Mormons ignoring Jesus as quoted in the gospel of Matthew

[Dr Exiled]

It's easy to see why Mormons contradict themselves at times. The leaders must be supported at all costs, an absolute requirement of membership and the defender class, despite reality...

seriously. I've read some of the most jaw-dropping explanations from Mormons attempting to remain loyal.

one really bizarre one was midgley's statement that if black men had been allowed the priesthood earlier than 1978, the Mormon church would have become known as a "black church" (his phrase), and wouldn't have been as accepted as it was (also his racist conclusion). in other words, racist policies grew the LDS church faster than non-racist policies would have. what a position to take.

Yeah, perhaps the Midge should've just kept those thoughts to himself. And to make matters worse, this speculation has at its heart stuff that is pure fiction based on feelings and peer pressure. Obviously the racism was a product of the racist past, but a god should know better and maybe communicate a little better to his supposed prophet, you know, to avoid such messy things.

Now our resident apologist is also making stuff up about how his god supposedly acts or chooses not to in order to justify the nonsense we all used to follow. He has no idea about such things, just like I have no idea what is going on inside the head of any fictional character from literature. I guess I could ask the author if the author were accessible.

Who authored god and can we find this person? MG needs a line.

[malkie]

Premise 1. God doesn't have to answer questions/prayers if he doesn't want to.

Heavenly Father, bless me that I’ll have a good day.

You have an auto accident.

Did God answer your prayer. Did he hear it? Is it either/or? Does he really hear ALL prayers?

Premise 2. MG just had his "god" status restored
Conclusion. MG doesn't have to answer questions/prayers if he doesn't want to.

I answer more questions put before me on average than say…Marcus…and others I could easily name. Marcus is the most obvious. In fact I think I do a pretty good job considering all the questions that fly my way left and right.

You just want to be snarky and make me look bad. Modus operandi of a good number of people here. It helps the ‘cause’.

Regards,
MG

I would have thought that it was obvious ... ... but clearly not.

Sorry that I have offended you.

[MG 2.0]

Heavenly Father, bless me that I’ll have a good day.

You have an auto accident.

Did God answer your prayer. Did he hear it? Is it either/or? Does he really hear ALL prayers?



I answer more questions put before me on average than say…Marcus…and others I could easily name. Marcus is the most obvious. In fact I think I do a pretty good job considering all the questions that fly my way left and right.

You just want to be snarky and make me look bad. Modus operandi of a good number of people here. It helps the ‘cause’.

Regards,
MG

I would have thought that it was obvious ... ... but clearly not.

Sorry that I have offended you.

No offense taken. I’ll still talk to you.

If you’ll still continue talking to me and I haven’t turned you off again as I apparently did a while back.

Regards,
MG

[Marcus]

seriously. I've read some of the most jaw-dropping explanations from Mormons attempting to remain loyal.

one really bizarre one was midgley's statement that if black men had been allowed the priesthood earlier than 1978, the Mormon church would have become known as a "black church" (his phrase), and wouldn't have been as accepted as it was (also his racist conclusion). in other words, racist policies grew the LDS church faster than non-racist policies would have. what a position to take.

Yeah, perhaps the Midge should've just kept those thoughts to himself. And to make matters worse, this speculation has at its heart stuff that is pure fiction based on feelings and peer pressure. Obviously the racism was a product of the racist past, but a god should know better and maybe communicate a little better to his supposed prophet, you know, to avoid such messy things.

Now our resident apologist is also making stuff up about how his god supposedly acts or chooses not to in order to justify the nonsense we all used to follow. He has no idea about such things, just like I have no idea what is going on inside the head of any fictional character from literature. I guess I could ask the author if the author were accessible.

Who authored god and can we find this person? MG needs a line.

“Making stuff up” is exactly right. To me, it keeps going back to the idea that if you assume your conclusion in your starting conditions, then you have no choice but to manipulate your results and interpretations in order to support those starting conditions.

To people who have those same starting conditions it might be comforting to hear, but to everyone else it’s just bizarre.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

I just want it on record MG is ok with an adult damned a kid, retaining their membership, and not being handed over to law enforcement.
- Doc

Nope. Not true. Expunge the record.

I think you need to check your grammar though.

Regards,
MG

Of course you’re ok with it. You're still shilling for, attending, and giving money to an organization that covers (and historically covered) for men who “F” kids. You haven’t demanded anything from them, so you’re good with it. Obviously. I mean, you could grow conscience and let them know that, until they change their policy of covering for men who “F” kids to ‘they can repent in jail after being excommunicated’, you’ll be withdrawing your time and money. But you won’t do that because you’re ok with your church covering for men who “F” kids. It is what it is, and you’re complicit.

- Doc

[Dr Exiled]

Yeah, perhaps the Midge should've just kept those thoughts to himself. And to make matters worse, this speculation has at its heart stuff that is pure fiction based on feelings and peer pressure. Obviously the racism was a product of the racist past, but a god should know better and maybe communicate a little better to his supposed prophet, you know, to avoid such messy things.

