Weird -- I have had the opposite experience. And also... well, I'm not going to be the one to break it to you.
Speaking of Mormons, what is up with all the advertisements, mainly on YouTube and some billboards, that finish with, "...and I'm a Mormon." I don't give a cot damn about Mormons, but I don't understand the movement. Maybe it's just here in AZ that I keep seeing it.
It's nationwide, I believe. My understanding is that it's part of a Mormon Church campaign to show people that Mormons are normal people and not a crazy cult or whatnot. I imagine they anticipate a lot of attention coming to them with Romney running for President and are trying to proactively get their message out there.
It looks like it's an official Church thing. This is from early October: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/03/us-mormons-media-idUSTRE7911CM20111003 (Reuters) - "The Book of Mormon" debuted this year as a Broadway hit that won nine Tonys, and the 2012 race for the Republican presidential nomination features not one, but two candidates of the Mormon faith. Now the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is launching a major expansion of its "I'm a Mormon" advertising campaign, which, church officials say, seeks to educate the public and dispel myths about one of the fastest-growing religions in the world. Beginning this week, a dozen U.S. cities in seven states will be targeted by the Salt Lake City-based church with ads on television, city buses and billboards inviting visitors to the church's website to learn about its beliefs and followers. Users who log onto mormon.org can see profiles of Mormons from various walks of life, chat with church members and learn about Mormon practices, such as the prohibition against consuming alcohol, coffee and tea. "Many people are not familiar with our faith, and that can sometimes lead to misconceptions," said David Evans, an elder who oversees the church's global network of 52,000 missionaries. "The best way to understand Mormons is to meet them and get to know them personally. These ads are an invitation to do that." The church, boasting a membership of 14 million worldwide, including 6 million U.S. followers, has gained new attention in the American mainstream this year from Broadway to the White House campaign trail. Public opinion polls in recent years have shown large blocs of Americans hold an unfavorable view of the religion, whose image problems are partly rooted in the faith's historical connection with polygamy. An early tenet of the Mormon faith, plural marriage was renounced by the church more than a century ago, although it is still practiced by members of some breakaway sects. That legacy has drawn notice from the HBO series "Big Love," about a fictional polygamous family, and "Sister Wives," a reality show that follows an ad executive, the four women he calls his spouses and their children. But the most common myth, according to church spokeswoman Eric Hawkins, is the perception among some that Mormons are not Christians. "This will help them understand that we follow Jesus Christ," Hawkins told Reuters. FROM BROADWAY TO THE PRIMARIES The ads will run in Denver, Atlanta, Phoenix, Seattle, Spokane, Wash., Indianapolis, South Bend and Fort Wayne, Ind., San Antonio and Austin, Texas, and Omaha and Lincoln, Neb., through March 2012. The campaign first surfaced in several other U.S. cities last year, including New York City. While two Republican presidential hopefuls, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, are Mormon, their White House aspirations are coincidental to the church's outreach effort, Hawkins said. A Gallup poll in June found one in five U.S. voters would oppose a Mormon candidate for president. The church has long officially avoided taking a partisan role in politics, although it has weighed in on some hot-button social debates, notably its support for a 2008 California ballot measure outlawing same-sex marriage. More recently, church members have largely embraced -- or at least taken in stride -- the affectionate parody of their faith in the Broadway musical hit "The Book of Mormon," a title taken from church's central volume of scripture. The show, co-written by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of the satiric television cartoon "South Park," swept the Tonys and produced the highest-charting Broadway soundtrack since "Hair" in 1969. Film critics also have noted what they see as ample Mormon imagery and themes woven into the popular "Twilight" franchise of teen vampire movies based on the novels by Mormon author Stephenie Meyer. She has said such references are imagined. The pop culture spotlight is a far cry from the fringe of American life occupied by the church at its founding in upstate New York in 1830 by Joseph Smith, regarded by Mormons as a prophet God commanded to restore the true church. Hawkins said public service announcements by the church date to the 1970s, but the current campaign is taking it to a new level with modern technology. Leah Brown of Mesa, Arizona, a Mormon who is participating in the program, said non-Mormons often "are hesitant to ask" about her faith. "This is a very natural opportunity to have a conversation with my friends of other faiths and hopefully help them better understand who we are," she said.
