Hello, all.

[Bad Writer]

I don't think it makes any difference now, but what's interesting about some of the arguments I put forth is that many Mormons really do hold views of the Bible the way my sockpuppet did.

[fr0d0]

Yeah it'd be good to hear from someone that actually understands what they believe.

We had a Mormon on here a long time ago, who left to go on a mission, unsurprisingly.
Annoyed the hell out of me lol. The atheists quite liked him.

[Bad Writer]

Yeah it'd be good to hear from someone that actually understands what they believe.

Unfortunately, many Mormons later on in their lives are taught to lie for the Lord. I'm not talking about the regular Church-goers who generally just know the teachings on the surface of the Church, but the guys higher up, like the Stake Presidents and General Authorities.

The last President, Gordon B. Hinckley, was asked point blank by a reporter if he believed that men could become gods. To paraphrase, he replied that he didn't know that the Church ever taught that. This was a bold-faced lie, but, at the time of the interview, a lot was at stake for the Church. There were the 2000 Olympics, the newer, stronger emphasis of showing others that Christ was a central figure in their Church, and the missionary effort was bigger and better than every before. To have the public know of a doctrine such as "Eternal Progression" would have hindered Church progress, so he thought.

The opposite is true: it's the information age, and people can type stuff into Google and find out the facts in an instant. If you search for, "Can Mormons become Gods?", you will for a certainty come up with a positive hit on their actual doctrine about it. Mitt Romney made this same mistake during his presidential campaign as well, surprise, surprise. Again, he had a lot at stake, and he thought the benefits of lying outweighed the negatives.

We had a Mormon on here a long time ago, who left to go on a mission, unsurprisingly.
Annoyed the hell out of me lol. The atheists quite liked him.

I wish I had been here for that.

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They are strictly prohibited from coming to places like this. They cannot read any literature that is not first approved by their Church.

More accurately, they are warned against reading any religious literature that does not originate from the organization. To do so is to flirt with apostasy, and that is effectively a hanging offense.

Thanks for the clarification. I ran into a lot of JWs while I was on a Mormon Mission in Poland, so I only heard bits and pieces of what they believed. Is it true that they believe the 2nd Coming of Christ already happened?

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How is the Mormon Trinity different then?

Ah, I found a PP leftover question that went unanswered.

The Mormon Trinity is not a Trinity because the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost do not occupy one space. How they are considered one is in purpose only, and so the Mormons renamed this trio "The Godhead". That's really all there is to it.

[fr0d0]

In Christianity it's the Godhead too. God in three persons. The theology is extremely close to Christianity I find.

That's the hook isn't it. They get you in with the love message, and slowly it gets weird.

The secrecy is a huge problem. Laughable in this information age, and hopefully to be exposed further. Whackos seem to survive though.

[CleanShavenJesus]

What if this wasn't BadW's fault? What if we're witnessing a Fight Club plot twist?

[Bad Writer]

What if this wasn't BadW's fault? What if we're witnessing a Fight Club plot twist?

Oh, poppycock and hogwash!

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In Christianity it's the Godhead too. God in three persons. The theology is extremely close to Christianity I find.

That's the hook isn't it. They get you in with the love message, and slowly it gets weird.

The secrecy is a huge problem. Laughable in this information age, and hopefully to be exposed further. Whackos seem to survive though.

I had my entire childhood to absorb the weird and to simply be okay with it. Saying things like "Baptisms for the Dead" or "In the Pre-existence, we elected to have Jesus Christ be our Savior" become commonplace. Hell, I even knew what I was going to name my future planet. (I can't remember the name anymore though, ha!)

[Tonus]

Thanks for the clarification. I ran into a lot of JWs while I was on a Mormon Mission in Poland, so I only heard bits and pieces of what they believed. Is it true that they believe the 2nd Coming of Christ already happened?

Yes, that is their belief. If you are a present-day JW and you avoid any message but that of the Watchtower Society, you believe that Jesus began his heavenly reign in 1914 and that this was the start of the end times (last days, final hour, etc). You believe that this was what Charles Russell (founder of the group that became the Jehovah's Witnesses) believed and taught and that it hasn't changed since it was revealed to him.

If you happen to go elsewhere for your information, you will learn that the date of that second coming varied significantly throughout Russell's lifetime, and his belief was that the end times would officially end in 1914 with the battle of Armageddon. He died in 1916, figuring that the end was still pretty close, even if he'd missed the mark.

I once told another JW on a different forum that there's a reason the Watchtower Society doesn't release Commemorative Editions of their older literature, even though they often quoted from it in their current publications. Russell's writings varied from being odd to being outright bizarre, and the WTS has abandoned nearly everything that he taught, and revised their history to keep the membership from knowing that.