Joel Osteen is not LDS.
He might as well be!!
Question: Is a MORMON a TRUE Christian?
Posted on 12/06/2010 8:21:59 PM PST by Colofornian
The sample was drawn from residences included in the 1997 phone book for Utah County, Utah (Utah County has the highest percentage of Mormons per capita of any comparable county in the United States). Only those who were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and were adults in the household, were asked to complete and return the experimental measures.
SNIP
...according to the LDS symbolic universe, God and human beings are involved in a relationship of reciprocity - quid pro quo - where all blessings are dependent upon human behavior being in compliance with divine will.
Given the fact that Later-day Saints believe obedience is required in order to receive any blessing from God, and that the ultimate goal of human existence is to attain God's greatest blessing, it makes sense that obedience would be considered as the core value of Mormonism; particularly, the belief that obedience to divine will brings blessings. LDS leaders have affirmed this viewpoint (for example: "Nothing is more important to you than obedience to God's commandments" [Wirthlin, 1994, p. 39J and "Obedience is the first law of heaven" [Benson, 1988, p. 26J).
SNIP
By the same token, for many twenty-first century Latter-day-Saints, wealth is considered a blessing, and by implication is a state "purer" than poverty. According to the symbolic universe of Latter-day-Saints, blessings come via obedience to divine laws. Thus, someone who has been blessed with wealth surely must have behaved in such a way as to warrant this blessing from God.
Ramifications
How might such beliefs impact the lives of Latterday- Saints? At the macro level, such beliefs could predispose church members towards elitism. The perspective that the wealthy, prominent, and powerful are also more likely to be the "elect" of God creates an ethos that worships worldly success...
(Excerpt) Read more at ojs.lib.byu.edu ...
Do we really believe that just because one is rich one is blessed by God? According to a study published in 2004 which researched the Mormon Wealth Attribution (MWA), we do. The MWA can be defined as the tendency of LDS individuals to perceive those who are wealthy as more righteous or pious than their less wealthy neighbors. The randomized empirical study reported that “Church members are more likely to attribute righteousness to a wealthy church member than to a poor one” and that (in general) wealthy members of the church are seen as being better people, both secularly and spiritually than poor people.
Well. How would movies like A Christmas Carol and the Utah-based movie, The Ghosts of Dickens Past go over in Mormonland based upon the MWA?
But even beyond the surface aspects of how the the poorer and richer are viewed, I found these other comments from this article quite interesting:
...according to the LDS symbolic universe, God and human beings are involved in a relationship of reciprocity - quid pro quo - where all blessings are dependent upon human behavior being in compliance with divine will. Given the fact that Later-day Saints believe obedience is required in order to receive any blessing from God, and that the ultimate goal of human existence is to attain God's greatest blessing, it makes sense that obedience would be considered as the core value of Mormonism; particularly, the belief that obedience to divine will brings blessings. LDS leaders have affirmed this viewpoint (for example: "Nothing is more important to you than obedience to God's commandments" [Wirthlin, 1994, p. 39J and "Obedience is the first law of heaven" [Benson, 1988, p. 26J).
So...Mormon religionism is all about a "quid pro quo" exchange with the Mormon god where "all blessings are dependent upon human behavior being in compliance with divine will" and "obedience is required in order to receive any blessing from God"???
Imagine if Mormon families ran their Christmases the same way? "Sorry, Janie...no hi-tech dolly for you until you finish your chores. Sorry, Joey...no WII electronic train for you until you've checked off your obedience checklist!"
See? I disagree that you have to do a thing for salvation except believe that Jesus is the Son of God.http://antinomianism-salvation.blogspot.com/
So Ted Kennedy was a mormon...
all that Kennedy money...
and Nancy Pelosi...
and of course George Soros...
all that wealth because of all that “rigvhteousness”
OK
“You must be born again” anything else is works, righteousness only comes from Christ directly, from His grace!
Sorry, anything having to do with Mormonism is false, or any other religion which says you must earn salvation is wrong.
I didn’t say it; God did!
J.S.
Joel Osteen is not LDS. But this is still the gospel he preaches.
5 words ...
