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beli said:



U2utah2U, over at U2.com there is a poster by the username of Bonoschin whom I believe is a Mormon.

Aha, I always knew bonoschin was the same person as soul always/u2traveller! When she started acting up over here she reminded me of bonoschin from the old zootopia. Of course she had about 2 dozen alters too;)
 
My compliments to both U2utah2U and macphisto23 for running this thread. Its a fresh breath of air to this forum to have members of a group / church / etc talking honestly about their own group / church / etc instead of the usual bigots doing the talking for them.

It would be wonderful if we could get some of our Muslim friends to run a similar thread. :up:
 
beli said:
My compliments to both U2utah2U and macphisto23 for running this thread. Its a fresh breath of air to this forum to have members of a group / church / etc talking honestly about their own group / church / etc instead of the usual bigots doing the talking for them.

It would be wonderful if we could get some of our Muslim friends to run a similar thread. :up:

Thank you Beli, and thanks for everyone for not making this a bashing thread!
 
I doubt we have any Muslim members :shrug: If they were of a branch that allowed listening to rock music from westerners, they wouldn't be the kind of person you'd be looking for. :|
 
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I'm just saying if they are into rock music they are not of the right faction to accurately give a perspective of the type of questions we'd want answered. I'm going to stop right here before someone jumps on me. I think you know what I mean. No Al Queda type is going to hanging around a rock music forum :reject:
 
WOW!!!!!

I go away to make dinner for some friends and come back to find that the party has been going on for some time.

Thanks mcphisto23 for jumping in and fielding questions. Where are you from?

I think mcphisto23 did a great job answering the majority of the questions. I'll just add a bit.

- A Jack Mormon is a member of the church that doesn't really follow the commandments. They're usually seen as hypocrits, i.e. somebody that's getting drunk and partying hard Saturday night but is at church come Sunday morning.

- Ward houses are the local church buildings as was explained. Anybody can enter these. There are usually three wards, or congregations per ward building. There are about 8-10 wards per stake. The stake building is slightly larger to accomodate biannual stake conferences.

- Not that this question came up but local church leaders are all "called" on a volunteer basis. We do not have a paid clergy. Each ward or congregation has a bishop. He is a regular guy that works, has a family and also serves in the church. He is a steward over the spiritual and temporal well being of his congregation. This would be akin to a pastor or priest. He has two counselors that aid in his duties. The Relief Society is one of the oldest organizations for women in the United States. The Relief Society president and bishop work together with their counselors and other church members to oversee the temporal well being of the ward members. There are other organizations: The Elders Quorum (for men); Young Men; Young Women and Primary for the children. The current church policy is that every member have a calling or assignment in order to serve in the church. My current calling includes teaching a lesson in Elders Quorum once a month.

- The stake has respective organizations but on a stake level. There is a stake president and two counselors, Stake Relief Society Presidency, Stake Young Men's and Young Women's organizations, etc.

Any way, there are some other levels of organization but the church is guided by a prophet who is the president of the church. He has two counselors that are Apostles. Once called, Apostles and prophets serve for the length of their lives. Then, there is a Quorum of Twelve Apostles. These men are called to be special witnesses of Christ on the earth. We believe that God uses his prophets as a mouthpiece to us, His children. We believe in the same organization of the church that Christ established when after His resurrection, Peter was given charge over the church.

Any way, I could go on with how we believe the authority to govern Christ's church was lost, how and why it was restored but I will simply encourage you to visit mormon.org. All the basic info is there. Then, if you have questions regarding that, come back and "Ask a Mormon."

Thanks for such a friendly open forum. I'm looking forward to more discussions. I admit there are some odd things about us, but I'm sure once you get to know Mormons, you'll see we're just normal people trying to live good, Christian lives.
 
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U2Kitten said:
I'm just saying if they are into rock music they are not of the right faction to accurately give a perspective of the type of questions we'd want answered. I'm going to stop right here before someone jumps on me. I think you know what I mean. No Al Queda type is going to hanging around a rock music forum :reject:

I think there are probably some nutjob Christian factions who wouldn't be caught dead in a rock music forum either. It's doesn't take a nutjob Muslim to answer basic questions about the religion...in fact, I think we'd get better answers from a moderate Muslim than an extremist.
 
