You hear it all the time from TBMs...

"I don't know what I would do if I didn't have the gospel."

"I'm trying my best to live the gospel."

When you were a TBM and someone asked you to define "the gospel," what would you say?

To me it was always synonymous with "doctrine."

When other religions called it "good news" it always sounded culty to me. "have you heard the good news? He is risen." (shivers) very culty.

Now "gospel" sounds culty no matter who says it.

My TBM answer would've been: The theology of Mormonism especially in regards to the plan of salvation and Jesus being our savior.

bc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My TBM answer would've been: The theology of
> Mormonism especially in regards to the plan of
> salvation and Jesus being our savior.

Yes, I think you're right about that. ALL the vast piles
of doctrine ever "revealed" and implemented, both overt
and covert.

ALL the practices, past, present and future, both
public and secret.

If the President of the High Priesthood says that you
cannot coffee, then THAT is part of "the gospel."

So far as I can determine, the original Gospel that
Jesus' followers proclaimed, was:

"Good news! God is still in charge and has not forsaken you."

Maybe even shorter than that...

UD

In short, it means the core set of beliefs that make up Mormonism.

They mean Heavenly Father's plan, which is I guess Jesus' plan. And to them, it is only to be found in the LDS Church.

Interesting that everyone has different opinions on what "the gospel" mean.... This is what I have perceived among Mormons. "The gospel" means whatever code of ethics an individual Mormon has chosen to set as his/her standard. I wonder if that is what the New Testament authors had in mind when they used the phrase? Doubt it.

It's my observation that there are as many different kinds of Mormons as there are Mormons!

They range from hard-core-fanatical-letter of the law-totally immersed in living everything they are told to the 10th degree, with exactness, to the very liberal- spirit of the law-more relaxed in how they live "The Gospel" and every other type in between.

Those that studied "The Gospel" which includes the totality of the scriptures, actually reading and praying and studying all of them, including teaching "the Gospel" such as CES teachers, Gospel Doctrine Teachers, many missionaries, have a more thorough understanding of Mormonism.

It's my observation, that many LDS folks do the minimum, pray some, read the scriptures some, (may not be able to find them when needed!) and just go along with the general beliefs that set them apart: don't drink coffee/tea/drink alcohol/ attend some meetings, hold some callings from time to time, etc.

Kerby wrote a funny article on the five types of Mormons.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/54003962-80/mormons-church-percent-believe.html.csp

In the original language it is: εὐαγγέλιον ("good message" or "good news").

I never knew this as a TBM, because the word "gospel" is thrown around so freely.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2013 09:38PM by archytas.

LDS Inc

This. When they say the gospel, what they mean is "the church." Living the gospel is attending church and fitting in and doing their part for the church.

Doctrine , teachings etc are all interchangeable and subject to revision as needed. What remains constant though is the need for the church to endure and remain "true". That and for the authority of the hierarchy to remain unchallenged.

The "gospel" means the current position of LDS inc. It has nothing to do with truth or consistency. LDS gospel may include any number of things, from masturbation to malls.

"The Gospel," to the true Mormon believer is the entirety of the Plan of Salvation - everything!

That includes: all of the teachings/claims/testimony/-- it's very personal as it encompasses one's whole life core and purpose for living.

It includes: prayer, scriptures, ordinances, blessings, the family, and on and on.

That was my understanding when I was a believer.

Of course, I changed my mind about 15 years ago and do not subscribe to or adhere to or have any belief in any of the claims/teachings in Mormonism. (Except for universal truths found almost everywhere.)

for me it equaled the plan of salvation crap and really, just TSCC in general including everything about it.

Mormon "gospel" = The philosphies of men, mingled with scripture."

And it's kind of squishy, too, ever-changing, ever evasive. I think it is made to be like that, a certain sponginess along with heavy doses of plausible denial thrown in.

IT means when you call them out on their crappy church and all the lies, they say, that is the church not the gospel. So now I know they are two separate things. Whatever those things are? Wish I had know that sooner.

I agree with those who said gospel = church and would further add that church = sorority/fraternity. As in "I'm so grateful I got into Phi Kappa Wacko and for the sisterhood I found there. I try to live my life by the principles PKW stands for and hope I'll always be a credit to this sorority. I don't know where I'd be if I had to live in the dorms and mingle with those who weren't worthy and chosen to rush. We Wackos have such high ideals and all the frat boys long to date a girl from PKW. I'm so blessed to be a part of all this."

Seriously - you know I'm right.

It means the church. Many of the things in the Mormon version of the gospel have nothing to do with Jesus or the good news. Some of them such as the emphasis on appearances are pretty much the opposite of anything Jesus said.

The gospel---- thier bullshit lies

It always confuses me when missionaries say that they want to share the gospel. Aren't the people that they are sharing it with usually already Christian?

"In short, it means the core set of beliefs that make up Mormonism."
this can change on any given day so we really are not sure what the Gospel is. I think when TBMs say they's be lost without the Gospel, they mean that their social life would go to hell.

The "gospel" is whatever fresh steaming pile of dung is being spoon fed to the sheeple this week.

As far as I can tell as an outsider, "the Gospel" means "doing what I am told."

I always said: "I believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ". No-one realized that I was not saying just "THE Gospel" referring to the doctrines of TSCC!

If this was asked when I was a missionary at that time when missionaries memorized the "rainbow discussions", my answer would be the "restored gospel" or the restoration of the church. After all, that was a time when the first discussion given to investigators was about the First Vision.

If gospel was "the good news" then what really made Mormons glad is the claim that after a great apostasy destroyed the church, it was now restored in the latter-days.

Later on, people became suspect about Mormonism's claims to being Christian. They thought we worshipped Joseph Smith. So the First Vision was shifted in sequence. It was replaced by the Plan of Salvation discussion. Nowadays I think they teach their belief in Jesus Christ first, pointing out how large the letters of Jesus' name appear on their nameplates.

If "the Gospel" means "the good news," then Mormon doctrine comes out on the bottom as thankless and wretched, designed only to make a person malleable by beating them until they're soft and pliable. If there were a God (there's not, incidentally), I doubt He would approve of The Mormon Way.

...the jumble of Mormony stuff (and some non-Mormon stuff) that forms an individual's mental and emotional picture of the religion he/she is involved in. If there are 14 million Mormons, there are 14 million versions of "The Gospel." They have things in common, but no two are identical. "The Gospel" excludes anything that might make the person disbelieve "The Gospel."