Funny how I was thinking about the parallels between how the Pharisees treated Jesus and how Mormons treat ex-Mormons.
- Both groups got mad at one of their own who believed differently than them.
- Neither Pharisees nor Mormons put much effort at all into finding out WHY they had different beliefs.
- They were willing to lie about someone or spread lies without checking if they were true.
- Both got angry when told they were in the wrong with how they treated people.
- Both Mormons and Pharisees worry way too much about tiny performances of the law and very little on character.
- The two groups were willing to crucify (nowadays disown, discredit, destroy) those who didn't agree with the and injured their pride.
So, yeah, if Jesus came to the Mormons, he'd be in trouble. Although if you believe what he taught about "whatsoever you do unto the least of these, my brethren, you do it unto me" most Mormons are in BIG trouble - because he has actually SEEN them do it unto us.
I wasn't raised in a home where we learned from the bible so all I really knew i gained from Catholic church as a kid and a non-denomination church as a teenager/young adult. But even with this very little secondhand knowledge of the stories of the Bible that kept screaming in my head when i first started learning about the 'Church' was 'Pharisees, Pharisees, Pharisees"
I don't understand how these people raise in the church who supposedly study the NT don't see it.
Not only did I notice it, but I hated it. Maybe that's one of the things that pushed me out. It took 40 years of mental gymnastics before the mental ligaments failed.
The parable of the talents + Women belong in the home + why did god give women brains and then limit what we are supposed to do with them? (only be moms nothing else) = major cognitive dissonance.
One of the big things that started me on my way out.
Early in my mission I got a glimpse of how the corporate church worked. Numbers, pressure and guilt. None of this nonsense about finding the one lost sheep, or actually caring about the welfare of members or missionaries. It was all a numbers game.
I thought, "This is not the way Jesus would run his church." At least, not the Jesus I was taught to believe in.
I find very little Christ-like, whether you believe in Jesus or not, in the LDS Church. They are judgmental, selfish, bigoted and have no sense of charity for others.
Jesus was a Mormon. According to Jedediah Grant, 2nd counseler to Briggy:
"...the 'grand reason why the Gentiles and philosophers of his school persecuted Jesus Christ, was because He had so many wives; there were Elizabeth, and Mary, and a host of others that followed Him..." (JofD, Vol 1. pp 345-346)
He would be considered unworthy because of his beard and irreverent because of the sandals on his feet. He would probably face church discipline for cross dressing. He would definitely be excommunicated for claiming to be the Christ and claiming authority over the prophet.
since we don't read the scriptures 'carefully' we are bound to reason the way the writers of the NT meant: anti-semitically. The Pharisees were not anywhere near as important/authoritative in the time of Jesus (but in fact, Jesus was considered one of them even). Why: the Temple, the priests were the authorities. It was during the destruction of the temple and the beginning of the separation of the Jewish sect ("Jesists" ), when the Pharisees began to wield the power that the enmity/hate developed against the Jewish (as in Christ saying "you are of the Devil", etc, words put in his mouth by later writers), ending in eventual separation--read Christianity. So we are actually echoing the ambiance of the first/second centuries and not at all the time of Christ and what he said (if we only knew: we know he died for his revolutionary tendencies, "the Kingdom of God is at hand, etc", slogan anti Roman started in year 6 by Judas the Galilean, continued by J the Baptist, all three dying). The Catholic church already refuted its anti-semitism, when wil the scc?