Joseph Smiths Transition
Joseph Smith was very complex person and did have severe character flaws. He remained confused for years, but would soon exuberate extreme certainty that would inspire others. He was torn by spiritual confusion in his family and environment. He had to deal with the conflicting religious persuasions between his parents, his wife Emma and father in law and he was desperately poor. He did become a Methodist and bolted when they demanded confession for repentance. So in the end Joseph transitioned from doubt to certainty or so it appears on the outside and he changed poverty to prosperity. It worked very well for him. He attracted a faith following of thousands and then tens of thousands and in true Jewish manner he build faith communities. After his death millions, which has secured Joseph a place in history. Joseph Smith's Jesus In Josephs scriptures attributed to Jesus Christ he has denounced masonry and then embraced it later. He did not give up magic either as he continued in scrying and wore a talisman until the end of his life. For him the spirit world seemed to have a bright and sinister aspect at the same time. He talked about it in the first vision as well as in his final days of polygamy (a fear of destruction may have been a real aspect of being demonized). Since Jesus Christ allegedly is speaking verbatimly in Josephs scriptures he appears to be a false Christ. This is a Christ that commands plural marriage and masonic oaths and is capricious inasmuch as he constantly needs to fix his doctrines. Today's Mormon Jesus Today's Top 15 LDS Leaders (TSCC) do not make a video of Jesus being married, which is the #1 LDS requirement for being a God. I do really struggle to see Jesus coming to the RLDS temple in Missouri and wearing LDS temple robes. But that would be more genuinely and uniquely Mormon - right ? Why doesn't Pr Monson pick up the seer stone from the churches vault to find answers on how to fix conflicting Mormon doctrines ? The Mormon dilemma comes from within rather than from outside. And the church keeps marching on The Church has grown to 15 Million on the record, but real net church growth is nowadays is near zero. In essence when it comes to active members the church looses all its gains from converts as an equal amount of members drifts into inactivity or resigns. So the church growths organically only (fertility). As a missional faith it virtually stagnates in spite of having 60 000 to 80 000 full time missionaries on the ground. Utah Stats (Wiki) A majority of the state's residents are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). As of 2012, 62.2% of Utahns are counted as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, although only 41.6% of them are active members (4,815 congregations). Utah's birth rate is 25 percent higher than the national average The three largest denominational groups in Utah are
According to a report produced by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life the self-identified religious affiliations of Utahns over the age of 18 as of 2008 are:[10]
According to a Gallup poll, Utah had the 2nd-highest number of people reporting as "Very Religious" in 2011, at 57% (trailing only Mississippi). However, it also had a higher rate of people reporting as "Nonreligious" (28%) than any of the other "most religious" states, and the smallest percentage of people reporting as "Moderately Religious" (15%) of any state.[62] I was picking up a youtube video that makes such a sensational claim. In my opinion the annual resignation rate is more likely under 10 000 ! Any opinions what could be a credible figure ? The LDS Church does not report resignations. Naturally we should be able to calculate the compound figure for Deaths and Resignations from LDS stats and then deduct the Deaths based on national stats. An attempt to do so has proven futile, because LDS stats a fudged. Details under the title "LDS membership almost stagnates" on http://www.xmormon.net/
Source material The Book of Mormon features strong on facebook and The Book Of Mormon On Broadway seems to appeal to a wider audience. Faithful LDS voices that take issue are far outnumbered. A sweet LDS lady missionary from the Ukraine gave it 5 stars and has posted her facebook page there to raise funds for the street orphans in Albania. I would love you to support her. Those who have stopped paying tithes as I did would have a nice humanitarian aid budget now. See Lizzy's campaign on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mormontruth . Engaging with musical lovers on social media may work for xmo's as well, but once again we are no match in numbers or organisation for the LDS.org. I have just written a review and posted on youtube and facebook.
"I believe" has a catchy tune and appealing title. It's lyrics actually are a pretty accurate description of faith issues that in fairness include the wider spectrum of bizarre Mormon doctrines that are challenging to accept. And the song credibly fleshes out the struggle of a teen age missionary to keep his faith inspite of intellectual dissonance. He seems to have found an answer that works for many Mormons, but not all. Currently the LDS church has 83 000 missionaries aged 18+. Sadly a profanity beeb had to be inserted in this religious theme. Check out some of its award winning songs on youtube and google "xmormon". The Like / Dislike ratio is about 30 to 1 (Like 7,420 - Dislike 262 in Apr-2014) xmormon dot net Dissenting Mormons still number less than 15 000. The largest group is on on reddit has less than 13 500 subscribers ! http://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon https://www.facebook.com/mormonstories (John Dehlins page 4089 Likes) https://www.facebook.com/groups/mormonstories (4358 Members) http://mormonstories.org/ The Mormon Noah shows a unique approach by Joseph Smith to marry Jewish Orthodoxy with New Testament Christianity. It shows Joseph Smith's Syncretism as a Fundamentalist orthodox believer and Mystical innovator at the same time. Unfortunately there was no global flood. Many cultures where in bloom at that time and continued. More likely there was a local flood and Noah may have been adopted from a widespread antique legend that may contain an element of truth. Compare LDS teaching with Christian attempts to argue for a local flood.
I have read that 85% of the Mormon Converts come from the Christian Camp. Considering that converts are made to doubt their salvation and get induced to change their religious affiliation based on misinformation and withholding vital information is quite tragic. Converts are made by 83000 missionaries (2013) preaching the epiphany below. Some call it sheep stealing.
19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me (Jesus Christ) said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” |
>xmo (blog)The Jesus of the Gospels (John)
By Walter from Melbourne
I stopped attending the LDS church in 1995 and formally left in 2014 as a matter of integrity cause I would no longer live the extensions of the Mormon faith. I love and respect Mormons and wish them well on their path to keep seeking the truth that matters most and trust that the LDS church will continue to further reform from within. We have already seen signs of the rolling back of some masonic tenets of the faith. Is the Mormon foundational story confined to the realms of the imaginary with eternal truth embedded in fiction ? Then you are on a path of exploring deeper spiritual truth ! Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life John 14:6 Videos & WebsitesSupport Site IRR Archives
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