Posted on 06/30/2011 12:33:48 PM PDT by Colofornian
...The church's assets are thought to be worth more than $30 billion.
...The church reportedly receives more than $5 billion in tithes every year.
The church also has substantial real estate and for-profit business investments, managed by Deseret Management Corp. The company is one of the largest owners of farm and ranch land in the U.S. It owns the country's largest nut producer, AgReserves, Inc., the 14th largest radio chain, Bonneville International Corp...
Economic entrepreneurialism is...part of Mormon doctrine — 88 of...112 revelations received by... founder Joseph Smith deal with fiscal matters.
SNIP
The Twilight saga is actually about the Mormon belief in eternal marriage.
The Twilight series, by Mormon author Stephanie Meyers, is an allegory for the Mormon concept of "celestial marriage" - the belief that a couple that is "sealed" in a Mormon temple will stay bound together forever...
Edward and Bella's bond is sealed when Edward bites Bella. As with a Mormon marriage, there's no turning back for Bella, who is transformed into a vampire for eternity.
SNIP
The Mormon church thinks polygamy might be okay in the afterlife.
...(the official Mormon church)...still believes...the divine principle of plural marriage may apply in heaven. In the case of death or divorce, Mormon men can be sealed to another wife and all of their celestial marriages will be honored in eternity.
The LDS...tried to distance itself from...40,000 fundamentalist Mormons who still practice polygamy...
SNIP
Mormons wear special undergarments called a "temple garment"...designed to give "protection against temptation and evil."
Many Mormons believe the underwear provides spiritual protection.
SNIP
Mormons believe that when Jesus returns, he's coming to the U.S.
Mormons believe...all the...Christian churches fell into apostasy...
...Jesus will personally return to reign over a paradisaical Kingdom on earth. His headquarters will be at the...temple in Jackson County, Missouri...
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
And with all of that it STILL struck a nerve hearing her old faith called a cult!
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I’m not surprised. I know many ex-mos who even after decades after leaving the LDS still have hot spots and even a few issues.
I was speaking to a woman the other day who left about 5 yrs ago and became a Christian, and she STILL thinks ‘the Fall’ was a good thing.
One of the proofs of the brainwashing of the LDS is the fact it is so hard to get Mormon mindset changed and out of your system. It runs very deep.
LOL. No joke there. Be careful what you pray for. I prayed to know the truth and I lost my faith in Mormonism before I was lead to the truth. I prayed for patience and I get this. Sigh.
Take note Reaganaut, you are wasting your time. Let it go. Let the hate go.
Ahhh yes. It’s always the “weak” member who has now begun to “hate” the church routine with TBM’s. It can’t possibly be that the “weak” member was actually stronger and had an infinitely greater amount of courage to actually seek out the truth and walk away from the “church” once the truth and saving grace of Christ was discovered.
Let me guess, next you’ll say we were “offended”, had “thin skin” and couldn’t deal with some “insult”.
Did you know that the ex-mo sites are gaining new members almost everyday? More and more, the truth about mormonism is being found out. Those poor folks are so confused, so torn and ostracized by family and those who were once their “friends”. It’s sad to see what the “church” is doing to otherwise good people.
The truth about mormonism cannot be stopped. The “church” and her members can attempt to deny it and/or try to hide it, but they can’t stop it from coming out.
We pray for you and all mormons who have been “conditioned” to repeat the false witness spoken by your so-called “prophets”.
I count those among us who left as the strong ones. Those who had the courage to turn their back on a system of mind numbing control. Those who had the conviction to seek the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Not constrained by a myriad of rules and rote, heretical rituals that can’t even be found in the mormon “scripture”, let alone the Bible.
They have to keep on “working” in hopes that they have earned enough credits in order pay the balance.
It’s an abomination, an affront to Jesus Christ who said “It is finished.”.
Of course they do - it's all they have left without the true, biblical Jesus. They are stuck like Sisyphus, having to "pay off" their sins over and over and over and over and over. . . never leaving the cycle, all for the fake promise of godhood.
It’s an abomination, an affront to Jesus Christ who said “It is finished.”.
Indeed it is.
You as always Z write the truth in a simple and profound way.
You need to work more on that 'high priest' voice ben. Not quite nasal enough.