U2Kitten said:
I doubt we have any Muslim members :shrug: If they were of a branch that allowed listening to rock music from westerners, they wouldn't be the kind of person you'd be looking for. :|

I think it's extremely unlikely that a forum of this size has no Muslim members.

And saying that any Muslim who visits this forum "wouldn't be the kind of person you'd be looking for" is about as silly as suggesting any Christian who visits this forum wouldn't be able to answer people's questions about their religion.
 
U2Kitten said:
I'm just saying if they are into rock music they are not of the right faction to accurately give a perspective of the type of questions we'd want answered. I'm going to stop right here before someone jumps on me. I think you know what I mean. No Al Queda type is going to hanging around a rock music forum :reject:

Beli said it'd be interesting to have a thread where people could ask questions about Islam. That's not the same as a thread where people could ask questions of an "al Qaeda type."
 
I asked this question over in the thread this discussion started in so I'm just reposting it here.

Originally posted by U2utah2U
Although the church's stance on homosexuality is conservative

[...]

believe firmly that gender and sexual orientation are inherent traits that were determined before our existence on earth

Originally posted by FizzingWhizzbees
How do you reconcile these two beliefs? I assume by "conservative" you mean the same as other religious conservatives here - ie that homosexuality is sinful, wrong, etc. How do you reconcile this with believing sexual orientation is something which is predetermined and which an individual has no control over?

 
FizzingWhizzbees said:


I think it's extremely unlikely that a forum of this size has no Muslim members.

And saying that any Muslim who visits this forum "wouldn't be the kind of person you'd be looking for" is about as silly as suggesting any Christian who visits this forum wouldn't be able to answer people's questions about their religion.


SIGH!! Oh man, how can I say this without you jumping my ass- I have already tried to explain it nicely- I think the reason most people want to question a Muslim is because of the beliefs of some of them that are the root of things happening in the world, and I'm saying the type (or sect, branch, what have you) of Muslim who would post here would not be able to answer those questions because they are that that type, because if they like rock and roll and visit a U2 message board, they are different, believe and practice a different way and would not be able to understand or explain the beliefs of the radicals any more than we could. Just as with any religion, there are various factions. So I'm not saying there aren't any people of Islamic faith here, only not the 'type' who would be a part of a belief system and culture to be able to answer the questions because they are not extremists. And don't attack me for being non PC I tried to put it as gently as possible. I'm sure there are also Christian extremists or cultists who would not listen to rock or visit a message board. I mean, somebody can't tell you what they don't know, and someone who would be here is obviously a rock fan so they would not know how it is to be a fundamentalist and would not be able to answer your questions accurately.
 
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U2Kitten said:
SIGH!! Oh man, how can I say this without you jumping my ass- I have already tried to explain it nicely- I think the reason most people want to question a Muslim is because of the beliefs of some of them that are the root of things happening in the world, and I'm saying the type (or sect, branch, what have you) of Muslim who would post here would not be able to answer those questions because they are that that type, because if they like rock and roll and visit a U2 message board, they are different, believe and practice a different way and would not be able to understand or explain the beliefs of the radicals any more than we could.

There's a lot more to Islam than simply the extremism which is often reported in the media and I'm sure people would have questions about the faith which have nothing to do with violence or extremism. People here have questions about Christianity which go beyond "so do you all think it's okay to bomb family planning clinics?" or "do you all think gay people should be beaten to death?" so it's conceivable that people have questions about Islam other than "so are you all suicide bombing fundamentalists?"
 
I have a few more questions, sorry if any of these sound absolutely ridiculous but I know next to nothing about your religion, or indeed about most religions.

1) What do you believe about members of other religions or those who don't believe in any religion? Do you believe yours is the only "true" religion?

2) From looking at the website you recomended it seems you hold a lot of beliefs which are typical of Christianity but I've often heard Christians dismiss Mormons as part of a "cult" or "sect." How would you describe the relationship betwen your religion and other Christian denominations - is it similar to the way that, for example, a Baptist and a Methodist might disagree on some smaller issues but still consider themselves to be part of the same religion, or would you consider yourselves a different religion entirely to other Christian denominations?

