Dude... the Mormon faith is weird...
 

God was once a mortal man who lived on another planet, he followed all the rules of the Mormon faith, died, became a God, and created us on Earth. Mormons believe they too could be Gods and Godesses someday if they follow all the rules and live good lives on Earth, establishing their own churches on other planets when they rise to Godhood, and all the various Gods follow the "one true God".

Yeah.

Thats the tame part, it gets goofier from there. I had always believed that Mormons were just another routine denomination of Christianity with their own unique set of minor quirks, without really knowing much about them. After watching an episode of South Park that I missed from last year, talking with a guy I met who was a Mormon missionary, and doing some research, I'm stunned that anyone would actually believe in this goofiness.

That does raise one interesting question though. As crazy and outlandish as the Mormon faith is (hopefully I'm not offending anyone here too badly!), why do I and many others believe that our religions are so much better than that wacky LDS church?

Thank God you saved this post with your last sentence. You almost came off as a closed-minded ass.

I thought it was all about some dude who wrote the book of Mormon?

Scientology is the one true religion.

Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon. According to the Mormon faith, Smith was one of many prophets to have lived since biblical times. Most Christians believe there haven't been any prophets since biblical times, but Mormons believe they can (and do) still exist. Smith was one, and he wrote the word he received from God and called it the Book of Mormon.

The LDS Church uses both the Book of Mormon and the Bible.

What a load of malarky...

I mean by now everyone should know that Xenu trapped all the Thetans and flew them to this planet on B52s and then chained them to a Volcano and blew them up with atomic bombs, right?

http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/OTIII/

Thats what I was taught in grade school!

Those guys are a bunch of fruitcakes. Wow. I went to check them out one time. The phone calls, letters, and emails didn't stop until I threatened to burn myself on their front step.

beat me to it! ROFL

You are ignorant of true knowledge. Send a donation of all your savings to your regional Scientology center, and you will gain ultimate enlightenment!

I'm sure they would love to have you now. Small business owners are their best "members", because you can make participation in their workshops and seminars *really important* for all of your employees.

This is an interesting comparrison of Mormons and traditional Christians:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religi...ristian2.shtml

The issue of whether or not Mormons are Christians is pretty interesting, I think.

Here's what I've gathered:
Mormons most definitely consider themselvs to be Christians (after all, the name of their church is "The Chruch of *Jesus Christ* of Latter-day Saints". Most mainstream Christians do not consider them to be so.

It seems to me one of the biggest differences is that Mormons are polytheists -- that is, they believe there are many Gods in many universies (although they only worship the one, I believe), whereas mainstream Christians are monotheists. The other big one is that Mormons don't really believe in the "Trinity" idea -- they believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but they believe they are three seperate persons.

In the end, I think the answer to the question "Are Mormons Christians?" depends on your definition of the word "Christian." If your definition of a Christian is simply someone who believes that Jesus Christ existed, redeemed us, died on the cross, rose from the grave on the 3rd day, and will return to Earth one day, then Mormons certainly qualify as Christians. If your definition is more strict, then they might not be.

John Tait is the world's biggest Mormon.
That guy is a HUGE Mormon.

I know tons of mormons, they are all over the place here. I've looked into the religionn a lot, and I think 100% that it is a cult. Mormons are actually very nice people, one of my very best friends is on his mission in the Dominican Republic right now. He'll be back around October 2006. I was only really good friends with him and one other mormon, who is also on his mission right now in France. But, I knew a lot of them. There are actually some really cool ones. Some people think of all mormons as "losers" or just dislike them for the fact that they are mormon because their religion for the most part is strict. I think that is pretty stupid. I have nothing at all against the people, just the religion.

Agree 100%, Mormons are among the nicest friendliest people on Earth. I have no problem or ill thoughts about them as people, they just happen to believe in a very bizarre religion.

That is true. I have no problem letting them no that, and either does my mom. I think I learned that from her. I think if the damn people weren't so nice one of them would have killed her already.

Don't Mormons also believe that children, before they are born, pick their mothers & fathers in heaven? That leads me to the question....why did Michael Jackson's kids choose him??????? :hmmm:

I've never heard that one, but I don't know.