Benhoganfan wrote: Well I will keep praying for you. Obviously, it was hard for you to walk the walk.
Best of luck to you. Life’s hard I know, but hang in there. Try to find peace and happiness. I know its not easy when you are filled with such hate. Take care.
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Oh where oh were to begin...
First of all you make many assumptions. Mormons tend to assume people left the LDS church for one or more of several reasons. Like you stated you assume I ‘couldn’t live the gospel’. That is a common one. Others are:
They never had a testimony
They were offended
They didn’t want to pay tithing
They didn’t understand Mormon doctrine
They wanted to sin
None of these are true in my case, nor in most ex-mo cases. I was a VERY GOOD Mormon, lived the LDS gospel better than most Mormons, had a great grasp on LDS theology and teachings, better than most LDS even. I didn’t want to sin, I was a full tithepayer, had a strong testimony, temple attender, wasn’t offended etc.
My life after Mormonism got a lot easier, simply because I came to the Christ of the Bible and was no longer trying to earn godhood (aka exaltation), rather Christ saved me, I no longer had to save myself. I didn’t ‘sin’ as the LDS think of it (stayed a virgin till I was married even, never smoke drank or did drugs, etc).
Why did I leave? I left because I set out to me a Mormon apologist and ‘prove’ the antis wrong. I studied both Greek and Hebrew in order to prove the Bible was corrupt and discovered that it was not corrupted and that there were not ‘plain an precious things’ removed. I studied church history in order to ‘prove’ the ‘great apostasy’, and discovered there wasn’t one. I learned to read Egyptian hieroglyphs to ‘prove’ the Book of Abraham was ‘true’ and discovered there was no way it could be. I studied LDS church history only to discover that it wasn’t as nicey nice as the LDS propaganda machine puts forth. I spend months going over ORIGINAL SOURCES only to discover that my ‘church’ was lying to me, even down to the number of ‘first vision’ accounts and their contents. I poured over books of Biblical archeology looking for any clue of evidence for the Book of Mormon and there was none, even though there was TONS of evidence for the Bible and early Church history. Over and over again I discovered, that contrary to my ‘feelings’ about the LDS church, none of it was true nor could it ever be true.
In short, I ‘studied’ myself out of Mormonism. Coming to the Christ of the Bible came later. Only after I left Mormonism (about 6 months) did I hear the true Gospel of Grace. That I didn’t need to ‘do my part’. That I wasn’t saved ‘after all I could do’. What I could do was NOTHING. What I needed to do was only accept what Christ has ALREADY done for me on the Cross. As I studied the Bible, on my own, I slowly came to the realization that ALL of Mormon doctrine is unbiblical. That Christ was not the spirit brother of any of us, much less Lucifer. Christ alone has the title of High Priest and to assume we as mortals can hold a priesthood that only belongs to Him is blaspehmy, there are no temple rituals like the LDS use in the Bible and all of the LDS ‘proof’ texts in the Bible are twisted and that the Bible actually teaches the OPPOSITE of Mormon doctrine. It was then that I could give my life to Christ and start living for HIM rather than it always being about ‘me’.
Your posts are perfect examples of this ‘me’ of Mormonism. You stated “I am a full tithe payer” “I teach Sunday School” Me Me Me. Which is proof the LDS are not Christians at all. For the Christian it isn’t about “ME” it is about Christ and HIM alone. It isn’t about a ‘church’, it is about Christ and serving Him. It isn’t about paying 10%, it is about giving your all and giving however much God leads you to. That is what Grace is about. Christ changed me and I could never go back to being the typical Mormon, the selfish godseeking type as so many have seen appear on these threads.
You assume I’m full of hated (both at this post and one directly above). Show me where the hatred is? Am I angry? Yes, at Mormonism for lying to me and its members and for leading people to Hell. In fact, it is similar to Jesus cleansing the temple, the closer and longer I walk with the Lord, the madder I get at the Mormon cult for what it does to people and families, especially those who leave. But I don’t hate Mormons, in fact I feel pity and sorrow for them, for they are trying to earn something (salvation) that Christ gives freely.
As far as ‘giving it up’. NEVER. Never will I give up on one soul trapped in Mormonism. They will have to deny the grace of Christ and the true gospel of grace on their own accord, not because I did not tell them the truth. And if they are mad at me,, so be it. I came to Christ and left Mormonism because an ‘anti’ ticked me off enough to try to prove him wrong. What I discovered was the ‘antis’ were right and Mormonism was a lie from the pit of Hell.
