gdp's Comments

Mormon Coffee : Why Join the Mormon Church?

Fri, 13 May 2011 05:49:10 +0000

"Christ never made a penny teaching his message, why should man? This I agree, the Mormons have right. Gods message should be free to all." I don´t know, Lee, when was the last time you went to a regular Christian Church and they charged you a price of admission? Mormons do require that money be paid for someone to receive the highest of blessings in the temple. People give money because they want to, voluntarily, just like you do to your church even though you don´t have a clue where the money will end up at. Also your church is a billion dollar corporation, so, quit with the hypocrisy. "I know Mormon people, and their life centers fully around Christ Sorry, but that´s a lie. Their lives are centered around their families. Jesus only enables you to progress to godhood, it´s your family plus jesus that make it possible. Jesus divides worship not just with joseph but with you yourselves. " It is the one that makes the most sense if you really have the intelligence to truly understand Christ message in the New testament." Oh, really? So why is its membership declining? A bit prideful, aren´t you? Actually mormonism doesn´t make sense at all unless you´re willing to discard the Bible and believe every wind of doctrine, false doctrine for that matter, coming from wolves in sheep´s clothing. "and I think the Mormons just might have a head start on these facts!" No, you don´t. So, tell me, can you be a Christ follower without belonging to the mormon church? Another deception is this: "He says he was told none of them was Gods true church. Not that the religions all lied, but none was the whole truth." Actually if you read the account in the Pearl of Great Price, god tells Joseph that their creeds are an abomination and their preachers are all corrupt. What you´re saying is nothing but PR spin designed to get people more comfortable around mormons and to allow them to teach their message. I don´t understand why mormons who show up here are always so mad at pastors for living off of preaching the Gospel while their apostles do the same thing. They say that they live the law of consecration, meaning that they donate all they have to the church and start living off of an allowance, a set amount of money nobody knows how much, but in a way that nothing actually belongs to them. Now, why the secrecy? Why isn´t it openly publicized how much they receive? Is it because people would be revolted at the immorally high allowances that they take supposedly just for themselves and their wives? I doubt people would still believe in the church´s divinity if they were aware of the behind the scenes stuff that goes on. That´s what´s great about the Bible, its writers, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, didn´t pull any punches, they said it like it was, even the most terrible shameful stuff - they cared for truth, may that be a lesson to the mormon church as its membership keeps on shrinking and most people get baptized and go inactive.

Mormon Coffee : Why Join the Mormon Church?

Fri, 13 May 2011 05:24:31 +0000

When i was having my crisis of faith while still attending the church with my family, there was this one testimony meeting when my mother asked me to give my testimony and i said ok. She then completed: "but it can´t be just about Jesus, just that isn´t enough". From what i understand, many denominations believe in Jesus, that´s why it isn´t enough to believe Him, you also have to believe His supposed sanctioned denomination aka the one true church.

Mormon Coffee : Thomas Monson's To Do List (for you)

Fri, 13 May 2011 04:44:33 +0000

"So how many "active" Mormons actually get into this do program?" As far as i know, Mormons only use General Conference like the girl mentioned above, just to say how cool they are for having a living prophet... but i dare you to ask one of them, a week after General Conference, what were the words of the prophets, and they´ll stare at you blank. They will use general conference themes in their regular sunday talks all year long, and yet, it´s just more of the same self-improvement stuff that people have tried and failed at so many times that they don´t even care anymore. When i asked some of my mormon friends about what they needed to do to be exalted all they said was that they needed baptism, priesthood, temple covenants and go to church and take the sacrament - that was it! So, honestly, while they think it´s great to listen to Thomas Monson because he´s the symbol of all the church stands for, and by association their lives, they, as i´ve known mormons throughout my life, don´t really care about that extra stuff - that´s like walking the second mile while they haven´t come close to walking the first yet.

Mormon Coffee : Thomas Monson's To Do List (for you)

Fri, 13 May 2011 04:29:52 +0000

Falcon, they don´t even have the guts to affirm what they believe openly in national TV! What better opportunity can someone have than one of the most watched talkshows of all time to openly speak about your beliefs and to exhort people to listen and join your church. Yet the "prophet" ran away from it like a coward, hiding behind lies and lame excuses. God sure doesn´t cause the same impression on the prophets today the same way He did with the prophets of the past who actually feared Him. But hey, GBH was a nice man anyways, right - it´s all about how magical his life with his wife was... that´s the gospel, isn´t it? I mean, Mormons in general don´t care about forgiveness of sins unless it´s one of the big ones... so, the true Gospel takes a back seat to the gospel of the eternal families. Also the reason why they don´t clarify old teachings is probably because they don´t even understand it themselves and if they start to speak about it they´ll let everybody know they don´t have a clue - so, they do like Apple does - use the reality distortion field to make people think they´re awesome, and of course, keep them distracted with all those cool doctrines that they must do, because, remember, how will you understand the deep doctrines if you don´t even keep the most basic commandments? Silly you...

