Mormon Messages - "I know what I want you to be"

[_Stormy Waters]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr8xvw0cgw0

President Brown replied, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”
From this D. Todd Christofferson; General Conference. April 2011

I think this gives a pretty good insight into the way that the church views people. They know what they want you to be.

[_Stormy Waters]

I can't help but mention this part of the same talk.

Sadly, much of modern Christianity does not acknowledge that God makes any real demands on those who believe in Him, seeing Him rather as a butler “who meets their needs when summoned” or a therapist whose role is to help people “feel good about themselves.” It is a religious outlook that “makes no pretense at changing lives.” “By contrast,” as one author declares, “the God portrayed in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures asks, not just for commitment, but for our very lives. The God of the Bible traffics in life and death, not niceness, and calls for sacrificial love, not benign whatever-ism.”

There is little doubt if a similar type of criticism were leveled at Mormonism it would be labeled 'anti-Mormon' and 'prejudiced.'

[_Polygamy-Porter]

That story is such faith promoting BS.

This was a well worn faith promoting story from many years ago. I called it BS as a young Mormon boy.

We are persecuted because we are god's only chosen peeps.

Give me a f'n break.

[_KevinSim]

I think this gives a pretty good insight into the way that the church views people. They know what they want you to be.

Stormy Waters, is there something wrong with one wanting to be who God wants that one to be?

[_Bob Loblaw]

Stormy Waters, is there something wrong with one wanting to be who God wants that one to be?

Yes, if God wants us to all be the same.

[_KevinSim]

I can't help but mention this part of the same talk.

Sadly, much of modern Christianity does not acknowledge that God makes any real demands on those who believe in Him, seeing Him rather as a butler “who meets their needs when summoned” or a therapist whose role is to help people “feel good about themselves.” It is a religious outlook that “makes no pretense at changing lives.” “By contrast,” as one author declares, “the God portrayed in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures asks, not just for commitment, but for our very lives. The God of the Bible traffics in life and death, not niceness, and calls for sacrificial love, not benign whatever-ism.”

There is little doubt if a similar type of criticism were leveled at Mormonism it would be labeled 'anti-Mormon' and 'prejudiced.'

God, as taught by the LDS Church, does ask "for our very lives," and does call "for sacrificial love."

[_KevinSim]

Yes, if God wants us to all be the same.

That's the amazing thing. There are some core values God wants everyone to have, and that all who really want to be one with God must have, but outside of those core values there's an enormous diversity in our other characteristics.

[_Bob Loblaw]

That's the amazing thing. There are some core values God wants everyone to have, and that all who really want to be one with God must have, but outside of those core values there's an enormous diversity in our other characteristics.

I see Mormonism as a "one size fits all" religion.

[_KevinSim]

I see Mormonism as a "one size fits all" religion.

Are we talking about the same faith/religion that both Mitt Romney and Harry Reid declare themselves members of?

[_Bob Loblaw]

Are we talking about the same faith/religion that both Mitt Romney and Harry Reid declare themselves members of?

I'm told by people around here that only one of those two is a real Mormon. The other one is a "tare" waiting to be burned at the last.