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The Mormon Belief of Deification

If you take isolated examples from anyone's life, without considering the whole of their life, you can make them look like whatever you want them to look like.


This is not a "isolated" example and their whole lives where about having sexual relations and they even wrote it into there made up doctrines along with any other nonsense they could think of to gain power and money. We would throw these men into prison today as child molesters and perverts, not to mention con-artist.

It is quite obvious how you feel about the founders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now show the fruits you said must accompany this sort of foundation. Show how the fruits that grow from the lives of the majority of the followers of these corrupt men confirm your conclusions.
 
If you take isolated examples from anyone's life, without considering the whole of their life, you can make them look like whatever you want them to look like.


This is not a "isolated" example and their whole lives where about having sexual relations and they even wrote it into there made up doctrines along with any other nonsense they could think of to gain power and money. We would throw these men into prison today as child molesters and perverts, not to mention con-artist.

It is quite obvious how you feel about the founders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now show the fruits you said must accompany this sort of foundation. Show how the fruits that grow from the lives of the majority of the followers of these corrupt men confirm your conclusions.
Well I have posted many reports of the evil of these men and those around them, you ignore them all and defend that which cannot be defended. I think that is a fruit of this mormon religion, a group of people who will follow a wicked group of men, no matter what evidence is presented to them. You would be my first example, is the gospel that was delivered by the apostle Paul the standard by which we are to serve God? A simple strait forward answer would be that which an honest christain could give. If you cannot give a strait forward answer, then that shows the fruit of mormonism.
 
I really do appreciate your concern for my welfare. I can use all the prayers I can get. But is this all you can do to answer my response in post #57 to your last post. How disappointing. I answered every one of your ideas point by point. I was really looking forward to a similar response from you. Are you not able to do the same?

Last edited by Free; 05-16-2013 at 09:41 AM. Reason: Personal attack.

[FONT=&quot]Sorry I missed the personal attack that the moderator edited out---guess it must be pretty hard to realize many like me have walked away from the supposed “One, True Church†you esteem so highly. I am betting my very Salvation that I believe God showed me the way out and did ponder much as to the supposed implications of leaving the Mormon Church. Not a decision I ever took lightly and in some ways, it was the hardest decision I ever made in my life. And to not "disappoint you", I will be following up with a post answering your[/FONT]
response.
 
Why should we base our standards on the sayings of Paul rather than those of Jesus or any other apostle?
Why is he singled out above any other?

Paul was the most prolific writer of Scripture. He wrote 13 of the total of 26 books of the NT, and if you ascribe Hebrews to him, it is 14.

And no, there is no dichotomy between ANY of the writers of the OT or the NT; that is one of the reasons for including only 21 books other than the eyewitness accounts of Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke/Acts, John the Apostle, who wrote the Gospel of John and 1, 2, and 3 John, and John Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark as canon in the New Testament.
 
This is a common misunderstanding of the doctrine. The doctrine was never applied to just anyone who committed murder. The Book of Mormon makes this very clear. In order to qualify for such a requirement, one must have an extraordinary exposure to the light and knowledge of God and the sin would have to be blatant enough to be outright rejection of that light. Saul, who became Paul, would definitely not be eligible for such a requirement. It is more about a person rejecting Christ, than Christ rejecting that person. The doctrine was always preached with the understanding that only God could judge the necessity of such a personal sacrifice. Even the civil law offered an option, because it was between the offender and God only. It is impossible for any human to judge whether another human needs this degree of repentance. As I understand this, when it comes right down to it, when we are in Christ’s presence to be judged, it is we who judge ourselves. This doctrine is mercifully offered as a comfort for such people to feel they have done everything possible to re-accept Christ.