3) Here's a quote from the website: "God commanded Lehi to lead a small group of people to the American continent. There they became a great civilization." What was the "great civilization" - is there any sort of evidence or proof of this or is it just accepted as a matter of faith?

4) I've often heard people talking about resources provided by your church for family history research. Why is this important to your religion? (I did look at the webpage about this but the explanation there wasn't very clear.)

That's all for now. :) Thanks in advance to whoever answers.
 
FizzingWhizzbees said:


There's a lot more to Islam than simply the extremism which is often reported in the media and I'm sure people would have questions about the faith which have nothing to do with violence or extremism. People here have questions about Christianity which go beyond "so do you all think it's okay to bomb family planning clinics?" or "do you all think gay people should be beaten to death?" so it's conceivable that people have questions about Islam other than "so are you all suicide bombing fundamentalists?"

I'm assuming that is what people here would want to ask about, not the basics we already know.
 
FizzingWhizzbees said:

1) What do you believe about members of other religions or those who don't believe in any religion? Do you believe yours is the only "true" religion?



I am sorry to say I have heard Mormon children tell my kids and other kids that theirs was the only 'true' church and that everyone else was hell bound. :| Not saying this speaks for everyone, of course.
 
Can we please stay on the topic of Mormon and Mormon questions? This thread started out really peaceful and I'd like to keep it that way.


Any Muslim members, feel free to start a similar thread. :up: I could possibly participate since I had 2 years of Islamic studies.
 
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U2Kitten said:



I am sorry to say I have heard Mormon children tell my kids and other kids that theirs was the only 'true' church and that everyone else was hell bound. :| Not saying this speaks for everyone, of course.

Oh have you???????? We do believe that The church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints is the only true church on the earth today, why you ask? Something called Apostasy and Restoration-if you want to read- I just did a search and found it-http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/basic/gospel/restoration/Apostasy_EOM.htm

We believe in the same church that Jesus Christ organised when he was on the earth- meaning- Prophets, apostles, etc...
And yes there are false prophets, that is why we have the "comforter" or the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost to confirm truth to us through- Galatians 5:22-23, and you can know if he is a prophet of God, or a false prophet.
I dont know why those kids would say that, but I really dont think they would say that in those words " your hell bound". They may have said that they believe there church to be the only true church on the earth, but I would hope that they didnt say hell bound, because its not appropiate. I would hope that all the members of our church would respect all other religions, because that is what we teach.
 
nbcrusader said:
As a follow up to Fizz's questions:

Will Christians who do not attend a Mormon church go to heaven?

Its not about going to the Mormon church, its more about recieving the principles and ordinances of the fullness of the gospel. There is so much to explain about Priesthood, who has authority here on earth to act in Gods name, should it be given to every person?, Should it be given to the person who knows the bible the best-No- or let me ask you this, how was Moses chosen to be a prophet? He didnt know how to speak, why did God choose him? I'm not only talking about prophets but when Jesus was on the earth he gave his 12 Apostles the Authority to act in his name by the laying on of hands. John the Baptist- why was he baptising people? Because he had the authority of God to baptise, not just any person can just start a church, or baptise, they have to be called of God. I would suggest that you read a short biography about the Mormons and how the church started, and where we got our authority(Priesthood).
 
FizzingWhizzbees said:
I have a few more questions, sorry if any of these sound absolutely ridiculous but I know next to nothing about your religion, or indeed about most religions.

1) What do you believe about members of other religions or those who don't believe in any religion? Do you believe yours is the only "true" religion?

2) From looking at the website you recomended it seems you hold a lot of beliefs which are typical of Christianity but I've often heard Christians dismiss Mormons as part of a "cult" or "sect." How would you describe the relationship betwen your religion and other Christian denominations - is it similar to the way that, for example, a Baptist and a Methodist might disagree on some smaller issues but still consider themselves to be part of the same religion, or would you consider yourselves a different religion entirely to other Christian denominations?

