Sorry for the long wait, but I had some family issues come up and I will have to take care of them first. BYU good luck with your daughters batism. God bless.
Nev, good luck with your family issues as well. I hope everything is okay and works out with your family. I also wanted to apologize to you for calling you names like little boy, moron, etc. Even though our views on true christianity differ in many regards, I think one thing we can agree on is that the example of Jesus Christ is not one of belitteling. As I'm sure you've probably heard, the President/prophet of our church passed away last night. You would be hard pressed to find a man with a greater love for his fellow man, understanding, kindness, acceptance of all people. That is the example I have been taught. And this giant of a man will be sorely missed by the members of the LDS Church. I look forward to your next post.
nonbcs, no offense taken by you in the lest bit. I was trying to respond to your question knowing full well from your previous posts that you haven't studied the subject in much depth.
My main point was to let you know that Mormons do not practice polygamy and have not since 1890. We consider it immoral and an abomination in God's eyes. However, we do acknowledge that polygamy is a doctrine that God has instituted at different times throughout history. We believe out of necessity that this doctrine was instituted to the eraly church for the reasons I mentioned earlier. So, to bring it full circle, if one is practicing polygamy, not only do they not have good standing with the church, they are also excommunicated from the church and can have no part in it, until they repent and forsake the sin.
One thing, I agree with you is that nobody really could know what was happening in the time between BC and AD, unless they were a prophet. We believe our prophets to be prophets in the literal sense. We believe that they are and were prophets in the exact same sense that we believe Moses or Abraham or Isiah from the bible to be prophets, with the same authority and charge to proclaim truth and reveal new truth from God for our day. If we do not have a prophet to lead, guide, interpret, etc, we are left as Paul states in Ephesians 4:14 "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." If one doesn't know where to look for truth, we are all children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. Not to get too preachy, (probably too late for that) but that is the beautiful message of Mormonism. That God does speak to man today in a literal sense, that the heavens are opened and that God reveals his truth to modern day prophets, just like in biblic times, that we do not need to be "children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine. And what's even more beautiful about this message is that we don't ask you to take our word for it. The Book of Mormon comes with a promise that states: "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of The Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. (Moroni chapter 9 verse 4 & 5) We do not and never have asked anyone to just take our word for it, like many evangelical Christians would tell you to just take their word for it concerning Mormons.
Joseph Smith was once confronted by an Evangelical preacher, who was throwing down fire and brimstone his way and telling him that he was resigned to Hell, etc, kind of like Nev has said to me. He said to this preacher: (I'm quoting this to the best of my remembrance) "Do you know what the difference is between you and I? You and your Evangelical brethren have already confined me to an endless Hell, yet I believe even you can one day be saved in the kingdom of heaven" I kind of feel the same way when speaking with Evangelicals or Baptists etc, who have already confined us Mormons to hell. Yet we believe even they can be saved in the kingdom of heaven, and hope that they do eventually accept truth. Anyway nonbcs, what's new on the football front?
well i am hoping that giants will stop the patriots, while a few more battles are being fought at boise board which i am sure you'll be in the middle of in no time...
speaking of evangelicals, i couldn't help but smile when i saw some of the romney/huckabee debate... i know that they were professional and all but still you wonder what is going through their head and what they really want to say to one another...
Dear BYU, I am sorry for your loss and your church's loss. I will make this short as it is late. I would like to carry on our debate or discussion at a later date, because I have really enjoyed going back and forth with you. Honestly though, I can do without degrading your views next time, so please forgive me for that for I apolgize and next time lets sort try and keep it professional or rather debate in love. Until then God Bless!
None of that faith-based garbage is real. The wac is better than the mwc oh and Jesus walked on h20, talked to a burning bush (may have done that, I seen people talk to inanimate objects while intoxicated), oh and the earth is only 6500 years old, and on and on. Total nonsense.
Thank you for your opinion Structure. While it is totally uninformed and uneducated, you are still entitled to it. Just like people like myself and Nev are entitled to ours, hopefully without having to listen to drivel spewed out by Athiests like yourself. If you have anything interesting or genuine to add to this conversation, please feel free to do so. If what you have to add is to belittle anothers faith, well it would behoove you to keep your uninformed trap shut.
BYU, you should write a book. That was quite amazing. But with your beliefs you remind me of the WBC. Totally skewed by your own church, you deny the truth.
Although, I do find it rather cool that you can have 5 wives. God Bless!
Skilzz, are you really going to go there? First off, I don't even know what the WBC is, so you'll have to explain that one. Actually, I don't deny truth, I embrace it and so does my church. But you wouldn't know anything about that would you, since you still believe that we have multiple wives. It would be totally impossible to have an intelligent conversation about Mormonism with someone who doesn't even know that Mormons don't practice polygamy and haven't since 1896. Do your homework before spewing your uninformed garbage Skillz.
Skilzz, I have no other conclusion to draw than that you are extremely far from the truth if you are still under the dillusion that Mormons are polygamists. Are there any other unfounded stretchings of the truth about Mormonism that I may help dispell for you?
BTW, I do know what the Westboro Baptist Church is. I didn't recognize the WBC acronym. These are the yahoos that think everyone that doesn't believe exactly like they do are evil, satanists. These are the morons that come protest our conference every 6 months. These are the "true Christians" that came and protested our church presidents funeral a couple months ago. These are the bigots that protested Matthew Shephard's (the homosexual Wyoming student that was muredered) funeral. If you think anything these so called Christians do, or believe is anywhere remotely close to the teachings and practices of Mormonism, then you are further from the truth than I previously thought. Skills, if you really think this, I have some beautiful swamp land for sale near the Great Salt lake. Are you interested in buying? It seems like you've already bought a whole lot of nonsense from someone. How about making me rich too?
I was not saying you have the same practices. I was saying that you have the same central teaching idea. You let your church blind you from the truth and you will do anything in your power to steer the beliefs of neutral people.
Skillz, once again I am not sure which church it is you're speaking of. I've been LDS for 33 years and never once has anyone tried to tell blind me from truth. In fact, it is a doctrine of Mormon faith to pray about what our leaders are telling us and find out for ourselves if it is correct. If you'd like, I can show you plenty of talks given by Presidents of our church as well as Apostles and church hiearchy that specifically say, not to follow something blindly. We are always taught that we need to gain our own testimony (confirmation from the spirit) that what they are teaching us is a true principle. I'm sure there are some uneducated members of the LDS church that do just follow everything blindly, but what church out there doesn't have members that do that.
Obviously, you have followed somebody blindly and are not a true seeker of truth, since the above statement you posted is the exact opposite of what I've been taught in the LDS church for 33 years. That's fine though. I enjoy dispelling the half-truths and misguided teachings that people like yourself have obviously been brain-washed into thinking about The LDS Church. Please continue to discuss this with me. I'd love to disspell a few more ridiculous mistruths that you might have.
Fosty, I think you know darn well from previous run-ins, that I'm not going anywhere. If you had read through the entire thread, you would notice that I am not the one who started the religious debate. In fact, I tried to avoid it for several posts. My suggestion to you, would be to not read this thread if somehow my "preaching" bothers you.