[FONT=&quot]Don’t have a copy of the D&C anymore but let’s examine what Bruce McConkie says about it in his book Mormon Doctrine in which he references the D&C along with the Teachings of Joseph Smith, among other Church-recognized publications[/FONT][FONT=&quot].[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Murderers: Murder, the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought or under such circumstances of criminality that the malice is presumed, “is a sin unto death†[1 John 5:16-17}, a sin for which there is “no forgiveness†{D&C, 42:79}, meaning that murderer can never gain salvation. He cannot join the Church by baptism: he is outside the pale of redeeming grace.†[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Now that rationale has a number of problems. First, 1 John 5:16-17 is referring to the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit, not murder. Secondly, the other 1 John verse is referring to the malice in our hearts—which by the way makes a lot of people guilty of “being murderers†until they have truly found forgiveness. I am willing to bet that many sitting in Mormon Church pews each Sunday [like many in Mainline Christian Churches] who are “outside the pale of redeeming grace†according to this bizarre Mormon Doctrine which all ties into this blood atonement belief.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]

It is not so much a second chance, as a chance at all, which other Christian belief systems completely miss

[FONT=&quot]Other Christian belief systems “miss†this Belief because is simply is NOT true. This is of course referring to the chance to "continue in Exaltation" for Mormon believers and proxy baptisms for those who never got the hear the "truth?" here on earth of the One,True Church that supposedly made it all right.
[/FONT]


So you do not deny that the LDS view of the atonement is less limiting than your view of what the Bible teaches?

[FONT=&quot]The question we have been debating here for a few posts prior is “does the Blood Atonement Doctrine of the Mormon Church limit Christ’s Sacrifice�--- not how it compares to other Churches. Is there a sin [no matter how rare you say it is ] that Christ's Atonement will not cover, no matter how much a person wants His Redemption?[/FONT]


Perhaps this is your problem, putting two virtues in competition with each other, creating a false dichotomy. The Bible teaches that faith without works is dead. That makes works a good thing. If you read the writings of Paul more carefully, you will discover that the works he criticizes are only self-righteous works, or works without faith. He is emphasizing the idea that works without faith are also dead.
[FONT=&quot]Well, when one reads all the verses on Faith versus Works [which are put into a sense of two separate descriptive elements] by Paul and James in particular, you get a more clear picture that the important thing is to gain Faith in Jesus Christ and if that Faith is right—works will follow. Works without Faith are “dead works†and I really think the Mormon Church misses the Grace part of it all. Under Grace or under the Law. Pretty much all of the Book of Hebrews addresses this question as does the Book of Romans, among other places in the New Testament. “Scripture interprets Scripture†and if it’s unclear in one verse, many other verses will supplement the meanings of one problematic verse.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]




This is another misunderstanding. Think about it. LDS missionaries emphasise over and over again that a non-member can only really know for themselves if the Book of Mormon is true by having it revealed to them by the power of the Holy Ghost. We believe that people of all faiths can be touched and influenced by the Holy Ghost. There is also the constant guidance of the Light of Christ, sometimes referred to as our conscience, that is available to all humans. As we obey the light and the Holy Ghost, the light gets brighter. I don’t keep a scorecard

I have thought about it--much, so [FONT=&quot]let’s examine this power of the Holy Ghost a potential convert to the Mormon Church supposedly will receive. From the Teachings of Joseph Smith [pp. 198-199] we see that a potential believer will receive a “flash of testimony’ and of course he will lose that “flash†unless he is baptized and repents. The “challenge†to a potential convert to supposedly receive this flash of testimony to establish truthfulness in the Book of Mormon is listed of course in Moroni 10:4.Will not list the whole verse here but the long and short of it is that the verse really establishes that the whole Book of Mormon is true and thus "a sincere heart, real intent and having Faith in Christ will manifest the truth of it unto you†In essence, it is up to a potential convert to have those things [heart, intent and Faith] and then supposedly then Holy Spirit will tell you it is all true. Of course a new potential convert knows very little about Faith, but that's another matter. And, of course that dismisses the fact that the Holy Spirit “guides us into all Truth†[John 16:13] as in the fact that it is a process of learning to discern rather than granting some false assurance on a whole book--even the Holy Bible does not make this supposed challenge or test.. Conceivably, one could take the same “test†as to truthfulness of the New World Translation of the Bible {JW’s}, the Koran, the Communist Manifesto, even the Wicca Bible and come up with the same results as to the supposed truthfulness of the whole book, especially if one has 2 nice missionaries bearing their own testimonies how they themselves solidly believe the truthfulness of the book.. The Holy Spirit simply does not work that way and really testing the truthfulness of all things is a process[/FONT] and any one of us can be deceived when our mind is already set on what we ask for.

