Popular Post JLHPROF Posted December 23, 2018 Popular Post Posted December 23, 2018 (edited) The anti's may have originally coined the phrase, much as they did with the Mormons (and probably people did with the word Christians). And we have used those anti sentiments to advance the cause of God. So today I'll pay tribute to the prophet, seer, revelator, and head of this final dispensation on the 213th anniversary of his birth. Will anyone join me in giving thanks for this prophet and his mission? Edited December 23, 2018 by JLHPROF 11
Teancum Posted December 23, 2018 Posted December 23, 2018 3 hours ago, JLHPROF said: The anti's may have originally coined the phrase, much as they did with the Mormons (and probably people did with the word Christians). And we have used those anti sentiments to advance the cause of God. So today I'll pay tribute to the prophet, seer, revelator, and head of this final dispensation on the 213th anniversary of his birth. Will anyone join me in giving thanks for this prophet and his mission? This is a ludicrous criticism. I know on the 200th anniversary of Joseph's birth the church made a big deal out of it. But it is simply stupid and petty to criticize the LDS Church over this. 4
JLHPROF Posted December 23, 2018 Author Posted December 23, 2018 15 minutes ago, Teancum said: This is a ludicrous criticism. I know on the 200th anniversary of Joseph's birth the church made a big deal out of it. But it is simply stupid and petty to criticize the LDS Church over this. Do you mean those who criticize the Church for mentioning Joseph on the anniversary of his birth? Because I agree. Or were you suggesting that I was criticizing the Church if they didn't take time today...because I was not. Just taking this appropriate opportunity to give thanks.
halconero Posted December 24, 2018 Posted December 24, 2018 Ascended to heaven, traitors and tyrants now fight Joseph in vain. Looking to see the unfolding of his plans for his brothers and sisters. 3
HappyJackWagon Posted December 24, 2018 Posted December 24, 2018 Thankfully there was no mention of Joseph Smith's birthday at church yesterday. We didn't sing Praise to the man, and we didn't have a combined Jesus/Joseph birthday party. YAY for us! I was worried because those things have happened in the past. But this year the focus at the close of advent in preparation for Christmas day was ALL about Jesus...as it should be. The only criticism I had for yesterday was, 1- instead of scheduling the appropriate number of speakers or allowing for additional carol singing, the Bishop called multiple people out of the audience to share a testimony & 2- he then proceeded to read a talk for 30 minutes. Monotone. Seriously.
JLHPROF Posted December 24, 2018 Author Posted December 24, 2018 8 minutes ago, HappyJackWagon said: Thankfully there was no mention of Joseph Smith's birthday at church yesterday. We didn't sing Praise to the man, and we didn't have a combined Jesus/Joseph birthday party. YAY for us! I was worried because those things have happened in the past. But this year the focus at the close of advent in preparation for Christmas day was ALL about Jesus...as it should be. Except Joseph actually was born in December. Christ wasn't. So I don't see why it "should be". Completely ignoring the birth of the first prophet of the Church, the head of the dispensation so that we can focus on celebrating the anniversary of something that didn't actually happen this time of year seems a silly thing to be happy about. 2
HappyJackWagon Posted December 24, 2018 Posted December 24, 2018 12 minutes ago, JLHPROF said: Except Joseph actually was born in December. Christ wasn't. So I don't see why it "should be". Completely ignoring the birth of the first prophet of the Church, the head of the dispensation so that we can focus on celebrating the anniversary of something that didn't actually happen this time of year seems a silly thing to be happy about. You've gotta be kidding. It should be because the entire Christian world, including Mormons, celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25th. It doesn't matter that it's not his birthday. It matters that it's a celebration of Jesus' birth and mission. We're talking about Jesus, the Son of God. He's not merely a man like others. Why do we care about celebrating the birthday of a man who died 175 years ago? If you can't understand why it's more important to celebrate Jesus than it is to celebrate Joseph, then there's not much else to say. Have fun singing songs to his praise, adoring, reverencing, venerating Joseph as you scratch your head wondering why people think Mormons worship Joseph Smith. 1
Scott Lloyd Posted December 24, 2018 Posted December 24, 2018 2 hours ago, HappyJackWagon said: You've gotta be kidding. It should be because the entire Christian world, including Mormons, celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25th. It doesn't matter that it's not his birthday. It matters that it's a celebration of Jesus' birth and mission. We're talking about Jesus, the Son of God. He's not merely a man like others. Why do we care about celebrating the birthday of a man who died 175 years ago? If you can't understand why it's more important to celebrate Jesus than it is to celebrate Joseph, then there's not much else to say. Have fun singing songs to his praise, adoring, reverencing, venerating Joseph as you scratch your head wondering why people think Mormons worship Joseph Smith. I don’t see at all that JLHPROF is saying the things you are attributing to him. And self-consciously ignoring any mention that the prophet of the Restoration was born in December strikes me as being as silly as letting observance of his birthday overshadow Christmas. 2