Mormon Coffee : Thomas Monson's To Do List (for you)

Fri, 13 May 2011 04:18:23 +0000

Rick, that was a great comment that exposes their hypocrisy. All of that is just propaganda - you repeat it all the time until people buy into the idea and stop thinking for themselves. They don´t even open the Bible to actually understand the Gospel, since all they need to know is what the current prophet is teaching for them at the present time, and it´s ok to dismiss past teachings that were for other generations, such as the teachings of BY concerning Adam-god, blood atonement, etc. See, God allows them to make mistakes, and to misunderstand revelation, etc. so, it´s no really their fault, they were never false prophets regardless... For them Jesus did His part, now they´re up, it´s their turn to do theirs - to work their way into godhood.

Mormon Coffee : Thomas Monson's To Do List (for you)

Fri, 13 May 2011 04:15:21 +0000

You hit the nail in the head. As Paul said " I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" -Galatians 2:21

Mormon Coffee : Thomas Monson's To Do List (for you)

Fri, 13 May 2011 04:11:05 +0000

"Of all mortal men, we should keep our eyes most firmly fixed on the captain, the prophet, seer, and revelator, and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So, i guess Jesus isn´t enough. In some way the statement above is somewhat a confession of guilt, of their sinfulness. In other words they are saying since Jesus was perfect and you´ll never be like Him, the next best thing is supposedly the "prophet", so keep your eyes on him instead. That´s what you get when you have leaders who never studied theology in their lives and have no idea what the Biblical Gospel is. One of the many problems with that is that the "prophet" is just as much of a wretched sinner as you are. If the Apostle Paul called himself the chief of sinners who does Thomas Monson think he is and why should i look to him as a guide to my life, as if he sets some kind of standard supposed to replace Jesus´ perfect standard? Jesus well said "And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased"

Mormon Coffee : Thomas Monson's To Do List (for you)

Fri, 13 May 2011 04:00:38 +0000

That´s one of the aspects that upsets me the most - that idea that there are laws above God Himself which He has to obey, or else... That´s so blasphemous, and yet mormons speak of it as the most normal, natural doctrine, as if it was even logic in some disturbing sense. Whatever... What drives me crazy the most is when i hear someone talking about how God has to do such and such because He´s obligated by eternal laws... what a powerless god. Can you imagine a mormon praying and their god answering: "Sorry, son, i couldn´t get to you sooner because of the bureaucracy required by these eternal laws, and you know, i have to obey them if i want to stay god, so, i´ll try to answer your prayers better the next time. Could you hold on after the amen to answer a quality control survey, that´s a council of god´s idea, they want to start evaluating our service, they are trying to determine why so many people are leaving mormonism..." Seriously...

Mormon Coffee : Thomas Monson's To Do List (for you)

Fri, 13 May 2011 03:55:44 +0000

That´s the "simple" Gospel? And that´s for last General Conference, would someone who has a lot of time in his hands please compile a list of the things required not only by the prophet but also by the "apostles", because after all their word is supposed to be as authoritative as that of the prophet. Also, why are there modern apostles again? I thought the original Apostles were called to preach the Gospel in its purity as they heard it from Jesus Himself, and to bear witness of who He was, His works and His bodily resurrection... but those so-called apostles haven´t lived with Jesus, they weren´t taught by Jesus in person, they learned what they know just like everyone else, they are not even witnesses of Jesus´ bodily resurrection, i mean, even the Gospel Principles manual now says they´re special witnesses of the name of Christ. Gone are the days when mormons believed their apostles and prophets actually saw and talked with Jesus in person.

Mormon Coffee : Keeping “our radar focused” on the membership

Sun, 1 May 2011 05:02:13 +0000

If people couldn´t lose their faith, why did Jesus warned people about wolves in sheep´s clothing? Why was Paul so upset with the galatians for accepting a false Gospel? What about enduring to the end? Seriously...

