Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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with the bom, we're dealing with a single translation, by a single person.

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although part of the bible seem fishy indeed, there's something about the bom that seems ever more spurious, like it was made up recently.

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Joseph Smith was actually given fake documents to "translate" with his seeing stones, and amazingly he was able to translate them.I smells a rat.

Justice, why does your avatar picture depict Jesus as someone of European descent?Also, why do your missionaries prey on young, vulnerable people on college campuses?

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Besides, who do you think that God should look like?

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Jesus should probably look semitic, for one thing.Or at least of middle eastern descent.

A Mormon historian recently was punished by the LDS church for writing a scholarly history of the Mormon people.Apparently, the book was simply a dry history and did not proclaim religious doctrine as historical truth, so the author was "disfellowshiped" or something.Nice.

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yes, but we should all look semitic, or at least of middle eastern descent, because of course you know, we all really orginated from Eden,

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Actually, we probably originated on the African plain.Millions of years of migration and natural selection has resulted in many, many variations in appearance in our species.

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or ofcourse the fact that the tower of babel caused many to speak different languages,

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No, there is a lot of evidence that various languages were spoken for many thousands of years.There is no evidence that the Babel tower ever existed, nor that such an event happened.

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and changed their skins, and ofcourse the fact that our Father marked Cain and his Seed.

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...which the excuse the Mormons use to explain why the LDS church was so virulently racist for so long.As it is, you did not allow full status for black men until the 1970's, when the greater culture finally shamed you into changing.

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so if you really think about it, all of us normal people,

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Normal? What's that mean?

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don't really have much that isn't in common with those in jerusalem, only minor genetic differences, which aren't even that minor at all.

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We have plenty in common, but differences exist.

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Besides, what do you think God wanted Christ to look like,

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Since god chose to give Jesus Middle Eastern Jewish parents, I think God wanted Jesus to have very dark, rather fuzzy hair, plenty of facial hair, also very dark, olive skin, dark brown eyes, a fairly prominent nose, etc.He certainly wouldn't have looked like a Scandanavian like your painting depicts him.

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do you think that Christ would have been restricted to the Genetics of the People that he was with,

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Yes.

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or would he look more angelic like he should have been?

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So, angels look like Europeans?Why is dark skin so bad to you Mormons?

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or more Diety I should say. For God was not just an Angel, but he was also God.

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So, God is European Caucasian?

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(meaning, you can be a child at some point, but you can also be an adult if your an adult.) (all adults have been children, so therefore they have been children at some points in their lives.) (angels aren't just angels, but also have the ability to be Gods if they are Gods, however,...snipped to shorten gobbeldygook.

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None of that made any sense.

Wow, I thought that you Mormons were supposed to have lots of children, ergo, lots of orgasms?

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But the best thing the Mormons have going for them is that for the most part, they live very godly, family oriented, dedicated lives,

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The only members of a mormon's family that matters to the mormon church are the mormons in that family.Any non-mormon family members are excluded from important events like wedding ceremonies.This happened to my friend's parents, brother, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc when she converted to mormonism and then married into a mormon family.Not a single one of her relations were allowed to attend the wedding ceremony. That is terribly cruel to the family, if you ask me, and smacks a little of the chrurch trying to become more important to the convert than her own flesh and blood family.

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schraf: does that have to do with letting people into the inner part of the temple?

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I think so.Basically, my friend's family had to stand "otside" the place where the actual ceremony took place, while the groom's family, all Mormons of course, got to be there and witness the whole thing.Talk about exclusion and secrecy.Just what bad thing is going to happen if you let someon'e own non-mormon parents stand up next to their daughter while she getting married, and how does excluding them qualify as a "pro-family" attitude?Just what don't they want outsiders to see or hear?

Excluding the non-Mormon parents from witnessing the marriage ceremony of their only daughter is not "pro-family" any way you slice it.At some point not too long ago during the development of the rules of the Mormon religion, someone decided that non-Mormons shouldn't be allowed to witness Mormon wedding ceremonies, even if the non-Mormons were the parents of the bride or groom.It didn't have to be like that. They could have made the rule to include rather than exclude, to be open instead of closed.Of course, they are free to make any kind of exclusionary rule they want to, but to also promote their religion as "pro family" is hypocritical.They are clearly only "pro-family" if all of the family members are Mormon. Non-Mormon family members are treated as less worthy and less important.Think about it. This is a great way to start pulling the Mormon convert away from her non-Mormon parents and family.

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We didn't make the rule. God did.

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Just like God made the law about polygamy, and just like God made the law that black men couldn't attain the priesthood, and just like God ordered that the temple ceremony language edited to eliminate a lot of racist and bigoted language?Those laws were changed at just about the same time such things were frowned upon by the greater culture, weren't they?So, I'm thinking that "God's laws" are under more influence by the Mormon leadership and the greater current culture than you realize.

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There are certain things that you must obtain before you may enter the sealing rooms, among these is the endowment, something that only baptised individuals may receive. I'm sure the daughter worked it out with her parents. I know my dad did, as he was a convert and my paternal grandparents did not attend my parents' wedding.

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But you are avoiding the point.The Mormon Church excludes non-Mormon blood relatives, including parents, from witnessing one of the most important days in the life of their child, yet still has the audacity to promote it's religion as pro-family.Those things are mutually exclusive.It really seems to me that the only kind of "family" the Mormon Church deems important are Mormon families when they exclude non-Mormon parents from such important events.Hypocritical.

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It just so happens that if we didn't change those rules, we would be breaking another rule: "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers and majestrates in obeying, honoring and sustaining the law."

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But it's perfectly legal for churches to discriminate against anyone they want to. Churches and other private institutions like the Masons are not required to follow anti-discrimination law.So why did the Mormons change the rules against black men attaining the priesthood in the 1970's if they weren't required to by law?Besides, you are AGAIN avoiding my point.The Mormon church is hypocritical when they promote themselves as a pro-family religion because what they really mean is that they are pro-mormon family.

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Polygamy was also because there wasn't a need for it anymore, so it became a sin again.

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So, it was mere coincidence that it became a sin again just about the time it was declared against the law by the government?Are you really that naive?This message has been edited by schrafinator, 06-21-2005 01:08 PM

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It became a sin because

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1) Disobeying the government is a sin...so yes.

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Rosie.Excluding black men from the preisthood is NOT against the law in the US.The Mormon church is a private institution and can therefore discriminate against anyone it wants to.You know, like the Catholic Church can exclude women and gays from the priesthood if they want to, and the Masons can be an all-male club if they want to, and the Girl Scouts of America don't have to admit boys??So it makes no sense for you to say that the Mormon leadership decided to allow black men to attain the priesthood in the 1970's to submit to any law because there was no legal requirement for them to do so.So, what other reason could the Mormon church have for changing this sacred, God-given rule other than the greater culture had just come through a major struggle for civil rights and it became a PR problem for the Church to contine this discriminatory practice?It was the greater culture that made them change, Rosie.don't you think it was?