Hi! Any other Latter Day Saints here?

by ElderBarry 35 Replies latest jw friends

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  kid-A

  Qmbr (Did I get your name right?) -- Thank you for responding to that ridiculous list of supposed Mormon bad examples. It had to be the single most blatantly false list I've read on this site yet -- and there have been some doozies! Mostly I just laugh at them. Few are worth bothering to reply to.

  Wow. The reactions of the "mormons" on this site sound so eerily like a classic JW reaction to the cognitive dissonance encountered when they are forced to deal with some of the ugly "truths" about their "religion" and its real origins...

  Try to remember who you are dealing with on this forum: we are likely the most "cult-savvy" group of people on the planet who can smell sectarian "GROUP THINK" from a mile away. Its the same shit, different pile. You aint' fooling anyone except yourselves.

  For the record, I have LDS "members" in my family and they have been more snotty, judgemental and intolerant of "non-mormons" in the extended family than ANY of the active JWs in my family.
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  jgnat

  My neighbour was invited over to a friend's place for pizza. The friend was a Mormon. When my friend got there, he found pizza and a Mormon elder there to give him a lesson. He was mightily ticked off and quickly ended the friendship.
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  Qcmbr

  Wozadummy - I make no apologies - you used your post as an attack - if asking questions like - how cruel is that? How Christian is that? and make statements like 'reminds me of how controlling and demonic' after relating singular incidents or TV reports of which you seem to know little is what you think is respectful questions then you'll just have to forgive me when I treat your statements equally respectfully (come to think of it I actually made more of an attempt to answer them than you actually wanted - you just wanted your five minutes of shock and awe I believe and all the mormons to climb back into their funk holes) . There are plenty of people on this board who are more than willing to spill vitriol rather than having a balanced and fair judgement given any chance. Loaded language and blatant rudeness and comments of the calibre of 'don't forget - we are dealing with cultlike people' is about the level of many bitter posters when anything religious is discussed or defended here.
  
  When you call out and slander what I love, be it my family, my church ,my good name or my God don't expect me to allow it to pass. On the same token - when I am guilty of the above fire away.
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  Double Edge

  Oh and Susanhere your pathetic little put down would show your heart too I think. I was very dedicated to the LDS although only young, I was baptised at 8 and the church felt I was at an age of understanding did'nt they ? So all events were very clear to me as I was so wrapped up in LDS ,giving Sacraments, talks etc and only left when forced to by my father

  hmmmm, is that anyway to start a sentence (do I sense a little bitterness here)? Maybe you should take your anger up with your father and not out on other posters.
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  Qcmbr

  Wozadummy - one thing I must also correct regarding tithing - you did not clarify that keeping an account book for monies RECEIVED is required by most countries law and certainly the church law. The account book however, does not record money OWED as that concept does not exist in the LDS church - the nearest we ever get to that situation is when we send a missionary out and they don't happen to have the money to pay for the full mission and then family ,local congregation, Stake (like a Parish) and then general Church funds (in that order) will share the shortfall and this amount will be specific in total (when I was a missionary it cost £5000 for the full two years) but those who offer to help do what they can (in general the receiving missionary will never know who helped.) This system was also historically used in the UK when we built a new church but now the church general fund pays for new buildings - at least it does here.
  
  To clarify the church position for your mother - had she paid tithing and then requested welfare from the church your family would have received far in excess of the tithing amount (I am making the assumption that the welfare system was sufficiently organised then - unfortunately I have no exact info) and you would have eaten well and I suspect you would have been more kindly disposed to the church. What the church tries not to do is emulate most welfare systems that give for nothing and reduce the dignity of the receiver to that of beggar, when aid is offered by the church it is requisite upon a willingness to work (to hijack the old analogy RE teaching a man to fish we believe in giving the man somewhere to fish as well) and active membership. During the Great Depression the church tried very hard to keep its members off the dole queues and working.
  
  The LDS church also has a humanitarian aid programme for the world in which huge amounts of food , medical kits and long term supplies such as water hole boring equipment are waiting in warehouses for immediate shipment to areas of need - this is separate to the internal welfare system I described above.
  
  I love good things done by anyone and for those who wish to let me boast here is a link to the facts of good things the LDS church has done.
  
  http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/75391_WelfareFactSheet2005_pdf.pdf
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  ElderBarry

  Wow! I didn't expect such a big response! Thank you! Your folks ure know how to make a newbie feel welcome.
  