3) Here's a quote from the website: "God commanded Lehi to lead a small group of people to the American continent. There they became a great civilization." What was the "great civilization" - is there any sort of evidence or proof of this or is it just accepted as a matter of faith?

4) I've often heard people talking about resources provided by your church for family history research. Why is this important to your religion? (I did look at the webpage about this but the explanation there wasn't very clear.)

That's all for now. :) Thanks in advance to whoever answers.

1) We believe our church to be restored to the fullness as it was destroyed in the apostasty- not literally destryoed, but I meen more that man took over the church, with there changes of many important ordinances and changed the bible to fit with there religion- and that is why there were so many breakoffs of the church, because it became a church of man and not of GOd. And we believe that God has restored his church once again on the earth. Sorry Im not going to go in too much detail

2) Well we are not a cult- however please dont get us mixed up with other cults that have broken off from our church(RLDS) or some others out there. I think that there are many principles that we share the same with of Christian churches, many- but there were many important ordinaces and teachings lost during the Apostasy. But the basic principles that we believe with other christian churches are- we believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, that he died for us, that he took upon him the sins of the world, and he is our brother. We try to live by his teachings- to be humble, to be praful, to love one another, to be honest, true, chaste, benevolent, and all things that are good- service. etc...

3) Lehi is a prophet from the Book of Mormon, Lehi lived in Jerusalem with his family. The people of Jerusalem wanted to take the life of Lehi because it was a wicked people, who would not hearken to the teachings of God. God warned Lehi to leave with his family to the desert. They obeyed and left to the desert with there family's, they arrived to the red sea, and they built a ship, and crossed the ocean and arrived to the American Continent. That is why its called Another Testament of Jesus Christ- as there were people in the old Continent, there were also people in the New continent. And yes there is much proof of there civilization, more so in Mexico. I would really recommend that you read the Book of Mormon. Im not going to go in great detail, because you can get a free copy of this book any where, and you can find out for yourself if it is true, read the book, and then ask God if what you read is true, and b the Holy Ghost you will know.

4) I will try to find an article to explain this, it this subject is very hard to explain in writing. But yes it is important for us, and i will get back with you on this!
 
diamond said:
tells about the salamander and how he helped Joe Smith write that book.:wink:

db9

I dont know what your talking about????????????
But Joseph Smith didnt write the book he translated the book!:wink:
 
diamond said:

Yep, that is a great resource for knowledge- its like reading tabloids, I have read many, many anti mormon books, and I have been on a mission for 2 years hearing tons of anti mormon, and it is all trash, and it hasnt affected my testimony of the gospel one bit. Because when the Holy Ghost confirms the truth to you, you cant neglect the truth. And you can find the true anwsers to every single one of those things they say there, but i didnt even read it because its a waste of my time.
 
Nostradamus said:
I have a question... Why were Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and B.H. Roberts' the doubting Thomas' to the Book of Mormon?

.Nostradamus

Actually that is incorrect.

I can't speak for BH Roberts, a a historian he had sour grapes.

As far Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer-

(2 of the orginal witnesses of the BofM) -both remained steadfast in their testimonies of the authenticity to orgins of the BofM.
Oliver Cowdery did so in a court of law, David Whitmer thru the end of his days.

db9
 
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diamond said:


Actually that is incorrect.

I can't speak for BH Roberts, a a historian he had sour grapes.

As far Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer-

(2 of the orginal witnesses of the BofM) -both remained steadfast in their testimonies of the authenticity to orgins of the BofM.
Oliver Cowdery did so in a court of law, David Whitmer thru the end of his days.

db9

exactly right- thanks
 
macphisto23 said:


Yep, that is a great resource for knowledge- its like reading tabloids, I have read many, many anti mormon books, and I have been on a mission for 2 years hearing tons of anti mormon, and it is all trash, and it hasnt affected my testimony of the gospel one bit. Because when the Holy Ghost confirms the truth to you, you cant neglect the truth. And you can find the true anwsers to every single one of those things they say there, but i didnt even read it because its a waste of my time.

So, is it fair to say that the Holy Spirit confims the Book of Mormon as truth for you?
 
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