I will pray that God will open your eyes, as he has many others here on FR and elsewhere. The Christ of the Bible is waiting for you to denounce Smith and Mormonism.
I teach Sunday School every week. We are studying the New Testament and I teach about the very same Jesus in the very same bible.
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The blindness and frankly stupidity of Mormons never cease to amaze me. Big deal, so you teach Sunday school? MOrmons ABUSE the New Testament, they don’t teach it. And they twist everything about the New Testament and filter it through their Mormon lenses. I know they believe that they believe the Jesus of the NEW TESTAMENT but they dont.
The REAL Jesus, the BIBLICAL Jesus...
isn’t the spirit brother of Satan...
didn’t have to earn his Godhood...
didn’t share is Priesthood....
didn’t lie when he said the gates of Hell would not prevail against his church (ie no apostasy)...
wasn’t married or a polygamist...
didn’t take on the sin of the world in the Garden of Gethsemane...
didn’t die on the cross only b/c he had to be resurrected...
didn’t use leavened bread and water at the last supper...
didn’t kill thousands on the American continent b/c they were sinners (3 Nephi)...
and didn’t set up an organization (ie the LDS ‘church’)...
So, while the LDS believe they believe the same Jesus, they couldn’t be more deceived or more wrong.
Again, false assumptions on your part and show me the hatred.
Reaganaut, notice the almost palm-reading type of comment we see here with the pure assumptions this stranger makes about your life.
This is the typical “blame game” Mormons engage in
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What can you expect? All they are doing is parroting what they are told are the reasons people leave. Mormons are not taught to think for themselves.
To be fair, I said the same things about ‘apostates’ when I was LDS, then I found out that the reasons I were given for why people leave Mormonism were just more lies told to me by the LDS church.
Finding out the truth is all your fault..
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Finding out the truth was totally God saving me from myself.
Take note Reaganaut, you are wasting your time. Let it go. Let the hate go.
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Again, show me the hate? And preaching the TRUE gospel of grace to the lost (Mormons) is NEVER EVER EVER a ‘waste of time’?
Let it go? NEVER, not as long as there is still a soul trapped in the evil of Mormonsim.
Christ is crying for you, come to HIM. Only He can save you, not you not a ‘church’, only Christ alone, through grace ALONE, through FAITH alone.
Let me ask you a question that Colo and Gozilla have broached.
If you were to die tonight, are you 100% sure you will make it to the Celestial Kingdom and exaltation? Will you spend Eternity with God the Father? Do you know for sure or do you just ‘hope’ that you have done ‘all you can do’?
Because I know I will spend Eternity with God, not based on anything I have DONE but because I have Believed in the work and Grace of Jesus Christ on the CROSS.
Mormons think that is arrogant, but in fact it is the opposite. It is very humbling to know I can do NOTHING to in the smallest amount to contribute in ANY way to my salvation. All I can do is trust that Christ did it all and that is humbling indeed.
So, if u die tonight, where will YOU spend eternity?
Amen, SZ, amen.
Let it go. Deep breaths. Let it go. It has no bearing on your life that I go to the restored Church. Let it go. Let go of the hate.
And before you answer ben, answer these to yourself -
Do you keep God’s commandments “continually?” What part of the word “continually” allows for an occasional act of disobedience to God’s commands? If 1 Nephi 3:7 is true that God doesn’t give you a command that you can’t keep, why don’t you keep the commandments “continually”?
If you break the commandments, you have not repented ben -
You have not "deny(ed) yourselves of all ungodliness" then have you Ben
You cannot be saved in your sins ben (Alma 11:37)
You know that "the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance"
So what will your excuse be ben? Can you honestly say you've done ALL you can do for your salvation?
Try to find peace and happiness.
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I have, in the only place peace and happiness CAN be found, in the arms of the Jesus Christ, eternally God, not created. The Jesus of the Bible, not the false Christ Mormonism preaches, that christ cannot save, give peace or happiness. All he can do is make you work your hind end off trying to please him which you can never do.
Give it up, Mormonism will only lead you to Hell.
You can’t deal with the insult. You are thin skinned. You were offended.
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