Below is an interesting collection of facts and information regarding Mormonism. These have been put together by a regular commenter to this blog, Mr Lions, its not all worded the way I would word things however it is very interesting.
Please enjoy and leave your thoughts.
”As I say, it never ceases to amaze me how gullible some of our Church members are”- Harold B. Lee, President and Prophet of the LDS Church in “Admonitions for the Priesthood of God”, Ensign, Jan 1973
#1: The Mormon Church is the fastest growing religion in the world.
In south America and third world countries there may be some justification for this claim, however the sheer number of adherents to Catholicism and Islam make them far and away the fastest growing religions in the world by birthrate alone.
So how do the Mormons justify this claim?
They do it by using percentage growth year to year. After all a million new Catholics a year is a very small number indeed percentage wise, how ever one hundred new ‘flying spaghetti monsterisits’ in year represents a huge percentage increase.
#2: The LDS Church does not have a paid ministry.
While it’s true that LDS Church bishops and priests are not remunerated all General Authorities serving the LDS Church in Salt Lake City are paid a living allowance for their full-time service. And why not it’s scriptural after all
Doctrine and Covenants 42:71-73
71 And the elders or high priests who are appointed to assist the bishop as counsellors in all things, are to have their families supported out of the property which is consecrated to the bishop, for the good of the poor, and for other purposes, as before mentioned;
72 Or they are to receive a just remuneration for all their services, either a stewardship or otherwise, as may be thought best or decided by the counsellors and bishop.
73 And the bishop, also, shall receive his support, or a just remuneration for all his services in the church.
Doctrine and Covenants 51:13-14
13 And again, let the bishop appoint a storehouse unto this church; and let all things both in money and in meat, which are more than is needful for the wants of this people, be kept in the hands of the bishop.
14 And let him also reserve unto himself for his own wants, and for the wants of his family, as he shall be employed in doing this business.
#3: The Book of Mormon is the most correct book in the world and will tell you all about Mormon doctrine.
Since its initial publication the book of Mormon has had more than 3000 alterations made to it, despite the fact the Joseph Smith forbade the printers from proof reading it or altering it in any way whatsoever.
The Book of Mormon fails to teach the unique doctrine Latter-day Saints feel is necessary to believe and practice in order to become Gods and contradicts the Bible, the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Covenants on almost every issue of Mormon doctrine.
#4: All of Joseph Smith’s prophecies were accurate.
Nope, none of Joseph recorded prophesied given in his life time came to pass, he was close with the one about the civil war, but many commentators had also predicted that without recourse to God.
#5: Brigham Young taught Adam was God.
Adam was “our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do…Now, let all who may hear these doctrines, pause before they make light of them, or treat them with indifference, for they will prove their salvation or damnation” (Journal of Discourses 1:50,51).
Oh yes he also taught that Adam was Michael the Archangel, the Ancient of Days and he also taught that Noah was Gabriel.
#6: The Book of Mormon has been proven by archaeology.
On January 25, 1999, The Chicago Tribune published an article about a mysterious object found on the bottom of Lake Michigan. “If one set out with the preposterous goal of making an oak Zeppelin 31 feet long, 10 feet in diameter, pointed at its ends, complete with an 18-inch hatch to crawl inside, this is pretty much what they’d get. Those who have strapped on air tanks and visited the thing say the craftsmanship used to build it is remarkable–four-inch-thick oak boards bent and fitted together and caulked watertight, like nothing built today.” Many LDS readers were quick to identify the object as a “Accredited barge” and messages were circulated wildly around the Internet – proof of the Book of Mormon!
Until, a follow-up article was published in the Chicago Tribune a few days later, identifying the object as a floating fuel tank built in the 1940s.
To date, no credible archaeologist outside of the Mormon Church considers the book to have any New World archaeological value
#7: Polygamy was a necessary evil in early Utah because there were more women than men.
Simply untrue, there was no surplus of unwed women and if there had been why did Joseph Smith feel the need to marry other men’s wives as well as unmarried girls?