In an 1892 LDS publication under the heading "THE INHABITANTS OF THE MOON," this interesting information is given by Oliver B. Huntington: "Nearly all the great discoveries of men in the last half century have, in one way or another, either directly or indirectly, contributed to prove Joseph Smith to be a Prophet. "As far back as 1837, I know that he said the moon was inhabited by men and women the same as this earth, and that they lived to a greater age than we do -- that they live generally to near the age of 1000 years. "He described the men as averaging near six feet in height, and dressing quite uniformly in something near the Quaker style." Joseph Smith, The Moon Men prophecies lol. To all mormons, do you believe this to be true, or was your prophet wrong...just asking.:grin:
Do you mean missing the hypocritical part? I know quite a few mormons, and generally they practice what they preach without being condescending.
Yes, or without being in your face about it, which is really admirable. I have never had a Mormon, for instance, ask me if I have a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Evangelicals, however, well...
I don't if it's in the book to give your neighbors cookies, but I just had people I've never met give me a big sack of homemade chocolate chip cookies. I can dig that. Now if the dude from the Rastafarian church will come by and drop off a big sack of weed too, I'll be set.
As one of the Mormons on this board (though perhaps one of the least qualified), I can try to answer some of the questions. If Mitt Romney wins the presidency (perish the thought), I can only assume he'll be sworn in with a traditional Bible. The 8th Article of Faith in LDS doctrine states, "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God." We traditionally use the King James Version of the Bible, though we typically will use what we have available (during my missionary time in Romania, I used a Romanian Orthodox Bible). I can't think of any reason he would use a Book of Mormon unless he were trying to ruffle people's feathers. The list of 13 articles of faith can be found here http://mormon.org/articles-of-faith/. As for the question of whether Mormons believe that Mormonism is is a sort of new and improved Christianity...I'm not sure how to answer that question. Mormons believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ and all of the authority & ordinances that pertain to it had been altered or lost and that a restoration of these things was necessary. Mormons believe that was the chief role of Joseph Smith. I'm not here to convince anyone or defend that in this thread, but that's the gist of the "doctrine." We consider ourselves to be Christians as we believe that salvation can only come through Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for all of us, but there are many who don't consider us Christians because of significant differences in belief/interpretation of things such as the Trinity (there was a Clutchfans thread about this a little while ago). Mormons believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet who was used by God to restore sacred truths, but we don't consider him a God or divine being that should be worshipped or prayed to. We ONLY pray to the Father - but we believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three distinct entities that are one in purpose. I'm sorry that some of you are creeped out by Mormons. Some Mormons creep me out too - but a lot of people in general just creep me out. The "I'm a Mormon" campaign - Major pretty much hit it on the head. There are a lot of things said about Mormons - some are true and some are untrue - the campaign is essentially an effort to show that Mormons are normal people like anyone else. The LDS Church wanted to be clear that it is NOT being done because there is a Mormon running for President - they deliberately refrained from using the ads in any of the early primary states so that it wouldn't be misconstrued as some sort of support for Romney. While I don't think they've said it officially, Major's statement that "I imagine they anticipate a lot of attention coming to them with Romney running for President and are trying to proactively get their message out there" is spot on. The "I'm a Mormon" campaign is coming directly from the Church, not from Romney or his PAC. On that subject, I'm sure that a LOT of LDS people will vote for Romney...but please remember that not ALL of us are. Church leadership comes out with every campaign as long as I can remember and encourages membership to vote according to the dictates of their own conscience and doesn't endorse any candidate - I don't anticipate that his campaign will be any different. I'm sure not voting for Romney (not the thread for me to convince anyone or defend that stance here, either), and many of my LDS friends also view him in the same light that I do. The Inhabitants of the Moon question - I actually had to look this one up because I've never heard it before (which is impressive, because I've heard a lot of crazy stuff). I can definitively say that it has no place in any Church canon or doctrine, and that I've never heard anyone in my lifetime coming out in support of that kind of idea - from researching it, there is some substantial doubt as to the source of the notion. In any case, if it is something that Joseph Smith said, I really can't say much about it other than that I believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God - but that he was also a man and therefore fallible. I can't profess to know the context (or accuracy) of the statement, but people can believe what they'd like. I think that's most the stuff raised in this thread - hopefully if I've made too many glaring errors, one of the other LDS posters can correct me.
