The Term Anti-Mormon

[Guest]

Hey again, shiloh

Mr. Boo:

Although this name does scare me a little (probably due to the "boo" part), I do like it a lot!

Don't get me wrong. Joseph Smith certainly taught that he had a revelation and was in processes of restoring to Christianity what he believed had been lost. In that sense, Joseph Smith was very pro-Christian.

Fair.

Perhaps an entirely different thread/topic/discussion would be to share individual thoughts concerning the restoring to Christianity what he believed had been lost vs. the creation of a completely new and different religion that stands alone and separate from Christianity.

Check out this article:

http://www.sunstonemagazine.com/wp-cont ... -32-41.pdf

Thanks! (Kind of long so I would like to read and digest it all before commenting......should I do so)

by the way: I noticed that Don Bradely wrote this and for what it's worth, I have always enjoyed his contributions.

Anyway, being pro-[fill in your own religion] isn't being anti- anything. Joseph Smith was pro-Mormon and taught that truth was to be found everywhere.

"Truth is found everywhere"
I have and continue to struggle (A great deal) with this proposed "teaching". Perhaps this says something more about me than it does about the one who professes such. I don't know!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me/us.

Peace,
Ceeboo

[_Shiloh]

Shiloh,

I think the missionary effort can be viewed as anti-every-other-religion. One of the questions I ask most missionaries who visit my house is do they teach the great apostasy. (Everyone has said yes.) Isn't the attempt to convert someone from one religion to another an attack on the former religion? Seems to me there is a difference between discussing differences or even trying to convince someone where he is wrong about a certain tenant and trying to persuade someone to abandon a false religion for the one true religion.

Let me use a crude analogy.

I am a car salesman. I want to sell you the new Prius V. You currently own a Honda Civic. During the sales process I am going to compare the two and put the Prius in a positive light. Any good salesperson worth his salt knows that bashing the competition is extremely counter-productive. Regardless, I know the Civic is a good reliable car but I also firmly believe that the Prius V has certain advantages over the Civic and I'm going to try and persuade you to see things my way.

As a missionary I would NEVER bash another religion. In fact, I had nothing but sincere praise. Also, doctrinaly speaking, the notion of persuading everyone to become LDS is absurd. Mormonism promotes the gathering of those called to be a part of the Latter-day House of Israel. My mission president was very clear that the Lord does not intend for everyone to become LDS. Every religion and person plays a part of God's plan. That doesn't mean that the LDS Church isn't the one-true-church, but it does acknowledge even the "true" Church is part of a larger scheme.

Check out UTLM. What is the LDS analog? Where does the Church publish and draw attention to the historical problems of say .... evangelical Protestantism? Islam? Where is there a site dedicated to the denigration of other beliefs? Of course the LDS Church disagrees on doctrine -- publicly. But compare/contrast as part of a sales process is hardly being anti- every other religion, in my opinion.

[_Shiloh]

"Truth is found everywhere"
I have and continue to struggle (A great deal) with this proposed "teaching". Perhaps this says something more about me than it does about the one who professes such. I don't know!

Mr. Boo (not Honey-Boo-Boo):

I think this claim is pretty self-evident, don't you? Water = H20. No matter if God tells me that water = H20 or if Satan tells me water is H20, water is still H20. Truth.

Be kind to your neighbor. Moses, Jesus, Buddha, and Zoroaster all teach this truth.

Unless we commit ourselves to the truth, independent of its source, we may fall victim to becoming slaves of ideology; putting more trust in our beloved source of knowledge than in knowledge itself.

[Guest]

Shiloh,

I think the missionary effort can be viewed as anti-every-other-religion. One of the questions I ask most missionaries who visit my house is do they teach the great apostasy. (Everyone has said yes.) Isn't the attempt to convert someone from one religion to another an attack on the former religion? Seems to me there is a difference between discussing differences or even trying to convince someone where he is wrong about a certain tenant and trying to persuade someone to abandon a false religion for the one true religion.

Let me use a crude analogy.

I am a car salesman. I want to sell you the new Prius V. You currently own a Honda Civic. During the sales process I am going to compare the two and put the Prius in a positive light. Any good salesperson worth his salt knows that bashing the competition is extremely counter-productive. Regardless, I know the Civic is a good reliable car but I also firmly believe that the Prius V has certain advantages over the Civic and I'm going to try and persuade you to see things my way.

As a missionary I would NEVER bash another religion. In fact, I had nothing but sincere praise. Also, doctrinaly speaking, the notion of persuading everyone to become LDS is absurd. Mormonism promotes the gathering of those called to be a part of the Latter-day House of Israel. My mission president was very clear that the Lord does not intend for everyone to become LDS. Every religion and person plays a part of God's plan. That doesn't mean that the LDS Church isn't the one-true-church, but it does acknowledge even the "true" Church is part of a larger scheme.

