Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Advice...

"Wherefore, unto all ye teens I speak: If ye value thine communication privileges, piss off not those who control thy phone data plans."

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Does The LDS Church Believe In A Changing God?

In my never-ceasing quest for more understanding, I have been wondering why I'm not seeing any spiritual gifts made manifest in Mormon meetings. I'm going to use a scriptural list of gifts:

"8 And again, I exhort you, my brethren, that ye deny not the gifts of God, for they are many; and they come from the same God. And there are different ways that these gifts are administered; but it is the same God who worketh all in all; and they are given by the manifestations of the Spirit of God unto men, to profit them.

"For behold, to one is given by the Spirit of God, that he may teach the word of wisdom;

"10 And to another, that he may teach the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

"11 And to another, exceedingly great faith; and to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

"12 And again, to another, that he may work mighty miracles;

"13 And again, to another, that he may prophesy concerning all things;

"14 And again, to another, the beholding of angels and ministering spirits;

"15 And again, to another, all kinds of tongues;

"16 And again, to another, the interpretation of languages and of divers kinds of tongues.

"17 And all these gifts come by the Spirit of Christ; and they come unto every man severally, according as he will.

"18 And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that every good gift cometh of Christ." (Moroni 10:8-18)

In this list of gifts, I see many that aren't even talked about at all. Whenever I bring the subject up, I almost invariably get a look of disgust and an answer as if the person I just asked is keeping my question in the regard of a decomposing object held gingerly between two ten-foot poles.

So, in this light, my Mormon friends do believe in a changing God.

Ironic.

If the Mormon leaders who supposedly hold the high priesthood are really that scared of talking about scripture, I'd love to see their expressions when a voodoo practitioner walks into sacrament meeting!

 What's The Word To Those Who Think That Spiritual Gifts Are Done Away With?

" 7 And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues;"

"8 Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them.

"9 For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?

"10 And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles." (Mormon 9:7-10)

Kinda Harsh, Huh?

You bet.

Some people are like old television sets; they need to be slapped a couple of times before they get the picture.

This word-slapping—as I'm going to call it—is the only way some of these people can be gotten through to. If Mormon had said something along the lines of: "If ye think that the Gifts of God aren't given to people anymore, you need to kinda repent and stuff; because you sinning a little. But, you're still—"

You see what I mean?

What Mormon does in his words to old television sets is he lays it out flat. No flowery phrases for wording; he needs to get through to people. Speaking plainly is the most effective method of communicating rebukes. Even so, some people are so very closed-minded that only a word from an angel will sway their opinions. (Alma The Younger comes to mind...)

In plain modern-day language, Mormon would've sounded something like this:

"To those of you who are under the misguided impression that Spiritual Gifts aren't around anymore: Get that ******* false doctrine out of your thick sculls this instant! You're dead wrong! God ain't gonna change his policies to suit your comfort zones!" (Moroni 9:7-10, Chalize Translation)

Now, How About That False Doctrine?

If people are misapplying scripture, how do we correct them without getting excommunicated?

Very carefully.

They don't like getting their theories blasted to bits by some member with "strange" ideas.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

To be completely honest, I am a Mormon.
Now, before you look away with an expression of disgust and a muttered: "Another one of these Mormons trying to convert me? Ugh! I'm tired of these people!" I would like to point out that I am not trying to convert you. Not in the least.

A little background.
I have gone to the LDS church for a good 13 years, and loved it. After a few cases of unrighteous dominion against me, I decided to leave for a while and let the leaders stew in their own juice for a good, long time. The reasons for my persecution where: having my hair long enough to touch my eyebrows, wearing a blue dress shirt to church, expounding scripture in very simple ways, asking questions about spiritual gifts, and openly disregarding the little rules that go against scripture. Anything wrong with that? Nope. If God had needed to tell people he would have said something related to this: "Wear white shirts to church, not blue, or black, or pink; for white shirts are the way of the righteous." Nowhere in the Bible or Book of Mormon does it say that.

I found a Pentecostal church in my area, and have been attending for a year or so now. The adjustment has been quick, (but a little rough and crazy at the same time). The first time I walked in I was like, "Oh, boy. This is, um, different," which it was. In Mormon meetings, there is a very solemn and heavy atmosphere. In the meetings at this Pentecostal church, it's a lot more free and loose. The Pastor talks with spirit and feeling, and makes some rather funny jokes while he's preaching. Jokes at the Mormon church are nearly all ways a little toned down, and the speakers talk like they are trying to hypnotize you.
The thing that was the most surprising of all at the Pentecostal church was the worship. Drums, electric guitar, base, piano. The works! This was something completely new to me. I had always thought that worship could only be very sweet and slow songs that made one want to fall asleep. The songs where different as well. They all praised God, and all where about Him and his attributes. This was more like it!
Since then, I've almost cut my connection with the Mormon church completely. I still have a few friends there, but for some reason they are not very kind to me. I wonder why? (Probably something to do with my "Follow God, not the prophet" way of thinking and living.)

I am having a ton of fun with all these new ideas of religion, and finding Jesus has been a very amazing experience. I'll be updating this blog with my little happenings in my religious life, and just things that make sense to me. That doesn't mean that you have to agree with me, not at all; these are only my perspectives and opinions on certain things.

Chalize