Ask A Mormon

[mtolympus]

You answered my post concerning how the LDS viewed the reception of the Scriptures, but TexanKnight immediately after your answer raised another point concerning the Textus Receptus. I know nothing of the Textus Receptus, but I assume that that means he has concerns with the LDS acceptance of the Scriptures.

The Textus Receptus is a printed Greek text that was available to translators during the time of the Reformation. In the late fifteenth century, the Greek language text was recovered. The Bible of the Roman Catholic Church at that time was the Latin Vulgate translated by Jerome in the latter part of the fourth century. Scholars discovered mistranslations or errors in the Vulgate prompting a desire to print the New Testament in its original language and to translate it into English and Germain from the original Greek.

There is no concern with the Textus Receptus and the LDS acceptance of the Bible.

 

[mtolympus]

Olympus, by your logic perhaps you should become Muslim instead.

No, not really. Gentle persuasion to their side of the story has not generally been the Muslim method of conversion and their reason for growth.

My point is that the following post made by my great-great grandfather shows that two sides to the Joseph Smith story existed even prior to 1840: “after a year and a half’s careful investigation, becoming acquanted with Joseph Smith and the Mormon people, finding them an honest, industrious people, and most wickedly misrepresented, I presented myself for baptism.”

We can be confident that the Catholic Church is the Church established by Christ. Scripture records that the Church membership grew greatly, guided by the Holy Spirit.

Yes, we are told that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. (John 16:13) That is why in our search for the kingdom of God we are told to ask, seek, and knock:

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Matt. 7:7)

 

[Stephen168]

The revelations are relative to the times. God’s Truth is reveal in part only to be relative to the time. Or so I’m told by my Mormon friends and missionaries.

and the Gospel (Good News) is not relative

 

[IgnatianPhilo]

Is the father a physical entity? Mormons often refuse to answer this question and complain that they don’t know what physical means so I will define it. That is we a physical, able to be touched, felt, fit in places, the objects and creatures in teh universe are physical. is the Father Physical?

 

[kimg901]

I agree that is stated in the book of Mormon, but the Book of Mormon also clearly states repeatedly that some of the individual writers in the Book of Mormon might have gotten some facts wrong. (e.g. “if there are errors they are the errors of men,” the Ether 12 passage on weakness, etc.)

So men got it wrong? I thought the B.o.M was Christ Words? So how did it become wrong? All of the B.o.M contradicts itself.

When the Amalekites marked their foreheads, did God do that to them too?

God promised that the unbelievers would be set apart. I don’t think the actual causality matters.

Maybe Laman and Lemuel’s descendants just married in with darker people in the land. That’s not inherently sinful, any more than putting a mark on your forehead is sinful, but it simply worked to fulfill the Lord’s purposes.

It’s clear in the bible as well as in the book of mormon that God uses the actions of the wicked to fulfill his special purposes.

 

[Porknpie]

No, not really. Gentle persuasion to their side of the story has not generally been the Muslim method of conversion and their reason for growth.

My point is that the following post made by my great-great grandfather shows that two sides to the Joseph Smith story existed even prior to 1840: “after a year and a half’s careful investigation, becoming acquanted with Joseph Smith and the Mormon people, finding them an honest, industrious people, and most wickedly misrepresented, I presented myself for baptism.”

Yes, we are told that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. (John 16:13) That is why in our search for the kingdom of God we are told to ask, seek, and knock:
(Matt. 7:7)

Olympus -

In John 16, the YOU Christ is speaking to is his Apostles, his first Bishops of his Catholic Church. He is speaking about leading his CHURCH to all truth. That is why in Timothy 3:15, Saint Paul say “The Church is the Pillar and Foundation of Truth”… guided by the Holy Spirit.

As individuals, Catholic and catholic alike, we can be led astray, but Christ protects his Catholic Church from error on faith and morals… always, until the end of time.

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

No apostasy Olympus…Christ would not allow it.

Pork

 

[Porknpie]

Yes, we are told that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. (John 16:13) That is why in our search for the kingdom of God we are told to ask, seek, and knock:

Olympus,

Do you believe the bible is inerrant and the inspired Word of God?

Curious I am…

 

[campeador]

Olympus,

Do you believe the bible is inerrant and the inspired Word of God?

Curious I am…

Mormon Articles of Faith:“We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.”
It’s been my experience that most LDS believe the Bible to have many translation errors.

 

[kimg901]

Mormon Articles of Faith:“We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.”
It’s been my experience that most LDS believe the Bible to have many translation errors.

That always makes me laugh. The C.C has had 1,500 years of doing this

 

[Frank_Blunt]

Originally Posted by Frank Blunt
I agree that is stated in the book of Mormon, but the Book of Mormon also clearly states repeatedly that some of the individual writers in the Book of Mormon might have gotten some facts wrong. (e.g. “if there are errors they are the errors of men,” the Ether 12 passage on weakness, etc.)

So men got it wrong? I thought the B.o.M was Christ Words?

Like the Bible, the BoM contains some of Christ’s words, some of men’s words, some words of women, some words of angels. The Bible also contains some of the words of devils (e.g. “we are legion”) and the book of Numbers has the voice of a donkey whose mouth God had opened.

The words of Christ are infallible. The words of men, less so.

Joseph Smith characterized the Book of Mormon as “the word of God.” But that’s not how the book characterizes itself. The BoM simply proclaims to contain some of God’s word.

Among Christians, there’s a split between the fundamentalists who “believe in the bible” vs. the others that merely believe what the Bible says. Fundamentalists make claims for the Bible that the Bible never makes for itself, e.g. that every word in the Bible is the revealed word of God. The same split exists among the LDS with regard to the Book of Mormon.

