Posted on 12/03/2009 11:43:34 AM PST by Colofornian
“There is an important difference between LDS teachings and conservative Christianity,” said Pastor Mark Cares, president of the Truth in Love Ministry. “The aim of the campaign is to talk about the great message of forgiveness in the bible that is obscured by LDS teachings.”
Campaign literature focuses heavily on Mormon “stress points.”
“Mormons are under a significant amount of stress because of all the commandments they need to uphold and all the duties they need to perform in order to be worthy to receive God’s blessings — including his forgiveness,” it says.
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This is so true. I have worked couseling and mentoring former mormons for about 15 years now, most of them women. They all say how much of burden being “perfect” was, (that is my experience as well) and how coming to have a real relationship with Jesus has made all the difference.
Posted on another thread just yesterday:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2398217/posts?page=54#54
A friend of mine tells this parable about marriage and salvation:
There once was a woman married to a man who told her he would love her only if she kept the rules of his house perfectly. He wrote out the ten rules and gave them to her to help her remember. She wanted her husband’s love so much that she struggled from dawn till dark every day to perfectly obey his rules. But no matter how hard she worked, she was never good enough. She begged him for his love, but she did not receive it.
After many years of heartache, her husband died and she married again. This husband gave her all the love she had ever desired and then some. She was so happy that her struggle to please simply faded away. One day she discovered her first husband’s rules, tucked away in a book. As she read the ten rules over again, to her delight and amazement she realized that she was keeping every one of them perfectly. Her new husband’s love had made her able.
I pray those who are...
...thirsty for once-and-for-all forgiveness,
...for assurance of an eternal relationship with the true Jesus,
...and for grace & mercy to be received on this side of the veil
—who desire to receive both this good news & the Holy Spirit who yields new life in us
— would pray with me:
“Father, our identity outside your Son is as...
“sinners,
“Dead people (Eph. 2:1),
“in bondage — not free agents (Romans 6),
“enemies of yours (Rom. 8:7),
“once-born creatures (2 Cor. 5:17),
“unreconciled to you (2 Cor. 5:18),
“fearful of death,
“fearful of our enemies,
“anxious about the future.”
“You’ve already done a ‘recommend’ on us and found us wanting...greatly...
“...but you still passed us into a new relationship with You via Jesus’ perfect ‘recommend’...
“Jesus, Your Son, the perfect proxy baptized into being washed in our sins...
“...So we could, as the even the book of Mosiah says, be born again...
“I pray that many would confess your true Son in this hour and in this season. So that, they, too, can say with full assurance, ‘we HAVE eternal life’ (John 3:36; 5:24).
“In His Name we pray, Let it be so.”
= = = = = = = =
AMEN!
4) You have to get married — sorry, no never-married single people allowed
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So the Apostle Paul is not there ???
Gollies I was looking forward to meeting him...
Wait, I wont be there myself...
Females need not apply...
The mormon afterlife is a same sex club...
Just males...
Never mind...
There’s something kinky about an afterlife that only has one gender...
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
What was #22 ???
A pic of them secret so called temple clothes or what ???
The pressure to perform has to be killer...
"They'll be like the angels in Heaven..."
Beats me - I went to dinner...
don’t know, it was gone by the time I saw that it would have been there.
I’m curious now, tho.
If you could only drive all the Mormons out of Idaho, it would turn into a tolerant, guiltless utopia like Detroit or San Francisco, wouldn’t it?
I don’t understand, Vigilanteman, why we ONLY have a choice between either licentiousness or legalism? That’s offering a false dilemma — that we have to “pick our poisons.”
The cross cuts through the middle of them both. The labor God delighted in was the labor of love of His Son on the cross. The reconciliation it brought with us, former enemies. A rebirth. Regeneration. New enablement, thru His Holy Spirit, to do good deeds out of love & not to earn a spiritual grade. It cuts out all legalism. ‘Cause let’s face it, if we keep commandments & do good deeds because we expect a boomerang “payback,” it’s chock loaded with selfish motivations.
At the same time, the cross humbles us to see our sin on that cross. To know IF there was another price that could be paid other than the Son of God taking the form of a mere man — of which we see this Christmas — & enduring what He did, God would have done it. Knowing what it cost is in itself innoculation and a self-check vs. an anything-goes tolerance.
I mean, why re-nail Christ to the cross over & over again?
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Excellent post, Colofornian. I don’t get why some assume because Christians believe in salvation by Grace alone, that we also WANT to sin, or that we think we have a license to sin.
Recognizing Christ’s suffering and sacrifice on our behalf, and allowing HIM to change us, makes us less likely to WANT to sin not more.
Now that we've established the fact that you guys hate Mormons because they require more of their members than what you think are the minimum requirements to enter heaven, what is the reason?
Do you think God grades on a curve and they are breaking the curve by requiring more than a mere profession of faith? Or is their unpaid ministry thing just bad for your business?
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.
Bad analogy.
A better analogy would be...say you bought a car from a dealer, the dealer promises you that the car is new, in perfect condition, never been in an accident, all checked out, full warranty. You pay A LOT of money for this car.
Shortly after buying the car, it breaks down, the engine is shot, the fluid leaks, the radio quits working, and the transmission slips. You go back to the dealer and he just shrugs and says “it’s your problem now”. You do research and found out the car was totaled. There is no warranty and nothing you can do to get your money back.
How would you feel? Would you warn others about this crooked dealer? Of course.
That is all we are doing. We are warning others about the LDS church.
And as hard as it may to believe, we do not “hate” Mormons, most of us still have loved ones in the LDS church.
Ah yes, the usual attacks against those who have left the LDS: they “hate” Mormons, they couldn’t live up to the standards, and they must be in it for the money.
first, don’t hate mormons.
second, I was a faithful, active, testimony bearing, “molly mormon” who lived the LDS gospel very well. Works are easy.
Trusting Jesus alone is what is hard.
third, I work with several ministries, none of which I get paid for. Nor do I know anyone in ministry to Mormons who gets rich from it.
BTW, the LDS did not always have an unpaid ministry. During the early Utah years both Bishops and Stake Presidents received 10% of tithes for themselves. Even today, the general authorities get money for being on the “board of directors” of LDS owned businesses. They get paid even if they cannot attend the meetings (Ezra Taft Benson was paid long after he was bedridden and unresponsive).
God does not grade on a curve. He also does not count “works” for salvation. If He did, then Christ would not have needed to die.
His gospel is plain:
John 6:28-29 says:
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.”
There is only ONE requirement to enter the presence of God, faith in Jesus Christ and in His sacrifice for your sins.
To add ANYTHING to that, ANYTHING means grace is no longer grace, but works.
Romans 11:6 - And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
Ephesians 2:8-9 -For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Or is their unpaid ministry thing just bad for your business?
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Both Joey Smith and Brigham Young were multi millionaires...
and didnt provide for most of their families..
The later “prophets” did great also...
Unpaid...hardly...
They make much more than Christian pastors...
and give much less...
The Morg takes in 10% and gives out 1%...
Good business that Mormon Inc...
Are you trying to say that Mormons are the only thing keeping Idaho from turning into San Fran?
Why is it that you go off the deep end only on the topic of the LDS religion, one of most reliable conservative demographics in America?
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