Whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

Up until a few weeks ago I believed that Mormons believed this as well. However I recently ran into a Mormon who seemed to think that it would be Joseph Smith who would be doing the Judging. As if as the Reinstate of the ‘truth’ he was more important then Jesus himself.

Wail I am not ready to say that this is church doctrine, and I am very sure it is not. But if it were, I would not be surprised. Jesus may have been the oldest son but the only difference between him and all the other spirit children of the world is his birth order. So to say that the man who was able to reinstate the truth would now be judge is not that surprising in light of the equality we share with Christ. For there we are all same substance as Christ.

Poem 1

Though The Window

Inside it is dark
And it is cold.

The people gather closely around the empty fire
Yet they say there is

I stand at the window
I am surrounded with light
And warmth

Out here the sun shines down
Chasing away the bitterness of the night

I talk often to them
Most days about nothing
Other days I venture to ask the question
Why do you stay in the dark?
In the cold?

They then say that it is not dark
It is not cold
And ask me why I do not come in
Why I stay away form the warmth of their imaginary fire?

The truth is they don’t like it when I come inside
When I come in they are uncomfortable
They feel as thought something is wrong

They feel what warmth really is
They see what light really is
But they can not comprehend it

They know like
It is the darkness they live in

They know warmth
It is what comes from their imaginary fire

Light and warmth being
What they don’t know it to be
Is inconceivable

So they only let me at the window
Always on the outside

For I refuse to give up the light and warmth I have
And exchange it for the darkness and cold that they live in

Burning

Mormonism is based on a emotional high. a Burning in the bussom. And over and over again i have been told by well meaning family members and missionaries to pray and ask, like james says to ask without being double minded.

I always hate it when i hear this. because one it assumes that everyone must have the exact same kind of emotional reaction, and this is the basis, the foundation of the average LDS. and two because it tells people that they don't have enough or the right kind of faith when they get a different answer.

this is like when Job's friends told him that he must have done something wrong or he wouldn't have been suffering. or like telling some one with cancer of Diabeties that if they just have faith God will heal them. so when they die it means they did not have enough faith to be healed.

any I lost count of the multiple times i have been told pray and God will tell you it is true. I have I truly wanted to know that if mormonism was the turth. I thirst for truth, but when i go to the author of turth he tells me the same thing over and over again, "this is not of me."

and when i tell this to the missionary or my multiple relatives they simply say i must have had in my mind the answeri wanted to hear. And that hurts, questions my sinsarity and my intergrity.

He ascended into heaven

Now although Mormons do believe that Jesus ascended into heaven eventually. First he made a trip over to the Americas to talk to the Jews who were there. And there of course would be where the book of Mormon comes into play

The third day He arose again from the dead.

This point is another easy one. Mormons agree that he rose from the grave and met with the disciples. Their belief simply adds that after Jesus spent time with his disciples he went to the Americas and had a similar ministry over there with the people there.

Whether or not this happened historically is not the point of this series and will be addressed in another blog.

marrage

one of the things i hate most about about the culture surounding mormonism is the marrage issue.

I was at a family reuinioun and me and the other Single causins were talking about the M word, (not mormon but marage) and the other Girl cousin, H, was talking about how this Guy she had met before she had gone on her mission was getting very serious. (needless to say all the aunts and uncles were teasing her about him) she told us how she did not want to get married right away, or get married because of the fact that now she is back form her mission she has to get married.
so H. made me and the other cousin agree to not get married for a wail. which we did.

heres the thing though two weeks after the family get together, a whole month after she got back form her mission she gets her self inagaed. a few months latter she is Mrs. so and so. I was not very happy.

Because the other cousin has also gotten married (a year after our agreement whichdoesn't matter sence H voided it.) I am now the oldest unmarried cousin....actually i am the oldest unmarried person in the family because the one single aunt finely got married.

I am a little tired with people saying that my life sence it does not inclued a husben or looking for a husben must not be fulfilling.

He descended into hell

This statement makes it clear that Christians believe in hell. This is a teaching that is key to Christianity, because there is punishment for sin and the judgment of God. It is not necessarily the lake of fire that is often used to describe hell. It is a place of punishment and of separation form God.

