How Mormon's will Spend their Easter Weekend.

"More than 100,000 Church members, friends and invited guests are expected to attend the 180^th Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions more will watch or listen to conference proceedings via television, radio, satellite and Internet broadcasts. Five sessions of the conference will be held Saturday and Sunday, 3–4 April 2010, in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah."



For a detailed broadcast schedule see www.bonneville.info. Audio and video streams via the Internet can be found at www.lds.org/broadcast. It will also be broadcast live on BYU Television. For more additional information on availability in your area, rebroadcasts and live Internet streaming visit www.byutv.org.

It has taken months of preparation by nearly 800 dedicated workers to delivery of conference worldwide in 92 languages to millions of viewers and listeners world wide.

"Foreign language interpretation began in 1961 beneath the Tabernacle on Temple Square. Initially general conference was interpreted in four languages. Today there are 58 translation booths located inside the Conference Center, including a large control room with Tieline technology that continues to expand the reach of the Church’s foreign language capabilities."

LDS Chruch Sends Food and Medical Supplies to Haiti

On 13 January 2010 The LDS Church released the following statement regarding the earthquake in Haiti:

We express our sympathy and prayers on behalf of the citizens of Haiti following the recent devastating earthquake. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is immediately shipping humanitarian relief, including personal hygiene kits and supplies for newborns. Efforts are underway to determine further humanitarian response in coordination with government and disaster relief organizations. Donations for relief efforts can be made at http://give.lds.org/emergencyresponse.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been working diligently since the disaster to provide aid to the people of Haiti through its humanitarian aid program. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of relief supplies have arrived already, and more are being shipped.

In a statement published on the Church’s official Web site, Church President Thomas S. Monson and counselors Henry B. Eyring and Dieter F. Uchtdorf appealed to church members to help the people in Haiti, noting that more aid is needed. Thanks to those donations and the efforts of the Church, three air shipments of aid provided by the Church have arrived and are being used in Haiti included a total of nearly 225,000 pounds of relief supplies. The Church provided the transportation for one of those flights, and CARE and United Airlines provided transport for the other two.

Islamic Relief USA, has donated the cost of transporting additional supplies via the Dominican Republic to Haiti, and has also been distributing clean drinking water to Haitians in Port-au-Prince. These shipments will include another 160,000 pounds of supplies donated by the Church, including medical equipment, blankets, quilts, first aid kits, water filtration bottles, wheelchairs, and special kits designed to help with newborn and hygiene needs. Pallets of supplies specially designed for orphanages will also be in the shipment.

In addtion to the supplies, a team of Latter-day Saint doctors are already on the ground in Haiti assisting in the recovery effort, and 5,000 Haitians are being sheltered at Church buildings throughout Port-au-Prince.

It reminds me of Luke 21:11 were it says "great earthquakes shall be in divers places", as being one of the signs of the Latter Days.

What is a Mormon Chapel Like?

The LDS Newsroom recently revised a message about LDS Church Meeting houses. You can even take a virtual tour of a fairly typical meeting house of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In the article, it also gives first hand accounts of people visiting an LDS meeting for the first time.

Having grown up in the church myself, I've not had many experience out side the church, so it interesting to get a perspective from someone visiting it for the first time.

The article also mentions the 151 LDS Temples that are currently in use, are undergoing construction or have been announced. LDS Temples are not to be confused with the over 17,000 meeting houses that can be found threw out the world, and are always open to visitors looking to join in on a Sunday worship service.