Teancum Posted December 24, 2018 Posted December 24, 2018 (edited) 23 hours ago, JLHPROF said: Do you mean those who criticize the Church for mentioning Joseph on the anniversary of his birth? Because I agree. Or were you suggesting that I was criticizing the Church if they didn't take time today...because I was not. Just taking this appropriate opportunity to give thanks. The criticism of mentioning Joseph Smith's birth that is in December and somehow that supplants Christmas. I have always found the snarky term Smithmas petty and mean. Edited December 24, 2018 by Teancum 2
Robert F. Smith Posted December 24, 2018 Posted December 24, 2018 5 hours ago, JLHPROF said: Except Joseph actually was born in December. Christ wasn't. Excellent point. Jesus was born on Rosh haShana (Jewish New Year), while Joseph was born in the midst of a Jewish Sabbatical Year and on the Winter Solstice. God may have some deliberate synchronisms in mind, even if we don't. 5 hours ago, JLHPROF said: So I don't see why it "should be". Completely ignoring the birth of the first prophet of the Church, the head of the dispensation so that we can focus on celebrating the anniversary of something that didn't actually happen this time of year seems a silly thing to be happy about. We don't celebrate the birth of Brother Brigham either. Unlike the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, we don't have a list of Saints' Days. We just don't. Is that purely accidental, or is it indicative of a different set of values?
JLHPROF Posted December 24, 2018 Author Posted December 24, 2018 33 minutes ago, Robert F. Smith said: We don't celebrate the birth of Brother Brigham either. Unlike the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, we don't have a list of Saints' Days. We just don't. Is that purely accidental, or is it indicative of a different set of values? Despite current ideas in the Church that comparison isn't valid. Joseph's successors are not on a par with the office he holds. I don't expect a list of Prophet's birthdays set aside as holy days. But Joseph is unique and having a day set aside to remember and honor him isn't a bad thing. December 23rd is as good a day as any. 1
Rivers Posted December 25, 2018 Posted December 25, 2018 (edited) I thoroughly I enjoyed our Christmas centered sacrament meeting yesterday. There was no mention of Joseph Smith. It was fully focused on the Savior and filled with beautiful uplifting Christmas music. I wish more sacrament meetings were like this. It helped me forget about the mumbo jumbo that gets talked about on these message boards. Sure I appreciate Joseph Smith but I don’t need Smithmas. Merry Christmas everyone! Edited December 25, 2018 by Rivers 1
aussieguy55 Posted December 25, 2018 Posted December 25, 2018 Merry Christmas. A pic of my wife's Christmas gift to me. It is a device for older guys like me for putting our socks on which normally can be difficult. Now I am armed for old age sock horn long shoe horn and long shower brush.
HappyJackWagon Posted December 26, 2018 Posted December 26, 2018 (edited) On 12/24/2018 at 5:17 PM, JLHPROF said: Despite current ideas in the Church that comparison isn't valid. Joseph's successors are not on a par with the office he holds. I don't expect a list of Prophet's birthdays set aside as holy days. But Joseph is unique and having a day set aside to remember and honor him isn't a bad thing. December 23rd is as good a day as any. No. Not when the celebration of Joseph's birthday competes with the celebration of Christ's birth. IF Joseph is on such a different level than every other prophet should the church view his teachings as "off limits" for change and/or correction from current prophets? IF that is the case, wouldn't the church be in some level of apostasy since the days of Brigham Young since he, and others since have added to or taken away from the doctrines and practices he instituted? Perhaps you can start a petition to create the first Mormon Holy day aimed at adoring a man. Or maybe you could go even farther and petition the brethren to change the celebration of Christmas to April 6th. That would sure help to make us more peculiar. ETA- would you view it as strange or inappropriate if the Methodist church interrupted it's advent message during the month of December to stop and have the Sunday nearest to December 18th focus on praising and celebrating the birth of Charles Wesley, one if its founders? Would it not be distasteful to show up at church the Sunday before Christmas to discover that instead of talking about Jesus and the gospel of his birth and mission, instead it focused on a man? If you say that wouldn't bother you, I don't believe you. If you did find it distasteful then, congratulations, you're a Christian. Edited December 26, 2018 by HappyJackWagon
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