Aah, but what does that entail? What does “always abiding in faith†involve? Is it not true that to the extent that we “believe on Him He sent†to that extent we will keep his commandments? Christ said, “if you love me, keep my commandmentsâ€. Is it not the Father’s will to love Christ?
[FONT=&quot]Even you will admit that you still sin, even though you are likely baptized and supposedly repented--according to LDS Church mandates. “Sin†merely crops up from time–to-time in your life as it does for all of us and really how can we say you’ve “truly repented� So, as to keeping the Commandments in 24/7 thing for the rest of our lives—it just isn’t going to happen because of our sin nature and at the end of our lives, we have lost the battle as to always keeping the Commandments and thus according to your response, we didn’t love Christ as we should have—also according to Mormon Doctrine. With all that, “total repentance†never happens because we keep breaking the "Law". We are simply lost without the continuing Grace of Christ..

[/FONT]


There is obviously more than one definition of the word glorify. You chose the one that does not work for the LDS attitude when we say that man can be glorified. Check out merriam-webster.com and notice definition 1b. It says, “to elevate to celestial gloryâ€. If you tried to understand at all what Mormons really believe, you would know that nothing in any talks by leaders or LDS literature, when understood in context, portrays the attitude you are trying to label us with.
Not particularly interested in how Webster’s defines it. The point is that if one want to understand how a word in the Bible is used and what it means—you simply go to the Source [ie--- the Bible] and study the context in which a word comes forth. Also you study verses elsewhere in the Bible that use the same word. And, for deeper understandings, you go to the Greek and Hebrew meanings of the Word in a Concordance.
I have read and reread so many books on Mormon Doctrine, along with the D&C, Joseph Smith’s teachings, Brigham’s Journal of Discourses and so many other publications that I can say I've truly "tried to understand what Mormons really beleive" and have found this Deification Belief or Eternal Progression permeates in a of of Mormon Doctrines in one way or another.
 
So, as to keeping the Commandments in 24/7 thing for the rest of our lives—it just isn’t going to happen because of our sin nature and at the end of our lives, we have lost the battle as to always keeping the Commandments and thus according to your response, we didn’t love Christ as we should have—also according to Mormon Doctrine. With all that, “total repentance” never happens because we keep breaking the "Law". We are simply lost without the continuing Grace of Christ..

Some of the ex-mormons I have heard have such a real understanding of Gods grace, because of the great bondage that was laid upon them by this group.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Amazing Grace to you brother.
 
Well that is what I have always felt. But your statement here only emphasizes the legitimacy of my question. Why should we base our standards on the sayings of Paul rather than those of Jesus or any other apostle? Why is he singled out above any other?

Ga 1:6 ¶ I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Because it is Gods word, written in plain and simple terms. God says all men will be judged by Pauls gospel.
Ro 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

For it was through Paul that God made known the truth of the gospel.

Ga 1:11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The way I understand these scriptures is that they testify that Paul was an authentic representative of Jesus Christ in preaching His gospel. I don’t see anything in these verses that says he had any more authority or any more of the gospel than any other true apostle or prophet of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Paul is the same gospel as that of Jesus, of Peter, or of James and John. They all received authority from Jesus to preach the fullness of His gospel.

So am I just explaining differently what you believe, or do you disagree with something I have said here?
 
Well that is what I have always felt. But your statement here only emphasizes the legitimacy of my question. Why should we base our standards on the sayings of Paul rather than those of Jesus or any other apostle? Why is he singled out above any other?

Ga 1:6 ¶ I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Because it is Gods word, written in plain and simple terms. God says all men will be judged by Pauls gospel.
Ro 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

For it was through Paul that God made known the truth of the gospel.

Ga 1:11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The way I understand these scriptures is that they testify that Paul was an authentic representative of Jesus Christ in preaching His gospel. I don’t see anything in these verses that says he had any more authority or any more of the gospel than any other true apostle or prophet of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Paul is the same gospel as that of Jesus, of Peter, or of James and John. They all received authority from Jesus to preach the fullness of His gospel.

