Posted on 12/29/2011 12:57:25 PM PST by Colofornian
The votes are in and we have a “favoritest” hymn. Congratulations to …
I Know that My Redeemer Lives
I’m not really surprised this classic hymn won, but I am intrigued with the first runner-up, Come, Thou Fount. It only lost by one percent of the total votes, so clearly it’s a popular hymn. But the funny thing is, it’s not actually in the current hymnbook.
Come, Thou Fount was the most requested write-in hymn from round one of voting, so we added it to the list of others. But if it’s not even in the hymn book, why is it so popular?
The answer is, it used to be, so a lot of members are familiar with this hymn and still consider it a favorite. When the newest version of the hymnbook was printed in 1985, Come Thou Fount was missing. The Church wrote an article in the Ensign about the changes, but there wasn’t a reason as to why specific hymns made the cut and others didn’t. Here’s what they had to say:
“Just as some hymns have been added to the book, some have also been deleted. ‘Through the years a number of hymns have only rarely been sung,’ said Elder Pinnock. ‘Wanting to keep the book to a reasonable size, and needing to add new hymns, we felt it would be wise to remove some of the little-used hymns.’ Members may want to keep their old hymnbooks as a treasure, Brother Moody suggested, and continue to sing the hymns they love that may not appear in the new book.
From the Mormon publication article: The votes are in and we have a “favoritest” hymn. Congratulations to … I Know that My Redeemer Lives I’m not really surprised this classic hymn won, but I am intrigued with the first runner-up, Come, Thou Fount. It only lost by one percent of the total votes, so clearly it’s a popular hymn.
What is interesting is that the authors of these hymns were both Baptists (Samuel Medley and Robert Robinson)!
I Know that My Redeemer Lives author: Authors: Samuel Medley
Come Thou Fount author: Robert Robinson (Baptist)
The reality is that 53% of the hymns in the current Mormon hymnal (190 out of 358) were written by Christian authors.
Why is all of this significant? Because Medley and Robinson and most of these other Christian hymn writers lived in the 18th (and/or 19th centuries) -- and were utterly condemned by Joseph Smith and his successors.
In fact, THE MOST important section of peculiar Mormon "scripture" is their "first vision"...where Joseph Smith said these unnamed entities appeared to him, and Smith said: he had gone "to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that ALL were wrong) and which I should join. 19 I was answered that I must join NONE of them, for they were ALL wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that ALL their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were ALL corrupt; that: "they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof." (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith History - chapter 1)
If the Baptists were "ALL wrong" -- as these unnamed entities told Joseph Smith...
If the Baptists professors of faith were "ALL corrupt" -- as these unnamed entities told Joseph Smith...
If the creeds embraced by Baptists were all an "abomination" -- as these unnamed entities told Joseph Smith...
If the Baptist hearts had wandered -- as these unnamed entities told Joseph Smith...
And if the Baptists were among all the Protestant "apostates" that Mormonism has labeled all of us as...
...Then why on earth are they loading up on Christian worship and Christian resources???...
...Unless...
...Unless...they want to have their cake and eat it, too...
...appearing "Christian"--and tapping quite heavily into Christian tradition for their own benefits and PR image...
...all while labeling us corrupt apostate heart-wanderers who are wrong and not joinable due to our 100% off-base creeds.
Quite curious. This would be like a Christian denomination drawing over half of its hymns from JWs...and/or the ancient Arian heretics...Or the Mormons taking over half of their hymns from the fLDS
And then saying that their two favorite hymns came from those sources!
So. We Protestants are "good" for some of the Mormon worship life; but we're also "abominable," "corrupt," not the true and living church, the church of the devil (1 Nephi, 13 & 14, Book of Mormon), and heart-wandering "apostates."
Utter Mormon hypocrisy!
Oh, goody. Those nasty non-Christian Mormons are STEALING Baptist's hymns.
Typical Mormon irony. They condmn Baptists (and all Christians), yet use the hymns (and often change the words) when it suits them.
It isn’t hate to demand consistency.
FWIW, I suspect this ‘vote’ was more propaganda. Most LDS I know have “praise to the Man”, “We thank the O God for a Prophet” and “Oh my Father” as their favorite hymns. Those were sung much more than Come thou font or I know my Redeemer lives in all the wards I attended when I was LDS.
Jeez, dude. Take a deep breath.
(IOW: Heed your own counsel)
What decent Mormons want to be is Evangelical Christians. They want to get rid of their “prophet” and the thing with every man getting his own planet stocked with women (very Muslim) and the many other bizarre things of Mormonism.