Of 19th-century Mormon, families living in early Utah 20 to 30 percent were openly polygamous.
Mainstream Mormons do not practice polygamy today, but it remains part of their theology and has never disavowed elements of Mormon theology suggesting that polygamy will be practised in heaven. Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion preached that polygamy was divinely sanctioned and married at least 33 women often without the consent of his first wife, Emma or the women’s husbands who were invariably called by the Lord to far off lands when Smith married them.
In 1890, mainstream Mormons yielded to political pressure and phased out the practice, in this life.
#8: Joseph Smith died as a “lamb led to the slaughter.”
Joseph Smith died using a pistol that was smuggled to him while incarcerated at Carthage jail. The LDS do not deny this according to The Documentary History of the Church, Joseph Smith pulled this six-shooter from his pocket “and snapped the pistol six successive times; only three of the barrels, however, were discharged. I afterwards understood that two or three were wounded by these discharges, two of whom, I am informed, died” (John Taylor, vol. 7, pp. 102-103).
Until 1900 an oath was included in the Temple endowment that should the opportunity present itself all Mormon men must hunt down and kill without mercy the murderers of the Prophet. This oath was only dropped after the last of the Carthage Grays was known to be dead.
#9 Mormon women are second-class citizens.
Mainstream Mormonism does not accord women equal status with men. The worldwide LDS Church chain of command — including all positions of clerical, institutional and fiscal authority — is entirely male. Women cannot hold the lay priesthood shared in by men age 12 and older. The church’s Proclamation on the Family declares that men “preside” over the household. Unequal gender language is also a part of Mormon temple worship and marriage ceremonies.
#10. Mormonism advocates theocracy.
Joseph Smith jnr. ran for president, there are Mormon MPs (senators, congressmen or equivalent). In almost every western country the civil and armed forces and law enforcement services all have a disproportionate number of Mormons serving in them at the encouragement of the first presidency.
Utah state government is run almost exclusively by Mormons.
There is now a Mormon presidential candidate again in the U.S. who believes leaders should give their ear to God.
#11. Mormon missionaries “give the milk before the meat;”
Missionaries believe it is important to first get people into the Church and then the Holy Ghost will prepare them to receive the deeper and more controversial doctrines.
This is a polite term therefore for lying by omission. Imagine joining a library only to be told later that you had unwittingly also signed a commitment for life to donate an ten percent of the cost of every book you read to Faber and Faber and that your wife has to sleep with Stephen King if he asks for her to.
#12 HOLY UNDERWEAR!
Yes it is true and if you are a traditionalist you are never supposed to take them off, NEVER, even when showering or bathing.
It is not unique Joseph Smith’s contemporaries the Fox Sister who popularised Christian Spiritualism in New York at about the same time as Smith was heading west sold cotton undergarments conducive to better spirit communication at their séances. Convenient when you consider all three were seamstresses by day.
#20 The Dead WANT to be baptised as Mormons.
Mormons believe that once you are dead you will know the LDS church is true but will be unable to reach your full potential in the after life because you did not know during life.
Therefore, living Mormons can give you a second chance and carry out a proxy baptism for you in the temple, which can accept and use to go on to better things in the three Mormon hereafters.
#21 Jesus was born April 6th, 1.B.C.
This is according to leading Mormon apostle and theologian James E. Talmage he is quite definite about it in his book “Jesus the Christ”
However
In 1954, President J. Reuben Clark Jr., a counsellor in the First Presidency of the LDS Church, wrote that Christ’s birth was in December of 5 B.C. or early 4 B.C. (Clark at least was working from the historical death of Herod the Great in March or beginning of April in 4 B.C)
In 1979, Elder Bruce R. McConkie, also an apostle, declared December 5 B.C. to be absolutely the birth date of Jesus then changed his mind to an alternative dates in 4 B.C.
The date of April 6 comes from the date that the LDS Church was originally organized on April 6 1830, as recorded in the introduction to the D&C only it turns out that it wasn’t.
