So I visited the Mormon Temple...

[kell0618]

Hi kelly. You forgot one: They teach that men can have many wives, and that the wives are to be obedient and hard working, and aren’t to complain about their husbands sleeping with other women.

OOPS! One slipped by me!:clapping:

 

[ABostonCatholic]

There is also a difference in etymology between ghost and spirit. Ghost is Germanic from GEIST, whereas sprit is Latin from SPIRITUS.

 

[dbacks5439]

I asked a mormon why it was important for Jesus to show up in the Americas and not another far off place like Australia or Japan. I received the dumbest answer ever. He told me if Jesus went to Australia, people would ask why He didn’t show up in the Americas. I had to take an IQ test to make sure I didn’t lose any points.

 

[PaulDupre]

With declining numbers (look at all the ex-Mormons on this Forum!) the Mormons better start reaching out to non-Mormons, it’s in their best interest (self survival as a sect) to do so.

It’s true, their numbers are declining very fast. Convert baptisms are way down - perhaps because the internet has informed people about what Mormonism really teaches so that the missionaries cannot deceive them. Also, according to my nephew who works as a Computer Specialist for the LDS church in SLC, the Church Membership office processes 350-400 requests per day by Mormons to have their names removed from the records of the church. Assuming they don’t work weekends, that’s 91,000 to 104,000 Mormons per year officially leaving the church. The number seems to increase every year. And that doesn’t count the defectors who never bother to have their names removed from the church records. I personally know 11 of those.

Paul

 

[kellie]

I asked a mormon why it was important for Jesus to show up in the Americas and not another far off place like Australia or Japan. I received the dumbest answer ever. He told me if Jesus went to Australia, people would ask why He didn’t show up in the Americas. I had to take an IQ test to make sure I didn’t lose any points.

lol

If Jesus turned up in Australia, we would offer Him a beer, and wouldn’t even ask why He hadn’t turned up in America.

Believe it or not, we don’t think of America that often lol, well, ok, a little bit lol

 

[happygal]

I asked a mormon why it was important for Jesus to show up in the Americas and not another far off place like Australia or Japan. I received the dumbest answer ever. He told me if Jesus went to Australia, people would ask why He didn’t show up in the Americas. I had to take an IQ test to make sure I didn’t lose any points.

**Hi dbacks

You should further ask why America only!!! Isn’t Jesus should be an avid traveller, travelling around the world to let others know him???**

 

[happygal]

Hi kelly. You forgot one: They teach that men can have many wives, and that the wives are to be obedient and hard working, and aren’t to complain about their husbands sleeping with other women.

**Huh, did i see anything wrong here…i’m fainting **

 

[Allweather]

I’m going to say that her story about the Mormons helping out actually seems true. I know a friend who was actually helped out considerably by a local mormon church when he lost his job. Apparently one of his other friends who is a mormon asked for help and the church stepped forward. The guy they helped is an atheist, but he was highly impressed with the mormon’s willingness to help him.

In addition, growing up, my next door neighbors were mormon. They were always incredibly kind and just great examples of charity.

One thing that has always impressed me about mormonism is their dedication to family and charity. A lot of churches could learn from their example in this regard.

I tend to agree, with exceptions, based on my own experiences with Mormons. However, I’ve seen it among Catholics and other Christians as well. When I was a fundamentalist, we worked very hard to help people. Most of it had as its motivating force the desire to “win souls for the Lord” and I strongly suspect that the same is true of the Mormons. Friendship evangelization is a well known tactic, one that Mormons and Christian fundamentalists are active with.

The OP and I exchanged some messages in which she elaborated her experience. I mentioned that after my future father-in-law’s wife died last November, his ward has virtually ignored him, in spite of the fact that he is having a truly difficult emotional and financial time in the aftermath. Granted, this may have a lot to do with the fact that he has been virtually inactive, a non-tither (I am assuming) for the past several years. But do you see the correlation? A Mormon who has fallen away and fallen on hard times is ignored, while a non-member (read: potential member) is fawned over with lavish hospitality. Personally, I don’t think this is an accident.

