|
gryphon669
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Quentin
Country: United States
State: Tennessee
Metro: Nashville
Birthday: 4/29/1981
Gender: Male
Interests: Spanish, books, movies, music, religion, board and card games, politics (even if Jason thinks I don't know anything about it).
Expertise: Not a thing. No, really, I am not an expert at anything. Absolutely nothing. Wait, does that count as an expertise?
Occupation: Administrative
Industry: Legal
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
6/28/2005
|
|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| Mormons and Polygamy
Various news outlets, including Fox News, CNN, 10 May 2006
Actions by law enforcement agencies in recent months have triggered increased news media attention to polygamist groups, particularly those living in southern Utah and Arizona. Too often news reports refer to these groups as "Mormons" or "Mormon sects." To make such a reference is misleading and confusing to the vast majority of audiences who rightfully associate the term "Mormon" with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Correct terminology)
Examples:
Fox News (Big Story with John Gibson, 2 May 2006) Judge Andrew Napolitano talked at length on the political risks he believed that the Utah attorney general was running by pressing for the prosecution of polygamist leaders in Utah. His comments implied that the Church and its members would be opposed to the actions of the Utah attorney general. Such an interpretation is wholly unjustified and is inconsistent with the previous comments of Church President Gordon B. Hinckley (see below).
CNN ("Sect Leader Is Hunted," 9 May 2006) During a report about law enforcements crackdown and hunt for Warren Jeffs, leader of a polygamist group, CNN superimposed the face of Jeffs over an image of the Salt Lake Temple. Again, this implies a connection between the two. This is not just careless editing, but highly offensive to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Warren Jeffs is not and never has been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Reporters Questions
Several reporters have called for the Churchs comment on Warren Jeffs being placed on the FBIs most-wanted list. Warren Jeffs and polygamist groups have no association whatsoever with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is no reason why the Church would wish to comment about a legal action concerning a group with which it has no affiliation or connection.
Mormons Do Not Practice Polygamy
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints discontinued the practice of polygamy in 1890. (Read history)
In 1998, President Gordon B. Hinckley said, "I wish to state categorically that this Church has nothing whatever to do with those practicing polygamy. They are not members of this Church. Most of them have never been members. They are in violation of the civil law.
"If any of our members are found to be practicing plural marriage, they are excommunicated, the most serious penalty the Church can impose. Not only are those so involved in direct violation of the civil law, they are in violation of the law of this Church." (Read full statement)
There Is No Such Thing as a "Mormon Fundamentalist" or "Mormon Sect"
The term "Mormon" is a nickname commonly applied to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is no such thing as a "Mormon fundamentalist," nor are there "Mormon sects." A correct term to describe these polygamist groups is "polygamist sects." The inclusion of the word "Mormon" is misleading and inaccurate.
(This is an article on the LDS church website (lds.org) and can be found in it's entirety and with links at....)
http://www.lds.org/newsroom/mistakes/0,15331,3885-1,00.html | | |
| (This was written by a man named Paul Allen. It was rumored that it was the Paul Allen from Microsoft and owner of Seattle sports teams, but that was incorrect. ) Enjoy.
I have heard and seen enough! I have lived in the West all my life. I have worked around them. They have worked for me and I for them. When I was young, I dated their daughters. When I got married they came to my wedding. Now that I have daughters of my own, some of their boys have dated my
daughters. I would be privileged if one of them were to be my
son-in-law.
I'm talking about the Mormons.
They are some of the most honest, hard-working people I have ever known. They are spiritual, probably more than most other so-called religious people I have encountered. They study the Bible and teach from it as much as any Christian church ever has. They serve their religion without pay in every conceivable capacity. None of their leaders, teachers, counselors, Bishops or music directors receive one dime for the hours of labor they put in. The Mormons have a non-paid ministry - a fact not generally known.
I have heard many times from the pulpits of others how evil and
non-Christian they are and that they will not go to heaven. I decided recently to attend one of their services near my home to see for myself.