The Mormons do not believe in hell quite as the Christians do. First they have what is called spirit prison which is the equivalent of the catholic belief in purgatory; in that someone who is in spirit prison is one who was not baptized by a bishop of the Mormon Church. Now those who were baptized by a bishop of the Mormon Church are in paradise and they can come down and minister to those in spirit prison. So those in spirit prison can accept the Mormon faith and someone can be baptized for them in this life. Which the purpose is of baptized for the dead.
Second for the Mormons hell could be the outer darkness. This however is reserved for those who during the war in haven who joined forces with Lucifer to try and dethrone God. So this is much like the lake of fire talked about when God destroys the world in Revelation. This is only a punishment for those who before life turned against God those called the sons of perdition.

Third possibility for Hell would be the lowest level of heaven the Telestial kingdom.
This level or kingdom of heaven is for those who were not so good people, and evil people. It is probably the place for those who commit the seven deadly sins. But it is still called a level of heaven.

Marc A. Schindler says in chapter twelve of FAIR says:

We teach that all inhabitants of kingdoms of glory-let us remember that even the Telestial Kingdom is a mansion of Heaven-receive salvation by dint of the universal atonement of our Savior. The Telestial Kingdom is sometimes referred to by LDS as "hell" but only in the sense that neither Christ nor the Father will be there.

However it is important to know that Angels do minister to people in the Telestial kingdom. So even though God and Christ have no physical presents in the lowest level of heaven they are able to send ministering angles to the people.

The Christian view of hell is complete separation of God, a place that is ruled by Lucifer and his minions. There is no presents of God or Christ or the holy spirit.

letters one

I love writing letters. I had a pen pal from S. Korea for a long time. So wail in college I decided to write my cousins who were on their mission. I remember one cousin was very easy to write letters too. I wrote and he wrote back. The funny thing was that about half way through the letter my cousin seemed to disappear. The minuet he started talking about what he was doing as a missionary or witht he church it seemedthat someone else had taken over writing the letter.

I remember reading it and becuase I thought I was going crazy I had a friend of mine read it. he agreed it was almost like the Manchurian Candidate had taken over at just the right que.

Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, died, and was buried.

This part is easy. Mormons do believe this. Whether or not he had to die is another issue for another day.

Memory

this memory may not make sence but it was deffinetly one of those times when the ugly elephant exposed it's self for a moment.

My aunt S was rocking her new son. a precious little boy. and he was just so different then her last son, this baby was queit and just wanted to be held and loved. her other son was ruff and tomble, and he still is. I was looking over her shoulder to look at him. he was falling asleep. I had just seen a sertain eposide of touched by an angle and happened to menchon that i had see soemthing that said that babies might beable to hear the angles singing in heaven.

and she said, "Yes we belive that he hears angles."

and then i being young and a little stupid said, "that's right you believe...."

she looked at me very strangly so I stopped, and changed the subject.

see what i was going to say was that you believe in the pre life. but he face made me feel like i was going to attack her belife system when really iwas just going to comment on a belife, not condem it or afferm it. It was just one of those times when the elephant was exposed and there was a how dare you say anything about the elephant. wherer good or bad.

note

because fo vacation i will not be posting till next mondya

Apostle’s creed part 5 the virgin birth

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit Born of the Virgin Mary.

Christians believe that Jesus’ birth was a miraculous event as is recorded in Matthew as a fulfillment of the prophet.

22Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Matthew 1:22-23

Mormons believe something quite different though.

Anyone can get the video The God makers, or The Temple of the God Makers. These films give an animated version of what Mormons believe in this matter. That God the father took on human form and had sexual relations with Mary that resulted in Jesus’ birth.

Now I agree that this animated short does seem very mocking in its portal of the belief, but the theology is there.

One thing to be understood there are many Mormons who believe the biblical teaching that Mary was a virgin, but this is not what Mormons or their leaders teach.

