Mormon... The Bible.. And what I see

So the skinny on my up bringing is this: We were raised Mormon but not the "Every Sunday let's go to church" I drank sodas, mom n dad drank coffee... About the only thing we ever got out of it was the memorized primary songs, baptism, learning and repeating odd things. (My favorite is when I went to school telling all the black kids they were black because God cursed them! When I was in second grade)

Anyway, I dabble in it here and there. You tend to go back to your roots from now and then I think. My Mom and Dad no longer attend the church at all; my brother became a full on Christian (even opened his own "all are welcome" type church)  and became pretty anti Mormon, my other brother is.... an Atheist I guess. And then there's me, who doesn't really fit in here nor there.

Not too long ago I ran into some Elders of the church. I always greet them when I see them. I told them they are welcome in my home anytime. Even though I believe they are kinda nutty I've always felt they were some of the nicest people I've ever met. I've also quite enjoyed their company and debates. This time has been different. The Elders prefer meeting at the church instead of at my home, and they have brought a woman to join us. Last time we met the woman brought her husband as well. I wonder if this is because I'm a girl and they do not find it appropriate to meet with women who are alone at home. This is all fine with me; the more the merrier.

Our last meeting we talked about the church being "The one true church of Jesus Christ." I didn't realize it at the time, but I attacked one of their core beliefs, the foundation of which they stand upon. They kept saying "I believe that you want to come back to church. Just pray and read and you will begin to feel the Lord telling you that we are the one true church." and things of this nature. So I told them "I don't feel anything, I never have. I don't believe what you believe." And the topic went on......

"If you're making a smoothie you need all the ingredients or it's not a smoothie. That's how it is to get to heaven . That's what our church is. Other Churches just don't have all the ingredients and that's why we have the Book of Mormon" (1. They like to relate their teachings to personal information about you. I happen to be making a smoothie on their first visit. 2. This visit was like a week ago so I"m just jisting up what they said in my own words) I tell them "That's not what I believe at all! Read the Bible. God is "all powerful" and he is "the almighty" he demands that you worship him, that you obey him... it's all about him. Name one thing that suites everyone...." One of the Elders said "Air" and I thought that was a good answer but replied with a "Well yea, we all need air, but some people need inhalers too, or oxygen tanks." So another guy said "water" so I said "Yea we all need water too, but I prefer my water at room temperature where others might want it iced." Here is where I started to FEEL something: Tension. "There isn't anything that is one size fits all. We aren't made that way. What works for you isn't going to be what works for me. I might want different ingredients in my smoothie than you want in yours, but in the end... they are both smoothies and both healthy. I don't think God cares what church you go to as long as you are worshiping him, as long as you believe that you're doing what's right and what would please him. (obviously God isn't going to send you to hell because you should have known what was never taught! Or you should have chosen the one teaching over the other?) People learn differently, people react differently to different situations. All churches are different but they all boil down to being about God; which is what he wants. Being Mormon works for you, being Catholic works for them." In the end I think I stumped them a bit mixed in with the lack of time on our hands. They still disagreed with me and I still felt I made a very good point.

My next meeting is tomorrow. So today I had the Book of Moroni playing and I was listening on and off. Here is where I started to get a little freaked out... and this is the first time I've EVER felt like I was understanding something about this church. This is also the first time I've ever been freaked out by a religion.