What a surprise! What I heard and saw was just the opposite from what the religious ministers of the day were telling me. I found a very simple service with no fanfare. I found a people with a great sense of humor and a well-balanced spiritual side. There was no loud music. Just a simple service, with the members themselves giving the several short sermons.
They urge their youth to be morally clean and live a good life. They teach the gospel of Christ, as they understand it. The name of their church is "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." Does that sound like a non-Christian church to you?
I asked them many questions about what they teach and why. I got answers that in most cases were from the New Testament. Their ideas and doctrines did not seem too far fetched for my understanding. When I read their "Book of Mormon" I was also very surprised to find just the opposite from what I had been told I would find.
Then I went to another church's pastor to ask him some of the same questions about doctrine. To my surprise, when he found out that I was in some way investigating the Mormons, he became hostile. He referred to them as a non-Christian cult. I received what sounded to me like evil propaganda against those people. He stated bluntly that they were not Christian and that they did not fit into the Christian mold. He also told me that they don't really believe the Bible. He gave me a pile of anti-Mormon literature. He began to rant that the Mormons were not telling me the truth about what they stand for. He didn't want to
hear anything good about them.
At first I was surprised and then again, I wasn't. I began to
wonder. I have never known of a cult that supports the Boy Scouts of America. According to the Boy Scouts, over a third of all the Boy Scout troops in the United States are Mormon.
What cult do you know of that has a welfare system second to none in this country? They have farms, canneries and cattle ranches to help take care of the unfortunate ones who might be down and out and in need of a little help. The Mormon Church has donated millions to welfare causes around the world without a word of credit. They have donated thousands to help re-build Baptist churches that were burned a few years ago. They have donated tons of medical supplies to countries
ravaged by earthquakes.
You never see them on TV begging for money. What cult do you know of that instills in its members to obey the law, pay their taxes, serve in the military if asked and be a good Christian by living high moral standards?
Did you know that hundreds of thousands of Mormon youth get up before high school starts in the morning to attend a religious training class? They have basketball and softball leagues and supervised youth dances every month. They are recruited by the FBI, the State Department and every police department in the country because they are trustworthy. They are taught not to drink nor take drugs. They are in the Secret Service - those who protect the President. They serve in high leadership positions from both parties in Congress and in the U.S. Senate, and have been governors of several states other than Utah. They serve with distinction and honor.
If you have Mormons living near, you will probably find them to be
your best friends and neighbors. They are Christians who try to live what they preach. They are not perfect and they are the first to admit this.
I have known some of them who could not live their religion, just like many of us.
The rhetoric which is spread around against them is nothing more than evil propaganda founded in untruths. (Others) had successfully demonized them to the point that the general public has no idea what they actually believe and teach. If you really want to know the truth, go see for yourself. You, also, will be surprised.
When I first moved here some 25 years ago there
were five Mormon wardsin Santa Clarita. Now there are 15. They must be doing something right.
------
Paul Allen Santa Clarita, California | | |
| "All Truth passes through Three Stages: First, it is Ridiculed...
Second, it is Violently Opposed...
Third, it is Accepted as being Self-Evident." - Arthur Schopenhauer (1778-1860) | | |
| There was an article on CNN.com about a polygamist judge in Utah, and I really liked the way they made a point of saying that the Church no longer practices polygamy and that the people who do practice it are from a completely separate sect. The article is here:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/11/02/polygamous.judge.ap/index.html | | |
| The Latter-day Saints have been so repeatedly and generally misrepresented and maligned, that ordinarily little has been done by way of refutation. Were the people to undertake to meet every lie uttered against them and set it right, they would devote the whole of their lives to it and then die without accomplishing the desired object. But there are times when a refutation is necessary; when the whole people awake in earnestness to deny the misrepresentations of those who purposely and wilfully assail them. --- Junius F. Wells
The Contributor, Vol. XIII, No. 1, (November 1891) P. 52 | | |
|
