and authority, positions of strength are getting hooked by this stuff.”

This addiction problem among Mormon priesthood leadership is evidence of a weakened priesthood brought on by a resurrection of a new form of “Asherah worship”.

I was raised in the LDS church. My ancestors were among the first of those who followed Brigham Young to the Salt Lake Valley. I was instructed in the various classes of the church: Sunday School, Primary, Mutual, Priesthood class, and the various ward and stake meetings. I have read the Book of Mormon and other Mormon Scripture (Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants and the Bible). I memorized the articles of faith. I also have prayed as to whether the Book or Mormon is true and if the Mormon church is the “true church” and whether indeed, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young are “true prophets”. It is with great clarity and sincerity that I testify that… the Mormon church is not the “true church” and Joseph Smith and Brigham Young are not “true prophets”. I however, do bear witness, that Jesus Christ is both Lord and Savior and has risen from the dead, according to the scriptures. I also would encourage all Latter Day Saints to investigate the Book of Mormon for historical and archeological verification, and to compare the teaching of the Mormon church to the Bible, especially the New Testament. I also would encourage all to ask God to bring light and revelation regarding the person of Jesus Christ and His ability and willingness to bring to all, forgiveness of sins and eternal life. As Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). To all who have felt betrayed by the Mormon church, I would encourage you to “seek the Lord” for He can be found. The discovery of the counterfeit (the Mormon Church) may lead you, as it did me, to the experience of the authentic (Jesus Christ).

I have taken a few minutes to peruse the previous blogs and to be honest I seem to be disappointed with where people must be getting there information about doctrine and the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, aka “Mormons”.
I would venture to say that many have not been to a Sacrament service with us. I invite you to come to any one of our church buildings in your area and come see for yourself. You don’t have to take the Sacrament if don’t feel comfortable with that or if you wish to partake of it that will be fine also. We won’t be asking for money or passing a plate or basket around so you don’t have to worry about that. Anyone there will be willing to direct or answer questions for you, just let us know what you need.
Please see for yourself, learn for yourself, you don’t need to rely on anyone elses experiences except you own.

The Book of Mormon does not condemn plural marriage in the general sense. You must bear in mind that the Lord was talking through his chosen prophet (Jacob at that time) to his people at that time. The key to understanding Mormons and the Mormon faith is understanding that they believe in continuing revelation. Every day, every year, every generation, we face new challenges. Some of the solutions to those challenges are pervasive but others are not.

The Old Testament is full of apparent contradictions. Jacob (or Israel) had 3 wives. Where is the condemnation for that? Abraham’s wife Sarah gave him her handmaiden. Where is the outrage from the “orthodox” Christians? Saul was commanded to slaughter a group of people while it is clear that we are not supposed to kill. We have no idea why but we know what happened to Saul when he wasn’t 100% obedient. The point is, I have no problem with a God that is intelligent enough to adapt the commandments slightly in the best interest of His people. That doesn’t mean that He changes His mind

The fact of the matter is that either we are led by a living prophet in the form of President Thomas S. Monson or we are not. One side believes that and the other does not. Nobody is or should be forced to believe one way or the other but we ought to respect eachother’s beliefs. But we ought to be able to have a civilized discussion without resorting to insults.