Happy Howl-o-ween!

you know those little critical thinking questions that they had at the end of short stories in literature textbooks? we should start putting those in posts. i miss them,,,,,,

questions:

what call to action is the author arguing for?

why does this work lack capitalization? what might this tell you about the author? what might this tell you about the context this work is meant to be read in?

is the addition of the questions self referential? does that make this post humorous? how so? how would the post be different without the addition of the questions?

many problems are caused by the mindset that the world is divided into good people and bad people and the bad people can be "found out" and removed, eventually leading to a utopia containing only good people.

"He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come see the place where He lay."

This is so important!!

The only conspiracy theory I'm interested in is why the heart-shaped Reese's taste better than the original ones.

Being LDS on this website that’s obsessed with finding fault in different groups of people means you’re subjected — semi-frequently, at complete random, and by random blogs so you can’t follow a pattern back to one person to unfollow — to posts that are like

“Mormonism is a cult because-" *insert a) something the church doesn’t teach, b) a claim about how the church is controlling and forces its members to do things they don’t make you do, like cut off contact with nonmembers or something similarly crazy, or c) completely innocuous thing that’s completely normal for any religion to ask of its adherents*

“Mormons are crazy because-" *insert a) something that has literally never been taught as doctrine ever that was either made up about us or spread by weird members in the past who didn’t know what they were talking about and people held onto that instead of listening to corrections regarding it, or b) something taken wildly out of context or worded in a way to purposefully make it sound nuts and which makes way more sense if you’d actually bother to listen to someone try to explain it*

“Exmo here, yeah the church is horrible because-" *insert a) personal experience with individuals doing xyz that is certainly unfortunate but has nothing to do with the church as a whole or its doctrine, or b) wild claims that you KNOW this person is lying about because you literally grew up in the same faith as they did and were taught the same things and you know they’re spouting some serious garbage about what we supposedly believe but of course everyone is going to trust the person who talks like a cult survivor so there’s nothing you can do about it*

And you sit there having to either ignore it (DIFFICULT) or find the courage to message the person who reblogged it to gently explain why the post is wrong (does not go well half the time).

No, the church does not fit the BITE model for a cult (literally the only few parts of the list you could say it matches are the few that are true of literally any religion and do not scream ‘cult’). No, you do not need a lawyer to get your records removed, anyone offering those services is scamming you for money because you can literally just ask your local leaders to have it done. No, we do not genuinely believe that insane Bigfoot Cain folk story or anything else like it. And frankly, sometimes people who leave just lie. That happens. It does not make me brainwashed to say that someone who left the church and is spreading obvious crap about things we don’t really teach or believe is indeed lying and it’s frustrating to no end that the automatic reaction from so many people is that you must be the crazy one, meanwhile you’re sitting there being gaslit about your own beliefs as they go ‘Mormons teach/believe xyz’ ‘no we don’t’ ‘yes you do’ ‘we literally don’t though’ ‘shut up you’re just brainwashed’ ‘????’. Have you ever seen a divorced person spread bad rumors about their ex that are not true? Yeah.

(And before anyone goes, ‘Hey, she’s trying to invalidate the stories of people who left, that’s clearly a cultist!’, I’m referring strictly to people who make false claims about what we teach that can be easily verified as false. There are bitter people out there who do that. I’m all for listening to people who have had bad experiences with other members in the church, absolutely nothing but sympathy and love towards those who have genuinely been hurt in one way or another, and yes there are cultural things especially in Utah that have needed or still do need shifting. But as always, the same is true of literally any religion or just any group of human beings in general because a lot of the time human beings kind of suck. The church isn’t special for this. It’s just as filled with flawed people who need to repent as any other group of people on the planet and that’s no secret. There’s a reason we’re always encouraged by our leaders to continue to become better and to try to be more Christlike than we often are, and the vast majority of members are absolutely trying to live by that and it’s not fair to judge those millions of people by the ones who don’t behave as they should. You can believe the stories of people who have had bad experiences without making out 16 million other people to be horrible. Everything would be a cult if the qualification for that was to have some bad apples in your midst.)

It doesn’t take much to look at different sources to see if there’s another side to a story or another explanation for something that sounds weird. You don’t even have to look through church websites for it, you can literally just ask members if you know any. In fact PLEASE just ask us because I lose my mind a little more every time I see someone just looking at sources that are total confirmation biases against us. Ask faithful, practicing members if they’re really forced to do xyz or ask them to explain something weird you heard. We’re not exactly secretive or shy about explaining our beliefs (hence the missionaries lol), we’ll do it. Heck, I’ve got anxiety through the roof about answering questions because I’m scared I’ll word something poorly but even I will still do it, I’d rather face my fears and respond imperfectly than let someone go around thinking something that’s not true. As long as you’re asking genuinely out of curiosity to hear our perspective and not trying to just poke at our faith and be a jerk, you’ll get people who are willing to answer you and have a reasonable discussion without trying to convert you or something.

