I Told You So
It would seem that there is an unwritten code within blogdom.Quote:
| "Thou shalt not post articles" |
Trust me, ordinarly I would concur wholeheartedly. But this is an exception. Awhile back I posted this piece on my blog. The article below opens exemplifies what is happening.
It was in today's LA Times. This article, while doing a halfway decent job with both sides of the story contains material that could not be ignored.
For more comfortable reading click here.. Otherwise please struggle through my annotated version below. The Quote:
| quote sections are my responses |
Ex-Mormons Say Breaking Up Was Hard to Do
A group of former believers offers support for what it contends is a step made difficult by the church. Officials say that's not true.
By David Haldane, Times Staff Writer
June 3, 2006
For Tom Hall, 77, the disillusionment came during the 1970s when the Mormon Church wouldn't allow blacks to become priests.
Carma Naylor, 64, says she began doubting the religion in which she had been raised after debating the meaning of the Bible with a Jewish friend who had been born again.
And William Ken Andersen, 23, said he left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints six months ago because of problems with "church leaders ignoring opposing facts about dogma and trying to cover them up."
All three are now active members of Ex-Mormons for Jesus, a California-based group whose Information and Visitors Center in Orange, organizers say, is the state's only facility of its kind.
The group's beliefs:
• That Mormons aren't true Christians;
• that they follow false doctrines that preclude them from entering heaven;
• that leaving Mormonism is a profoundly difficult and isolating experience requiring the support of fellow ex-Mormons.
None of which is true, says Tom Thorkelson, director of interfaith relations for the church's Orange County Public Affairs Council.
"First," he said, "as a Latter-day Saint, I believe in and accept Jesus Christ as my savior. We are Christians, though we recognize that there are some theological differences."
Quote:
 "In bearing testimony of Jesus Christ, President Hinckley spoke of those outside the Church who say Latter-day Saints 'do not believe in the traditional Christ.' 'No, I don't. The traditional Christ of whom they speak is not the Christ of whom I speak. For the Christ of whom I speak has been revealed in this the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. He together with His Father, appeared to the boy Joseph Smith in the year 1820, and when Joseph left the grove that day, he knew more of the nature of God than all the learned ministers of the gospel of the ages.'" (LDS Church News Week ending June 20, 1998, p.7 ) |
As for the alleged pressure on those who leave, Thorkelson said, it is no greater than that exerted by a member of any faith "who has deeply held convictions and finds somebody who shared those convictions leaving them and joining a counter group. I've seen lots of people whose families disowned them because they became members of the Mormon faith."
Founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith, a young man from Palmyra, N.Y., who said God spoke to him in a vision, the Mormon Church considers itself the "restored" church of Jesus Christ, which it believes was altered after the deaths of the original apostles.
Drawing on both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, the fast-growing church has more than 12 million members worldwide. The church's message clearly resonates with some. Church officials say the denomination experienced a growth rate, from 1984 to 2000, of 52% per decade.
Along the way, the institution has shed some of its more controversial practices, including polygamy, which was banned in 1890, and barring blacks from the priesthood.
Quotes from Brigham Young, 2nd President of the LDS Church
Quote:
 * "Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned" (July 14, 1855, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, page 266). * "The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy" (August 19, 1866, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 11, page 269). *"There is a little matter I want to speak upon to you, my sisters. It is a subject that is very obnoxious to outsiders. … ‘Oh.’ Says one, ‘I know what you mean, my husband has two, four, or half a dozen wives.’ … This doctrine so hateful and annoying to the feelings of many, was revealed from heaven to Joseph Smith, and obedience is required to it by the Latter-day Saints, — this very principle will work out the moral salvation of the world. Do you believe it? It makes no difference whether you do or not, it is true" (August 9, 1868, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 12, page 261). |
The early view of Mormons on blacks is shown by what Mr. Young had to say:
Quote:
 Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so." Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 10, page 110. |
Nonetheless, gathering in a donated church social hall on Chapman Avenue, Ex-Mormons for Jesus, holds monthly support meetings for those "coming out" of Mormonism. The group also operates the information and visitor center, which is open six days a week in a small storefront featuring anti-Mormon tracts and books on Mormon theology and history. Director Charlotte Pardee, 76, is on hand to encourage Mormons leaving their faith.
She says she doesn't know how many members the group has in California or around the country.
"Our purpose," said Pardee, who has never been a Mormon, "is to help Christians understand Mormonism and to give Mormons a place to come when they start doubting their faith. I've shed more tears over Mormon souls than I did over my husband's, before he was saved."
Her argument with Mormonism, Pardee says, began 42 years ago when two Mormon missionaries came to her door.
"They told me that my Presbyterian baptism was no good," she recalls, still bristling at the memory. "They said that the Mormon Church was the only true church in the world."
It was the beginning of a conversation she has continued ever since and a moment that defined her life, propelling her to become headquarters director of the California organization that is part of a loose-knit movement of ex-Mormons nationwide.
About 20 people, including both ex-Mormons and evangelical Christians, attended the Orange County group's recent monthly meeting featuring, among other things, a lecture by Naylor, who said her leaving Mormonism after 40 years nearly tore her family apart.
"When I first realized that Joseph Smith had changed the word of God," Naylor said, "I thought I felt the presence of demonic spirits. I was frightened, alone and paralyzed with fear. That gives you an idea of the power of fear in the church to never turn away."
Rene Ellison, 46, said her leaving the church more than two decades ago caused her first marriage to break up.
"My family still tries to bring me back," Ellison said. Attending support meetings, she said, lets her hear "other people's stories that are the same stories as mine. I always thought there was something wrong with me."
For Karla Gledhill, 40, the meetings have provided a new perspective.
"Mormons tend to cast ex-Mormons as being satanic," said Gledhill, who left the church at age 19 because of a "creepy feeling" she got at the temple.
Quote:
| This is due to the fact that, apart from Satan and his angels, the only others who are headed for "destruction" are former Mormons who have denied the Mormon faith. - Trent |
"They never let up," she said. "They still have the literature sent to me, and I get harassing phone calls. This group makes me stronger and gives me ammunition to stand up for what I truly believe."
The meeting ended with an open prayer, during which one member asked God to "turn the hearts of the Mormon elders … turn that church around, Lord."
Such talk doesn't faze Thorkelson of the church's Orange County Public Affairs Council.
"I invite anybody to examine the lives of friends and neighbors who are practicing Latter-day Saints to see if they are striving to lead lives consistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ," he said. "Rather than denigrate other faith traditions, we prefer to build relationships and let our lives speak for themselves."
Quote:
Pearl of Great Price: Joseph Smith—History: Chapter 1   18 My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join. 19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all awrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all ccorrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their ehearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the fcommandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” |
Posted On Jun 3, 2006 at 0:00 AM
On Jun 5, 2006 Doug wrote: I think it's interesting that in OSC's Alvin series, Alvin (who parallels Joseph Smith) is presented as the champion of the blacks...
Trent Replied: Looking at all of the cults, it is remarkable how much "revisionism" actually goes on. Mr. Card, as an apologist, writes a good story. But it is definitly edutainment. One of these days I will get at the Alvin series.
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