Does Leaving The Lds Church Mean Leaving God?

[MormonFreeThinker]

Revelation isn't exclusive to Mormons:

http://testimoniesofotherfaiths.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1

 

How do you know? 

[Scott Lloyd]

How do you know? 

Well, for one thing, LDS missionaries have long taught investigators that the the truth will be manifest to them by the power of the Holy Ghost (see Moroni 10:4-6). So, according to that paradigm, they must be able to receive personal revelation before they have joined the Church.

[MormonFreeThinker]

Well, for one thing, LDS missionaries have long taught investigators that the the truth will be manifest to them by the power of the Holy Ghost (see Moroni 10:4-6). So, according to that paradigm, they must be able to receive personal revelation before they have joined the Church.

 

I do not think that canard78 believes in revelation, he cannot prove that all personal experiences are unreliable. 

Edited January 2, 2015 by MormonFreeThinker

[Bikeemikey]

Do you believe that during the Apostolic Era a professed Christian could have rejected Peter, James, John and Paul as Apostles, and the Lord's living prophetic representatives on earth, and still be considered a true follower of the true and living Christ?

I have no idea about then.

All I know is that today there are millions of professed Christians who reject modern day apostles (most often in favor or biblical ones).

The idea that rejecting modern day apostles means you can't be Christian strikes me as hyperbolic.

[canard78]

How do you know? 

 

Even LDS leaders teach that revelation is not exclusive to Mormonism.

 

God raises up wise men and prophets here and there among all the children of men, of their own tongue and nationality, speaking to them through means that they can comprehend. … All the great teachers are servants of God; among all nations and in all ages. They are inspired men, appointed to instruct God’s children according to the conditions in the midst of which he finds them.”

 

B.H. Roberts (source)

 

God operates among his children in all nations, and those who seek God are entitled to further light and knowledge, regardless of their race, nationality, or cultural traditions."

 

Howard W. Hunter (source)

 

"...we claim that God’s inspiration is not limited to the Latter-day Saints."

 

James E. Faust, “Communion with the Holy Spirit,” Ensign, Mar 2002, 2–7 (source)

 

Over the centuries many wise men and women—through logic, reason, scientific inquiry, and, yes, through inspiration—have discovered truth. These discoveries have enriched mankind, improved our lives, and inspired joy, wonder, and awe."

 

Elder Uchtdorf (source)

 

Latter-day Saints believe that all human beings are God’s children and that He loves all of us. He has inspired not only people of the Bible and the Book of Mormon but other people as well to carry out His purposes through all cultures and parts of the world. God inspires not only Latter-day Saints but also founders, teachers, philosophers, and reformers of other Christian and non-Christian religions.

 

 

Elder Uchtdorf (source)

[Duncan]

Even LDS leaders teach that revelation is not exclusive to Mormonism.

 

B.H. Roberts (source)

 

Howard W. Hunter (source)

 

James E. Faust, “Communion with the Holy Spirit,” Ensign, Mar 2002, 2–7 (source)

 

Elder Uchtdorf (source)

 

 

Elder Uchtdorf (source)

 

 

this may also fit into why LDS youth leave, if all this is true then what is "true" and different about our Church versus other churches? if God speaks to other leaders or other faiths then what is so wonderful about having a Prophet or so different about having apostles and revelation, what is exclusive to our church

[Scott Lloyd]

this may also fit into why LDS youth leave, if all this is true then what is "true" and different about our Church versus other churches? if God speaks to other leaders or other faiths then what is so wonderful about having a Prophet or so different about having apostles and revelation, what is exclusive to our church

The difference is that the Church of Jesus Christ holds the keys and authority to administer the saving ordinances and teach the gospel in its purity and fulness. One who is open to personal revelation eventually will be led to the Church of Jesus Christ, be it in this life or the next. And, as I've already rejected the notion that divine, authentic personal revelation will lead one out if it.

[MormonFreeThinker]

Even LDS leaders teach that revelation is not exclusive to Mormonism.

 

You did not answer my question, how do you know?

[canard78]

You did not answer my question, how do you know?

Your questions are rarely constructive. There's little point me spending time crafting a response because you'll probably then reply with that stupid Matrix clip (again!!)