Aaaanyway. If you couldn’t tell, I’ve now seen two different posts from two different people today being negative about my faith, so. I’m tired. If you’re so inclined please pray for my ability to feel close to Christ, have love for people I disagree with, and be patient with nonsense lol. Goodness knows I need help with that sometimes. Especially right now since I apparently had enough frustration in me to write this whole thing lol.

there was a railway accident

The best part about getting married is that I am not sharing my best self with someone; I am sharing my whole self. So I told him I had diarrhea and I tell him I think my classroom management would go a lot better if I could (playfully, carefully) pick them up by their ankles. I love him fiercely and despise those that don't, and my heart gets all gooey just looking at him. When I'm sad a lifetime of relaxation and coping methods are now useless compared to him just holding me.

Building a relationship of mutual love, trust, reliance, and commitment is dope.

I've got to get to bed, so forgive my not giving a proper, thoughtful, full response. I'd like to say that I'll get back to this in the morning, but I know myself and it would be just like me to get distracted

Regardless:

I am one of the people y'all are talking about; a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ("LDS").

I really, really appreciate this thoughtful, well-sourced doctrinal discussion. It's incredibly classy of you. I hope you will forgive me not responding in kind (with such thoughtful length and depth of consideration); again, I have an early wake up tomorrow and am already staying up too late to type this out.

Suffice to say there is so much that we agree on. I worry that as I try to type out my beliefs and share my experiences that I will fall short of expressing myself with the clarity that sacred topics deserve. In fact, that is virtually guaranteed, that I will fall short.

With patience on your end, I present my own ineloquent summary of a response:

I do believe in Jesus Christ.

C. S. Lewis had a rather lovely quote about Christianity being the light by which he sees the world. I would echo that sentiment. I feel that in my own experiences of falling short, and failing, and suffering and mourning (as one does in life), I have come to, at least in a small way, forge a real relationship with Him. Jesus Christ, His Atonement, and His grace has made all the difference in my life.

(I have a strong idea of the sort of person I would have become without Him; suffice to say she would have made herself and all around her miserable, and we're all better off without her ever having existed).

I suppose I cannot decide for everyone what the ultimate, true-iest definition of "Christian" is. I do however think that at least for myself, since I have been so changed and uplifted by Him, and I sure do intend to keep trying to be changed by Him, that I will keep on thinking of and calling myself a Christian.

The LDS Church is not Christian because their beliefs about God and salvation do not line up with the Scriptures, the divinely inspired and inerrant Word of God.

Joseph Smith was approached by an angel, claimed to have been given tablets and wrote the Book of Mormon from them, and said he was told to restore the one, true church that was lost for around 1,800 years.

The LDS Church believes that Jesus is separate from God the Father, that God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not one God but 3 totally separate persons. A lot of bible believing churches will use the language of one God, 3 persons and will refer to Jesus as being fully God and fully man. The LDS Church, however, does not say that. Instead, they say:

We believe Jesus is the Son of God the Father and as such inherited powers of godhood and divinity from His Father, including immortality, the capacity to live forever. While He walked the dusty roads of Palestine as a man, He possessed the powers of a God and ministered as one having authority, including power over the elements and even power over life and death. https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/what-mormons-believe-about-jesus-christ

The implication is that Jesus is not, in fact, one with the Father as the Bible says.

John 1: 1-5 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it

In this passage, and throughout John and the rest of the Gospels and the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as being one with God and God himself. And if Jesus and God the Father are of the same nature, the Spirit is of the same nature as them and is one with them as well.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This, and the entire work and ministry of Jesus, contradicts the idea that Jesus came into being separately from God the Father, and that the Spirit is a separate entity altogether, which is part of the message that Joseph Smith received from the angel.

The LDS Church also believes that we must work to our own salvation before God will save us.

The Lord cannot save men in their sins but only from their sins - Spencer Kimball, Miracles of Forgiveness, pg166

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. - 2 Nelphi 25:23

This is in direct contradiction to the belief that we are saved through faith alone.

Ephesians 2: 8-9 ESV

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Romans 5: 6-8

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Throughout the Bible - Old and New Testaments - the fact that we are not saved through our own works, or anything we can do, is forefront in the plan of salvation. The Israelites were instructed to perform continuous sacrifices to remain in right standing with God. God continually saved Israel from their enemies. Paul and New Testament writers continually talk about the fact that we cannot save ourselves from our sin at all. We cannot even work to be saved. It is God alone, and God alone, who saves us.

The unity of God, otherwise known as the Trinity, and saving power of God are central aspects of Christianity. The "Gospel" that the LDS Church teaches is a false gospel, distorting God's Word and God himself.

There is a true Gospel and it has been around for over 2,000 years. Jesus, Son of God and God himself, lived a perfect life as fully man and fully God, fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, suffered and died as a complete and total sacrifice for our sins. He rose again 3 days later, according to the scriptures, and offers us eternal life and salvation, resulting in the perfect resurrection and restoration of our bodies when he comes back.

My friends, I pray for all who are being lead away from Christ by the LDS Church and I ask you to pray for them as well. They deserve our love and compassion and they deserve to know the truth. The Bible is the true Word of God and has been preserved, along with the Church, for our salvation and for us to develop a relationship with God.

And to any members of the LDS church who read this, I want you to know that I want only the best for you. I want you to know the truth of God. And, finally, I ask that you read the Bible and compare it with what you’ve been taught by the LDS Church, because you will find differences. Ask questions. Of the Bible and of the LDS teachings.

I have waited ALL FUCKING YEAR TO POST THIS

Santa is coming tonight.