The recent discovery of the Book of Commandments and Revelations manuscript of D&C 20, however, showed that the verse was actually an introductory head note written by early church historian and scribe John Whitmer and dates the revelation as given on April 10 — not April 6
#22 Utah is the most Righteous place on Earth, God’s chosen land.
A 2009 nationwide study of anonymised credit-card receipts from a major on-line adult entertainment provider found that the state of Utah was the biggest consumer of on-line pornography per capita of home broadband users in the world. Utah averaged 5.47 adult content subscriptions per 1000 users.
#23 Big foot is Cain
Church Apostle David W. Patten described an encounter he had with Cain in 1835:
”As I was riding along the road on my mule I suddenly noticed a very strange person walking beside me. . . . His head was about even with my shoulders as I sat in my saddle. He wore no clothing, but was covered with hair. His skin was very dark. I asked him where he dwelt and he replied that he had no home, that he was a wanderer in the earth and travelled to and fro. He said he was a very miserable creature, . . . and his mission was to destroy the souls of men.”
This entry was included in Spencer W. Kimball’s The Miracle of Forgiveness, 1969. In 1980, sightings of the legendary Big foot were reported in South Weber, Utah. Members made connection with these sightings to Patten’s story of Cain, one unnamed source apparently said on Utah radio that this proves that the Saints are doing a good job. “When Satan sends Cain against Mormons, . . . they think, ‘we must be on the right path, or Satan wouldn’t bother sending in his most evil hordes against us.’”
#24 Satan has command of water so do not go swimming!
I have personal experience of this one having been warned about it as I approached my baptism.
On their return trip to Kirtland the Prophet and ten elders had travelled down the Missouri River in canoes. On the third day of the journey many dangers were experienced. Elder William W. Phelps, in daylight vision, saw the destroyer riding in power upon the face of the waters.
The Church does have a general policy prohibiting full-time missionaries from swimming. They claim officially that this is simply a safety precaution to prevent drowning or other water-related accidents as Mission rules are designed to keep missionaries safe by preventing them from participating in high-risk physical activities.
Is swimming a high risk activity?
However in D&C 61:13-19 The following revelation was then received:
13 And now, behold, for your good I gave unto you a commandment concerning these things; and I, the Lord, will reason with you as with men in days of old.
14 Behold, I, the Lord, in the beginning blessed the waters; but in the last days, by the mouth of my servant John, I cursed the waters.
15 Wherefore, the days will come that no flesh shall be safe upon the waters.
16 And it shall be said in days to come that none is able to go up to the land of Zion upon the waters, but he that is upright in heart.
17 And, as I, the Lord, in the beginning cursed the land, even so in the last days have I blessed it, in its time, for the use of my saints, that they may partake the fatness thereof.
18 And now I give unto you a commandment that what I say unto one I say unto all, that you shall forewarn your brethren concerning these waters, that they come not in journeying upon them, lest their faith fail and they are caught in snares;
19 I, the Lord, have decreed, and the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof, and I revoke not the decree.
#25 Interracial Marriage is wrong.
Brigham Young teaches: “Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so.” (Journal of Discourses, Vol.10, p.109)
But the argument is that was a long time ago, black people can now hold the priesthood (if they are male) and the church is not racist any more.
However:
In an address to seminary and institute teachers at Brigham Young University on June 27, 1958, President Kimball, then a member of the Council of the Twelve, said:
“‘ . . . [T]here is one thing that I must mention, and that is interracial marriages. When I said you must teach your young people to overcome their prejudices and accept the Indians, I did not mean that you would encourage intermarriage.’”
But this was before President Kimball had his revelation from God welcoming our Afro-Caribbean brothers and sisters back in to the fold wasn’t it?
In the current, Church-authorized Aaronic Priesthood Manual 3, Lesson 31, entitled “Choosing an Eternal Companion” (p. 127ff), it declares in black and white:
“We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred), and above all, the same religious background, without question.” (Spencer W. Kimball, “Marriage and Divorce p. 144)
All Mormon priests are expected to abide by the words of a Prophet unless subsequent revelation over rides them. There has been no further prophet’s pronouncement on interracial marriage since that of President Kimball.
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