Purpose of Mormon Temples

Sacred ceremonies - By Peggy Fletcher Stack of The Salt Lake Tribune

Just as temples were part of Christ Ancient Church, they are a part of his church today. Here's some other things that are the same in Christs True church today that were also practiced in his ancient church:

Baptism by immersion by someone having authority:
Matthew 3:13,16 - D&C 20:72-74

Living Apostles and Prophets:
Eph. 2: 19-20, Matthew 10:2-4 - D&C 21:1, Current Church Leaders

Current Revelation:
Amos 3:7 - D&C 21:5

Sacrament:
Luke 22:19-20 - D&C 20: 75

Authority From God:
Luke 9: 1-2, Mark 3: 14, Acts 1:24 - D&C 20: 2, D&C 81: 1

Performing Ordinances for the Dead:
1 Peter 3:18-20, 1 Peter 4:6, 1 Cor. 15: 29 - D&C 138:32-34

Spiritual Gifts:
1 Cor. 12: 8-11 - Moroni 10:9-19

- Posted by S.J. Hollist

Jews, Muslims, and Mormons singing together

Faiths Join for Musical Tribute in Salt Lake Tabernacle - LDS Newsroom

"A children’s choir representing both the Jewish and Muslim faiths joined other performers in sharing their common beliefs during the Interfaith Musical Tribute to the Human Spirit held at the Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The concert, a culminating event in a seventh annual, weeklong celebration of religious harmony and understanding sponsored by the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable, filled the historic building with the sounds of bells, bagpipes, drums, chants and choirs representing more than 15 faith groups and hosted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."


"The Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable was established in 1999, in conjunction with the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and under the umbrella of the Olympic Charter requirements to provide “religious support for athletes and their families.”"

Full story here....

- Posted by S.J. Hollist

Mormon Temples on Nightline

Mormons Open Doors to Discuss Religion:

"Ever since the first Mormon temple was built more than 150 years ago, they have been the subject of speculation and suspicion. The temples are imposing structures where private and sacred rituals are performed, and where outsiders are almost never welcomed.

But this week, two of the church's 12 apostles invited ABC News to tour a new temple in Utah. Elder Russell Ballard and Elder Quentin Cook, who are at the very highest level of the church, also sat down for an unprecedented interview.

"We want to be understood, not misunderstood," said Ballard, "and people are defining us in the wrong way. They're defining us without having the facts.""

Full Story here . . .

- Posted by Spaldam

Polygamy in Politics

The Associated Press released a story this week about Polygamy and Elections in Utah; specifically for the office of Utah Attorney General. I found two source for the article, and I'm sure there are more:

Comcast
Bay News 9

I've posted a few comments of my own on the matter of Polygamy and how it relates to "Mormons":
LDS vs FLDS
And a number of other posts back when I was actively involved with Delphi Forums that I need to find and re-post here (if anyone has a paid Delphi account and can search for all my old posts and provide me direct links to them, I would greatly appreciate it).

I was living in Utah when Attorney General Mark Shurtleff was first elected, and I most likely voted for him too. What I remember most about him is that he's always, from the beginning, been asked what he was going to do about the "Polygamy Issue". It's a question that's been asked in politics since around the time the "Mormons" moved west to settle Utah and escape persecution and threats of extermination.

Being a member of the LDS church, the polygamy issue is one that hits very close to home, and for many of us, it's something many of us wish we could put further behind us. One would think over a hundred years would be enough, but with radical self proclaimed "Fundamentalists" (like those in the FLDS Church) still lurking around in the tens of thousands, it's certainly not something that's easily dealt with, and that is miss-understood more often then not.

I remember Mark himself saying he would do what he could when he was first elected, but has on at least two occasions that I can recount, give a disclaimer that it would take time and wouldn't be easy to get the evidence needed for a conviction of the FLDS leaders; Texas is a good example of how difficult it can be to properly prosecute such secretive groups, when hundreds of kids taken from the FLDS's compound were ordered to be returned because of the improper procedures taken by the Texas Child Protective Services.

As I watched that tragedy of injustice unfold, I couldn't help but think how the children were being victimized by the State, rather then the State going after the true criminals and child abusers; not to mention that the Child Protective Services agency did a very poor job of verifying the claims; especially considering the third hand source of information they were given.

Today, the FLDS sect leader, Warren Jeffs, has now been in jail for a few years. Many other FLDS leaders are also now facing criminal charges in Texas. It seems that Mark is making a dent in this group, but with tens of thousands of people he's certainly going to need help from other States and federal authorities.

