Mormons say, repeatedly, "if you want to know what Mormons
believe, ask a Mormon."

I would like to know where I can get a clear, authoritative
answer to the following questions about what Mormons believe:

1) Do faithful Mormons get their own planet in the afterlife?

I was taught this and there are tons of quotes from the Church
to this effect. The recent essay on becoming gods talked
about how Mormons don't like a "cartoonish" treatment of the
topic, but it didn't come out and actually say it was false.
anon 1 0 recently posted links to various headlines showing
that the media has interpreted the essay to say that the idea
that Mormons get their own planet is false.

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1191587

But the essay doesn't come out and actually say it's false.

So Where can I get an authoritative answer to this question?

2) Was the 126-year policy of excluding Blacks of African
descent from holding the priesthood wrong?

In the essay on "Race and the Priesthood" the Church listed
various things that were taught including the "Curse of Cain"
teaching (declared by Brigham Young while claiming his
prophetic mantle) and the "less valiant in the pre-existence"
idea that every active Mormon my age remembers being taught.
Then, however, the essay goes on to say "Church leaders today
unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any
form." You'd think that this would include the policy of
exclusion based on race that was the main racial problem the
Church had for over a century. However my brother, an
Institute director, informs me that the condemnation does not
cover the priesthood-denial "policy."

So does it or not?

Where can I go to get answers to these simple questions about
what Mormons believe? What Mormon can I go to who can give me
answers I can rely on?

Russell M. Ballard, in an interview for ABC News, made the
statement that "We want to be understood; we don't want to be
misunderstood."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFxIUxKhVBY

I posit that the LDS Church WANTS to be misunderstood.
However it wants to control exactly HOW it is misunderstood.

Although leaders want others (members, non-members) to ascribe to the 'Unitary Belief' model, that's not 100% accurate.

b/c there are so many LDS, the unitary belief thing is little more than a mirage.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2014 09:24PM by guynoirprivateeye.

You can't ever get a straight answer to what Mormons really believe. Though they will deny it with their last dying breath, it is the pinnacle of relativism.

Oh, I think you can get a straight answer, but any two mormons will probably not agree on what that answer is.

It's all so confusing. If only Elohim had some kind of appointed spokesperson here on earth to make sense of it all for us.

Shelf Life.


everything MoLeaders say/write/preach has a certain Shelf-Life.

when it's past it's due date, It STINKS



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2014 12:46PM by guynoirprivateeye.

And oft times, they're putting up fruits that are rotten to begin with.

It's very common to cults: the use of words which have a special "spiritualized" meaning to the believer, but a different meaning (or connotation) to others. Cultists will often employ loaded language deliberately to mislead others.

Thus, LDS says they "believe in the Trinity," but these are three completely separate beings to them. Others outside TSCC think they are affirming the triune Godhead.

So LDS can say they believe in achieving "Godliness" in "the eternities." Their private understanding is that this means godhood. Apply this obfuscation to terms like "worlds," "eternities," etc.

my fav MO ambiguity is "generation(s)"....

I've been trying to pin this down also, and it is not easy. In the time of JS and BY the sermons were recorded and circulated widely amongst the mormons as instruction, expansion on the doctrine (hence Journal of Discourses). I am sure that back then if you had asked someone, it would've been considered what TSCC taught. But it is no longer. Same goes for the Lectures on Faith, which were once part of D&C, but were subsequently removed, probably because in it JS described God as a spirit-entity rather than a corporeal one.

FAIR states: "While the Lectures on Faith were at one time included in the Doctrine and Covenants, they were subsequently removed (along with other items; for more information see D&C Textual Changes) that were not considered official revelation and binding doctrine by the church."

"Not considered official revelation and binding doctrine"?! Why not? Why was it any less 'official doctrine' or 'binding' than all the other stories that were put into D&C? They were not considered official revelation because they were inconvenient and highly inconsistent with the rest of the story.

You are truly aiming for the IMPOSSIBLE....a straight answer hitched with Moron beliefs is an oxymoron.

