ldsfaqs wrote:First some of those statements are statements of belief, having nothing to do with diplomacy or the lack thereof.
Second, you do as all anti-mormons do, as from the anti-mormon website you quoted from. You cherry pick the most negative things ever said, and say "see, naa naa naa, you negative of others". You don't care of the ACTUAL TRUTH, that is that such negative statements equal .000001% of all statements ever said about other religions, that 99.999999% of all other statements ARE DIPLOMATIC toward other religions and people.
Thus, it is YOU who are the liar and ignorant.....
ldsfaqs, did you attend the temple before, say, 1990?
My own thoughts are that those who recognize Jesus as their savior are all part of the body of Christ. When we say bring your truths to the table and let us see what we can add to it, we are acknowledging their truth and our own. It helps put our fractionated commonality into focus.
Wonder how life would have evolved for the Church if instead of initially proclaiming we are the sole source of all truth, we had said that we are one of the ways to set you on the path to salvation? Perhaps this message would not have allowed such a dense, but unnecessary, wall of separation between us and those "others".
I was reading a bit more on this subject today and President Hinckley said it well. The bolded text added by me.
“The Lord said that this is the only true and living church upon the face of the earth with which He is well pleased [see D&C 1:30]. I didn’t say that. Those are His words. The Prophet Joseph was told that the other sects were wrong [see Joseph Smith—H 1:19]. Those are not my words. Those are the Lord’s words. But they are hard words for those of other faiths. We don’t need to exploit them. We just need to be kind and good and gracious people to others, showing by our example the great truth of that which we believe and leading them in the direction which we would like to see them go” (regional conference, North Ogden, Utah, 3 May 1998).
Then further down on the page.
1. Read the paragraph “The Only True Church.” Discuss with family members some ways we can bear our testimonies of the truth without demeaning anyone else’s beliefs. You might want to consider reviewing “The Parable of Two Lamps,” by Elder James E. Talmage (1862–1933) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (see Liahona, Feb. 2003, 40; Ensign, Feb. 2003, 12).