So am I just explaining differently what you believe, or do you disagree with something I have said here?
Well there is a reason The Holy Spirit makes clear that the true gospel was delivered through Paul. So that all doctrine could be judged by his epistles. We even see that James and Peter were rebuked by Paul, for not living according to the truth of his gospel. Now Gal. makes it clear in absolute terms that no other meassage can or should be received other than that which Paul taught. It is written in clear and evident words and is a warning to all who would dare take up the Word of God and attempt to teach others of the truth of Christ. It cannot be that another gospel would be in conflict with Pauls writtings. If any other doctrine does not come into agreement with his epistles that doctrine is to be rejected and that man is cursed by God.
 
You are completely missing the point. Christ said we should rely on fruits, not malicious gossip to determine true prophets
Do you deny these men took to themselves many woman? some as young as 14?
Sorry, this is a sex-cult. Created by a few con-men to allow them to satisfy thier desires for sex, money and power. None of these men had the nature of Christ, nor did they honor the Word of God delivered unto Chruch, through the Apostles.
If you take isolated examples from anyone's life, without considering the whole of their life, you can make them look like whatever you want them to look like. That is exactly what is going on here. Any open minded person who is willing to examine ALL the evidence can come to no other possible conclusion than that these men were NOT motivated by sex, money or power. The only way you can understand this is to give equal time to both sides of the argument.

If you have any rational bone in your body, you would have to allow for the possibility of an alternate explanation to what you have been fed, especially when you consider the fruits growing out of the lives of their followers, which is the only method recommended by Jesus for judging such things.

Pat what you have posted sounds very much like an admission that those men (Smith, etc.) actually committed those atrocities.
 
If you take isolated examples from anyone's life, without considering the whole of their life, you can make them look like whatever you want them to look like.


This is not a "isolated" example and their whole lives where about having sexual relations and they even wrote it into there made up doctrines along with any other nonsense they could think of to gain power and money. We would throw these men into prison today as child molesters and perverts, not to mention con-artist.

It is quite obvious how you feel about the founders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now show the fruits you said must accompany this sort of foundation. Show how the fruits that grow from the lives of the majority of the followers of these corrupt men confirm your conclusions.
Well I have posted many reports of the evil of these men and those around them, you ignore them all and defend that which cannot be defended.
I have already offered to answer these challenges one by one in a debate or separate thread. I have also given you references to sites that will answer all of these challenges.
Such challenges are off topic to this particular thread.

I think that is a fruit of this mormon religion, a group of people who will follow a wicked group of men, no matter what evidence is presented to them.
Again, your example here for evidence of the truth of your claim is pure circular reasoning and begs the question. (Please google “logical fallacies†if you’re not quite sure what these terms mean.) It has already been established that there are people who follow these men. The question is whether the fruits of their lives as a group or majority of individuals exemplify the teachings of Christ or do they exemplify your conclusion of what their organization was founded on, sex, money and power?

You would be my first example, is the gospel that was delivered by the apostle Paul the standard by which we are to serve God? A simple strait forward answer would be that which an honest christain could give. If you cannot give a strait forward answer, then that shows the fruit of mormonism.
To single out the writings of Paul as the only standard would be to separate out a small portion of the Gospel of Christ from its context within the rest of the gospel, and use it to judge the rest of the context. Why would you want to do that?
 
To single out the writings of Paul as the only standard would be to separate out a small portion of the Gospel of Christ from its context within the rest of the gospel, and use it to judge the rest of the context. Why would you want to do that?


I did not do that the Holy Spirit did it, for the reasons I have mentioned above.

I will post it again:
Well there is a reason The Holy Spirit makes clear that the true gospel was delivered through Paul. So that all doctrine could be judged by his epistles. We even see that James and Peter were rebuked by Paul, for not living according to the truth of his gospel. Now Gal. makes it clear in absolute terms that no other meassage can or should be received other than that which Paul taught. It is written in clear and evident words and is a warning to all who would dare take up the Word of God and attempt to teach others of the truth of Christ. It cannot be that another gospel would be in conflict with Pauls writtings. If any other doctrine does not come into agreement with his epistles that doctrine is to be rejected and that man is cursed by God.
 