  I'll try to answer everyone. First, though, to Deputy Dog and others who claim the LDS Church isn't Christian, I feel sad that nothing I say will make any impact on your mind or heart. So I won't even try. You should though make a list of all the verses where Jesus said "You shall know my disciplies by their strictly fundamentalist or evangelical doctrines." Ddog, I would also encourage you to stop usurping God's place as Judge. However, if you are unable to desist from playing God, at least judge by the criteria given by the Bible: Christ said people will know his disciples by their love for one another, and the Apostle John said that those who acknowledge that Christ came in the flesh are of God. John even went so far as to say that those who Love know God because God is love. You're one of those people that will be shocked and screaming at God in heavne because he let the riffraff in, people you judges unworthy because of their doc-ter-ines. Sad.
  
  JW Daughter! Hi again! Thank you for the welcome to the board! I know there is a loving personal God because I experience that Love. I don't literally believe the doctrines. I see them as mythology. It's the experience of God but directly and through my fellow Saints that I have faith in. I have met a number of Mormons who believe the same way. The LDS Church is the only Church I've experienced God's Love so intensely in. It's the only Church where I've experienced the people being really close with eahc other and taking care of each other. Wouldn't it be funny and just like God if He chose the LDS Church to bless in this way precisely because their doctrines aren't the norm? Sort of like chooisng Samson because Samson was such a nut! Thats not a very good analogy, but I hope it gets the point across. Anyway, it would be great if you could find an inner way to embrace the Church and maintain your intellectual integrity. I've done it and my years as an LDS Christian have been the happiest of my life.
  
  Elderwho, I think I covered that when I explained that all religions are mythological. You can read my very short profile. That pretty much explains things.
  
  
  Hi Reefton Jack. I'm sorry you had such a long ordeal with the JWs. Mine was short by comparison. Why not give those crazy Mormons a try for a couple of Sundays and some social outings? You just might like it and stick around for the friendship.
  
  Wozadummy, I really won't engage in doctrinal wrangling. How would you like to argue about whether Hercules wore a toga and ate baklava or if he ran around naked and ate smoked oysters? No? Me neither. I'm sorry you feel you were forced out of the LDS Church. Maybe you can return and let your brethren love you with agape? I hope so.
  
  Kid-A, I hope I'm totally wrong, but you seem very upset and bitter. It will harm you. Also, I'm no cultist. I'm an intelligent, educated, 21st century woman. As I made clear and plain, what I actually believe in is the experience of God's love and the experience of transcendence. I experience those as an LDS Christian. I never did in any other church anywhere near to this degree and with this power. Not even in the pentecostal church. I'm sorry you have had negative experiences with the LDS folks in your family. You might try fellowshipping with your local Ward and see if the negativity holds true there as well. I'm betting it doesn't.
  
  Hi jgnat. Thats sad. I can add some negative and crazy experiences I've had too, but they are a drop in the bucket compared to the positive experiences.
  
  Susan Here! Yes! Isn't it so wonderful? To have gone through the horrible ordeal of the WTS mess and then be rewarded by such divine love?! I still cry sometimes and get on my knees and thank God with my whole being for the goodness and love he's shown me! It was quite something to read of your JW sisters praise of the LDS Church, and then read that she clings to the darkness of the WT religion anyway! I love Temple too. Thank you for the welcome.
  
  Fullofdoubtnow: I do have need of the Church. It's been God's way of healing me, healing me inside of all the rotten stuff that happened as a JW. I couldnt and wouldnt walk a solitary path. You're a person of great determinationa and strength to be able to do so.
  
  Looking_glass, that prolly won't happen soon. Yet, the women in my Ward have talked about this many times. I don't know of any women in my Ward who would want a position of leadership such as bishop or stake president even if it were open to them. Especially the mothers. We all feel that we have enough responsibility and work as it is, and we're grateful there are men willing to shoulder the burden. Instead of just studying about the Mormons from a safe distance, how about doing the unsafe thing and getting to know us as people? Your local Ward would love to see you, and you'd know then that the authority is not exercised in the way it is in Watchtower religion.
  
  Hi Danny Hazard! Thank you for letting me know! There are negative experiences to be had as a Mormon, but far more positive experiences. Far more.
  
  Last but NOT LEAST! Hi Double Edge! Thank you for letting me know that your experiences with the Church are so similar to my own. Thank you for the welcome too. Perhaps like me you'll be hooked and decide that the LDS Church is the "path" for you. I know the Heavenly Father will continue to bless you.
  
  Thanks again everyone.
  
  Lisa