truth dancer wrote:In the New Testament, Jesus seemed filled with love, care, compassion, inviting us to do good. It seemed to me to be about humility, meekness, forgiveness, and loving each other. The teachings of loving everyone, casting the first stone, the good Samarian, etc. etc. all felt so loving.
The D&C, OTOH, was filled with this angry, commanding, demanding, cruel, fierce, authoritarian guy who seemed to always be ready with a sword to do whatever... like a guy so filled with hate and anger and fear.
Ding ding ding! Give the girl a gold star! And once again, we demonstrate how one is possibly a pretty fair representation of God... and the other is a pretty fair representation of man.
You both are reading the New Testament with a filter. Read Peter, Hebrews, some of Paul and even many of Jesus's strict commands in the gospels.
truth dancer wrote:In the New Testament, Jesus seemed filled with love, care, compassion, inviting us to do good. It seemed to me to be about humility, meekness, forgiveness, and loving each other. The teachings of loving everyone, casting the first stone, the good Samarian, etc. etc. all felt so loving.
The D&C, OTOH, was filled with this angry, commanding, demanding, cruel, fierce, authoritarian guy who seemed to always be ready with a sword to do whatever... like a guy so filled with hate and anger and fear.
Ding ding ding! Give the girl a gold star! And once again, we demonstrate how one is possibly a pretty fair representation of God... and the other is a pretty fair representation of man.
Harm, if one were to follow the Old Testament more thoroughly than the new, would one be able to live a more true form of Mormonism?
I'm not saying it invalidates your argument yet but TD's main assumption is based on a difference between the Old Testament and New Testament.
Could this also be a main dichotomy among some chapel and some internet/apologist Mormons?
They're all full of the teachings of men, Merc. It's easier to pick out that which is God-breathed in the New Testament, though, than in any other "scripture". It's definitely on a higher plane than any of the others.
Do we think it is God Beathed because we prefer it over the more harshness of other?
I totally realize that the New Testament is filled with harshness as well...
But you must admit there is a completely different feel from reading the New Testament and the D&C.
As a 14 year old girl, I noticed a stark difference between what I considered the teachings of Jesus on how to live... and the teachings of the D&C.
In addition to the loveliness of much of the New Testament, the very tone is completely different than the angry, commanding, power hungry Jesus in the D&C.
Today, I realize little of what we have attributed to Jesus is accurate... we can debate for millennia on what is or is not true.
I happen to no longer believe the myths and stories as I once did... I think the stories we have are reflections of the story teller.
I have come to a place where I honor what is in my heart... trying to make horrific things seem right no longer works for me. Trying to justify, rationalize, minimize, make sense of cruelty doesn't work. Trying to believe God is good while commanding horrific behaviors and acting like a Taliban leader doesn't compute in my brain.
The point being... The teachings of Jesus, to me, do not mesh with the teachings of Joseph Smith and the LDS church.
Lets take just one for example... do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
If this is from God, then Joseph Smith and his church are not. Unless of course one wants to go with the idea that the golden rule is only true some of the time, or God changes his mind, or it only applies in some cases, or for some people, or can be eliminated by the prophet, or whatever. (sigh).
The simple beauty of the teachings of Jesus are not the same as the teachings of the LDS church, in my opinion.
~dancer~
Last edited by Bing [Bot] on Sat Jul 28, 2007 5:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"The search for reality is the most dangerous of all undertakings for it destroys the world in which you live." Nisargadatta Maharaj
Jason Bourne wrote:As I consider this issue there are valid points. For me, when I read Mormon Enigma and then read the letter Joseph Smith wrote to Nancy Rigdon about happiness being the design of our exsitence I did a double take. Understanding the context, which I did not before, when he said at times God commands one thing at other times he commands another I thought, well dang! if that is the case we better be very sure that the dude that is supposed to be telling us what God changed his mind about is really speaking for God.
To me, the letter to Nancy just seemed, well, too expedient.
I agree with you, only I think "too expedient" is too lenient, and prefer the harder-hitting "too self-serving" myself.
Mormonism ceased being a compelling topic for me when I finally came to terms with its transformation from a personality cult into a combination of a real estate company, a SuperPac, and Westboro Baptist Church. - Kishkumen