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U2utah2U

The Fly
Joined
Nov 17, 2004
Messages
255
Hello. There was an interesting thread on the acceptance of certain kinds of spousal discipline in ultra-conservative religious societies. You can find the discussion on that article here: http://forum.interference.com/t110760.html

In the discourse of that thread, the basic beliefs and some common rumors about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka the Mormons) were brought up. This was my first foray into the "Free Your Mind" section of interference. I was actually searching for threads to find other Utahn fans when I stumbled upon this thread. Since others in the thread wondered what the Mormon perspective was, I offered mine.

Any way, there were many questions and comments about Mormonism but I feel it is more appropriate to continue any further discussion in another thread. I am a little hesitant to start this thread but since there seems to be some curiosity we'll go forward.

I first want to say that I am not trying to convert anybody nor am I acting as an official representative of the church. There are young women and young men that serve 18 and 24 month missions, respectively, as missionaries. All I am trying to do is provide a small corner in which people can approach a living, breathing, approachable Mormon and ask questions.

My first suggestion is to take a look at mormon.org. This is an official website for friends of other faiths and there is an excellent FAQ about our general beliefs. If there are any other members of the church out there, feel free to offer your insights and perspectives.
 
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If you're looking for another Utah fan and Mormon, you could try to find Soul Always/U2traveller, she's banned from here but I'm sure she must frequent other U2 sites. (her banning had nothing to do with being a Mormon) She lives in Salt Lake City. I think I've seen other Utah fans here but I can't remember who. I hope they will surface now for you.

I think this is great that you are willing to talk and have a Q and A over this because some people are very judgemental of Mormons. I had a Grandma who was a Reorganized LDS and I have done family research at the LDS church. The lady in charge was very kind and helpful, even offering to take me to DC to the National Archives with her, until she found out I wasn't a member, then she snubbed me. But overall, the Mormons/LDSs I have known have been nice people who seem to honestly try to be kind.

If you want a discussion I have to say that while I respect the religion and the people who follow it, I personally have a big problem with the Joseph Smith story and believing he was a prophet. Yes I know the whole story and the more I find out the more I question. So I know I could never convert, but again I do not think anything bad about Mormons:)
 
Here are some of the original questions that got the ball rolling:

Mormon beliefs about Jesus:
- He was a created being and the brother of Lucifer.
- He was born as a result of Mary having sex with God.
- Jesus had to earn his own salvation, just like the rest of the created beings.
- Jesus is a "greater" being than other spirit children on the earth, but he has the same nature.
- Jesus was a polygamist.
- The atonement of Jesus took place in the Garden of Gethsemane and was for Adam's sin only.
- Our salvation begins with the atonement but is made complete by our good works.
 
Ok, was always wondering what goes on in the Mormon temples -- how come only Mormons can go in? How do you get into a Mormon church that is not your own? Do you carry a Mormon card or something? Seriously, because I'm Catholic and have no card.
 
oh and what's the difference between a Jack-morman and a Joe Mormon?

help us out with that.:wink:

thx,
db9
 
yes, i read somewhere that instead of a mansion in heaven they assigned u to like a trailer park w/a badly kept community pool:angry::wink:

db9
 
You know i never really understood mormans.
I had a morman friend the couldnt drink soda and i think that
is just silly.
 
sharky said:
Ok, was always wondering what goes on in the Mormon temples -- how come only Mormons can go in? How do you get into a Mormon church that is not your own? Do you carry a Mormon card or something? Seriously, because I'm Catholic and have no card.

I don't know about the actual service part of the building but I have been into a LDS temple building many times. I used to visit the family research centres. Theres a sign in sheet at the counter that requires a visitors full name, suburb, and Ward. I'm not a member of the LDS so I just used to write a dash (ie a "-") in the Ward column. I don't know what happens in the actual service part of the building.

U2utah2U, over at U2.com there is a poster by the username of Bonoschin whom I believe is a Mormon.
 
Hey guys. I'll respond later this weekend. My wife's cousin's family is coming over for dinner. There are some good quesitons though. (And some funny rumors / cultural aspets of Mormonism.)
 
sharky said:
Ok, was always wondering what goes on in the Mormon temples -- how come only Mormons can go in? How do you get into a Mormon church that is not your own? Do you carry a Mormon card or something? Seriously, because I'm Catholic and have no card.

