Posted on 08/23/2010 3:19:13 AM PDT by markomalley
The ads are catchy. Upbeat music plays as the surfer, the artist or the skateboarder states his or her beliefs about life.
They all end with, "And I'm a Mormon."
On July 26, Pittsburgh became one of nine test markets for the advertising campaign that cheerfully counters stereotypes of Mormons as straight-laced, white, humorless and sexist. The campaign from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints includes a revamped website at www.mormon.org.
The ads arrived on the heels of an anti-Mormon backlash by some gay rights activists on the West Coast. But the campaign's designers said it responds only to numerous survey findings that half of Americans don't know a Mormon.
"It's time to reintroduce ourselves," said Scott Swofford, the director of mormon.org.
"We hope the spots portray Mormons as diverse people who are united in their belief in Jesus Christ. ... We hope [Americans] see that Mormons are friendly, charitable, giving to others. We aren't perfect, but our behavior ought to reflect our beliefs."
(snip)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that it is the true church, which God restored in the 19th century, long after other churches had lost the complete message of Jesus. The Book of Mormon, considered by the church to be an equal companion to the Bible, says that ancient Israelites came to the Americas around 600 BC and that the resurrected Jesus visited their descendents in America.
The Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches don't recognize the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Christian because it rejects the doctrine of the Trinity. It teaches that God is the father of the spirits of all people born on the earth. Jesus is considered the first of God's spirit children and also God's physical son.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
You left off the Chicks...
The LDS has been about $$$ and women...
You just can’t had that big a lie under that many lights...
I for one don't believe a couple of FReepers who have been here since 1998-2000 can possibly have missed the mormon proselytizing.
It's cheering to see that the mormon church feels the need to "re-brand" and that the FR mormons feel the need to call in others to handle the debate.
I really never knew what they were talking about...and didn't care. I was there to play b-ball...and sweat.
Thinking back....it reminded me of my Grand-Pa....a 32nd degreed Mason....and then got me to thinking about all the correlations with mason's and mormon's.
I think that is the ladder they spoke of....
Remember I did not join the fray until after all the LDS under handiness during the 08 campaign when they were lying in a concerted and organized effort to support Romney and I decided to see what was behind that..
Although I understand and agree with your overall point.
I think that most/many mormon's are born into or married into mormonism...and it's extremely tough to leave.
I made the mistake of stumbling in and asking a question in the middle of an on-going battle. Maybe because I grew up in a church that all about "redemption" and sort of non-judgmental, it surprises me to see so much antipathy on these Mormon threads. It doesn't seem like they're that far away, but then you see where people have felt horribly consumed or enslaved by it and it suddenly doesn't seem so benign.
Confusing.
But it's not allowed to talk about...J. Smith's and B. Young's...relationships.
Is this your first time on an anti-Mormon thread...? You haven’t seen the true meaning of snarky, angry, and bitter yet...just wait !...magritte
Now you tell me.
Being non judgmental is good, but it is something we practice among our fellow Christians. We are admonished to judge the truth and other religions and the protselyizers and “prophets” of other ways, other “paths”.
You were judgmental, you judged Christanity to be the truth. In a country like ours where you are free to be anything you wish you remained in the body despite being surrounded with the words and ideas of other paths.
It was a good judgment.
And no Mormonism, the faith, is far from benign. Sadly there are many good folk caught up in it. Worse still there are some not so good folk with a vested interests in keeping them there any way they can.
By showing the truth or for the worse cases snatching them from the fire has worked, and each soul saved either being brought out of the cult or kept from falling for their wily ways is pleasing to God. Some times it takes some serious work and if logic and reason was all it took, these folks would not have been LDS to begin with.
ya see? If you would only become mormon, you could be a god too (and have your own planet I hear) ...
What part of labeling others as "antipathic" falls outside of being "judgmental?"
Can you imagine how I would do with a whole world...
Little steps...
I'm sure that the ex-mos here that were / are in similar situation would agree. It is a societal conditioning as much as a religious conditioning.
placemarker
Maybe.....maybe not.
a whole planet of messies!!!!!
There are always variables, but given what I am seeing as it pertains the the desperation of the LDS if I was a bettin’ man...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.