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.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
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.
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.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
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.)
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).
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).
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
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.
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.
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