I have to admit, since Mitt Romney has begun running for President, I've learned a lot about what other faiths think about Mormonism. I am surprised by how strongly some people feel against what I believe. I've always known that some find Mormonism questionable but I didn't realize that so many people truly feel that I and others of my faith are going to hell. After Mr. Odonnell's little outburst the other day I've been very uncomfortable with how my faith is perceived. I've thought quite a bit about how I feel living a religion that is considered evil and really, hated by many. First of all, I don't like anyone to have negative feelings about me. I want to be liked by everyone. Watching Lawrence Odonnell refer so heatedly to Mormonism as a racist, sexist, evil faith I really felt, for the first time in my life, personally hated. It's a very uncomfortable feeling.
However, as I cleaned my kitchen yesterday and worked on various projects I had some interesting thoughts.
I know all too well the blessings of God in my life and to deny that relationship would be wrong. I know that my relationship with God is what it is because of the doctrine of the LDS church. I'm grateful for the belief that I am a daughter of God and that I can return to live with Him someday. And even more so, I'm grateful for the knowledge that I can live with my children and my husband after this life is over, that those relationships continue even after death. I don't fault others for believing differently. I have no quarrel with those devout followers of other faiths or those who choose no faith at all. I can't make what I believe okay for anyone else but I sincerely hope that if nothing else, the people who live in this country can learn to respect each other for devotion to good things.
10 comments:
Can I ask you something? What about the fact that Mormons believe that they will die and get their own planet and become God of that planet? That's not biblical. And Mitt Romney said himself that Mormons believe in 93% of the bible. To me, if you're a Christian, you believe in the whole bible. I'm not hating you, I don't know you, but your religion is a bit out there with some of its doctrines that are not biblical at all. Such as the undergarments the men wear, thinking Jesus and Satan are brothers, whoa, that's WAY out there, Satan is an angel and Jesus is the Son of God. One more thing, Joseph Smith was a known con artist of his day. You are following the writings of a known con artist, did you know that? And you can't ignore the original writings that state polygamy was okay. What do you do with that? Please don't take this wrong, I am just curious. I'm sorry for the hatred others inflict upon you, that is definitely NOT Christian, it is ignorance and fear. I'm glad you have peace with your God, but I feel that calling yourself a Christian is out of line. I think that's where people get angry. It's a strange religion to the outside world, I'm stating a fact.
Anyway, I hope you have a very, Merry Christmas. :)
Maureen
P.S. I clicked on your ad, a few times! :)
Maureen,
Thank you for your response. Your questions are great and I appreciate your candor. I am very interested in answering your questions and will do so to the best of my ability. However, some of them require an in depth discussion about Mormon Doctrine which I do not think should be discussed via blog. Please know that these things are sacred to me and in the interest of treating them so, I would ask that if you are truly interested in what I believe we could arrange another way to communicate. In the interest of time, I will address the "short answer" questions here.
First, the question of Polygamy. This is a hard one to swallow for many people. I would like to begin by pointing out that Polygamy is not an exclusively Mormon Doctrine. Nor was it's practice begun in the 1800's. There are several examples of men, holy men, who married or were responsible for multiple wives. The one that comes to mind first would be Jacob (Leah and Rachel). As far as the practice of Polygamy in modern times, it does not bother me. There is more to it's practice than sex, which many suppose. During the beginning of the church many women were widowed due to hardship and persecution. Part of the purpose of the practice was to help provide for those women without husbands and to ease physical hardship.
As for Mitt's response about the 93% of the Bible, I will disagree with that completely. "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly." That is a recitation of one of our "Articles of Faith". 13 basic tennets that explain exactly what we believe. I would be happy to provide you with all 13 if you wish.
Many of your other questions can be answered with a discussion of "The Plan of Salvation". This is a very important priciple in our faith and it will take a fair amount of time to cover. Again, I would be happy to go into greater depth.