Harry Reid, Mormon, rich, corrupt
That was my first thought as well. The anti-biblical gospel of prosperity. So sad for those that buy into this nightmare.
Hey, if I can dump Teddy and Nancy on the Mormons, I’m happy! Perhaps we can dump Soros and Jimmy Cahter and the Clintoons too? Aw, shucks, now I’m starting to feel sorry for the Mormons!
Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
I’ve noticed that most financial get rich schemes seem to have a Utah mailing address.
No question that in mormondom, if you are financially successful, it is viewed as God blessing you.
ampu
If you peruse the Free Republic religion forums you will notice a pattern. There's an anti-Mormon group of people here that spends a great deal of their time attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They post regurgitated propaganda on an almost daily basis.
They have a misguided obsession. You can witness many different tactics employed that you might find quite interesting. The straw man argument is a big favorite and is frequently preceded by cherry-picking quotes or other material. After the "quotation" the attacker will misrepresent what has been said or what was meant and then attack their own interpretation.Later they will have the audacity to claim they were "only" quoting our own material.
They will of course insist ad nauseum that they are merely using our sources and are therefore innocent of any deceptive practice. LDS persons have no issue whatsoever having our scriptures or leaders quoted as long as it is presented fairly and accurately. This is rarely (if ever) done.
Another favorite is posting scripture or statements which on their own really present no dilemma. They make something out of nothing while never bringing up a single objection that hasn't been addressed a hundred times before.
You might note a couple of other tactics used to try to antagonize is the use of disrespectful or insulting terms or language and/or pictures. That's a Christlike thing to do right? Yeah I don't think so either. It does speak volumes about them though.
Sometimes they cruise the headlines of the day seeking any story that might be twisted into making the Church look bad. Anything will do, just watch the progression of posts following it and see what I mean.
After reading their posts, I invite you to seek the truth about whatever "issue" they seem to be "revealing" or "exposing". I promise that if you do so with honest intent, the "ahah" moments you will have will be many and frequent. You will start to recognize the tactics employed to cleverly twist and attack and will likely chuckle the more you see. In actuality, there's nothing new here. It's all been addressed many times before.
The latest twist in the anti-Mormon propaganda machine is to actually go to the links provided, but then they cherry pick what they want, then quote and straw man attack that. Clever. It almost appears that they are helping you, the seeker of truth out by doing some footwork for you. Not so much. Don't be insulted, look for yourself. It's not the haystack they want you to think.
Here's a few links to get your started from a different viewpoint. I have found that the vast majority of the "issues" brought up can be found and addressed at http://www.fairlds.org/ but here's more:
http://scriptures.lds.org/
http://www.lds.org
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Main_Page
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/index.html
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
http://www.answeringantimormons.com/index.htm
http://promormon.blogspot.com/
Now you will likely notice the "you never address our points" posts pop up as usual. All after providing the answers just as you have here.
Sometimes it is claimed that these sites present a needle in a haystack. Far from it. But if you give up before you try you won't know will you?
Will you wear blinders too? Seek truth. Find out for yourself. Want to chat with someone on any topic? A few of these sites provide just that. So do your homework sincere seeker of truth. Listen and read from both "sides". Make up your own mind.
I witness to you of these truths and wish you the best, in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
I am pleased to offer my services for the Betterment of Mankind.
Please feel free to ask me ANYTHING and I'll sincerely post my link list again.
Remember...
I am normal too; and I am a MORMON!
Sincerely,
PD
I didn't know Bill Gates was Mormon.
Please stop posting from unofficial lds sites. Thanks.
Bwahahahahaha
I love that scripture. I just added it to my blog. It is beyond comprehension the legalism that lingers after 2000 years. I really think it comes from the book of James but it is “legalism” pure and simple. Thanks for the great verse.
And yet, anyone seeking to resurrect legalism ought just read what James issued as advice for those Gentiles being converted by Paul and other missionaries beyond Jerusalem! [Found in the Book of The Acts of the Apostles; what Jesus said in John 3 and Matthew 6 would also edify, to an open mind and seeking heart]
James is a contradiction and is out of step with the Bible. James was the jealous brother of Jesus who wanted to tell people that his brother died for nothing and “get back to the Law”. It should be removed and replaced with the book of Hermes.
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