- Posted By Spaldam

An Atheist's Questions to Mormons

From: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=25462359&postID=114424765259683521


Daniel Womack has got some great answers to your questions, though I have to agree with others and say that debating these kinds of questions will not help anyone understand one bit what "Mormon's" actually believe. And I put "Mormon's" in quotes for good reason; it's a nickname. Personally I prefer to be called LDS or Latter-day Saint.

In my experience, questions like this tend to come from people looking for reasons not to believe in the Book of Mormon. Why wast your time? There's a much better way to get answer to that question; Ask God (see James 1:5).

Are LDS people really so bad that people have to go out of their way to try and put them down and produce rumors about them? Sure they may believe some things that are different from other Christens but that doesn't mean they deserve the long history of bigotry, persecution and slander they have endured.

If you truly want to know what's in the Book of Mormon from the persecutive of an individual who has taught from it, check out my blog at:

bookofmormonstories.info

Here's my personal answers to your questions:

1- Why Did Brigham Young teach the Adam-God theory in the Temple?

I've never heard of this doctrine, and I'd suspect that I would have by now if it was truly official doctrine of the LDS church. Brigham Young is often quoted by many anti-mormon individuals as having said any number of non-doctrinal things, as if they were true LDS doctrine. Some of them I've found to be made up, others I believe were his personal opinions; though I'm sure much of what he said was important and beneficial to the church. I've even seen Joseph Smith quoted to say something to the affect that a prophet is only a prophet when he is acting as such. Meaning, he's free to have his own personal options, and he's still a flawed man like the rest of us. After all, Jesus was the only truly Perfect person to ever walk the earth that I know of.

2- What is your understanding of DNA and the Book of Mormon.

If you take a bucket of water from the Ocean, and it has no fish in it, do you conclude that the ocean is void of fish?

The Book of Mormon has a number of references to many different people migrating to the lands we now know as the Americas. A few dozen recovered corpuses that pre-date Book of Mormon times, showing asian decent have been found. What does that mean to me? Nothing. It's like pulling a few people out of a crowd in China Town, New York and saying that all of New York is populated with Chinese people. It's just not a definitive test.

Another thing to remember is that the Jews in Israel were decedents from Judah, the Nephites in the Book of Mormon were descendants of Joseph; two completely different tribes of Israel, many generations away from Isreal/Jacob himself.

3- What do you think about Joseph Smith having relations with 14 year old Helen Mar Kimball without Emma knowing. This occurred after the president said Helen and her family would be saved in the afterlife for this arrangement.

I really like Daniel's answer [especially the part about how 14 year olds commonly got married in the early to mid 1800's], and I'm not sure I can improve upon it. I will say that polygamy is something that has always been a very limited practice throughout history and only performed by God's people when specifically directed to do so. There's more references to it in the Old testament (40+) then in the Book of Mormon (only 1), and I've even heard some people say that it may have been in some New Testament books, but was latter removed before making it into the a canonized form.

Another thing you might want to consider is that many of the women Joseph Smith supposedly married, actually did what's called "Sealing for the Dead" where they essentially married Joseph in the Temple, after he was dead. This was soon stopped, and now these Sealing can only be done for people who were previously married in life, but it often is used to make Joseph look like he was married way more times then he actually was while he was alive.

4- Why doesn't the translation of the Egyptian papyri found in 1967 match the text of the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price?

I don't know much about this claim, so I'll revert to what Daniel said. He seems to know a lot about it [because Joseph Smith did not use these papyri to translate the Book of Abraham].

5- Why do you think Book of Mormon has old English when it was originally written in "reformed Egyptian"

Because most of the people Joseph was going to teach were more familiar with the Bible's "old English" text then they were with "reformed Egyptian".

6- Why does the Book of Mormon contain King James translations and spelling errors?

I'm not sure if I completely understand this question, but I think I answered it in #5. Hopefully Daniel's answer was sufficient as well.

7- Why did Joseph Smith give African Americans the priesthood? Then years later Brigham Young took it away.

The way I heard it was that Joseph Smith asked the African Americans to not practice the priesthood he had given them, and then stopped giving it to any more of them. I've never heard that it was Brigham Young who took it away, but I could be wrong.