Brigham Young said, “When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost…remember from this time forth and forever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost…in fact…if the Son was begotten by the Holy Ghost, it would be very dangerous to baptize and confirm females, and give the Holy Ghost to them, lest he should beget children by them, brining the elders into great difficulty.” (Journal of discourses vol 1, pp. 50-51)

And again:

“The birth of the savior was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action…(Jesus)… was begotten of his father as we were of our fathers.” (Jounal of Discourses Vol 8 p 115)

Young also said that the Elohim had sex with Mary himself because he would not let any other man do it. (Journal of Discourses Vol 4 p 218)

Orson Pratt said, “the father and mother of Jesus according to the flesh must have been associated together in the capacity of Husband and wife; hence the virgin Mary must have been for the time being the lawful wife of God the father; we use the term lawful Wife because it would have been blasphemous in the highest degree to say that He overshadowed her or begat the savior unlawfully.” (Pratt, p 158 )

And Herber C Kimball said, “I will say that I was naturally begotten; so was my father and also my savior, Jesus Christ. According to the scriptures, he is the first begotten of his father in the flesh and there was nothing unnatural about it.” (Journal of Discourses Vol. 8 p. 211.)

Bruce McConkie said that Christ was born the same as any other man is born to a mortal father, “…into the normal and natural course of events.” (Mcconkie, p 742)

And to top it all off Joseph fielding smith said, “Christ was…not born without the aid of man and that man was God.” (Joseph fielding Smith, doctrines of salvation, bookcraft Publishers, salt Lake city, Vol 1 p 18)

This doctrine can go two was, one that the there was a union between Mary and Elohim, meaning that she was not a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, Or that Mary was still a virgin because she did not have sex with a man but rather with a deity. Either way that is little more extraordinary about Jesus then Hercules or any of the other sons of the many pagan Gods.

All these Great leaders of the Mormon Church are adding to their theology that when it all comes down there is little difference between us and Jesus. Jesus is not unique any more then Achilles. He is just one more great man, great hero of man kind.

By taking out the miracle of Jesus’ birth they contradict both church doctrine and more importantly the bible.

Memory--> you engaged yet?

It was christmas my second year of college and my family and I had gone to AZ to be with the grandparents. that christmas my dad's little brother called. he talked to the grandparents then to my mom. in the other room i hear mom laughing and then say something like, "she's jsut really into her studies right now and is in no hurry to settle down."

I know they were talkign about me, and when my mom came out she confermed it. she told me, "Uncle S--- just asked if you were engaged yet."

It really bugged me. He did not ask if i was datting anyone or had a boy friend, no he asked if i was engaged. I may have not talked to him in over a year but still the better question to have asked was if i had a boyfriend.

but the truth of the matter is good little mormon boys go off on thier missions and when they come home they get married, good little mormon grils either get married right out of highschool or go on thier mission and then get married. I have actually documented this in my causins. one girl cuasin was married with 6 months of getting back from her mission.

why the stress on marrige? because with out being married a women can not enter the highest level of heaven. plus there are levels of heaven that a man can not reach without being married.

apostel's creed part 4 Jesus

And Jesus Christ his only son our lord

The important part here is that Jesus is God’s only son. Yes we become adopted into the family of God but we are not the brothers and sisters of Christ in the literal since.

The official teaching of Jesus from the church is “that Jesus Christ was ‘begotten’ as the first spirit child of the Father (Elohim) and one of his unnamed wives, (often referred to as the ‘heavenly mother’). Jesus, as a spirit son, then progressed in the spirit world until he became a God. Christ, ‘by obedience and devotion to the truth…attained that pinnacle of intelligence which ranked him as God.’” (1) (Alma 12: 33, Moses 7: 62, 2 Ne. 25: 12 D&C 93:21)

Mormons often refer to Jesus as “our elder brother”.

Thus technically Jesus is no different then any of us. In this happy family Jesus is the oldest perfect son that we are all supposed to emulate. We are different because of spirit age rather then what we are.

They qualify only with begotten, the Christians do not make this qualification he is the only son of God, through him we are adopted into the family of God. Paul puts it this way:
13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2: 13)

Now another point that should be made here is that this doctrine also says that Satan was also the brother of Christ. Which means that the war in heaven, before the creation of the earth, was little more then sibling rivalry. (2)

This is in conflict with the bible because the bible teaches that Lucifer was an angel. Col 1:16 says that he was created by Jesus. There are different kinds of angels, (see Romans 8:38, Eph 1:21, 3:10, 6:12, Col 2:10-15, Titus 3:1.

Christ is the creator, and Lucifer is created. And the same is for us, Christ is the creator, and we are the creation.

