From: agr00@ccc.amdahl.com (Anthony G Rose)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Re: Joseph a true latter-day prophet
Keywords: LDS, Mormon, Joseph Smith
Date: 13 Oct 92 03:05:05 GMT
Reply-To: agr00@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Anthony G Rose)
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

In article <11OCT199203361375@acad3.alaska.edu> ksjwr@acad3.alaska.edu (REDELSS JOHN W) writes:
>Joseph Smith was sent to us by Jesus Christ to correct some serious
>misunderstandings that have crept into the Christian faith because important,
>critical passages have been deleted from the Bible over the last two thousand
>years and other important passages have been poorly translated by uninspired
>translators.  urch,

Does the Mormon Church have these "passages" of the Bible that are
supposedly "missing"?

>This shouldn't be a great surprise to anyone because the proliferation of
>conflicting doctrine in the Christian world makes it obvious that there is
>confusion over the meaning of the Bible.  Two deeply learned Bibical scholars
>can rarely agree on the meaning of any passage unless they attended the same
>seminary or belong to the same denomination.  In fact, this disagreement over
>the meaning of the Bible is the reason we have denominations.

No, this is not the reason we have denominations.  You truly  do not
understand the Christian faith.  And no two "deeply learned scholars"
will disagree on areas of salvation.

>Is God the author of this confusion?  Does he want us to fight over the meaning
>of the Bible?  Does he want us to shoot bibical passages at each other like
>bullets from a gun?  Of course not.

No God is not the author of confusion, but to use that as defense to say
that God is not in the Christian churches is absurd.  Also, the LDS
church also has many divisions.  the LDS and the RLDS is not the only
two divisions either.

>When I got married nearly fifteen years ago, my new bride told me something I
>had never heard before, a tradition handed down in her family: "Sometimes the
>relationship is more important than being right."  What do you think about
>that?  Is she speaking the truth?

Not if that particular Truth affects your eternity.

>So what is the answer to all this confusion, all this wrangling, all these bad
>feelings among so-called Christians?  I have found my answer, and I would like
>to share it with you.  But only if you are interested, right.  I do not think
>the Lord will force any man to heaven.

I would like to be shared with!

>I believe Joseph Smith was chosen by God, not by himself, and sent into the
>world to restore those parts of the gospel of Jesus Christ that have been
>forgotten over the last two thousand years.  God called Joseph to be His
>spokesman, His mouthpiece, a prophet just like Enoch, Abraham, Moses, John the
>Baptist and Paul.

Have you ever read the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon?  I think that
if you did you might not hold the position that you do.

>One last thought, if a man has something precious for others, why would he have
>to cram it down someones throat?  I know there are those in this newsgroup
>that think they know a lot about the Bible who say that we Mormons aren't
>Christians.  How do you think that makes us feel?  They quote passage after
>passage to prove that our faith is false.  They almost seem to dedicate their
>lives to destroying our religious faith.  Why pick on us?   don't

No one is picking on you!  Joseph Smith said about the Christian churches,
that they were ALL wrong, ALL their creeds were an abomination, and every
one who professes that faith were corrupt (PGP, JS 1:19).  He started
all this.  We didn't.

>agree with us, but why get so worked up about it?  Is this the spirit of
>Christ?  Do we love our neighbor by maligning his faith?

Christ defended those who were in error, and over 40% of the NT is
apoogetic defense of the faith.  We are instructed to "test all things"
(1 THESS 5:21), and "content for the faith" (JUDE 3).  Jesus did it,
Paul did it, and we are instructed to do it.  If we didn't we would be
ignoring the commands to do so from the Bible itself.

>These men may be able to quote the scripture, but they do not understand them. 
>If they did, they would find some way to woo us from our folly.  They would not
>bully us as they do.  That is not the way of the Savior.  That, is the other
>way.


No one trying to bully anyone.  Character assasinations don't do.  Why is
it that everytime a member of the LDS faith gets "pinned" down on one of
there false beliefs, that they write a letter that begins with their
testimony and ends with a character assaination?  It is almost always
guareenteed to happen that way!
Xref: sparky talk.religion.misc:18311 alt.atheism:19039