Try looking at it from another perspective:

The LDS church has never advocated or condoned slavery. I've heard that every slave owner who converted, was required to free their slaves.

The most convincing argument I've personally heard, and I have no idea how accurate it is (because I don't know what Gods plan was), goes like this:

Up until the 1970's both "Mormon's" and people with dark skin, endured a great deal of persecution. Being both at the same time would certainly have been very difficult in the 1800's. Perhaps the LDS church wouldn't have survived if it fully embraced those with a dark skin color because of the horrible stigma that came with it at the time. God had promised that his church in these latter days would not be taken from the earth.

It might also be helpful to point out that it wasn't about membership, but about holding the priesthood. Of course you could argue that without the priesthood, membership for a man is not much of anything in the LDS church.

8- Why are the "signs and tokens" in the LDS temple the exact same signs and tokens that the masons use. They are the same grip and even some of the same wordings.

I've never seen what the Masons do, so I really can't answer your question. I have heard the Masons are derived from people who helped build and maintain the temples in ancient times, so maybe it's really that they copied God's symbols and not the other way around. Maybe Joseph needed to be a Mason so he could learn these symbols.

Again, I really don't know the answer to this question.

9- One last kind of a hard hitting question. Do you know about the “Kinderhook plates” that are talking about in an early church newspaper?

I've never heard of them. It sounds like a rumor to me, with no real factual basis behind it.

Again, feel free to check out this blog "bookofmormonstories.info" and other blogs posted by LDS members (not those pretending to be "Mormons" or pretending to know what the "Mormon church" believes and teaches - there's technically no such thing as the "Mormon Church"). If you want the real truth, go to the real people who make up the real church, and find out how they live their lives, and what they personally believe.

- Posted By Spaldam

LDS vs FLDS

I wrote this document in a writing class I had a few years ago, but revised it here for format and additional content. The purpose of this document is to show the differences between the two best known "Latter Day Saint Movement" churches (as some would like to call it - not me, but it works well for this post). These two are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) - often referred to, although incorrectly, as Mormon Churches (there really is not such thing as the "Mormon Church" and anyone claiming to talk about such a church most likely does not understand the subject well enough to be considered an expert).

It's important to understand some people misunderstand that the so called "Mormon" faith, is some how all one large movement or main church (similar to how other churches have their own sects, but still repot back up to one main governing body), because it's all derived from the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. There are actually many different churchs that all claim the "Mormon" nick name, and none of them are in any other way connected to one another. Characteristics that distinguish the LDS and FLDS churches, and others in this movement, are actually very different and separate.

The biggest distinction is of course Polygamy; which started within the early LDS Church but was discontinuation over a century ago - largely for compliance with new federal laws unconstitutionally aimed at the so called "Mormon Problem" - which caused the split off of the FLDS church. Today there are a great number of differences in the currently widely used practice of polygamy among FLDS church members, and the original and very limited practice of Plural Marriage during early LDS Church. The LDS church today only allows legal marriages verses the FLDS church's practice of illegal marriage ceremonies contradictory to the 12th Article of Faith, written by Joseph Smith, that says: "We believe . . . in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law".

The differences extend well beyond just polygamy, such as with the FLDS Church using of a perverted form of the Law of Consecration and sucking funds from publicly financed programs for their own benefit, and funnel all church members pay checks into a single fund. Compare this to the LDS church that encourages its members to give tithes and offerings to fund its vast array of buildings and service oriented programs. The LDS church uses standard accounting practices and obeys tax laws in their financial dealings, and does not accept funding from government or political sources.

The LDS church has an outward reaching missionary program that also offers service to those in need along with proselytizing. The LDS church also has a worldwide membership of over 13 million members. Compare this to the reclusive behavior within the FLDS church that lives in compounds like the Yearning for Zion Ranch. LDS president's travel the world and some have even made appearances on national TV with well known and renowned reporters including Larry King, verses FLDS president's Warren Jeffs who hid from the law while on the FBI's most wanted list, and is now in prison on charges related to rape.