Memory--> Forgiving God?

I spent this last Christmas with my family at one of my aunt's house. On the way my sister asked a question about our Mormon relatives. "do they have Jesus in their hearts?" the answer to this question is yes but no. for as with many issues with Mormonism there is not a simple answer. after a mini debate it was questionable if my sister understood the answer tot he question.

latter during our stay my sister came up and asked my mother if she had read the sign my aunt had on the door by the kid's bath room. she then continued to say "I want nothing to do with their God."

on a piece of paper taped to the wall was this passage form the doctrine and covenants:

I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men. D&C 64:10.

this does not line up with the God who says all that come to him will be forgiven, but men have to forgive everyone, even if God Chooses to not forgive us.

Apostel's creed part 3 God as creator

The third thing this line tells us about God is that he is the creature of heaven and earth. This was important for the christens at the time that this creed was put down because there was a group call the Gnostics who claimed to be Christian but they were not. They believed that all matter was evil and thus could not have come from God.

Christians reinforced their belief that God had created everything. From the earth to everything seen in the night sky to the single celled organisms that can only be seen under a telescope.

So what about Mormons, do they belie that God is the creature of heaven and earth? Well Elohim did create this earth, but he did not create everything in this and other galaxies. You see God had to be a man before he could evolve into a god. So he had to have an ‘earth’ to be a man on which was created by his father, who also had to go through the process of being a man to become a god. He also needed a planet to be a man on which was created by his heavenly father.

In conclusion it seems that Elohim the God of Mormonism may be father, but not in the sense that Christians mean father, but he is not all powerful, nor is he the creature of heaven and earth.

apostel's creed part 2 God almighty

I believe in God the father Almighty maker of heaven and earth.

2. The second definition of God we get form this creed is that God is the almighty.

By saying that God is almighty means that he is the greatest, he is all knowing, all powerful and every where at once. Basically they are saying he is God and I am not. That is what makes him almighty. God can do anything, except what limits he has put on himself. He is the greatest being in the universe.

Do Mormons believe this? At first glance again yes. God is the greatest and the most powerful. Or is he?

Mormons believe that “As man is God once was, and as God is Man will one day be.” If a man follows all the rules then he will be rewarded with his own planet to rule populate and do with as he pleases.

To them have I given to become the sons of God, 3 Ne. 9: 17. Those who inherit the celestial kingdom are gods, even the sons of God, D&C 76: 50, 58. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, D&C 132: 20. Man was in the beginning with the Father, D&C 93: 23, 29.

They put man on the same level as God. Perhaps not at the point of their own lives but when men die they have the possibility to become gods.

Not only that but Mormons teach that God Elohim lived a life as a human and thus had a father god in his own world. For Mormons God is the greatest and most powerful in this world, but other planets in the universe are also ruled by Gods and all are equally powerful with each other in their own territory.

Christians teach that God is the almighty he says that there is none like him that he knows of no God like him in is 44:8, and in Is 45:5-6 God say that he is the lord and there is none like him. He is god and there is no other. Is 46:8-6. In Deuteronomy 6:4 says “Hear oh Israel: the Lord you god is one.” And in revelations God says that He is the Beginning and the end, the alpha and Omega. He was the first case of the universe, and he will be the end of the universe, not just of this world or this earth.

According to Mormonism God has many equals. And we are not dependent on him. For the Christian part of God being almighty is that we are dependent on Him for everything. A BYU professor James E Ford says this:

Mormon doctrine means that ultimately we are not dependent upon God for our existence. And since we can make ourselves as godly as the father we don’t feel any jealousy toward him.

That was in Newsweek, what Mormons believe September 1 1980 on Pg 68.

Memory One--> I am Different

I remember the frist time that I reolized there was something different about me and my causins.

I was probalby 5 or 6. I always knew that they went to a different church then I had, but so did many of my friends at school. It had never been a big deal. so at the time i did not think there was a problem, after all there are hundreds of churches. I did not understand the concept of denominations at the time.

I was with my family and we were visiting one of my aunts and uncle. They had 3 kids at the time. I was playing with the oldest. She was about 2 years older then me and we were both going through this phase where we both wanted to be inventers and liked experimenting with things. and we discuvered if you took this broken bike in their yard and turned it upside-down it looked like something from a Mad Scientist's lab... or at least something that Doc. Brown may have had in his labrotory as he saught to find a way to alter the space time continuem.