I'm convinced that to become a member who sits on the supposed throne of "leadership?" there are two major requirements:

1. Prove you've passed with flying colors at least three classes of LD$ Bulls#**.

2. Prove that you are rolling in $moolah$ and worship it above all other things.

I'd start here:

Gospel Principles Manual

https://www.lds.org/manual/gospel-principles?lang=eng

Here is a little help on the doctrine of Exaltation: notice that D&C 132 specifically says they will become Gods.

Blessings of Exaltation
•What are some blessings that will be given to those who are exalted?
Our Heavenly Father is perfect, and He glories in the fact that it is possible for His children to become like Him. His work and glory is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).

Those who receive exaltation in the celestial kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ will receive special blessings. The Lord has promised, “All things are theirs” (D&C 76:59). These are some of the blessings given to exalted people:

1. They will live eternally in the presence of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (see D&C 76:62).
2. They will become gods (see D&C 132:20–23).
3. They will be united eternally with their righteous family members and will be able to have eternal increase.

There is much, much more!!

Yes, but this is just something written by a committee. How do
I know that Matt Stone and Trey Parker did't sneak into the
print-shop and alter things just before publication in order to
help their musical?

I know, I know, to accuse Stone and Parker of doing that is as
absurd as saying that "the scribes" were responsible for the BOA
translation manuscripts independent of J.S.

Funny that the church disavows things like creeds (particularly the Nicene Creed), but that is exactly what the creed-ers were trying to do: nail down specific points of doctrine and definition (however un-specifically they may have done it) for the believers.

The Mormon church is perfectly content to let the lay member flip flop and wallow in folk doctrines that it neither confirms nor denies with their essays that purportedly "explain it all". That way, they can claim that "we never taught that", when, in reality, the members have believed and taught it from the get-go. And, if they have taught it, they can deny it on the face to the press, but wink and nudge in Conference/joke about it a la Hinckley.

This is how MLM's operate. They sell magic vitamins or magic fruit juice or magic oil; their salespeople extoll the magic qualities; while the owners remain noncommittal in order to keep investors on the line and regulators off their backs. No outright denials that lose them adherents, and no outright confirmations that get the attention of outsiders who are the pool of potential investors and also the regulators who'd shut them down for fraud. It's a fine line.

If you really want to know what's going on in Crimea, ask Putin....

I was wondering this same thing myself. I have a TBM sisrer-in- law who fervently believes she she is going to get her own planet. At least 20 years ago she did. I never had the nerve to ask her what she thought of the "I don't know that we still teach that" comment. But what if you spent all your life believing that, then run across this essay that is so vague. It sure would shake my faith, but my feeling is that no matter what "the church is true" would be her response. Sad indeed.

History shows that what ever the church proclaims .... give it

time and it will renounce it or deny it ever said it. That

the one sure thing about the mormon church. Creepy cult.

Primary, 8-12 year olds. Won't have historical context, but will have doctrinal certainty.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2014 11:22PM by gentlestrength.

If the Brethren really believed what they were preaching they would proclaim their beliefs to the world just as Joseph Smith and Brigham Young did. The only Mormon doctrine is that there is no Mormon doctrine.

Ask someone on Kolob. Perhaps they know. Nobody on earth has any idea. Once they think they know, it changes again!! GO figure. That alone would dive me completely nuts.

You'd just as soon fight with the tar baby as tangle with a Mormon over beliefs.

In 1997, I was naïve enough to think you could just call up church headquarters to get an official answer.

I had a general feeling the church was BS, based on leaders without inspiration, etc, but had a few specific questions. One was whether we would have to practice polygamy to be exalted in the CK. I got different answers from different localleaders and sources.

So, I did a search on the internet and found some phone number for headquarters in SLC. (Funny that in the process, I found this site, which confirmed my doubts)

Anyway, I called headquarters, and was passed around on the phone, and finally someone in the history department said the church has no official position on the matter. You can pray and find out for yourself. Which of course, made no sense to me. How can I determine what heaven will be? If everyone gets a different answer to prayer, how does that work?

It would be fun to call them up again.