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

[carlos3652]

Originally Posted by alnorth

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.

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...

[jcroft]

Originally Posted by carlos3652

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...

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.

[Uncle_Ted]

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)

[alnorth]

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.

[Cannibal]

Originally Posted by alnorth

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.

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

[RxKbolt]

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

[Boise_Chief]

Originally Posted by RxKbolt

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.

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.

[morphius]

Originally Posted by Boise_Chief

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...

[C-Mac]

Originally Posted by carlos3652

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...

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.