Lastly, I'm sorry that you have been told Joseph Smith was a known con-artist. I am very aware of his arrests during his life. They are probably not for the reasons you think. I hope that I can somehow express to you via this thread that I truly believe Joseph Smith saw and conversed with God the Father and His son Jesus Christ. I'm not sharing this with you to try and convince you I am right or to try in anyway to disprove your beliefs.
Thank you for being open to dialogue such as this. I beleive that our behavior to each other today was very "Christian" and am happy to have had the opportunity to perhaps shed a little light on some common questions. If you would like to know more, there is a link under "What I believe' that will direct you to the LDS website. I tell you this not for conversion purposes or in disrespect to your current religious affiliation but in the interest of giving you answers.
As far as the title of "Christian", I suppose we will have to agree to disagree. Isn't that the real issue here, whether we can all respect each other irregardless of our different beliefs? Ultimately, I'm not concerned with being called a "Christian", I know that I follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and that I treat others with respect. I'm happy to be a Mormon.
Thank you again, and Merry Christmas!
Hi Lula Mae,
Thank you for taking the time to respond to me. I am truly interested in all religions, but I hold fast to my own. Your discourse on polygamy was fair and made sense, although man, in his infinite ignorance will screw anything up. I suppose the one thing that truly bothers me about Mormonism, and the two things you did not address, and I doubt I'll find them on any LDS website, is the relationship of Jesus to Lucifer, and the fact that your religion believes that you all will become Gods of your own planets. Now I'm not sure if that's just the men or what. That would make it very hard for me to worship, knowing that my God was a man at one point. My God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, He is, was and always will be God, he was never NOT God, He was never a man, save when He became flesh for our sakes, saving us from ourselves, sending His Son, God in the flesh, the greatest mystery of all, to die for us. All of that is in the bible, so if you believe you, or your husband, will be God someday, then you do not believe the bible when it says that there was no other God before God and there will be no other God after Him, and that He was and is and always will be God, he was never man. How can you say you believe the bible 100% when you believe a lie? You also believe that children are souls that you release from heaven, the bible states that we do not exist until were are here. There was no me until I was conceived. Joseph Smith put his own human spin on things and some people went for it. I guess it sounded good to some, but if you truly decided to do a bible study, apart from your Mormon teachings, you will find too much disagreement between the two.
You are right, I guess we do need to agree to disagree. I have met some wonderful people who are Mormons, and some who are Islam, and some who are Jewish. I have met some not so wonderful people of those faiths as well, as well as some Christians I'd rather not be associated with, isn't that life. You seem like a very nice person, bent on doing your part to make the world a better place and I admire that. I don't agree with your religion, in fact, I believe you are spreading heresy and lies - I'm sorry if that hurts, but it shouldn't if you fully believe as you say you do. I wish you didn't, though, because your religion scares me, it scares me for you and for my friends who are Mormon. I don't know them well enough to say that to them, they are just acquaintances, they seem to hold me at arms length and I'm not the only one. They seem to stay within the confines of those who believe as they do. My Jewish friends are very open about their faith, as are my Buddhist friends. My Islam friends were open about theirs as well, but I'm learning more about their religion that's a bit unsettling. Unfortunately, they have moved back to Iran and we are no longer in touch. But I could have asked them anything, they were very open.
You are right, we are acting like two Christians and that is important. Honesty and kindness. I don't know you, but I think it's important to be kind in whatever I do or say and to whomever I'm speaking to (or writing to!). You never know when such things are going to come around and bite you in the you-know-where! :) Karma. What goes around, comes around. You get what you give. I do believe all that.
For me, ultimately, is that I am going to heaven to spend eternity with my Creator whom I get to call Father by the grace of my Lord, Jesus Christ. While I am here, I not only live by His teachings, I have a personal relationship with Him, He abides in me and I in Him. He is not my brother, He is my Saviour, my Master, my Lord. One day I will touch His nail-scarred hands and bow at His feet and worship Him forever. And He has told me that I will have untold treasures in heaven.
