Mormon Bloggers

This is one of the most intriguing blog posts I’ve ever read. A young man who used to be anti-mormon tries being Mormon for one month. Read his conclusion… Andrew Bowen  Read More →

On a website named “Christian Blogs” someone asked the question, “What are the signs that a religion is really a cult?” A member named “larry” responded “…the glue that both identifies and holds a cult together is bondage (e.g. Scientology, LDS, Watchtower).” Many common rumors exist today about the LDS Church. One of the rumors is the LDS faith is a cult, a description that leaves a negative impression. The modern meaning of the word comes from the anti-cult movement back in the 1980s. “Cults” refer to groups who exploit their members, demand their wills and use dangerous rituals or mind control. Attending an LDS Church service just once would convince most people that the word “cult” is not a true picture of the Mormon faith. The word ‘cult’ describes groups like the Branch Dravidian group led by David Koresh in Waco, Texas, in 1993. Or the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones (Guyana, Africa, 1978). Both groups ended... Read the rest of this entry »

To all my favorite pastors and ones I don’t yet know: I’m not in charge…obviously.  But if I were, here are a few of the guidelines I would suggest to my friends when looking for and embracing a Christian religion. 1)  Avoid any church or pastor who preaches or embraces intolerance, scorn or disdain of other people’s faiths or wastes your time with the emotions of enmity.  (1 John 4:20) 2)  Beware of the tendency to cherry-pick single Bible verses, especially out of context, and make whole religious philosophies and doctrines out of them, while ignoring many other verses that don’t support that particular interpretation. 3)  God the Eternal Father is supreme and perfect.  Steer clear of those who diminish and compromise Him with inferior mortal attributes such as narcism or lapses in mercy and justice (both exist in perfect balance in Him).  I nearly fell out of my chair this week when I read “God’s number one... Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most profound and sweetest discoveries for me, is that the LDS (Mormon) Gospel is for someone like me. Flawed, incomplete, foolish, sad, lonely, discouraged and pained. All of these adjectives describe me at some point or another, and a couple of them, ALL the time. Matthew 9:11-13 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? 12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. 13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I do not go to church because I am perfect, nor because I live the Gospel to the letter nor because I am a superior human being. I go to church because I am not those things. I heal bit by bit, I learn line upon line, I improve precept upon precept. Going to an LDS church brings blessings and Christ-centered gifts of life such... Read the rest of this entry »

Mormons (Latter-Day Saints) believe in Christ’s atoning sacrifice which took place in the Garden of Gethsemane. The suffering that followed is also significant to LDS Christians:  The mock trial, the betrayals by Judas and Peter, the whippings and floggings, the derision of the Roman soldiers and the public, and certainly the torture and death endured on the cross.  They believe Mary Magdalene’s account of the resurrected Christ and pay tribute to Christ’s immortal victory on the first Easter morn. And for Mormons, Christ is the true and living God. So if they are believers, why do they not put crosses in front of their chapels or around their necks?  Christ says “..I am the resurrection and the life..” (John 11:25) This self-description is the aspect of Christ the Latter-Day Saints emphasize, the true and living Christ. The victorious Christ. The Christ in the here and now. They choose not to focus on His method of death, and what was... Read the rest of this entry »

The Doctrine and Covenants, a modern book of scripture for the LDS church, is rich in descriptions of Jesus Christ.  Once through this book will put to rest several of the unscrupulous rumors circulated by those with a competitive agenda about what Mormons do and don’t believe about Jesus Christ. Here, from one of my favorite passages, are Christ’s own words about his role and who he is: D&C 45:1-7  ”Hearken, O ye people of my church, to whom the kingdom has been given; hearken ye and give ear to him who laid the foundation of the earth, who made the heavens and all the hosts thereof, and by whom all things were made which live, and move, and have a being. And again I say, hearken unto my voice, lest death shall overtake you; in an hour when ye think not the summer shall be past, and the harvest ended, and your souls not saved. Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him— Saying: Father, behold the sufferings... Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, in every sense of the word!  How about when those who oppose the LDS Church say we’re “not Christians”?  That we believe in a “different” Jesus Christ? This is nothing more than an uncorroborated play on words.  I do believe a few of the people who claim we’re not Christians, actually have good intentions.  They were unknowingly duped by someone’s competitive agenda and false information.  The main purpose of the non-Christian claim is to bias Evangelicals and other Protestants enough so they won’t even consider the rapidly-growing LDS Church, being thwarted by the taboo “non-Christian” slander.  Thus, good and sincere folk, will be deterred from knowing what is really here, including that we’re a thriving, Christ-centered church.  (Do not be deceived, ask a Mormon what they believe.) p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;... Read the rest of this entry »

I was reading a book written by Andrew C. Skinner, Golgota, and in the book I found a story-parable quoted by President Faust, but that was initially narrated by President Hinckley several years ago. This story illustrated very well the sacrifice that the Savior did for us. I am grateful for the knowledge regarding the Atonement of Jesus Christ, knowledge that mostly came to me through the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The story follows the video below. Some years ago, President Gordon B. Hinckley told “something of a parable” about “a one room school house in the mountains of Virginia where the boys were so rough no teacher had been able to handle them. “Then one day an inexperienced young teacher applied. He was told that every teacher had received an awful beating, but the teacher accepted the risk. The first day of school the teacher asked the boys to establish their own rules and the penalty for breaking the rules. The class... Read the rest of this entry »

~by Jenny** The ways that Mormons celebrate the holidays are varied. Because we are part of a worldwide church, and tend to include long-standing family and cultural traditions in our celebrations, this discussion is about those traditions as well as Mormon traditions. I have enlisted the help of several women for this post to help exemplify the differences in Mormon celebrations. There are certain aspects of our faith that require us to tweak traditions on occasion, such as eliminating alcohol from our festivities. We are also encouraged to keep the main focus of our celebrations on the Savior. A Catholic neighbor once asked me, “I know that you believe in Jesus and celebrate Christmas, but why don’t you have church services on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?” That was a year that Christmas fell on a weekday, so we didn’t have an organized church service on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve (which we do when the holiday is on a Sunday). There have been times that I have longed to... Read the rest of this entry »