One of the reasons they keep trying to take over things from Evangelicals is that Mormonism has had an unacknowledged split. There are the flakes out in the desert with their harems of teenage wives, there are the many Mormons who work in the IT industry so they won’t even have to consider this, and then there are the many decent people who have discerned the truth of Christianity behind this flaky syncretist cult and really simply want to be Christians.
BTW, I’m a Catholic Christian, so I don’t have any dog in this race.
(Spoken by one who’s in a marriage race with Newt Gingrich)
What decent Mormons want to be is Evangelical Christians
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You cannot be further from the truth. As a former Mormon, I know that the LDS HATE Evangelicals and constantly make fun of them (like calling them gracers or reborns). They LOVE their prophet and claim to authority and the unique doctrines of Mormonism.
Those who have discovered the truth about Mormonism and Christianity LEAVE Mormonism. It is just not possible to be a Christian and stay and sit through all that carp every week. It’s not. The Holy Spirit won’t let you stay.
Ping to other exmo’s for their take on this post.
I don’t know much about LDS hymnals, but I do know that the newest “Baptist Hymnal” is missing some good, old hymns which have been replaced by a lot of insipid fluff. It’s just a sign of the times. I have my stash of “Great Hymns of the Faith”, “Church Hymnal”, “Inspiring Hymns”, “Tabernacle Hymns”, etc., from the “olden days”.
A couple of years ago, the Methodist church was clearing out their storage and had a whole bunch of different (no longer used) hymnals from the past.
MrR collects hymnals so we have several denominations and several different editions (including a few LDS ones). He mentioned to one of the ladies he would like to buy a couple of the old Methodist hymnals for our collection and she was so excited someone wanted them, she just gave them to us.
However, what I have seen in the LDS hymnals is more of a weeding out of traditional Christian hymns in favor of LDS ones, not so much new hymns (and certainly no ‘praise and worship’ type stuff), but a return to less heard hymns from their old (Deseret days) books.
“The Holy Spirit won’t let you stay.”
The Holy Spirit wouldn’t let me go in the first place. When I heard about Mormonism, I knew it wasn’t biblical and I was repelled with just the “milk”!
LOL. Good for you! And I bet you knew your Bible as well.
Sadly, however, most people - if not all - who start attending Mormon services (esp converts like me) were never Christians in the first place (and didn’t know their Bible) so they didn’t have the Holy Spirit, or if they did, the uneasy feelings are swept aside either by them or by the LDS ‘freindshipping’ that person by saying that it was Satan who made them feel uncomfortable. In Mormonism, unease is a sign of Satan while ‘warm fuzzies’ or ‘burning in the bosom’ is a sign of the Holy Spirit. Even when people are leaving, there is always this nagging doubt that the discomfort is really Satan trying to keep them from the “one true Church” (Mormonism).
The reality is, the feeling of the Holy Spirit cannot be duplicated, once you experience it there is no going back to the spiritually dead services of Mormonism. Now, obviously, the Holy Spirit does more than make us uncomfortable, I’m not saying that. But His job is also to warn us and that discomfort is a warning that ‘all is not well in Zion’.
Honestly, I could not physically step foot into a Mormon church again. I have dreaded for years, the call that a very good friend of mine (who is in the end stages of Parkinson’s now) who got me to convert to Mormonism has died. I know the family (who I am still friends with) will expect me to come up to the funeral and I just don’t see how I can do it. The thought of having to go to an LDS service just makes me cringe anymore.
***There are the flakes out in the desert with their harems of teenage wives,***
And they probably wish they could become regular Christians if they could just keep their extra wives!
Married to Jane, why can’t they have their Kate and Edith too? ;-D
I’m sure it does make you cringe, but perhaps you should just think about how you love your friend and her family and be a support for them..just concentrate on that. I’m sure the family would appreciate you being there.
You would be honoring your friend. While at the service pray the scripture that say for you too think on things good and holy. Sorry I can’t give you the reference, lack of 02 is destroying my memory.
Maria
Maybe the Holy Spirit will speak to the Mormons thru our Baptist Hymns, and they will accept the truth.
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You are not too far off there. Mormons often change the words or verses to fit their theology but every once in awhile you can get through to them with music.
When I was LDS, I had a tape of Amy Grant’s greatest hits (I KNOW, I KNOW) and a few other Christian artists. I got some flack from my LDS friends for having a ‘gracer’ CD, but I liked contemporary Christian music better than LDS stuff (which was HORRIFIC at the time). I also listened to the Christian station (which was better than the LDS station next on the dial). There were songs like “I have decided” that I really liked, even though I knew I didn’t understand it because it didn’t match my theology. But listening to those songs did play a small part in making me see something was wrong, oftimes because some of the artists would put bible references in their liner notes and curious me would look them up.
PM
I know That my Redeemer Livith, author: G. F. Handel
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