 

[colliric]

Zerinus: if you read the article I linked to earlier about this issue, you would understand that in the 17th century, it was more common to speak of the beings who cause ‘hauntings’ as ‘spirits’; the term ‘ghost’ in those times was used rather differently. Nowadays, we would actually reverse the way we use the words “ghost” and “spirit” from the way those words were used during the time the KJV was translated. Strictly speaking, it is not that either of the words themselves are archaic, but that the usage of them–as it appears in the KJV–would be somewhat archaic. Hope that helps a little. Thanks for your clarification on the LDS and the Ghost/Spirit issue, by the way!

yes, that’s what I am saying. However it is not a reversal of meaning like you say, as the KJV uses Spirit to describe spiritual beings in our modern understanding of that word too… e.g “And the Spirit of God hovered above the waters”. But Ghost, which simply meant “working/manifesting spirit” slowly took on the more specific meaning of “physically working/manifesting spirit” which for the record was also covered by the older more general meaning.

 

[Mannyfit75]

I just watched the videos and woah, I’m not surprise. Mormon stories of the Native Americans descenting from Israelites is disproven by DNA evidence, and archeological evidence… the research noted that the Native Americans have originated in Northern Asia…

 

[Baron_Holbach]

You should be so lucky! This would be an excellent opportunity to witness the True Gospel to a couple of earnest young people who desperately need to hear it. I’ve heard several stories from people who, during their missions, heard true witnessing from people to whom they were trying to sell their religion product, and later went out of Mormonism and into Christianity.

Send the missionaries to my house. I’m a Presbyterian who would love to bear witness to these Mormons the truth of the Holy Catholic Church.

 

[why_me]

You might be on a data base simply because they have to have a system to inform their missionaries where to go visit you. Once you get your Book of Mormon and tell them you are not interested in learning anymore, they won’t bother you anymore. I wouldn’t worry about it.

By the way, all you need to know about the Book of Mormon can be found in these two videos:

lhvm.org/vid_dna_med.htm

lhvm.org/vid_bible_med.htm

These videos can be watched on-line and are excellent presentations.

There is also a very good article on the Catholic Answers web site:

catholic.com/library/Prob…_of_Mormon.asp

The videos listed on this site are rather negative about the lds church and are made for a purpose. To have Mormons question their faith and hopefully they will become born again christians once they discover the ‘truth’. And they are made with that intent. But they have been at it for years. It would be as if an anti-catholic group would be near the vatican, spreading propaganda to catholics in order to have them convert to born again christianity.

I would not assume that Living Hope Ministries are pro-catholic either.

 

[why_me]

You might be on a data base simply because they have to have a system to inform their missionaries where to go visit you. Once you get your Book of Mormon and tell them you are not interested in learning anymore, they won’t bother you anymore. I wouldn’t worry about it.

By the way, all you need to know about the Book of Mormon can be found in these two videos:

lhvm.org/vid_bible_med.htm

]

The Living Hope Ministry video is discussed by Mormon apologists on the following site:
fairlds.org/Bible/Bible_vs_the_Book_of_Mormon_Video.html

 

[Lukelion]

My biggest question about Mormonism was “what happened to the tablets God supposedly gave to Joseph Smith?” God gave Moses stone tablets, not gold, and made Moses keep them in the Ark of the Covenant. Joseph went off and buried his tablets. That raised a red flag for me.

 

[majick275]

The videos listed on this site are rather negative about the lds church and are made for a purpose. To have Mormons question their faith and hopefully they will become born again christians once they discover the ‘truth’. And they are made with that intent. But they have been at it for years. It would be as if an anti-catholic group would be near the vatican, spreading propaganda to catholics in order to have them convert to born again christianity.

I would not assume that Living Hope Ministries are pro-catholic either.

