Sat 6 Oct 2007
You’ve read on RBDN about the 176th Semiannual General Conference, and the 177th Annual General Conference. Well, it’s October again and that means it’s time for the 177th Semiannual General Conference. I attended this morning’s 2 hour session and I noticed that there were fewer protesters than usual, probably due to the rainy weather. Oh, sure, you can stand on the corner and heckle us incoherently when the sun is shining, but as soon as a little, tiny rain shower comes along, you all flee back to your Jesus-hates-everything, always-use-outside-voices, bathing-is-for-sinners “churches.” Some protesters you turned out to be.
Oh, and I snapped a few photos — enjoy!
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yea, those people are all retards. Nothing else better to do. I was there once, where one of the protesters told my 9 yr old niece that she was going to hell. I looked at him and asked if that was the best he could do, heckle a 9 year old … he did not say another word. They may as well be members of the KKK, all they desire is to spread hate.
Grady–
All they desire is to spread anti-religion, like all Mormons desire (among other things) is to spread religion. Aside from being on “opposite sides of the spectrum” it is similar.
Although, spreading religion does have it’s benefits over spreading hate…
Flame me, Grady, flame me… But keep in mind, this is a family oriented site, so no more William-baby photos. Those things are disturbing.
It is not similar at all.
The way you are saying it makes sound like sales and marketing in a business, someone pushing roses, vs someone selling manure.
That is not how it is done in the LDS church. Most churches set to prove themselves via the scriptures, and will bash on points of doctrine to make you fear something enough to sway you to their side. We believe in a loving Heavenly Father, who will let us know the truth of things by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Our desire is to help others find happiness and joy through the doctrines of our Church. The protesters only want to incite fear and rage, and would rather molest our beliefs than anything else. I know that there is one person that hold up sacred temple garments on a poll to show everyone. What good does that do? None, they want to use fear.
We are not even close to being the same.
Grady–
Control is described in many different ways, some a bit vague, others very specific.
While most religions don’t think it’s control to, well, say drinking coffee is wrong, or that you have to pray in a specific direction multiple times a day, or that working on Sunday is against the “rules”, they are all just “criteria” set forth. Apparently, if you don’t follow the “criteria” you have done one thing among many, such as sinning by disobeying the word of God.
Your desire is of course different than the desire of other religions and anti-religions, but the end is the same — get people to follow what you believe and think to be the right and correct way.
I’m not saying anti-religion is better or worse than religion, nor do I want to argue that at all. The basics behind what drives you to believe a religion and follow the scriptures, doctrine, or any other set of guidelines or lack there of is the same as the person telling your daughter that her beliefs will send her to hell because they are not the same as his own. Isn’t that why LDS members do the work of those past so they, too can go to heaven instead of “hell”?
I could just refer back to my robot theory and that we’re all just fertilizer, but Ryan doesn’t like that thought process.
errr, daughter == niece. You know what I meant, but I know you’d tackle that small item
The lds church does not try to control anything. It is a hard thing to understand when you may believe that religion is man made. That is the fundamental difference between the LDS church and every other church. Our doctrines come from God, through revelation to our Prophets. It is not about control, it is about being like God.
As for the work that we do for the dead, it is not so that they do not go to hell. For arguments sake, lets say that the LDS church is the only way to make it to Heaven. Not everyone may hear the doctrine. Like the Chinese. Would God be fair if he sent all the Chinese people to hell? Of course not. So they are given a chance to hear the doctrine, and we do the ordinance work in our temples for them, with the hope that the accept the Gospel after death. Doing the work does not equal an automatic ticket to heaven.
A thing about control, the things that you mention, coffee, prayer, i bet you would add viewing pornography, or drinking beer … those are far more controlling substances than religion. They consume people, and destroy families, a far worse consequence than not drinking coffee or prayer.
Grady, Grady, Grady…
Wouldn’t other religions also state that their basis (doctrine, bible, etc.) also comes from God, through Jesus Christ or any other “method” they choose to believe has the ability to communicate with or which God has chosen to communicate through?
It is a possibility that there is a God, and that through God’s work we have a religion. It is also another possibility that the LDS religion is the true religion in which God brought to this Earth. It is also a possibility that everything happening up until this very moment is in a grand scheme of what God has in plan, and following his commandments, doctrines, revelations, and more, is the correct way to be God-like.
It’s also a possibility that Hinduism is the one true religion, and the LDS religion is not the correct religion of God, and everyone that is not a Hindu will go to hell.