When a temple is built, there is a span of time in which any person can go into the temple and see for themselves what is inside, so there are no secrets that the public dont know about. But we then dedicate the temple which means that it is a house of God here on the earth, and we all know that Gods house is very clean, and it is where the Holy Ghost dwells, so it is a very sacred place. So after it is dedicated, before anybody enters they must be clean, and pure, as we know that no unclean thing can enter the house of God. Not all mormons can enter the temple, only those that are clean and pure and dignified, and that is where the card comes in to place. It is called a temple recommend, and you get one of these only before you have a meeting with your Bishop(a position in the church, without pay, actually there is not a position in the church where they get paid, it is all service)and he will ask you if you are worthy to enter the house of God. He will then give you a card if you feel that you are ready and worthy to enter the House of GOd. The mormon church is diffrent, andybody can go to the churches, you are all invited always, it doesnt matter who you are, this is where everybody on earth is imperfect and we are all down here together trying to perfect ourselves to be better people everyday. THat is what church is for, to go and learn and grow, and to try and be better people, and help other people together. So whenever you pass a church you can go without any hesitation, everybody there should welcome you. By the way there are so many superstitions out there that are untrue, so please do some study before you believe all the rumors!
 
edgeboy said:
You know i never really understood mormans.
I had a morman friend the couldnt drink soda and i think that
is just silly.

or was it coffee, we believe in a thing called the word of wisdom, which was revealed to a prophet from God. "That first our bodys are temples of God(2Corinthians) and that if we destroy our body God will destroy us" something like that. Anyways so we abstain from drinking alchol, smoking, drugs, coffee, and the really bad teas(like black tea) but there are good teas(like apple, lemon,etc.)
overall the word of wisdom is everything that damages your body you should take care fo your body best you can, like eat meat sparingly, and candy sparingly, and soda or whatever, just to not do things to destroy the body(temple of GOd)
 
The Sneak said:
and is it true Mormons believe that if you aren't married you can never reach the highest levels of Heaven?

That is hard to explain here, it is not all true, but it is like a staircase and you need to start from the first step up, and you cant just jump up to the top step, I would have to explain alot before I got there. But if you see in mormon missionarys in the street(wearing white shirts with a black name tag) ask them(not the jehovas witness, alot of people get us confused with them)
 
Macphisto, thanks for that. I nearly said "church" in my post but everyone else was saying temple so I said temple so as to not offend but all I really did was confuse :slant:

I couldn't work out why people were saying its difficult to get inside. Im an atheist and I have been inside the building more times than I care to remember.

I haven't tried to go into the service because, well, Im an atheist and I'm not interested but I have walked past the door many times and never thought "oh, Im not allowed in there". I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I went in.
 
macphisto23 said:


When a temple is built, there is a span of time in which any person can go into the temple and see for themselves what is inside, so there are no secrets that the public dont know about. But we then dedicate the temple which means that it is a house of God here on the earth, and we all know that Gods house is very clean, and it is where the Holy Ghost dwells, so it is a very sacred place. So after it is dedicated, before anybody enters they must be clean, and pure, as we know that no unclean thing can enter the house of God. Not all mormons can enter the temple, only those that are clean and pure and dignified, and that is where the card comes in to place. It is called a temple recommend, and you get one of these only before you have a meeting with your Bishop(a position in the church, without pay, actually there is not a position in the church where they get paid, it is all service)and he will ask you if you are worthy to enter the house of God. He will then give you a card if you feel that you are ready and worthy to enter the House of GOd. The mormon church is diffrent, andybody can go to the churches, you are all invited always, it doesnt matter who you are, this is where everybody on earth is imperfect and we are all down here together trying to perfect ourselves to be better people everyday.





So what's the difference between a church and temple. I guess I am asking, is the temple also used for services or what? :der: I let some missionaries in my home in college but I didn't remember everything they told me....


Nevermind I think I found the answer. The temples are open for worship on weekdays?
 
nbcrusader said:
Here are some of the original questions that got the ball rolling:

Mormon beliefs about Jesus:
- He was a created being and the brother of Lucifer.
- He was born as a result of Mary having sex with God.
- Jesus had to earn his own salvation, just like the rest of the created beings.
- Jesus is a "greater" being than other spirit children on the earth, but he has the same nature.
- Jesus was a polygamist.
- The atonement of Jesus took place in the Garden of Gethsemane and was for Adam's sin only.
- Our salvation begins with the atonement but is made complete by our good works.