And I agree with what was said before: strange religion or not, I've known many, many mormons in my time and they've all been amonst the best, most loyal, most friendly people I've ever known. Just because of that, I'm in favor of Mormonism, as religions go (I'm agnostic, myself). It seems to produce good people.

Yes, My best friends are mormons and they are really cool, but the funny thing is... most of them do not know their religion 100%... They deny all the crazy stuff about God having wifes in other planets and so forth,

The major religions of the world Christianity, Hinduism, Budihsm, Islam all started over 1500 years ago, Mormonism started in the 1900's ... Thats why I believe it is a cult.... They are not Christians... they believe they are....

I took a class on religions of the world and it is not considered a religion, and I've read books and watched movies on their beliefs... really crazy... but I respect everyones beliefs.... thats what they probably think about mine... so its cool...

To be perfectly blunt, I find nearly all religions to be pretty odd. Some are odder than others, to be sure, but they're all kinda strange to me.

A byproduct of growing up in a completely areligious household, I guess.

Your religion is New England Patriotism. :thumb:

Don't forget that there is both LDS and RLDS. I don't know all the differences, but many of the seemingly strange beliefs have been strucken from the record in Reformed LDS, I believe.

Considered a religion by you or not, the Mormon church is one of the largest in the world -- it's bigger than the United Methodit Chruch, by far.

I don't know much about their religion, but the mormans I've known over the years have been some of the hardest working, most trustworthy, decent people I've ever met. I'm really impressed at the work ethic and drive to succeed that they seem to instill in their children.

Cue the music:

"And that's how the Book of Mormon was written, dum dum dum dum dum"

(southpark reference, for anyone that doesn't get it)

According to the book of Mormon and Joseph Smith (the founder of the LDS church):

Long ago during the time of Christ, some Hebrews sailed the ocean and settled in America, they were the original Native Americans, all white skinned, and began practicing the Mormon religion, erecting temples that have never been found in our day. Some time afterwards, the native Americans who did not believe in the Mormon faith warred with and killed all the believers. God therefore turned their skin red as punishment.

Fast-forward to the 1800's. A man named Joseph Smith was praying to God asking for guidance on which faith he should join. God and Jesus appeared to tell him that all the Christian faiths were twisted abominations and that he should join none of them. Some time later, an angel named Moroni appeared to tell him to seek out the writings of the true religion that were etched on a collection of solid gold plates, written by the original Native American people who believed in the true faith long ago. When he found it, it was written in a language he described as "Reformed Egyptian". The angel then told him that with the use of some kind of special translation stones, he would be able to translate the golden texts into English.

When he did that, he had them printed out as the Book of Mormon and started his church. However, God apparently told Joseph Smith that he was not allowed to show anyone the original golden tablets, and they have never actually been seen by anyone else with their eyes. A group of loyal family members and friends of Joseph Smith later claimed to "see" the existence of the golden ancient text with their "spiritual eyes" but not with their earthly ones.

Thatll do for a Cliff's notes version of how this cult got started, if I got something wrong, someone please correct me.

The only thing I have in common with mormons is that I go to church for 3 hours on Sunday. But, I only go about 16-17 times a year.

That extraordinary story alone should be enough to discredit that "religion" and prove it for what it is... complete fuking hogwash.

I do not feel like getting into a religous argument, but for a college coure on minority groups (including religions) I was assigned to write on the LDS religon and did a lot of research on it and the past of the church. You got to be careful what videos and books you read on it because some of the stuff you guys are talking about are not true and others you guys are very vague like saying they believe werid stuff and things like that so I do not know what you mean. Besides having another book to the Bible the main two differences is that LDS believe they must keep Gods commandments to be saved and do not believe the Trinity is a single being. LDS believe that GOD Christ and the Holy Ghost are seperate beings.

Oh and one thing I found out is that the word "mormon" to describe a member of the LDS church was actually started by people who were killing of members of the LDS church because they did not like them and saw them as a threat to the status quo. They used the word "mormon" for LDS members as they did the "N-word" for African Americans. The LDS people just did not let it get to them because they have a book by the same name in hopes that it would go away, but instead that is how most of the world knows them as.

Just a little info I came across in my research

Because you were raised to belive in your religion perhaps?

Dave

There are those who might think of Joseph Smith as some kind of a religious prophet, but historically speaking, he definitely was no saint!

