Joseph Fielding Smith used it in a General Conference address (October 1965): "When man was first placed upon this earth, he was given the commandment to 'be fruitful, and multiply' (Gen. 1:22). No more important commandment was ever given to man, for through honorable marriage are the spirits brought to earth. 'There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting to take tabernacles, no
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Yes, that "wrong side of history" comment is especially ironic. The Mormon church has just admitted in one of its essays that when blacks were banned from priesthood and temple participation the church WAS on the wrong side of history. If he had "gone bonkers" I could sympathize with him. But Uchtdorf is in complete control of his faculties, just full of doubletalk and no
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Whenever a Mormon fails to achieve what the church promises them, it's always because they somehow didn't measure up to the requirements of their God. The best example may be that of the promises made to Mormons in their "patriarchal blessings." Often, very specific predictions are laid out to the member in these prayers and often these things fail to materialize. However, Mormons h
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Along those same lines: "Your life is yours." I wish I could have understood that sooner than I did. Even after I realized that Mormonism is a fraud and that I owed nothing to the church, I remained "active" because I didn't want to hurt my family's feelings. I wasted a lot of time trying to please my loved ones during what should have been the prime of my life.
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The more relevant question is: what do non-Mormon scholars say about the alleged connections? My guess is that they're (politely) declining to comment and mostly just chuckling inside--if even taking notice at all.
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"A talk given at the April 2005 General Conference stated that studies showed 'that almost all less-active members interviewed believe that God exists, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that the Church is true.'[228] The location, methodology, and sample size of the cited study or studies was not disclosed. It seems unlikely that such results could have been obta
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That's quite a roster--thanks for posting it! I'm curious if any of them post on RfM. I'm not looking for names, just wondering. Thanks. : )
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n/t
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n/t
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http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1180178 Go crazy! : )
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Yeah, I like that explanation. It's like with the temple endowment. Mormons hear from outsiders that the temple is where Mormons go to learn the secret passwords and handshakes to get into heaven. And Mormons are like ... "Huh?"
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I think the bishop is supposed to pray about it. Then God gives the bishop a couple of names. Then the bishop gives the names to the stake president. Then the stake president makes the final decision: "yea" or "nay". That seems to be about how it works.
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If they weren't sinking all of their darn money into mega-malls, maybe they could still AFFORD to give each of us our own flippin' planet! Sheesh!
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Yeah, that's what they told me, too. If they were smart, they'd stop trying to deny the "get your own planet" thing and just embrace it--it sounds slightly less crazy than "get your own universe."
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... now they're trying to do the same with their God and how he sends his blessings. Can't they just be happy for the much needed rain and SHUT UP ALREADY?!?!?!
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n/t
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... the belief in getting one's own planet is reduced to a "caricature" that "few Latter-day Saints would identify with ...." https://www.lds.org/topics/becoming-like-god?lang=eng What I do know is that when I was growing up (70's and 80's), this "caricature" was THE primary reason for Mormonism--perhaps the single, greatest teaching that set us apart from
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... a full refund of my MANDATORY tithing payments. (After all, being a "Fetal Deity" loses a lot of its cache if I don't own any turf to play with.)
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I always heard that "eras of undetermined duration" argument in reference to the six creative periods PRECEDING the Fall. Since then, I think the church is pretty well locked in to the seven-thousand year temporal history of the present earth (including the Millennium). Doctrine and Covenants 77 reads: "Q. What are we to understand by the book which John saw, which was sealed
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Honestly, I don't remember ever hearing a uniquely Mormon apologist explanation for the "Adam and Eve" problem. The "Institue for Creation Research" tries to address some of it in these links: https://www.google.com/#q=site:icr.org+%22adam+and+eve%22 The ICR also tries to explain away the problems of Noah's Flood and its inconsistencies with modern science. (Spoiler
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"...'This earth was organized or formed out of other planets which were broke up and remodeled and made into the one on which we live.'” https://www.lds.org/ensign/1989/01/the-restoration-of-major-doctrines-through-joseph-smith-the-godhead-mankind-and-the-creation?lang=eng However, I understand that the current temple films show the newly created earth in a molten state. Any pre-e
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whereas EXACT obedience brings Mormonism." Or is that too "unfriend"-ly?
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Yes. RfM is such a great resource for many reasons--thanks to everyone who contributes to it and especially to all the admins Eric K, Susan I/S, Concrete Zipper, and any others?) who keep it going! : )
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"So someone who has no chance of living and then does, in fact live, hasn't defied the physical laws of the universe?" If a patient recovers after a doctor (or even a team of medical professionals) has said they had "no chance of living," then the diagnosis/prognosis was simply wrong. This happens all the time because doctors are human and make mistakes. However, in the
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http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldjudgmt/jd080730/gallag-1.htm
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http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1170608,1170608#msg-1170608
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... were expressing their doubts about the document from the beginning: "'At the outset we should state that we have some reservations concerning the authenticity of the ["White Salamander"] letter, and at the present time we are not prepared to say that it was actually penned by Martin Harris. The serious implications of this whole matter, however, cry out for discussion. If th
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I agree that just about the worst reason people stay active in the Mormon church is "for the kids." "For the kids" is the reason parents should be leaving the church! And many TBM's definitely ARE "going nuts" over the cog dis they're suffering--but others, not so much ... they're the ones that abandoned reality long ago.
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Your post with the transcript from Part 1 is closed: http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1175637 However, I believe the following changes should be made to the Part 1 transcript: At approximately 36:15--"And in terms of precedence I’d say president in the United States, Bernie Madoff." At approximately 49:26--"And none of those others are going to say anything a
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"President Brigham Young on more than one occasion said: 'Heber is my prophet, and I love to hear him prophesy.' "In May, 1868--that is sixty-two years ago--he said: "'After a while the gentiles will gather in Salt Lake City by the thousands, and this will be among the wicked cities of the world.'" (Kimball, J. Golden, General Conference Report of The Church of Jesus Chri
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