Nephi becomes a man
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865638713/Nephi-becomes-a-man.html

"In a world that sends so many false and destructive messages to young men about what it really means to be a man, the scriptures are a powerful source of light and truth, providing stirring examples of what it means to be a man and what the process is of becoming man."

"Follow the spirit."

"As Nephi went by night toward the house of Laban, he discovered Laban drunk in the street. The Spirit urged Nephi to kill Laban. After many long struggles in his own mind and with the Spirit of God, Nephi took Laban’s sword and cut off his head."

"Significantly, Nephi attributed his ability to hold Zoram and convince him with a covenant to not flee to the fact that he had now become a man"

Why not? Don't cartoon characters often do violent things?

This Deseret News story made me sick.

I know what you mean, but what do you expect from a paper that gives you a weeking LDS Inc. insert?

"weekly"

Funny thing, the MORmON church makes me sick.

The BoM meant to say that Nephi circumcised the inebriated Laban. So it wasn't the big head. A common error.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/2015 08:54PM by donbagley.

I didn't realize that Syria was so full of "men" these days! (This article is repulsive!)

What a horrible article! Does the idiot not comprehend what he is saying? Can he really be so stupid? Follow the spirit blindly, absorbed in your own self righteousness. If the spirit leads you to murder helpless people, go for it. This is god's will!

Yes, that certain is a worthwhile message to share with today's young men. It's just what our society needs most. Confirmation that to be a real man you should follow the voices in your head and kill, steal, whatever. Just follow what the spirit tells you!

Every day I feel more and more stunned by what the Mormon church really represents.

My sentiments exactly!

peculiargifts Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------

> Every day I feel more and more stunned by what the
> Mormon church really represents.

Everyday, I feel more and more stunned that the MORmON church really exists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ktfQ8b_-rs

michaelm (not logged in) Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nephi becomes a man
> http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865638713/Nephi
> -becomes-a-man.html
>
> "In a world that sends so many false and
> destructive messages to young men about what it
> really means to be a man, the scriptures are a
> powerful source of light and truth, providing
> stirring examples of what it means to be a man and
> what the process is of becoming man."
>
> "Follow the spirit."
>
> "As Nephi went by night toward the house of Laban,
> he discovered Laban drunk in the street. The
> Spirit urged Nephi to kill Laban. After many long
> struggles in his own mind and with the Spirit of
> God, Nephi took Laban’s sword and cut off his
> head."
>
> "Significantly, Nephi attributed his ability to
> hold Zoram and convince him with a covenant to not
> flee to the fact that he had now become a man"

Good gosh, after a post of Sister Missionary Kylee Chapa's made it onto The Friendly Atheist's blog two years ago, one would think the DN would not have printed Halverson's embarrassing, horrible article about a male murderer/beheader who did not exist.



http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/11/07/mormon-missionary-tells-us-why-we-should-cut-off-the-whole-head/


"Kylee Chapa is a Mormon missionary currently working in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was recently teaching the Book of Mormon to a 13-year-old girl named Kami and they came across a horrific passage in which Nephi is told by God that he must kill Laban in order to secure some brass plates.
In the story, Nephi struggles with the command to kill someone else because, you know, murder is wrong. But if Heavenly Father says so, why not?! So Nephi cuts off Laban’s head."


If Halverson needs a manly figure in his life, I would suggest reading about the life of Chuck Yeager.

"In a world that sends so many false and destructive messages to young men about what it really means to be a man, the scriptures are a powerful source of light and truth, providing stirring examples of what it means to be a man and what the process is of becoming man."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/isis-posts-video-child-beheading-syrian-soldier-article-1.2295914

It is time for the LDS church to renounce and discard the Book of Mormon.

michaelm (not logged in) Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is time for the LDS church to renounce and
> discard the Book of Mormon.
^Yes they do. Do you think that Christians should dump the Bible, Jews the Torrah and Muslims the Quaran? Because justified violence and murder is nothing new to these religions. For me, I think that anything that promotes violence in religion should be dropped.

Christians, Jews and Muslims won't dump their scriptures but the LDS church is in a unique position to come clean about Joseph Smith and the church's history and to admit that the Book of Mormon is a 19th century work of fiction. If the leaders had any integrity that is what they would do.

I think that religious sects who teach violence in the scriptures as a way to become a man, or as an example of keeping the commandments are recognized as being extremists by most reasonable people. The LDS church doesn't seem to think that applies to its teachings. It shouldn't get a free pass on these two recent Deseret News stories.

I agree.

The cold-blooded murder, and robbery, of a defenseless man! The brass plates were Laban's property. Horrible, horrible, story!


It must be a missionary lesson going around. In addition to the missionary discussed above, I also saw this lesson mentioned in another missionary's blog. Though this missionary was less explicit with the details.

This Deseret News article is about one of the sickest things I have seen printed in that paper. With images of beheadings flooding the world from ISIS right now and the LDS Lafferty brothers of the past, Mr. Halverson's claim that cutting off a person's head makes one a man is beyond outrageous.

Amen! the fact that Deseret news printed that awful bit of twisted thinking is a good indicator of just how little the Mormon church's supporters consider the implications of what they are saying.

Look at the picture that accompanied the article. Obviously, Nephi is the righteous one--he's clean shaven. His "rebellious" brothers have beards.

Yes, you can only behead someone worthily if you're clean shaven. Reminds me of taking a test at the BYU testing center.

Can someone who is closer to me to other news outlets forward this to them?

Like others have said it is no different than how ISIS justifies itself for murder.

This was edited, proofread and authorized to be fed to the general public. Gods tells you to kill, kill!. Then you're a man!

This is a perfect example of why we left!

Unbelievable! Now they have a story in the official Church News about being courageous enough to kill a drunk man if God commands it.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865639087/Viewpoint-Nephis-courage.html?pg=1

"we too must respond to our Heavenly Father and Savior with the words found in the Primary song, “I will go, I will do the things the Lord commands.""

Ah yes, the wise old mormon saying: "If at first you don't succeed, kill a guy."

Even in war, it is considered a war crime to to deliberately kill an unconscious incapacitated person.

The murder of Laban is a grotesque, immoral story no matter how you, er, slice it. There have been more than a few investigators who started reading the BoM and pointed out to missionaries that this is an atrocity, god-sanctioned or not.

This article reminds me of a lesson I was supposed to teach in Primary on missionary work.

The lesson somehow tried to tie in the story of Ammon cutting of the arms of robbers with being a missionary. I was supposed to teach this to five-year-olds. We played games instead.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_and_Bat_Mitzvah

Isn't just as crazy!?? You're not even a adult in the eyes of the law!?? Yet with this they claim they are men already!??

No, it is not just as crazy. It is nothing at all like the Deseret News article about becoming a man by cutting off the head of a drunk person.

The last bat mitzvah I attended consisted of some Torah reading, short talks by the celebrant and the rabbi, and a few songs by the cantor. Everyone was delighted to be there, and no one's head was cut off.

So when you compare a murder (even a fictional one) to be as "crazy" as a joyous celebration of a life event, you need to get out more – but if you can't do that, at least shut the hell up until you actually know what you're talking about.