[FONT=&quot]Don’t have a copy of the D&C anymore but let’s examine what Bruce McConkie says about it in his book Mormon Doctrine in which he references the D&C along with the Teachings of Joseph Smith, among other Church-recognized publications[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Murderers: Murder, the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought or under such circumstances of criminality that the malice is presumed, “is a sin unto death†[1 John 5:16-17}, a sin for which there is “no forgiveness†{D&C, 42:79}, meaning that murderer can never gain salvation. He cannot join the Church by baptism: he is outside the pale of redeeming grace.†[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Now that rationale has a number of problems. First, 1 John 5:16-17 is referring to the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit, not murder. Secondly, the other 1 John verse is referring to the malice in our hearts—which by the way makes a lot of people guilty of “being murderers†until they have truly found forgiveness. I am willing to bet that many sitting in Mormon Church pews each Sunday [like many in Mainline Christian Churches] who are “outside the pale of redeeming grace†according to this bizarre Mormon Doctrine which all ties into this blood atonement belief.[/FONT]
The book, Mormon Doctrine, was a scholarly pursuit by an apostle. It has never been accepted by the church as official “Mormon Doctrineâ€, and for that reason he was chastised by his superiors for naming it so. Most of what is in this book is accurate, but some things are only his opinion. In light of some more recent statements by Presidents of the church, I would say that he is not completely accurate in his assessment of this issue. I know of examples in the scriptures that I would interpret as contradictory to what he says here. What is very clear is that the whole matter can only be judged by God on a case by case basis. And again, I see this as an example of someone rejecting the atonement, not a limitation of it.

If you think there are many in the different churches sitting in the pews who are included in what McConkie is referring to here, you are assuming a very exaggerated interpretation of his words. That interpretation is certainly not real Mormon doctrine.


[FONT=&quot]Other Christian belief systems “miss†this Belief because is simply is NOT true. This is of course referring to the chance to "continue in Exaltation" for Mormon believers and proxy baptisms for those who never got the hear the "truth?" here on earth of the One,True Church that supposedly made it all right.
[/FONT]
What I was referring to was simply that other Christian belief systems limit the scope of the atonement to only those who have a chance to hear about it in this life. That cuts out most of the human race. My point was that that is limiting the atonement much more than saying it doesn’t cover hard core Murderers, even if that was an official Mormon belief.

[FONT=&quot]The question we have been debating here for a few posts prior is “does the Blood Atonement Doctrine of the Mormon Church limit Christ’s Sacrifice�--- not how it compares to other Churches. Is there a sin [no matter how rare you say it is ] that Christ's Atonement will not cover, no matter how much a person wants His Redemption?[/FONT]
The only reason blood atonement came up is that you used it as an example to counter my point that Mormon doctrine limits the atonement less than other Christian belief systems. So it is the discussion on this little known doctrine that has sidetracked this whole thread. Not the other way around.

[FONT=&quot]Well, when one reads all the verses on Faith versus Works [which are put into a sense of two separate descriptive elements] by Paul and James in particular, you get a more clear picture that the important thing is to gain Faith in Jesus Christ and if that Faith is right—works will follow. Works without Faith are “dead works†and I really think the Mormon Church misses the Grace part of it all. Under Grace or under the Law. Pretty much all of the Book of Hebrews addresses this question as does the Book of Romans, among other places in the New Testament. “Scripture interprets Scripture†and if it’s unclear in one verse, many other verses will supplement the meanings of one problematic verse.[/FONT]
Mormon doctrine agrees with everything you say here except the part that claims Mormonism misses the grace part of it all. Your limited understanding of the Mormon belief on this subject may miss the grace part of it, but my understanding of Mormon belief places it right up front. You are just exposing your ignorance of true Mormon doctrine here.