The questions started to roll in. Casual stupid little details.... "Who the heck is King Benjamin?" Google is your friend :) ..... Nope nothing about this guy unless it pertains to the BoM that's kinda weird. SO ... "Where are these towns they keep talking about?" Google again.... "No one knows..." weird again. No historic evidence of these people. At least in the Bible you can find most of these places, records of the people, and (what I find to be significant) other religions seem to have similar teachings and or stories that collaborate with the Bible. Why isn't his the case with the BoM? So we dig some more. About a week ago my husband said something about Joseph Smiths witnesses retracting their statements and denying they ever witnessed anything! That crossed my mind and I thought "Well I wonder if he has any living children or grandchildren who are still members of the church. How do they feel about the church?"  Google again...... What I learned was this: He had many wives, somewhere between 25-35ish wives. One (possibly 2) as young as 14 (I"m sorry I can't leave this out. Even though the age thing was considered "normal" back then I still find this gross! Guys are just pervs in general and Joseph Smith was NO exception. I've never looked at a 14 year old BOY and thought "Omgosh hes so hot" He's still a child in my eyes. Why MEN think this is ok EVER is beyond me!) many of his wives were married to OTHER men. One wife PRETENDED to be married to someone else but was actually "married" to Joseph Smith. Anyway, I'm sure you know how to use google. Long story short this dude was scandalous. And the thoughts and questions continue.......

Somewhere along the line it crossed my mind "What do satanists believe?" .. ladedadeda.... (mhm I'm ADD)

(A quick note so you can follow where this is going. Mormons have the plan of salvation. At the end of this long "plan" you become a God over your own Earth. Again, Google is your friend if you need more info)

Here we go. So didn't Satan get cast out of Heaven because he was jealous of God and wanted to be powerful like him? He pretty much wanted freedom. (Oddly I've never read this part of the bible ha! but from my understanding that about sums it up) ok.... so... why would God be ok with the idea Mormons have about being Gods? Confuzled! Then it trickled down.... Being God, check. J.S. deceives people into believing he's all about "family values" and not a sex craving pervert (which is what I gathered from the documented testimonies of his wives)... check. Makes people believe he's a prophet.... check. I dunno... I haven't quite connected all of these dots just yet to form the picture, but this picture is starting to look more and more satanic like than anything else. I always thought the antichrist was going to be the Pope or something. But I'm thinking it's going to be one of these LDS prophets. I have to admit I'm a little nervous about going to my meeting tomorrow. Just thought I'd share and get some other opinions...

I'm just sharing my thoughts here. I don't mean to offend anyone. I'm ok with you being mormon or catholic, Christian or satanic or whatever it is that helps you out spiritually. It doesn't matter to me. Like I said, we are diverse. We are human. We are free to believe whatever we want. No one can take that from you because belief is not physical. You can't touch it. You can't see it. It's inside of you. Believe what you want, whatever is right to you.



(My husband wants me to add that Prophet Joseph Smith spoke to God through a crystal ball... he finds this quite amusing and important all at the same time)

Further Thoughts:::


I'm by no means saying that Mormons are active and knowingly satantic, or anything of the sort. What I'm saying is, I find it much more plausible that Joseph Smith was inspired by Satan rather than Jesus or God. Do current Mormonists believe this? Of course not! Are the Elders of the church that come knocking on your door secretly working for Satan? No! But they believe that Joseph Smith was true and that his teachings were honest. This is where I believe they are wrong. I believe J.S. has deceived thousands of people and he was the one who is in the wrong. Momonists today are innocent bystanders. They truly believe what they teach and what they do is right and in accordance to Gods will.

 God, according to the Bible, commands that we do not have sexual relations outside of marriage. That we do not have impure thoughts about others especially someone who belongs to someone else. Yet, Joseph Smith took other mens wives. He even went as far as concealing marriages and relationships... if it is Godly, why hide it? If it was Godly he would have been honest. Even if the Bom is true, and Joseph Smith was in the right; I couldn't bring myself to worship a God that brings pain to my family. "- Joseph Smith's personal secretary records that on May 22nd, 1843, Smith's first wife Emma found Joseph and Eliza Partridge secluded in an upstairs bedroom at the Smith home. Emma was devastated.
William Clayton's journal entry for 23 May (see Smith, 105-106)" (http://www.i4m.com/think/history/joseph_smith_sex.htm)