Can you clear up the question of Jesus being born in America? I'd heard Joseph Smith/Mormons believed he was born and died here. True or false? Edit: I am in no way against any religion on the face of it, so I mean no disrespect. A major problem I have with Mormonism though -- if this is even true -- is the post-mortem baptisms. I find those to be a desecration of the soul just as a body can be desecrated. I understand that Romney was involved in baptizing his father-in-law, an avowed atheist, to Mormonism after his death. I further understand that the Jews that died in the holocaust and Jesus Christ himself were baptized as Mormons after death. As both a Jew and an atheist, I find this practice (if true) to be unforgivable and repugnant. Would love clarification on this as well.
I appreciate your civility - especially being that it's something you feel so passionate about. To your first point, I'm not quite sure what you're referencing with Christ's birth - we accept and believe the Bible record that he was born in Bethlehem and died on the cross. We do believe that he visited the Americas after his earthly mission and visited the inhabitants found there; as a bit of background, the Book of Mormon is basically an account of different peoples who lived on the American continent (though location is difficult to ascertain). There were also prophets who testified about the coming and mission of Christ to this earth, though they knew as well that it would not be upon the American continent. We interpret the passage of John 10:16 stating "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd" as Christ's alluding to those on the American continent (and possibly to people elsewhere as well). But we don't believe he was born on the American continent and we don't believe he died there - that is all laid out in the biblical record, which we believe. Hopefully I got that right, from an LDS perspective. To the idea of baptisms for the dead - those are indeed performed in our temples. This was one of the things that we believe that was restored through Joseph Smith. In 1 Corinthians 15:29, it reads "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" From an LDS interpretation, we believe that Paul was emphasizing the need for a resurrection, which was made possible by Christ's sacrifice. Maybe the clearest way I can put it is thus: we believe that there are necessary ordinances that every person that lives on this earth needs to have performed - baptism is one of these ordinances. When Christ said "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," we take that as an absolute. However, what is to be done for the scores of individuals that have lived on this earth who never had a chance to learn of Christ or of his Gospel? We believe that the doctrine of baptism for the dead is a way that people can receive the ordinance of baptism by proxy, and the effects of said baptism will be of the same effect as if the individual would have accepted the gospel had they heard it in their lifetime. In this way, the demands of justice can be met in that all may receive the ordinance, but those who didn't live on earth at a time when they would have the opportunity to accept the gospel are not discriminated against unfairly. We recognize that this is a very unorthodox idea in mainstream Christianity, but we believe in it and I personally am grateful for it. However, please don't let that be heard in any way offensively; I can certainly understand your viewpoint and why the idea might be upsetting to you. While I want to stress that these ordinances are done by proxy and involve no bodies of those who have passed (that is a common misconception that I think everyone would find repugnant), I am sincerely sorry that it is a cause of angst and emotional distress for you. I appreciate your respect, especially when discussing something that is very near your heart. I was not aware of ANY LDS doctrine that would suggest Christ himself being baptized post-mortem; we believe that Christ was baptized by John the Baptist (as he held the authority to do so at the time), and did so to "fulfill all righteousness." I think that in Mormon doctrine, the idea that the Savior himself of all mankind would somehow need to be baptized AGAIN would be both offensive and blasphemous. I don't know exactly what source you heard this from, but it would be shocking to me - it's certainly nothing that I have ever heard. I hope that answers more questions than it raises.
EDIT: Prior post deleted so as not to offend anyone as deeply as I am offended by the idea of these post-mortem baptisms. Baptizing an atheist or a Jew, after death, as a Mormon or a Christian is unforgivable in my eyes. Deeply, profoundly offensive. It is like a poke in the eye of my soul. Otherwise, thank you for clearing up some misconceptions I had. Respect to you and all other people of faith. And all other people without it. But please know that if anyone comes around trying to turn my atheist, Jewish soul Mormon, Christian or into any other thing I did not believe in life after my death I will haunt him, his children and his children's children for all eternity. I don't believe Romney's father-in-law meets the criteria of one that would not have had the chance to decide for himself. He did decide for himself. He was an atheist. And Romney participated in a post-mortem baptism of him. That this would have been done to victims of the Holocaust... there are no words...
Incidentally, slcrocket, I don't expect you to respond on behalf of your faith to my complaint. I had to say my piece but I'm not interested in debating the practice. And my feelings about the practice do not make me anti-Mormon in any way; just anti-that practice. Peace. Go with God.
