Originally Posted By utahjosh <If you want to get rid of them, tell them you already prayed about the Book of Mormon and you received an answer that it was all a lie. They don't really know how to respond to that one.> I've got lots of ways to respond to that one. But my answer would be different for every person on earth.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I had a visit from Mormon Missionaries one time. It really wasn't a bad experience. First of all, I was amazed they even found us. We were at a quite rustic fishing resort in the boonies of Northern Minnesota. We were all dressed in our grungiest beer-drinking, fish-catching clothes and here come a couple of young guys in black pants and the whitest white shirts I'd ever seen in my life. The sun reflecting off their shirts would have probably blinded me if I hadn't been wearing sunglasses. At any rate, I figured that if someone had come all that way to try and save my eternal soul I'd give them a listen. We talked for about 10 minutes and when I finished up by telling them I was Catholic and intended to stay that way they politely thanked me for my time and went on their way. I don't know why Mormons get dumped on so much here. I've had a neighbor family that was Mormon and one of my college professors was Mormon. There were all some of the finest people you'd ever want to meet. All you need to do is look at their fine education, low crime rate and low substance abuse rate to figure they must have something going for them.
Originally Posted By jdub I just feel that some stranger coming to talk to me about religion-- well, that's an extremely private thing. What next, do they want to know about the topography of my bod? Fave positions & acts? It's ALL N-O-their-B.
Originally Posted By mele <<I don't know why Mormons get dumped on so much here.>> There's plenty of evidence why in other threads. Sad to say, there's a lot of crazy stuff being said.
Originally Posted By utahjosh <<I don't know why Mormons get dumped on so much here.>> Because we claim to have the truth from God. They think it's 'hubris.' Because we think our society would be harmed from encouraging and normalizing homosexual activity. They think it's evil and bigoted to fight for the traditional family. Because we believe in tithing in our church. And they think it's cultish.
Originally Posted By mele What they believe (and excuse) is on the thread. It's pretty bad, RT. I wouldn't read it, though, because once you do, you won't be able to look at Mormons the same way.
Originally Posted By utahjosh RoadTrip, you'll read many lies and twisted words if you visit that tread from those who oppose the Mormons.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I don't know what thread is being talked about, but it doesn't make me much difference. I know where the biases here lie and know some things must be taken with a grain of salt. I'm a Catholic and the Catholic Church also strongly opposes gay marriage. Approximately 25% of religious Americans are members of the Catholic Church, so you can't really say that the Mormon beliefs are just the rantings of a lunatic fringe. Personally I believe something that I don't think makes anyone happy (as usual). I don't think the state should be in the marriage business. I think the state should only recognize legal unions, whether the couple is heterosexual or homosexual. Marriage would be strictly a religious issue. Each church would be able to decide for itself whether or not it wanted to perform marriage ceremonies for gay couples. It gets the state out of the business of sanctioning marriage which I feel is desirable. Marriage is a religious concept and it should be left to the churches to decide.
Originally Posted By utahjosh I like your ideas, RoadTrip, but I also think that the govt has an interest in encouraging solid traditional families as a base of our society.
Originally Posted By hopemax I'm in the process of reading Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower. In it it mentions that the Pilgrim's marriages were a secular, civil ceremony because William Bradford said no where in the Gospel did it say a minister should be involved in a wedding. I thought it was interesting to read when we talk about tradition.
Originally Posted By mele It's not only gay marriage that has been discussed but Josh's excuses for his church in other matters, such as segregation and mixed race marriages and things. I think arguing about marriage vs. civil unions is kind of silly. Semantics. The state should only offer one kind of marriage license. I don't give a crap what it's called but it should be the only one available to all citizens, no matter what sex they plan on joining with. There should be a separate religious celebration where there can be blessings. Who cares? It's really only the state level that I care about but separate but equal isn't equality. That's what the whole argument is about. It's absurd that people are clinging to the word "marriage" so much.
Originally Posted By utahjosh <It's absurd that people are clinging to the word "marriage" so much.> Or is it absurd that there are a group of people trying to change the meaning of the word. Go get your own word.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I admittedly don't know a heckuva lot about the Mormon religion. I have no knowledge of John Walsh and have no idea if his writings properly represent the Mormon theology. But when I 'used the Google' to get some information what I found did not seem outrageous at all. <<Interracial Marriage by W. John Walsh Church leaders teach that successful marriage is most likely to occur when the participants are "of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background."1 If someone ignores this counsel, the Church would not penalize or ostracize them. Unlike marrying someone from a different religion, (See Dating and Marrying Nonmembers), it is not considered a sin to marry someone of a different race.>> Source: <a href="http://www.lightplanet.com/family/marriage/interracial_marriage.html" target="_blank">http://www.lightplanet.com/fam...age.html</a>
Originally Posted By mele Just read the thread, RT. I'm not going to debate posts from you when you haven't read the things in their original context.
Originally Posted By utahjosh <Just read the thread, RT. I'm not going to debate posts from you when you haven't read the things in their original context.> Original context is ignored on these boards every day.
Originally Posted By utahjosh RoadTrip, that statement pretty much sums up EXACTLY what I have said here on LP on that topic, except two things: 1) We do not discourage marrying outside your race. Some church leaders have in the past. I haven't heard a church leader discourage marrying outside of your skin color once in my 32 years on this earth, and going to church 99% of the Sundays that i've been on the planet. 2) We do not consider it a sin to marry someone not of our faith. However, it is strongly encouraged to marry someone of our faith, as it is part of a covenant with God done in our temple. But it's not a sin, you won't be shunned or kicked out, if you marry someone not LDS.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Just read the thread, RT. I'm not going to debate posts from you when you haven't read the things in their original context.>> Are you talking about the "Fight for Gay Marriage comes to Utah" thread? I'm not about to read 1,417 posts. I did read the first 100. I saw a bunch of people mercilessly mocking one person's religious beliefs. Reminded me of a bunch of teens in a circle kicking a puppy. Classy. Real classy.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I saw a bunch of people mercilessly mocking one person's religious beliefs. Reminded me of a bunch of teens in a circle kicking a puppy.<< Seconded. You've all stated your piece. Now shuddup.
Originally Posted By utahjosh RaodTrip, you can keep posting all you want. Leave it to others to tell you to "shuddup."