This is another misunderstanding. Think about it. LDS missionaries emphasise over and over again that a non-member can only really know for themselves if the Book of Mormon is true by having it revealed to them by the power of the Holy Ghost. We believe that people of all faiths can be touched and influenced by the Holy Ghost. There is also the constant guidance of the Light of Christ, sometimes referred to as our conscience, that is available to all humans. As we obey the light and the Holy Ghost, the light gets brighter. I don’t keep a scorecard

I have thought about it--much, so [FONT=&quot]let’s examine this power of the Holy Ghost a potential convert to the Mormon Church supposedly will receive. From the Teachings of Joseph Smith [pp. 198-199] we see that a potential believer will receive a “flash of testimony’ and of course he will lose that “flash†unless he is baptized and repents.
It is true that receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands as taught in Acts 8:17-18 is not generally practiced by most Christian churches. It is no secret that Mormons teach that they are the only ones who have actual authority from Jesus Christ to perform ordinances by the laying on of hands. Therefore it is true that the Gift of the Holy Ghost can only be experienced by baptized members of the church. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is the promise of His constant companionship as long as and to the degree that we accept its influence. But we believe that God can and does inspire and communicate with all of His children through the Light of Christ continually and the Holy Ghost periodically.

[FONT=&quot]Even you will admit that you still sin, even though you are likely baptized and supposedly repented--according to LDS Church mandates. “Sin†merely crops up from time–to-time in your life as it does for all of us and really how can we say you’ve “truly repented� So, as to keeping the Commandments in 24/7 thing for the rest of our lives—it just isn’t going to happen because of our sin nature and at the end of our lives, we have lost the battle as to always keeping the Commandments and thus according to your response, we didn’t love Christ as we should have—also according to Mormon Doctrine. With all that, “total repentance†never happens because we keep breaking the "Law". We are simply lost without the continuing Grace of Christ..

You show your lack of understanding of Mormon doctrine on this issue. We also believe that “we are simply lost without the continuing grace of Christâ€.

There is obviously more than one definition of the word glorify. You chose the one that does not work for the LDS attitude when we say that man can be glorified. Check out merriam-webster.com and notice definition 1b. It says, “to elevate to celestial gloryâ€. If you tried to understand at all what Mormons really believe, you would know that nothing in any talks by leaders or LDS literature, when understood in context, portrays the attitude you are trying to label us with.
Not particularly interested in how Webster’s defines it. The point is that if one want to understand how a word in the Bible is used and what it means—you simply go to the Source [ie--- the Bible] and study the context in which a word comes forth. Also you study verses elsewhere in the Bible that use the same word. And, for deeper understandings, you go to the Greek and Hebrew meanings of the Word in a Concordance.
I have read and reread so many books on Mormon Doctrine, along with the D&C, Joseph Smith’s teachings, Brigham’s Journal of Discourses and so many other publications that I can say I've truly "tried to understand what Mormons really beleive" and have found this Deification Belief or Eternal Progression permeates in a of of Mormon Doctrines in one way or another.
And I have studied the Bible, Old and New Testaments, through and through and have found that this idea of Deification or Eternal Progression permeates through it all in one way or another.

I can’t believe you criticize my quoting a dictionary definition because it didn’t come from the Bible when all I was doing was challenging your using another dictionary in a limited way to define the same term. Isn’t that just a little disingenuous?
 
The way I understand these scriptures is that they testify that Paul was an authentic representative of Jesus Christ in preaching His gospel. I don’t see anything in these verses that says he had any more authority or any more of the gospel than any other true apostle or prophet of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Paul is the same gospel as that of Jesus, of Peter, or of James and John. They all received authority from Jesus to preach the fullness of His gospel.

So am I just explaining differently what you believe, or do you disagree with something I have said here?
Well there is a reason The Holy Spirit makes clear that the true gospel was delivered through Paul. So that all doctrine could be judged by his epistles. We even see that James and Peter were rebuked by Paul, for not living according to the truth of his gospel. Now Gal. makes it clear in absolute terms that no other meassage can or should be received other than that which Paul taught. It is written in clear and evident words and is a warning to all who would dare take up the Word of God and attempt to teach others of the truth of Christ. It cannot be that another gospel would be in conflict with Pauls writtings. If any other doctrine does not come into agreement with his epistles that doctrine is to be rejected and that man is cursed by God.
First of all, I agree that Paul’s epistles contain the truth of the gospel. I have no problem with any of their teachings. But I believe you are missing something in Galatians 1:8. Paul is clearly referring to teachings he and others preached to the Galatians on some former occasion, which are not in our scriptures. Notice that he says WE, not I. So I think your theory of his special status falls apart here, as well as your assumption that he is speaking of what we have of his epistles.