So we played with it. spinning leaves and mud and who knows what else over the tireless wheele and turned the peddles. I don't remeber what we were doing but we were having fun.

Then my causin asked a question that I don't remeber understanding. She asked me what religon I was. I grew up in the church. I was always at the church, I had no idea that there were other religons let alone people who did not have Jesus in thier heart, I don't even think I knew the name of the church I went to. I studdered for a wail and I can't remeber what I said, but I belive that I answered catholic. Probably because i had heard the word and knew it was something like what i did at church.

It was my causin's statment after I answered that stickes out in my mind. she said, "we're not supose to like eachother." then we went back to playing.

Psicologist often say that things we are told went we are young stick with us. that stayed with me, becasue it was then that I understood something even thought i might not have been able to put it into words. I was different then everyone else in my family. my family was different then all the families of my causins.

Although this analigy is a little extrem. It was like I was the only black kid in a neighborhood of white people and suddenly I reolized that I was different. for the first time I saw the panes of the window that was between me and my causins. I just did not know it at the time.

Apostels creed Part 1 God the father

The definition of a Christian can be summed up in the Apostles creed
This creed is a baptismal creed that puts together the basic beliefs of Christianity
So basically if you can stand up with someone and say this creed and believe it then you are brothers in Christ.
No matter what the denomination.

This is not true of Mormons.
Their belief system is in conflict with the apostle’s creed.
Some of these things the Mormon Church does agree with, but many of the very important ones they do not. We are going to go through and talk about this one person of the trinity at a time. (Of course the Mormons do not believe in the trinity, and no it is not specifically out lined in this creed or in the bible but the theology is there as we will see as we talk about this creed.)

I belive in God the father almighty, maker of heaven and earth

The first part of the creed talks about God. The creed describes God as Father, the almighty, and the maker of heaven and earth.

At first glance this seems reasonable. Of course Mormons will agree with this statement. After all this is the main description of God from the bible and Mormons after all are People who believe the bible.

1. The First Descriptor of God is that he is father. Any one who has heard a Mormon pray knows that they belief this after all they pray using the term heavenly father. It makes god more personal they will say. Something that all Christians should know is that Mormons use the exact same jargon as we do.

But first what do Christians mean with they say God the father?

First off the bible often times talks about God as our father. This is in a collective meaning not a personal meaning. Jesus is the only literal son of God, because Jesus is given equality with God.

We are the adopted children of God. We were created form dust, we are like God or Jesus or the spirit, but God longs to love us like children so he created a way for us to become his adopted sons and daughters. Gal 4:5-7, Eph 1:5, 2:19, Acts 15:17.

Mormons take this idea of fatherhood very seriously. God is not our adopted father but rather the literal father of our spirits. We are all the spirit children of God, or Elohim. In Moses 3:5 it says that:

And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air;

The Doctrine and Covenants reaffirms this idea of Preexistence in 138: 56

Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits

Christians take this descriptor of Father in a symbolic since of our relationship with God, that God has taken those that were not his children and made them his children.

Mormons believe we are the actual spiritual children of God, just like Jesus (more on the virgin birth latter).

why through a window

My father was excommunicated from the Mormon Church when I was four. Because my mother was raised Catholic and I and my siblings were never Mormon we still have contact with my Mormon family.

In this world Mormonism is known for its positive Family values. Most people don't know what I know, they don't experience what I do, they don't see what I see. My relationship with my Mormon relatives is one that is threw a window. all my life I have been outside the house in the cold and looking through a window at what was inside. I have Known, seen, and experienced the truth of the Mormon family, and when you get below the facade of Mormonism you find something ugly.

I was never part of Mormonism, I have never been completely separated from it. It is as much a part of who I am as any other part of my growing up.

Know that I love my family. But there is something that must be said, even if no one listens or believes. the beautiful silk screen of Mormonism is nothing more then the shadows that dance on Plato's cave wall. this silk screen is a lie so cunning and deceptive that it could only have come from one place.

sometimes when you love someone you have to tell the truth even if it hurts.