Now our resident apologist is also making stuff up about how his god supposedly acts or chooses not to in order to justify the nonsense we all used to follow. He has no idea about such things, just like I have no idea what is going on inside the head of any fictional character from literature. I guess I could ask the author if the author were accessible.

Who authored god and can we find this person? MG needs a line.

“Making stuff up” is exactly right. To me, it keeps going back to the idea that if you assume your conclusion in your starting conditions, then you have no choice but to manipulate your results and interpretations in order to support those starting conditions.

To people who have those same starting conditions it might be comforting to hear, but to everyone else it’s just bizarre.

That's the basis of it and our resident apologist definitely needs to stay on the "covenant" conclusion. Otherwise apostasy is at the door.

[msnobody]

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

There goes half of every ward.

So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Tithing settlement anyone?

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

I'm sure Jesus was thinking of General/Stake Conferences being broadcast around the world when he said not to babble like pagans...

This, then, is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name...'

Kind of strange Mormons just ignore this plain directive from the Savior?

When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Mormons turn this into a trite game every Fast Sunday.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Ensign Peak fund.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Food storage, hoarding money for a "rainy day," etc etc etc


Who is the Jesus Mormonism worships? Because it's certainly not the one portrayed in the Gospels...


You don't even need the doctrine of "Sola Scriptura" to realize the plain message Jesus was trying to get across. Humanity is worried about the wrong things. They have it completely backwards. And it's very hard to fix that backwardness. Mormonism doesn't even try to. It falls into the same traps Jesus was constantly warning against: legalism, materialism, idolatry, leader worship, hoarding wealth, being worried about public image, about personal health, on and on and on.

Every Christian religion falls short of Jesus' message. But Mormonism seems particularly blind to what He was trying to say.

I’m late to the party here.

If the church would reverse the gospel order to sin> grace> faith> works such as listed in Eph. 2:1-10, it would go along way to correct those concerns you voiced.

[Morley]

Did God not give a command to not kill? I’m sure you can think of some examples where this is a perfect example of situational ethics.

You’re getting a bit snarky. Does that serve a purpose?

Don't mistake frustration for snark.

Earlier you insinuated that a God bounded by ethics that were not situational was a dangerous one.

I asked, "What's so dangerous about a God bounded by ethics?"

You deflected with, "Whose ethics?" I replied along the lines of, "God's own ethics that he gives to us."

And we returned to the original question: "What's so dangerous about a God bounded by ethics?"

And now, in answer, you shout "Cheese!" Or more accurately, you say, "Like thou shalt not kill?"--which has about as much meaning as if you'd shouted, "Cheese!"

That you didn't (and typically don't) make the effort to follow the dialogue you're involved in makes it difficult for your interlocutors to engage you in meaningful dialogue. I've come to believe that this may be your motive.



edit for clarity

[Morley]

Cue MG complaining that I've misrepresented him.

Cue Morley asking him to show me where.

Cue MG saying that I, Morley, have no nuance; that he's not going waste time showing me; that I should read between the lines in his previous posts, then return and write up what he really meant, but that I'd better not put any words in his mouth.

So if I walked in on some adult assaulting my grandson (or any child for that matter)and bashed that person's head in with my cast iron frying pan and they die I’m as guilty (and wrong) as any mass shooter, or rapist murderer?

Are you an absolutist?

You appear to be when it comes to what God can and cannot do. You’ve put him in a box of your own making. You’ve given him absolutely no wiggle room to make judgements.

This is an example of you not responding to the post someone else composes. I could easily find a dozen more.

A person walking in on an adult assaulting their grandson has nothing to do with the post you're ostensibly responding to--which was about me accusing you of deflecting and avoiding discussion. You either cannot or will not address the issue that has been raised. It makes any attempted conversation with you meaningless.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

seriously. I've read some of the most jaw-dropping explanations from Mormons attempting to remain loyal.

one really bizarre one was midgley's statement that if black men had been allowed the priesthood earlier than 1978, the Mormon church would have become known as a "black church" (his phrase), and wouldn't have been as accepted as it was (also his racist conclusion). in other words, racist policies grew the LDS church faster than non-racist policies would have. what a position to take.

Yeah, perhaps the Midge should've just kept those thoughts to himself. And to make matters worse, this speculation has at its heart stuff that is pure fiction based on feelings and peer pressure. Obviously the racism was a product of the racist past, but a god should know better and maybe communicate a little better to his supposed prophet, you know, to avoid such messy things.

Now our resident apologist is also making stuff up about how his god supposedly acts or chooses not to in order to justify the nonsense we all used to follow. He has no idea about such things, just like I have no idea what is going on inside the head of any fictional character from literature. I guess I could ask the author if the author were accessible.

Who authored god and can we find this person? MG needs a line.

This is the evil part of Mormonism. It breeds in the minds of its fanatics a warped moral compass. It breaks their conscience. Look at how MG and others defend the absurd, the venal, the horrific realities of their cult’s history.

Luckily, his apologetics succeed in doing two things:

1) Indicates that this cult is not and can in NO way be the one-true church of Jesus Christ TM.

2) Pushes people with decency OUT of the cult. To remain, one must break their moral compass, otherwise to follow one's working moral compass is to follow where it leads - out of the cult.

- Doc