You also miss the fact that Peter, being the chief apostle, warned new Christians of relying too heavily on the teachings of Paul in his epistles because they could be confusing and hard to understand and thus lead many astray (II Peter 3:15-16), even in their day.
 
You are completely missing the point. Christ said we should rely on fruits, not malicious gossip to determine true prophets
Do you deny these men took to themselves many woman? some as young as 14?
Sorry, this is a sex-cult. Created by a few con-men to allow them to satisfy thier desires for sex, money and power. None of these men had the nature of Christ, nor did they honor the Word of God delivered unto Chruch, through the Apostles.
If you take isolated examples from anyone's life, without considering the whole of their life, you can make them look like whatever you want them to look like. That is exactly what is going on here. Any open minded person who is willing to examine ALL the evidence can come to no other possible conclusion than that these men were NOT motivated by sex, money or power. The only way you can understand this is to give equal time to both sides of the argument.

If you have any rational bone in your body, you would have to allow for the possibility of an alternate explanation to what you have been fed, especially when you consider the fruits growing out of the lives of their followers, which is the only method recommended by Jesus for judging such things.

Pat what you have posted sounds very much like an admission that those men (Smith, etc.) actually committed those atrocities.
Good observation Webb. Let me explain. Because someone becomes sealed to someone, does not mean it involves sex. That is what was involved in many of these instances. Also, if God commands someone to practice polygamy and they resist obeying, because it is so opposite from their desires, until God has to finally send a destroying angel threatening them with destruction if they don't obey, how can you say he practiced polygamy because of a lustful desire? There is much context left out when criticizing these things because the intent is to distort in order to sensationalize.
 
First of all, I agree that Paul’s epistles contain the truth of the gospel. I have no problem with any of their teachings. But I believe you are missing something in Galatians 1:8. Paul is clearly referring to teachings he and others preached to the Galatians on some former occasion, which are not in our scriptures.


What? So Paul only had parts of the truth? That is a complete rejection of the scriptures. Why dont you just admit that according to your religion, you take and pick and choose, what parts of the bible you want to believe, and ignore that which conflicts with your own religion? Do you not understand the hypocricy that you are showing in the way you twist and turn, and dodge in and out of the truth of the scriptures? DO YOU REALLY THINK THIS IS FRUIT UNTO GOD?:naughty

Pr 12:13 ¶ The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.
14 ¶ A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompence of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him.
15 ¶ The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.
16 ¶ A fool's wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame.
17 ¶ He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.
18 ¶ There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.
19 ¶ The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.
 
First of all, I agree that Paul’s epistles contain the truth of the gospel. I have no problem with any of their teachings. But I believe you are missing something in Galatians 1:8. Paul is clearly referring to teachings he and others preached to the Galatians on some former occasion, which are not in our scriptures.


What? So Paul only had parts of the truth? That is a complete rejection of the scriptures. Why dont you just admit that according to your religion, you take and pick and choose, what parts of the bible you want to believe, and ignore that which conflicts with your own religion? Do you not understand the hypocricy that you are showing in the way you twist and turn, and dodge in and out of the truth of the scriptures? DO YOU REALLY THINK THIS IS FRUIT UNTO GOD?:naughty

Pr 12:13 ¶ The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.
14 ¶ A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompence of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him.
15 ¶ The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.
16 ¶ A fool's wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame.
17 ¶ He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.
18 ¶ There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.
19 ¶ The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.
Where in any of what I wrote could you have possibly come up with the idea that I believed that Paul only had parts of the truth. I have continually said the opposite. There is nothing in the Bible I do not believe or is there anything there that conflicts with my religion. Talk about twisting things. Are your arguments so weak that you have to pretend that I have said things I have not said in order to know how to argue against me?