Mormon Coffee : Keeping “our radar focused” on the membership

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 23:57:46 +0000

I am a single adult, the target audience of that article. That´s not new - that´s something that´s been a concern of the leadership for over a couple of years now. I remember hearing from the leaders that the first presidency was concerned for the single adults, so our bishop called a married couple to be the single adults´ leaders. I thought that was ridiculous... but they tried to get everyone to go to the institute. I wanted to tell them to take a hike, but of course, like Kate, i didn´t have the courage, and i was still a faithful member at the time - yet i made up some excuse and got them to forget about me. They treated us as if we were still part of the young men´s organization - i was so angry about it, i was so upset because they were treating us like kids trying to organize activities for us and telling us what to do on saturdays, etc. I´ll do whatever i well please - get off my back!!!!!!! If i want to get together with my church friends i got their number, thanks!!!!!! No wonder the single adults are getting out, they manage to drive them insane! That´s when they are not making them feel horrible for not finding their eternal companion. That initiative would only have a chance of succeeding if the leadership were also single adults, to lighten things up a bit, but i know that´s against the rules of the priesthood - so, just let them do it, they´ll end up driving more single adults out the door if they had just left quiet, or at least had the decency to acknowledge they are adults capable of making their decisions and if they are deciding to leave it´s because there´s something wrong with you, not with them... Besides, why would a single adult these days sit in a church that does nothing more than give life-improving tips i can get from any self-help book? Why would they waste time in a place that doesn´t feed you spiritually, that promises and never delivers, that instead of being an aid and a source of comfort and solace it´s a source of even more burden? If i want tips on how to better manage my time, i´ll buy a book. If i want to get entertained, i´ll watch a movie. I don´t need religion for that. The reason that i, even though we are in the information age, with more entertainment and interesting stuff than was ever available in human history so far, still am interested in Jesus is because of the Gospel, not the politically correct Gospel, but the true Gospel that tells it as it is and offers me forgiveness from my sins through faith in Jesus and the promise of Eternal life in Him. So, men in their wisdom will keep trying to devise means to keep people paying their tithing, but all those techniques will fail - do you want to keep people? Preach the Gospel as the Apostles did in the New Testament. Talk about Jesus with respect and truthfully. That´s all the Apostles ever talked about - and look at what happened then!

Mormon Coffee : Keeping “our radar focused” on the membership

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 23:38:34 +0000

"I think this specific age-range is a source of sadness for those of us of the Christian faith" I agree, and as i thought about that, one of the reasons i think that is is because churches haven´t been too concerned about preaching the Gospel, but have resorted to church growth techniques, becoming 'seeker'-driven, 'purpose'-driven, taking the focus off Jesus and placing it on themselves and their 'good' works. It´s important to remember that a dead tree can´t bear fruit. We are dead in our sins, and only the Word of God can bring us back to life so that we can bear fruit. Mormonism tries the opposite, they try to make you first bear the fruit in the hopes that in the process you´ll become alive... it never works, and it never will. It doesn´t matter how many hours of service you put into your callings, that you attend every single meeting, that you pay your tithing, etc., if you´re not born again you won´t bear fruit... you can try if you want to, but inside you´ll still know you´re dead spiritually. Also, those mormon spiritual feelings are like any addiction, you have to keep getting more otherwise you´ll lose interest in the faith.

Mormon Coffee : Keeping “our radar focused” on the membership

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 23:31:16 +0000

Falcon, a few years from now mormons will be talking about that as if they were speaking just as men, using their own intellect... nevermind the people today take that as inspired. It´s funny to see those 'inspired' ideas fail, and then to watch as they come up with the reason why they missed the mark...

Mormon Coffee : Keeping “our radar focused” on the membership

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 23:28:41 +0000

" So they are showing some concern however belated" Clyde, what concern were they showing? From what i read they were more interested about doing as they were told than in actually caring about people, and just loving them for who they are... "As far as the single ward goes there are problems with meeting your mate" Right, and because they are children, you have to tell them where to go to meet people... can you imagine if you find someone wonderful there and that someone breaks up with you... where will you go to find someone where you won´t have to stare at your ex´s face? That´s nice... but hey, whatever, God seems to be bored about new crazy ideas such as Himself being a man, and He decided to be a match maker, giving useful 'dating' tips to his "apostles" and "prophets"... yeah, right.