The LDS church puts a high priority on families and taking care of each other. The FLDS church kicked out a bunch of young boys likely because they had no wives for them as all the young girls were already destined to be married off to older men.

The LDS church is a big proponent of Education, and puts a lot of funding behind Brigham Young University. The FLDS church puts much less value on education and may even see most things taught in school as being of the devil (may of the other resources I've linked to discuss this).

Here are some other articles on the subject from a variety of different points of view (including some self proclaimed "Fundamentalist Mormons"):

John Stossel on Polygamy

What does the FLDS Church or the Texas Sect Have to Do with the “Mormon” Church? -Personal Response by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel

Fundamentalist Mormon Similarities to and Differences from the Mainstream LDS Church

Q&A about the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints - Dallas News

Mormon's Defending "Natural Marriage" - LDS Church response to same sex marriage

- Posted by S.J. Hollist

Mormons in Politics

It's amazing that even in today’s society of "political correctness" and tolerance, that so many people would make such a big deal about Mitt Romney (see mittromney.com for more information about him). I guess when you running for president, everything about you becomes a big deal, but the last time a presidential candidates religion became such a big deal was with JFK, one of the most beloved presidents in recent history.

Why do evangelicals feel so threatened by the "Mormons"? Is it the approximately 6 million of them within the United states, making up less than 2% of the population? Obviously Mitt will need a much larger portion of the population on his side then that to become president (I even know a handful of politically active "Mormons" that aren't supporting him). Is it the fact that His church has grown significantly is less than 200 years? Probably not, since many evangelical churches in America got started around the same time, and have grown to be much larger.

I have another theory. People are afraid of the unknown and things that are very different from what they are used to. Satan also loves it when we fear things that are good and true, and will do all he can to encourage such fears. One of the biggest differences is that "Mormons" have a different view of the Godhead that most other Christians consider blasphemy. Mainly that God is not some incomprehensible being, but rather our Heavenly Father with an immortal body of flesh and bone, similar in appearance to our own. This belief comes from Joseph Smith's own testimony about God and Jesus Christ.

To contrast this most evangelicals get their view of the Godhead from the traditional Catholic beliefs developed threw debates had during the First Council of Nicaea, and First Council of Constantinople. It has also since been updated from time to time.

I purpose here really isn't to depute religious theology, but rather to understand why a nation founded on freedom, and especially religious freedom, would disqualify someone because of their faith. Mitt Romney himself said that his religious convictions and beliefs will not interfere with the role of government. He understands the importance of keeping them separated, and stated that when his oath to the office, performed with his hand on the bible, will become is number one top commitment to God. He also rightly stressed the importance of religious tolerance and promised that he would not focus on particular beliefs, but rather the moral convictions that America has traditionally upheld.

So the real question is, would you vote for a candidate who best represents you, and just happens to be a "Mormon"? Many people apparently have as “Mormons” have been involved in government for a long time, and not just in Utah but in almost every state in the Union to varying degrees, within Congress, and even within the White House in a number of different capacities. Not to mention “Mormons” in other countries; especially since there are now more “Mormons” outside the US in then in it.

The first woman state senator elected in the United States was Dr. Mattie Hughes Paul Cannon (UT) in 1896, and the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate who was neither the wife nor the daughter of a politician was Paula Hawkins (FL) in 1980. Both where "Mormons"!

"Mormons" have served as governors of California (Culbert Olson and Goodwin Knight) and Michigan (George W. Romney). In 1952 two "Mormons" were serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and two in the U.S. Senate. In 1991 there were nine "Mormon" representatives and one nonvoting territorial delegate in the House and three Latter-day Saints in the Senate.

Prior to 1952, no Latter-day Saint had served as a federal judge. Since then, eleven have been appointed to federal district courts and four to appeals courts.

Ronald Reagan's administration also included over a dozen "Mormons".

In 2004 more than 5% of elected representatives in congress were Mormons, including the Democratic leader Harry Reid.

- Posted by S.J. Hollist