Just because 2000 years later, we do not have everything he taught, does not mean it wasn't ever taught. Please try harder to understand what I am saying. How can you possibly expect that everything Paul ever taught is contained in a few 2000 year old letters? I showed you how Galatians makes it very clear that we cannot possibly have all he taught and that the verse you keep referring to is talking about stuff we have no record of. Why don't you address that fact?
 
First of all, I agree that Paul’s epistles contain the truth of the gospel. I have no problem with any of their teachings. But I believe you are missing something in Galatians 1:8. Paul is clearly referring to teachings he and others preached to the Galatians on some former occasion, which are not in our scriptures.:naughty


What? So Paul only had parts of the truth? That is a complete rejection of the scriptures. Why dont you just admit that according to your religion, you take and pick and choose, what parts of the bible you want to believe, and ignore that which conflicts with your own religion? Do you not understand the hypocricy that you are showing in the way you twist and turn, and dodge in and out of the truth of the scriptures? DO YOU REALLY THINK THIS IS FRUIT UNTO GOD?:naughty

Pr 12:13 ¶ The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.
14 ¶ A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompence of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him.
15 ¶ The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.
16 ¶ A fool's wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame.
17 ¶ He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.
18 ¶ There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.
19 ¶ The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.
Where in any of what I wrote could you have possibly come up with the idea that I believed that Paul only had parts of the truth. I have continually said the opposite. There is nothing in the Bible I do not believe or is there anything there that conflicts with my religion. Talk about twisting things. Are your arguments so weak that you have to pretend that I have said things I have not said in order to know how to argue against me?

Just because 2000 years later, we do not have everything he taught, does not mean it wasn't ever taught. Please try harder to understand what I am saying. How can you possibly expect that everything Paul ever taught is contained in a few 2000 year old letters? I showed you how Galatians makes it very clear that we cannot possibly have all he taught and that the verse you keep referring to is talking about stuff we have no record of. Why don't you address that fact?

This is just to ignore the rest of the epistles and to act as if we dont know what gospel Paul was speaking, is just dishonest. Another example of mormon fruit.
 
Just because 2000 years later, we do not have everything he taught, does not mean it wasn't ever taught. Please try harder to understand what I am saying. How can you possibly expect that everything Paul ever taught is contained in a few 2000 year old letters? I showed you how Galatians makes it very clear that we cannot possibly have all he taught and that the verse you keep referring to is talking about stuff we have no record of. Why don't you address that fact?

This is just to ignore the rest of the epistles and to act as if we dont know what gospel Paul was speaking, is just dishonest. Another example of mormon fruit.
George, I believe you are a good man trying to do good. The concept I am trying to introduce you to is obviously too different from the traditions and assumptions you are accustomed to. I think at this point we just need to agree to disagree on this question about Paul. But just because we have different points of view on this, does not mean that either one of us dismisses the Bible or any part of it. We just see it differently. I really do appreciate learning your perspective. It is an approach to the epistles of Paul I have not been exposed to as yet. Thanks for sharing.
 
The concept I am trying to introduce you to is obviously too different from the traditions and assumptions you are accustomed to
:lol
Yes, ignoring the clear and evident reading of Gods Word, is not a practice I am willing to accept or be "introduced" to.
 
So, as to keeping the Commandments in 24/7 thing for the rest of our lives—it just isn’t going to happen because of our sin nature and at the end of our lives, we have lost the battle as to always keeping the Commandments and thus according to your response, we didn’t love Christ as we should have—also according to Mormon Doctrine. With all that, “total repentance†never happens because we keep breaking the "Law". We are simply lost without the continuing Grace of Christ..

Some of the ex-mormons I have heard have such a real understanding of Gods grace, because of the great bondage that was laid upon them by this group.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Amazing Grace to you brother.

I liken it to being released from a Prison of sorts or going from an existence where one was previously under this dark, consuming cloud and suddenly finding the sunshine. My whole Journey out of the Church started with the death of my 19 year old son where God really got my attention and yes God's Grace, the Peace that passes all understanding and so many other Blessings in God helping me to find the True Christ of the Bible are really becoming far more clear to me.
 
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