Mormon Coffee : Keeping “our radar focused” on the membership

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:53:46 +0000

"OK guys, I'm a little creeped out right now" A little? They are coming out as a full blown cult! Isn´t it enough to force people to attend their designated ward? I remember having a hard time in my mission with people from other wards who were going to church with their friends in their respective wards. When they wanted to be baptized they were told they could no longer attend church with their friends but had to go to the ward in their area... That was sad and pathetic enough but at least it was somewhat excusable, because of size of people a chapel can take, callings to be filled in, etc. But that´s ridiculous! I´m glad here we don´t even have enough faithful tithe-paying temple going single adult members to begin thinking about one singles wards, let alone this. "After all, could it be that single members were doing their best to find mates by looking outside of their own restricted boundaries?" Right, that happens around here as well, i don´t see what´s the problem. That gives headaches to bishops who have to deal with both the fact that they want they want their single adults married but at the same time they need people who can work in the ward... I´ve seen young men getting a hard time from bishops for doing that, there was one guy who almost said some indelicate things once... I have a suggestion for the Mormon Church, why don´t you implant RFID chips in your membership(which will include temple worthiness status as well so that they can determine if you´re celestial marriage material or just telestial), set up a police(you could use those BYU apologists - they do magic with so little), and make sure to block their passage in wards where they are not supposed to be! And they get upset when people call them a cult! Go figure...

Mormon Coffee : Feelings surpass everything?

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:48:43 +0000

Eric, that´s one of my dreams, to go on a tour through the Holy Land. Good luck with the tour and please post as many pictures and videos as possible!

Mormon Coffee : Feelings surpass everything?

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:45:48 +0000

Rick, let me ask you something. I agree with you about feelings, yet i´m sincerely puzzled by hearing about people´s experience in situation in which apparently God intervened. For example, i´ve heard recently from a close relative a story in which he had left some money at home, and yet during the day he felt he should deposit it in the Bank. He didn´t want to because he was going to need that money later, but that impression kept on nagging him until he decided he had to deposit the money. Later at night he went out and hours later when he came back, the house had been robbed. Because he listened to that "feeling" he avoided losing his hard-earned money. Many mormons and non-mormons as well have lots of those experiences to share, and those feelings came and helped them, prevented an accident, or something that would be harmful. What do you think about that - are those feelings/impressions from God? I don´t know what to think about that other than it isn´t right to say that God blessed you with such a warning because you were righteous, or because you´re a mormon or belong to a specific denomination. Yet i see how that could be confusing if you don´t have a solid biblical foundation.

Mormon Coffee : Rebecca Swain Williams: More To Her Story

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 04:56:46 +0000

Kate, take a look yourself: "An Apostle is a special witness of the name of Jesus Christ in all the world (see D&C 107:23). The Apostles administer the affairs of the Church throughout the world. Those who are ordained to the office of Apostle in the Melchizedek Priesthood are usually set apart as members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Each one is given all the keys of the kingdom of God on earth, but only the senior Apostle, who is President of the Church, actively exercises all of the keys. The others act under his direction." link - http://lds.org/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-1... Usually set apart as members of the quorum of the twelve? When hasn´t that happened? I wish they´d provide an example of an "Apostle" not set apart as member of the twelve. Amazing, huh? But no, it doesn´t raise red flags, people barely care about it.

Mormon Coffee : Rebecca Swain Williams: More To Her Story

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 04:53:14 +0000

"But my original comment was not about doctrine and I am not really interested in having that discussion in this forum. I was merely pointing out my interest in a one sided blog crtiquing an article for being one sided." I wasn´t expecting such a discussion either, i was just exposing your one sided view of one-sidedness. You really support gay marriage, and you can tell people that without getting in trouble with your bishop??? Wow, signs of the times...

Mormon Coffee : Rebecca Swain Williams: More To Her Story

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 22:17:50 +0000

Mikey´s problem is that he isn´t looking for truth. Truth doesn´t have to be faith promoting or not. If your religion is true, truth will confirm your faith. If it isn´t, then truth will expose it for what it truly is. When the light of truth shines on mormonism, it exposes it as the deception it is. The only way to sustain it is to omit the admittedly true, but non-faith promoting aspects of it. Now, stop to think about it. Those things are true according to the mormon church itself, and yet they don´t confirm your faith in what you believe, on the contrary, they damage it - what does that tell you? If you answered "it tells you you´re being deceived" you got it. The only way to preach mormonism in a way that people would feel compelled to join is through omission of its true history and deep doctrines. The very practice of building on common beliefs is deceptive since mormon terms are not clarified for what they really mean. Mormon missionaries let investigators think that they are preaching about the same Jesus of history. They let people think that they are using the same words with the same meanings. They need to do that to persuade people to open their defenses so they can actually read the book of Mormon and go to church and be overwhelmed by the whole emotional-spiritual experience it provides. Otherwise, nobody would open that door to such danger. Now ask yourselves, is that how Jesus preaches His Gospel? Through deceptive sneaky tactics like those? I think Jesus and the Apostles would be offended to be compared to salesmen, but mormons don´t seem to have a problem with it, as long as they are baptizing.