I thought that Catholics were generally not fundamentalists; that you recognized that the Bible is the writings of the holy prophets about their dealings with the Almighty, rather than a transcription of God’s dictation. Am I mistaken?

 

[Frank_Blunt]

Is the father a physical entity? Mormons often refuse to answer this question and complain that they don’t know what physical means so I will define it. That is we a physical, able to be touched, felt, fit in places, the objects and creatures in teh universe are physical. is the Father Physical?

Mormons believe that the Father is physical in the same respect that Jesus Christ, after his resurrection, is physical. Correct me if I’m wrong, Mt. Olympus.

 

[Frank_Blunt]

No, that is one of the things that the Expositor was publishing.

"Polygamy as a doctrine was introduced into the LDS church by Joseph Smith. The practice continued after Joseph’s death in 1844, and was publicly announced in 1852, five years after the Saints arrived in Utah. Brigham Young was the most visible practitioner having been sealed to 55 women. Sanction of the practice was officially ended with the 1890 Manifesto from the church president Wilford Woodruff. "

mormonthink.com/joseph-smith-polygamy.htm

Also, please reread my post. I said he practiced it for 5 years BEFORE it became public.

That’s an excellent source, and I suggest that you read the highlighted portion more carefully.

When smith made the revelation public, it happened to coincide(at the same time) with Emma catching him with Fanny.

Let me break it down really simply for you. Smith was practicing polygamy secretly for approx. 5 years before Emma caught him with Fanny. Once he got busted on that, then all of a sudden the polygamy doctrine became public.

Got it now?

Please refer to the Mormon Think link I posted earlier. It is much more reliable than a Wiki articl.

Is that your final answer?

Your own source agrees with me that the doctrine did not become public until 5 years after Joseph died.

What you’re saying is that in 1852, (when Joseph’s been dead 5 years, buried in Nauvoo, and Brigham Young is running the LDS church in Salt Lake City) that Emma caught Joseph Smith with Fanny Alger.

Your curious timeline would have Joseph Smith practicing secret polygamy for five years after his assassination. Although your theory would explain how a high profile man like Joseph Smith kept his polygamy a secret in a small town like Nauvoo for 5 years, I’m having a hard time accepting your proposal that a dead man could be so sexually active while buried 6 feet under his widow’s garden, next to his brother Hyrum.

I don’t think it’s a viable theory, but you might want to write up a script and send it to Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Sounds like material for the sequel to the “Book of Mormon” musical.

 

[eddie_too]

why do you mormons believe the angel moroni was sent to joseph smith by God?

why could moroni not have been sent by satan?

 

[eddie_too]

was Jesus created by the father in heaven before He became man?

 

[campeador]

I thought that Catholics were generally not fundamentalists; that you recognized that the Bible is the writings of the holy prophets about their dealings with the Almighty, rather than a transcription of God’s dictation. Am I mistaken?

Catechism of the Catholic Church:

105 God is the author of Sacred Scripture. “The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.”

“For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself.”

 

[The_Serpent]

In regards to Mormon teaching on Cain and his descendants. Is it true Mormons believe “Bigfoot” are descendants of Cain? Also are giants mentioned in the “Book of Mormon”?

 

[campeador]

In regards to Mormon teaching on Cain and his descendants. Is it true Mormons believe “Bigfoot” are descendants of Cain? Also are giants mentioned in the “Book of Mormon”?

The LDS believe Adam became Michael, Noah became Gabriel, and Cain became Bigfoot.

 

[twopekinguys]

That’s an excellent source, and I suggest that you read the highlighted portion more carefully.

Is that your final answer?

Your own source agrees with me that the doctrine did not become public until 5 years after Joseph died.

What you’re saying is that in 1852, (when Joseph’s been dead 5 years, buried in Nauvoo, and Brigham Young is running the LDS church in Salt Lake City) that Emma caught Joseph Smith with Fanny Alger.

Your curious timeline would have Joseph Smith practicing secret polygamy for five years after his assassination. Although your theory would explain how a high profile man like Joseph Smith kept his polygamy a secret in a small town like Nauvoo for 5 years, I’m having a hard time accepting your proposal that a dead man could be so sexually active while buried 6 feet under his widow’s garden, next to his brother Hyrum.

I don’t think it’s a viable theory, but you might want to write up a script and send it to Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Sounds like material for the sequel to the “Book of Mormon” musical.

I’m not sure which part of …Smith practiced polygamy for at least 5 YEARS BEFORE THE REVELATION WAS MADE PUBLIC

You’re wanting to nit pick the wrong thing.

Welcome to my ignore list.

 

[Stephen168]

You have been misinformed. Polygamy did not become public until after Joseph Smith’s death.

Define public

 

[kimg901]

Like the Bible, the BoM contains some of Christ’s words, some of men’s words, some words of women, some words of angels. The Bible also contains some of the words of devils (e.g. “we are legion”) and the book of Numbers has the voice of a donkey whose mouth God had opened.

The words of Christ are infallible. The words of men, less so.
Even if these men were witnesses to Christ Works and Christ himself gave them authority?

Joseph Smith characterized the Book of Mormon as “the word of God.” But that’s not how the book characterizes itself. The BoM simply proclaims to contain some of God’s word.

Among Christians, there’s a split between the fundamentalists who “believe in the bible” vs. the others that merely believe what the Bible says. Fundamentalists make claims for the Bible that the Bible never makes for itself, e.g. that every word in the Bible is the revealed word of God. The same split exists among the LDS with regard to the Book of Mormon.

I thought that Catholics were generally not fundamentalists; that you recognized that the Bible is the writings of the holy prophets about their dealings with the Almighty, rather than a transcription of God’s dictation. Am I mistaken?
We believe (catholics) that Scripture is and was inspired by the Holy Spirit