I certainly do not support living hope ministries and those videos should be viewed with skepticism if one is to be able to glean the truth out of them,BUT mormons constantly go door to door and to public places near many churches and shrines and they spread their message to catholics and others to get them to question their faith and hopefully convert to mormonism. the first discussion assumes covers the “great apostasy” and calls out the creeds as abominations to God. Do you not consider that a similar activity?

 

[PaulDupre]

My biggest question about Mormonism was “what happened to the tablets God supposedly gave to Joseph Smith?” God gave Moses stone tablets, not gold, and made Moses keep them in the Ark of the Covenant. Joseph went off and buried his tablets. That raised a red flag for me.

I think you’ve got it backwards. Joseph Smith claimed to have dug up the gold plates at the direction of an angel. Then after he completed the “translation” of the Book of Mormon, the angel came and took the plates to heaven.

Paul (a former Mormon)

 

[Lukelion]

I think you’ve got it backwards. Joseph Smith claimed to have dug up the gold plates at the direction of an angel. Then after he completed the “translation” of the Book of Mormon, the angel came and took the plates to heaven.

Paul (a former Mormon)

I knew I should have double checked that! Sorry! It’s been 10 years since the Mormons came to give us “lessons”. I just found it fishy that the tablets disappeared, when they got to keep the 10 commandments.

 

[PaulDupre]

Agreed!

 

[DB_AND_ALI]

In order to be specific, Zerinus would have to actually watch the video. The Mormon Church forbids their members to watch anything they consider anti-Mormon.
Paul

This is also a feature of the JW’S…IRONICALLY this cultish ‘rule/instruction’ is to me their greatest weakness , because human nature seeks truth. By forbidding members to even read ‘unapproved’ material they inadvertantly create a desire for the member to break this ruling ,because the subconscious tells the member that they are vulnerable and hiding something from him/her. Often the fear of being ‘found out’ is the main thing preventing the ‘victim’ from escaping from the cult !

 

[why_me]

It’s true, their numbers are declining very fast. Convert baptisms are way down - perhaps because the internet has informed people about what Mormonism really teaches so that the missionaries cannot deceive them. Also, according to my nephew who works as a Computer Specialist for the LDS church in SLC, the Church Membership office processes 350-400 requests per day by Mormons to have their names removed from the records of the church. Assuming they don’t work weekends, that’s 91,000 to 104,000 Mormons per year officially leaving the church. The number seems to increase every year. And that doesn’t count the defectors who never bother to have their names removed from the church records. I personally know 11 of those.

Paul

It is hard to verify the exact number but yes, people leave the Mormon church for various reasons. But this I know. It is not easy being a Mormon in today’s world. It is quite difficult in fact. For young mormons, abstaining from sex before marriage is taught. Today, this kind of moral teaching is swimming up stream. For a catholic, this is also taught but the pressure to abstain is not as strong. Then, in the mormon faith, drinking alcohol is forbidden. Today in the world, the pressure to drink is quite strong. In the Mormon faith, modest dressing is encouraged in the youth, plus seminary outside of school. In the world, modesty is not encouraged at all. In fact just the opposite and weekly religious instruction is an alien concept. The lds church heads one way, the world heads another way. There will be many to follow the world as in the time of Paul.

And then of course, there are doctrine reasons also. However, if you were to take a poll of why they joined the lds church it would because they prayed about the book of mormon and received a witness of its truthfulness. And perhaps this is what happened to you, especially if you were a convert. But what happens after that is another story. The lds church can demand much from its members. It is a lay church, where members are encouraged to teach sunday school, do hometeaching to other members homes, hold callings inside the church etc. The lds church has no professional clergy or vocations. It is not easy to be a Mormon.

And then, if the lds is the true church, another explanation would be that satan does his utmost to lead people away from the faith. The temptations are strong. But that is not my opinion but it could be used. However, mormons are good people who revere and respect god and to do god’s will. But it is not easy.