Where do you get this????????????????????????????
Jesus's atonement was in gethsemane and on the cross, not for only adams sins, but for everybody. Mary having sex of God is a false statement, it says in the bible he was born of the Holy Spirit, in the womb of Mary. Jesus was tested just like all of us are now. Jesus is Lucifers brother, as are we to him. Many prophets in the bible were polygamists, which was a commandment of God to them, but only certain men are commanded not all people, we have never said that Jesus was a polygamist nor do we have proof. But alot of people say that we as mormons still are polygamist which is a lie, it was given as a commandment to God to only certain members of the church in 1838, and was a revelation from God. They obeyed the commandment from God, and now God has revealed in 1890 to have no more part in polygamy, and from that day forward no one in the church is allowed to be part of it. Our salvation does begin with the atonement, and depends on us if we use the atonement and repent of our sins, and then we change and we be better people, we cant just sin and expect to go heaven, we have to show our works here on earth, adn follow Jesus example, even though it is hard, and even I am guilty of stupid sins I commit, which I shouldnt of done.
 
beli said:
Okay, just to confuse things I looked up the name of the one I go to to see if its a church or a temple. Its neither. Its a Stake.

Ok there are churches(stake is a church but just bigger, that alot of churches surround the stake church and they have areas that petain to that particular stake) its just to be organised better.But stake and church is the same, the tempes are the big buildings, and there is a visitors center in front of every temple where you can go to and learn about the temples and what we do there, and who goes in.
 
There's a LDS church/temple building in Leura, Sydney Australia, which was designed by an architect we were studying in school. Being so close, a friend and I decided to go visit this place to get a good look at it's interior design. When we arrived there was no one there so we went in through the back um..door..Inside was nothing out of the ordinary except some metal trays with burnt bricks in them. We made some cracks about Boral Sacrifices and went on with sketching the interior ceilings, and then a while later we snuck out without touching anything or looking around too much. A few days later we we were going past it on the bus and the friend I went with made a comment in general about how we'd visited it. Another friend who was also in our art class piped up and said "That's my church!" We told him we thought it was very cool and beautiful on the inside as well as out. He then asked who we'd gone in with. As we hadn't gone in with permission or with anyone's knowledge or assistance another of the guys said it was technically trespassing and really nothing but illegal entry.

So I guess my questions are 1. Is it wrong to enter a mormon church without permission as we did? and 2. Why would there have been burnt bricks? and 3. Am I going to hell for what I did? Especially as I had absolutely no interest in what the church is for, but only the construction and materials used?
 
Usually the church is open all the time during the week, to play basketball or have some activity's inside, volleyball or something, theres nothing wrong with going inside the mormon church. You can go inside whenever you want when the doors are unlocked. I dont know what your talking about the burnt bricks, in all my days I have never seen burnt bricks inside the church, but it has no refrence or resemblance to doctine beliefs of ours. And yes you are going to hell, that is the worst thing you could ever do. HA HA no, dude, there's nothing wrong with what you did. Our church's dont go by the word "Mormon", in front of the churches it says"the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" we are called mormons because we believe in The Book of Mormon- another testament of Jesus Christ- and yes we believe in the bible, we dont put one in front of the other, they are both scripture from God. Hope that helps
 
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Angela Harlem said:
So I guess my questions are 1. Is it wrong to enter a mormon church without permission as we did? and 2. Why would there have been burnt bricks? and 3. Am I going to hell for what I did? Especially as I had absolutely no interest in what the church is for, but only the construction and materials used?

To answer your first question, yes. For Mormons, once the temple is "sanctified", only those who are deemed righteous can enter.

One must be a Mormon in good standing for a year to get this access.

To answer your third question, no you are not going to hell. This is a rule strictly for Mormons. Most Christian churches are open to all - all the time.

If find it interesting that one of my employees thinks he is more righteous than I because he is a Mormon.

Can't help you with the second question......
 
nbcrusader said:


To answer your first question, yes. For Mormons, once the temple is "sanctified", only those who are deemed righteous can enter.

One must be a Mormon in good standing for a year to get this access.

To answer your third question, no you are not going to hell. This is a rule strictly for Mormons. Most Christian churches are open to all - all the time.

If find it interesting that one of my employees thinks he is more righteous than I because he is a Mormon.

Can't help you with the second question......

He didnt enter the temple, he went into a church, it is literally immpossible to get into the temple without being seen by someone. Your employee maybe is more righteoues then you but not because he is a Mormon, or not because he is a better person then you. If you look up the word rightoeues maybe he just lives a more righteuos life then you, I dont know, only you know that. And the year thing is just so that people dont become members just to enter the temple, they have to be memebers for the right reason, and the most important is to be worthy!
 
I can't think of a question right now, but I love the title of this thread! :)
 
Ok, I got a question in general for all of you. I lived down in Mexico city for 2 years, and down there I would always see stickers on doors or cars, that said"sea mormon, sea feliz". But here in the states I have never seen a sticker that said "be happy, be mormon". So Im just wondering if any of you guys scattered all over the earth have seen these stickers?? Im just curious
 
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