I’m not here to argue that. There is no ability to argue it. You cannot argue religion and come to any agreement, so let’s skip that part.
I did not add pornography, drinking, swearing, or any other number of items that are also shunned through religion. Those items are shunned through most religions I am aware of, and true that through a grave lack of self control on a human basis, the items are abused and misused, leading to an unhealthy lifestyle versus what is suggested to be healthy by society. I do not believe that, in moderation, alchohol (of most forms), or many other items is bad for you. I shall skip pornography as this is a family oriented blog.
Substances do not consume people… You’re blaming the substance for what I like to call a lack of self control. Now, when we dive into narcotics (controlled substances that cause dependency), it turns into a chemical dependency, which that dependency starts to consume a person due to their need for the chemical. This is started to fill a need that is not substance based (Gambling, for example), and abused which turns it into an addiction. A lack of self control and a lack of good decisions (healthy decisions as suggested by society) leads to an society agreed unhealthy lifestyle, but is a far throw from what I was saying earlier.
Earlier I listed some quick examples of how many religions setup criteria that are recommended or, depending on the religion, enforced through fear, which turns into control. I was not trying to compile a list of items that, when abused or misused, lead to an unhealthy lifestyle. I was also not trying to single out any religion. I was simply saying that the reasons behind what you do to promote your religion may not be so far off from the reasons behind what other people do to promote their religion, or anti-religion.
G’Nite, Grady.
[...] Carry a large sign that says “God hates Sinners” and talk in a very loud voice and you’re a General Conference Protester [...]
Ok, William makes a point. He is just saying that what we call commandments to improve our lives he calls control. That is that. I don’t think he is really disagreeing. I just feel so sad of anti-mormon people. Why don’t they just go to a shelter and help people there? Why don’t they just learn to love? To be bitter to the point of harassing kids and posting what we think is sacred all over in a mocking way is not Christlike. Can’t they understand that? Can’t they just preach Christ the way they believe and leave us do what we believe? Hummm… they really bother me. It is funny though that they do all this circus and the church grows and grows. When I was baptized in Brazil 30 years ago there were only 6,000 members in the whole nation about the size of the USA. Today were are around 1 million, the Brazilian Government just praised 80 years of Mormon Missionary work in Brazil with a special session in Congress, and a TV channel had a 5 day segment on the Church that was all positive coming from an agnostic reporter that was very impressed with who we are and what we do. If the hatred and the bitterness could just be removed from those people hearts this would be a better world. I am sad because I look for LDS stuff and almost always bump into these haters. The sad thing is that there is no end to this. We have to love them and fogive them because they know not what they are doing. I have to work hard on this but what can we do?
PS: We had a stake conference and a sister told us that the answer to all those accusations they have against us, and why we don’t drink coffee and all that is not something like “because coffee is bad for you”. It is simply “because a young man went to a grove of trees in 1820 and had a vision of Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ.” Any religion that thinks that is absurd denies the power of God and will never understand what we do.
They say they believe in the Bible and the Book of Mormon is proof that this is Satanism. The Bible came from a collections of books considered holy. For centuries it was just a bunch of scrolls until Moses came up with the first five books. An in one of them he was very specific about no additions to it. So the Bible should be 5 books. But the real God talks to prophets from time to time and Moses did not have the monopoly on revelations and we have the book of Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and a whole bunch of Books after that. We would have a lot more if after Malachi anyone who said he had a vision was not killed by the apostate Judaism of the time. So, the Bible should have stopped there. But no, there comes John the Baptist and I bet his followers wrote a lot about the coming Messiah but I also bet his holy writs were all burned out. It is not until a long time after Jesus died that some people decided that the letters of the Apsotles which were going around the Chruches of the time were to be compiled in one thing. Then you have all the writings of the old prophets plus the writing of the Christian prophets. They should not be there. Even Revelations was not the last one and it says that there should be no more addition and there were.
We believe in the Bible more then they all do because we believe in that God there. We don’t believe in the dead God of the other Christian churches. How can they call themselves Christians anyway? If Christianity is this, if Christianity is hatred and offense and disturbing the way other people that believe in Christ, in their own way, is fun and appropriate then may we not call ourselves Christians. They all unite against us (check out Mitt Romney campaign) and they hate us and call us demons. So, that is Christianity? The world has a name for its brand of worshiping of the dead Jesus and the dead Heavenly Father, the gods that cannot talk to men like they did before. Great! My response to them is: God is alive and He talks. More scripture is normal according to Bible tradition. Leave us alone.