Check out UTLM. What is the LDS analog? Where does the Church publish and draw attention to the historical problems of say .... evangelical Protestantism? Islam? Where is there a site dedicated to the denigration of other beliefs? Of course the LDS Church disagrees on doctrine -- publicly. But compare/contrast as part of a sales process is hardly being anti- every other religion, in my opinion.

I do not think the Church is overtly Anti. They do not put up sites like UTLM and they keep their criticism of every other religion generic. in my opinion the term Anti does not have a clear cut application. Certainly the UTLM would fall into that category. In order for a message to be considered 'Anti" does it have to specifically attack another religion? Can one advocate atheism without being anti-religion?

Let's look at your analogy a bit further. The car sales man who tells me his car is perfect for me, implies that the one I currently own is not. Then he will go on to give me a series of examples emphasizing how his car has components that mine does not and why those are necessary to get me where I am going while my car will not. It is only by comparison that he can show me why his car is better. He doesn't have to say a word about my car, all he has to do is point out what his car has that we both know mine does not. Is this the same as a focused attack like the ones you point out? No, but in the end the message is the same. Actually the salesman that avoids direct criticism of my car will probably be more effective than one who does not.
I think we are just talking about degrees here and probably opposite ends of a spectrum. But to me a religion that is intent on spreading a message that they are they only true religion is against all other religions, we just happen to try and be nice about it.

[_why me]

Jews moved into areas, and started taking over, bullying (although discreetly) their way into positions of power, and the people pushed back.

Also, when they caused problems they couldn't fix, the early Jews high tailed it out of places, and blamed it on persecution.

Let's also not forget how Jews over (often illegaly)used Habeous Corpus to get their way.

Can you blame the non jews in the crowd for being concerned, and agitated after hearing a speech like that? Get real.

Shalom


How does that sound? Many a nazi said many things about the jews.

So now you're anti-semetic too. Great, we'll add that to the list.

1. Anti-Catholic
2. Anti-Semetic

Care to add any more to the list?
Don't you get tired of being a hypocrite?

Sad, isn't it? To see what you wrote with the word Mormon in it replaced by the word jews. Terrible right? Sounds awful? Something to think about, right?

[_Ceeboo]

]I think this claim is pretty self-evident, don't you? Water = H20. No matter if God tells me that water = H20 or if Satan tells me water is H20, water is still H20. Truth.

Water is not H2O! The truth is that water is HOH (Double bond on the Oxygen/Hydrogen)

Moving past water, if we were discuss things like Joseph Smith, Jesus, God, Salvation, etc, I can't imagine that we would find agreement on what is or is not true. Can you?

Be kind to your neighbor. Moses, Jesus, Buddha, and Zoroaster all teach this truth.

So does Ceeboo but I assure you that I do not belong on the same list as Jesus, The Truth!

Unless we commit ourselves to the truth, independent of its source, we may fall victim to becoming slaves of ideology; putting more trust in our beloved source of knowledge than in knowledge itself.

[/quote]

???? (Confused)

The sources are contradicting!
How does one decide what is true in this case?

One example: Mormonism teaches that Jesus was/is our literal brother, a created being, and that our salvation (In addition to the blood spilled from the cross) rests upon many other things that we must do to earn our salvation.... and that those many other things that we must do are found only within the LDS church.....and that if we do not do all of these things, we will not be dwelling with Almighty God for all eternity.

Biblical Christianity teaches an entirely different "truth" as to who Jesus is/was and what is needed for our collective human salvation.

How can both be "true"?

Peace,
Ceeboo

[_why me]

Hi why me,

Please stop posting things that disrupt, divert, and deflect from the topic of this thread.

Please!

Thank you!

Peace,
Ceeboo

Come on ceeboo...really? Is it really that hard for you to understand what is antimormonism. I thought that you were a bright guy. One just needs to read many of the posts on this board to discover what antimormonism is. Think how you would feel seeing your faith put through the ringer on a excatholic discussion forum. And then have me ask that forum: What is anticatholicism? Why are catholics so sensitive about their faith?

You must know what antimormonism is.

[_Blixa]

Put Jews in the place of Mormons and smith and co. and we have a very bigoted piece of writing.

This has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

No plus ça change, only plus c'est la même chose.

[_why me]

No plus ça change, only plus c'est la même chose.

And your point is? How am I wrong? No comment of course, just a meaningless picture.

[_MrStakhanovite]

How does that sound? Many a nazi said many things about the jews.

You missed the point. Let me demonstrate it with one of your own posts where I replace antimormon with "Jew" and antimormonism with "Judaism"

You are in a way correct. Internet Jews are certain an anti bunch of Jews. But most likely, many of them would never voice their Judaism in public. They would sound like bigots and hate mongers. Thus, they vent their spleen on the internet without fear of discovery.