What I can and already have demonstrated several times in other threads is that the experiences that we Mormons attribute to communication from God (via the Holy Ghost) are also experiences that are had by people in other faiths.

(Cue MFT saying that people can hallucinate a tiger...)

[MormonFreeThinker]

Your questions are rarely constructive. There's little point me spending time crafting a response because you'll probably then reply with that stupid Matrix clip (again!!)

 

No, it is a simple question, how do you know that other religions experience divine revelation?

 

(Cue MFT saying that people can hallucinate a tiger...)

 

I was not planning to use that example because it has nothing to do with my question. 

That example was given by a psychiatrist during a debate, intelligent people like to use that example. 

Edited January 3, 2015 by MormonFreeThinker

[cursor]

He didn't say that he doesnt know "how they believe in God".

He said, "what they believe about God".

BAM!

Yes ... he didn't at all say "how."

 

He (Duncan) actually said (to which I directly responded):

"I know people who believe in God but don't attend Church and don't attend other Churches, now what they believe about God is I have no clue."

 

Your post suggests that I (or one should) question God's existence ... what utter nonsense.

 

My intent was to suggest that there are umpteen people in this world who believe in God (whatever version), and don't attend church. My observation was that while such is the case, Duncan admitted that he had no clue how that might be. I very simply responded to that there might be a lot of room to think about. [sorry to end in a preposition]

Edited January 6, 2015 by cursor

[pogi]

My intent was to suggest that there are umpteen people in this world who believe in God (whatever version), and don't attend church. My observation was that while such is the case, Duncan admitted that he had no clue how what that might be they believe about God. I very simply responded to that there might be a lot of room to think about. [sorry to end in a preposition]

 

There, that's better.  

Edited January 6, 2015 by pogi

[Kenngo1969]

this may also fit into why LDS youth leave, if all this is true then what is "true" and different about our Church versus other churches? if God speaks to other leaders or other faiths then what is so wonderful about having a Prophet or so different about having apostles and revelation, what is exclusive to our church

In contravention to what Ado Annie once sang in Oklahoma!, it ain't "all er nuthin'!"  I will congratulate anyone who responds to whatever light they have been given for whatever harvest of good fruit that light bears in their life, but that doesn't mean that I would (or should) be as content with their "thirty-fold" or "sixty-fold" harvest of good fruit as I am with my own "hundred-fold."  On the other hand, I'll certainly be prepared with a ready answer, if-and-when someone who reaps a "thirty-fold" or a "sixty-fold" harvest asks me, "Don't get me wrong: I am surely grateful for my 'thirty-fold' or 'sixty-fold' harvest, but would you mind telling me how, exactly, it is that you've been able to reap an 'hundred-fold' harvest?"  (See 1 Peter 3:15.)  (And I've only posted the below on this Board about a hundred times now ... including earlier in this very thread ... so forgive me if you've already seen it, but it is relevant to this conversation: https://greatgourdini.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/toward-interreligious-oneness/)

 

P.S.: On the other hand, in response to someone who, as Dan Peterson once described such a person, has lost his awe of the Divine and has come to think of God, instead, as "everyone's ever-loving, ever-supportive, all-accepting, nonjudgmental pal" (going from memory; that's not a direct quote from Dan, but it's as close as I can make it), if I felt moved upon by the Spirit to do so, I might share something in the spirit of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's address from April General Conference in 2014: 

 

Unfortunately, messengers of divinely-mandated commandments often are no more popular today than they were anciently, as at least two spit-upon, potato-spattered sister missionaries can now attest. Hate is an ugly word, yet there are those today who would say with the corrupt Ahab, “I hate [the prophet Micaiah]; for he never prophesied good unto me, but always [prophesied] evil.” That kind of hate for a prophet’s honesty cost Abinadi his life. As he said to King Noah: “Because I have told you the truth ye are angry with me. … Because I have spoken the word of God ye have judged me that I am mad” or, we might add, provincial, patriarchal, bigoted, unkind, narrow, outmoded, and elderly. . . .

 

Sadly enough, my young friends, it is a characteristic of our age that if people want any gods at all, they want them to be gods who do not demand much, comfortable gods, smooth gods who not only don’t rock the boat but don’t even row it, gods who pat us on the head, make us giggle, then tell us to run along and pick marigolds.

Edited January 6, 2015 by Kenngo1969