We have but a blip of time here. I know where I want to spend eternity.
Have a great night!
Maureen
Maureen,
What an interesting day this has been. I am ever so glad you responded. I would be happy to talk at length with you about the "having your own planet" thing (which kind of makes me giggle because that is a funny way to put it.)
I find in my studies of the Bible (yes, I study both), that my beliefs correspond very well with the teachings of the Holy Bible (I use the King James Version) and I consider the Book of Mormon to be a continuation of Christ's teachings.
I'm very sad that your LDS friends are unwilling to discuss their beliefs with you. Really, we are told to share what we believe with anyone who's interested. In all fairness though, sometimes even I am reticent to share what I believe because of many negative misconceptions that are met often times with derision and not understanding or tolerance. It is often times hard to share something very dear to your heart when you are unsure of it's safety. Especially with those you know well. Thank you for making this a safe place.
Also, please do not consider the fact that I did not address the other questions you had for fear or uncertainty. I can only repeat my earlier assertion that these things are holy and serious and really quite detailed and require an long, open discussion. One that I am truly open to having in another format. I'll be happy to give you my contact inforamtion if you would like.
Ultimately I would hope that we both could come away believing that we could sit down together and enjoy an afternoon without even discussing religion. I think we would find that we would have more in common than not and realize that friends come in all shapes, sizes and beliefs.
Don't worry, I'm not offended by your statement about heresy and lies. It is how you feel about what I believe. That is for you to carry, I feel no need to try and convince you otherwise. One thing I have learned from today is that my religion is not for defending but living, and living well.
Thank you again for an exciting opportunity and for an openess and honesty. I have truly enjoyed our discussion. If you are really interested in understanding without judgement, I am open.
Have a great evening and again, Merry Christmas
Good Morning Lula Mae,
I hope you are having better weather than we are, it's awful here - drizzly and cold, blah. But I am getting my hair done so that cheers me up!
I agree that we would probably have a lot in common save for our beliefs. I mentioned that I worship Jesus, and you follow His teachings, do you worship Him? Because that is biblical. I also mentioned that He resides in me and I in Him, do you believe that? That is also biblical. If not then maybe Mitt Romney was right, you do believe only a percentage of the bible. Plus I mentioned that God is, was, and always has been God, that is in the bible, you didn't respond to that. And also it is in the bible that we are not souls waiting to be released in heaven, we do not exist until we are conceived. You didn't respond to that either. And nowhere is it written that Jesus and Satan are brothers! See? Mitt was right.
You don't have to defend your religion if you don't want to. It's just so sad to me, to see so many led astray. I went to the site that you have the link to on your page and was frustrated that when I wanted more questions answered the only option I had was to be contacted by a missionary. It is very cult like.
I would love to know more but only for the sake of knowledge, I have to tell you that up front. I have no desire to change my religion, I am quite happy with my God and extremely thankful for what His Son did for me on the cross. I will defend my religion in any forum, as well as live it. I have nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed of. My Father says if I am ashamed of Him He will be ashamed of me.
I'm sorry, Mormonism is not Christianity, because you do not worship Christ. You follow His teachings and think He is your brother but you will be amazed one day when you see Him in all His glory and Satan will be bound, the evil one slain, who is NOT Jesus' brother. I guess this is why people are so angry. Call yourselves Mormons, but do not call yourselves Christian.
You hope to convert me and I hope to convert you. This is what both of our religions teach. Only mine is much more open about its teachings. There are no surprises later on, no mysteries about sacred undergarments and holy stories about little gods among us.
To be perfectly honest, it does make me angry because so many innocent people are being brainwashed into believing lies. But beyond that it makes me sad. If you still want to explain more to me, you can contact me at faith657@yahoo.com. But please don't have a missionary contact me!