"Emma was devastated".....  This doesn't sound Godly at all. God wants us to love not hurt. I can't imagine all the pain he caused to the husbands of these women, to his first wife and quite possibly his other wives. I'll be honest, I've cheated on my husband, my husbands cheated on me. We've been through some rough times. There was even a time when I would say "Monogamy is not natural to humans so why do we do it?" and I struggled with being married and the rules of marriage. In the end I learned that we do it out of love. Natural or not we do it because we care more about the other person than we do our own instincts and selfish needs. I saw first hand what this behavior can do to a family. I saw how much I hurt my husband and felt the pain of it being done to me. I saw the sadness and pain in my daughters eyes as she watched her family fall apart, and I saw the confusion and emptiness in her life because her dad wasn't living at home anymore. Why would God command these hurtful things to happen? Did Joseph Smith stay Married to all of his wives? Did his first wife stay by his side? I don't know.... Even if she did I can't see her being happy while she did it. This makes me feel sad for them. I feel sad for all of them. 

As it turns out, my husband was right about it being important to include the fact that J.S. used a crystal ball to speak to God. Celtic Druids, seers, wizards, sorcerers, psychics, gypsies, fortune tellers, stage magicians, etc. used Crystal balls. These practices have widely been considered ungodly and even evil throughout the ages; yet Joseph Smith used this method. 

^{Antichrist is thought to be deceitful and not truthful; he will be a false prophet, he will make himself as (or like) the son of God and claim himself as King. (Early Christians & the Antichrist wiki) Didn't I just learn that J.S was deceitful? He claims to be a prophet? To top it off did he not believe that we will ultimate become Gods? Oo God=King? that's an opinion to make for yourself; But I see high resemblance here.} 

 Polycarp warned the Philippians that anyone who  preached false doctrine was an antichrist. The Mormons have piles and piles of doctrine made to their own beliefs. False doctrine? This seems to be the big question.
Paul writes that this Man of Sin will possess a number of characteristics. These include "sitting in the temple",(Don't Mormons have temples?) opposing himself against anything that is worshiped, claiming divine authority, (Wouldn't that be the same as their teachings of becoming Gods?) working all kinds of counterfeit miracles and signs, (Isn't that what J.S. was doing with his Crystal ball?) and doing all kinds of evil. Paul notes that "the mystery of lawlessness" (though not the Man of Sin himself) was working in secret already during his day and will continue to function until being destroyed on the Last Day. His identity is to be revealed after that which is restraining him is removed. (We haven't made it that far yet, this day is still to come)

In Mormonism, the term "antichrist" refers to those who deny the divinity of Jesus Christ deny the Gospel, (Wait what? Which Gospel? surely they mean the BoM because even they deny the Gospel of the Bible to be true.) and oppose his faith. "It is a word used by John to describe one who  would assume the guise of Christ, but in reality would be opposed to Christ (1 John 2: 18, 22; 1 John 4: 3-6; 2 John 1: 7)." In a broader sense Mormons believe that the antichrist, "is anyone or anything that counterfeits the true gospel or plan of salvation and that openly or secretly is set up in opposition to Christ. The great antichrist is Lucifer, but he has many assistants both as spirit beings and as mortals." (Book of Mormon: Jacob 7: 1-23, Alma 1: 2-16, Alma 30: 6-60 

I can't help but think they just described their own religion while explaining the antichrist theory. 

All of these above information can be found on wikis antichrist page. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichrist

Granted, All of this could also be used to describe Jesus Christ himself.  But if you believe in the Bible then you would say this is not so. It boils down to opinion from there.

I just find it extremely naive and extraordinarily arrogant to believe you are 1. the one and only true church. 2. you are or are capable of being an equal to God and or his power.

Don't try to save my soul. Don't go baptizing my corpse. To be honest your church scares me. The idea that I got baptized as a child as a Mormon disturbs me. Like I can't undo it. I can't take it back, it's been done. Will this have consequences in my afterlife? I wouldn't think it to be fair or just to be consequential but who knows. For all I know it very well could have saved me, but I'm thinking not.

The Elders told me, "Pray and read and you will learn the truth. Ask God if the Church is true and he will reveal to you that it is." I promised I would follow their instructions and this is where I ended up. Just sayin.