I dont agree with the Mormon religion, but whoever taught you that is one seriously self-righteous, biased, and misleading teacher. All you have to do is grab a Websters and look the word religion up. This is one of the main reasons this was country started, to escape religious intolerance and "their" religious will forced politically upon the masses in Europe. Perhaps if you had lived through a couple of the Crusades or Inquisitions, you can understand some of the hatred that the forefathers of this country harbored.

Like my uncle says:

"Never go camping with a mormon. Always take two. If there's only one he'll drink all your booze, if you take two they police eachother."

As a person who believes Christ is the Son of God, I've always thought this was stupid...

As a person who doesn't believe that, I also think it's stupid. If they existed then, then why not now?

Yeah. Who could forget David Koresh?

Well if they do exist now.....they must be hiding or their moral beliefs have slightly altered.

I agree... I think it's a cop out. But then, while I believe in Christ, there are more than a few things about the modern Christian religion that I question.

We are all children of god, even you Taco. :)

Dude, Taco's the antichrist.

That's an understatement of godly proportions!

So was Cain, Judas...... :)

I haven't seen any untrue statements yet. My grampa was mormon and he says all of what has been said is true. There is worse things said, but i don't know if they are true. The funny thing is I asked him because of this same episode of south park.

What I found intresting was were they stole some of their most important cermonies from...

Well craziest thing about Mormons is they believe all life started in Springfield, MO.

And that Independance, Mo is the 2nd Jerusalem.....

The Morman church started when Joseph Smith told this story:


One night, he was asleep, and an angel came to him and told him where he could find golden tablets with the rest of the Christ story told on them. Also, with the tablets, he would find two stones that would help him translate the book into English. The angel came to him a couple nights in a row and told the same the story. After awhile, Joseph Smith went to the place where he was told and found the book, and translated it (I believe by putting the stones in a hat, then sticking his head in the hat and the words just came to him). The angel aslo said that he was not allowed to let anyone see the tablets or let them out of his possession at all, until such time that the angel came back to retrieve them. Eventually, (after the tablets were translated) the angel came back and took the tablets.


Apparently though, many people in the Mormon Chruch do not know the extent of the Mormon doctrine. As a member of the church you have to go through certain levels before they'll tell you things like: do things right and you too can have a planet of your own someday!

Thanks for the periodic reminder of what ill-informed biznatches people can be. I'd nearly forgottten.

"why do I and many others believe that our religions are so much better than that wacky LDS church?"

Vanity, Vanity, all is Vanity.

Yesterday i had 2 old ladys come to the door who were Jehovahs witnesses.
I could always spot them out in the past because they were always two dudes in ties on their bicycles.
They tricked me into answering the door.

OMG!!! Just like the Masons.
:rolleyes:

MY fuckING HEAD IS SPINNING FROM READING THIS

Actually, weren't they brought to Earth on DC-8's? Don't want anyone to get confused here...

As far as Mormons are concerned I remember watching an episode of Investigative Reports (or one of those other A&E shows hosted by Bill Kurtis) where there was this guy in Salt Lake City who was scamming the church with supposedly real documents and papers from Joe Smith. They were buying them and then hiding them in some vault they have to keep such papers. The funny thing was that they were paying millions and millions of dollars for documents that revealed that he was told most of the Book of Mormon by a goat (or something like that). Always found it interesting that they'd pay millions to bury facts like that...

I remember some cat had the rites of passage for a Mormon online, and I recognized the passages almost word for word. After I saw it, I was literally laughing out loud. Not even an attempt to hide the plagiarism.

Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer is an excellent read that examines the LDS church. He looks mainly at the fundamentalist sects, but he also goes back and examines the inception of the church and its extremely interesting history.

They have quite a history in and around Missouri.

I know quite a few Mormons, and I echo everyone else's sentiments about how hardworking, genuine, and downright nice they are for the most part.

Many business owners, and friends, where I live are Morman..(250 mi. east of Salt Lake)...Most I've met are hard woking, decent, God fearing people...When I asked one about the polymagous marraiges he told me "one must be more-man."

Edit: Same thing goes for polygamous marraiges...

Try this place out ROFL
http://www.realmormonhistory.com/