I am praying for you,
Maureen
Maureen,
Thanks for keeping in touch. I'm going to have to say that I think I've had enough of the religion bashing. I don't know what denomination you subscribe to but I would like to point out that at no time in our communitcations have I ever posed any issue with what you believe. I'm very sad that you are so scared by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
I have had several people ask that I pose questions to you about your faith but I feel that going down that path would only make the chasm between us deeper.
Again, I can explain many things you have questions about but I refuse to do so over the internet because I do not feel that this mode of communication invites the spirit which is necessary for understanding and peace. Part of me is concerned that because I am not willing to discuss sacred things via email or internet I will be considered weak, afraid or subversive. That is something I will have to accept I suppose.
Mormon missionaries are a great source of information. They can talk to people without judgement and can give accurate information.
All the best in your quest for knowledge and may you be blessed with all the happiness and peace that comes with this wonderful season. All the best!
Lula
Hi Lula,
I'm sorry you feel that way, I'm sorry for "bashing" your religion. I feel I asked some good questions, such as do you worship Christ? Or do you just think of him as your brother? It's a basic question and the fact that you can't/won't answer it speaks volumes.
I am a Christian, non-denominational. I was raised Catholic but left that religion as an adult, for many reasons. It left me with a lot of questions, and it left me dry. It did not preach the gospel, to me personally, one that Jesus is the Christ, the good news, but left me feeling guilt-ridden and shameful. That's just me. My mom is still a Catholic and is a Christian through and through, so whatever. She likes the mass, likes the tradition. I have issues with Catholicism, but when it comes down to the bare bones they are Christian.
My religion hides nothing, nothing is so "sacred" or "holy" that it can't be brought into the light in any forum. I'm sorry for you, I'm sorry for all of you. I'm not scared of your faith, Lula, just scared for you and others like you who have been taken in by lies.
We can stop here, I'm sorry to upset you. You can bash my religion all day, others do all the time, people are tolerant of all religions except Christianity it seems. But Jesus said this would be so.
I wish I had come away with more knowledge, but in a way I did by your silence. I see that it is something I already know enough about.
I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas as well and all the best for the season.
Maureen
Lula,
I'm sorry, you seem like a really nice person. All the more reason for me to be scared for you. I'm sorry if my words were harsh, but to take my Lord and Savior and reduce Him to a mere teacher and brother seems to me it could be blasphemy and it hurts my heart. He willingly got on that cross and died for you and me, for our sins, because sinful man cannot stand before a holy God, so that we could spend eternity with our Father, not so we could BE God. He is the world to me, He saved my life, many times over because I am thick-headed. I love and worship Him as much as my sinful, human heart possibly can. And to take my God, the Alpha and Omega, and to tell me He was once a man, He, who always was, He who created everything we see, He who created US, to reduce Him to a mere man, that's got to be blasphemy as well. He who has shown me nothing but grace, He who has delivered me from the pit of hell, He who says there are no other gods before Him, and Joseph Smith says He changed His mind?? Oh yes, there are other gods, and here's how. My God does not change, that is biblical. My God has changed me, built me up, renewed my spirit, believe me when I tell you that I am nothing short of a miracle. He is my deliverer, my peace, my strength, my protector, my everything. And I am to throw all of that away and believe a con artist? No, my God says He is the One and only God and I believe Him. He says it many times at that. I worship this God, who was always God and never a man. He is perfect, He is holy and He is my Father. I am forever grateful that I am His child.
Perhaps now you can understand where I am coming from. Why it hurts me. Where my anger comes from, though I have tried to hold back, i apologize when I was unsuccessful. Where my fear for you comes from, because I know this God personally, I know His anger, I know His love, I know His grace and I know His justice. How can you study both books and reconcile the two? It's not possible.
This is my religion, this is what I believe, these are the basics. Anything else you want to know, please feel free to ask me and I will tell you if I know the answer. If not, I will find out.
Again, I apologize. I didn't mean to hurt you. I only wanted to know. But like I said before, I think I know enough.
And like I've said before, you seem like a really nice person. I'm sure we would get along fine and I didn't mean to hurt you in any way.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Maureen
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