AFDaw

It won't be long before she'll be retracting those words :)

Once in college I was at a carnival of sorts and found myself thirsty. Well things like this always have way over priced food and drinks and so I found a booth quite interesting when their sign read "Are you going to Heaven? 2 question test reveals answer. Get a free Pepsi!" I thought "Free Pepsi! COOL!" so I got my drink and someone was assigned to talk to me and these were the 2 tell-all questions. 1. Are you going to Heaven? (I said yes) 2. Why? (I said because I know what it takes and I know I'm doing that) So then this guy continues to talk to me in which case I've tuned him out while I'm enjoying my drink and he said "Are you willing to try to turn your life away from sin?" I said yeah, but honestly, who's going to say no? Well he went crazy! He was ALL excited and he was like "WONDERFUL! Great...well, ok, all I need you to do is read this" so basically if I read this little paragraph I was going to be saved. I should have just read it and went on with life, but I love a good debate. I told him I couldn't because I didn't believe our salvation was that easy to determine. We went round and round for a few mins in which case he said "Hold on, I need to go get backup" so he left me and returned with a Campus Minister. Well he asked what religion I was, I said Christian, then he asked what church I went to. I told him and then he continued to flatter me by telling me I'm not a Christian and I need to save my soul. So we go on and on and this is how our conversation ended. Campus Minister (CM) - "You're not part of a church! You're part of a cult. A Christian Cult!" Me - "Well thank you, that's the first time you actually referred to me as a Christian." CM - "Yes, but I said you were part of a cult." Me - "So what, the dictionary basically defines a cult as a group of people with the same beliefs. So fine, we're a cult, you're part of a cult, every other religion out there is a cult." CM - "But society has given the word "cult" a negative connotation" ME - "OH please! Don't preach to me about what society has given a good and bad name to. They've said divorce is ok, that sex outside marriage is ok, that drugs and alcohol are ok. They've said money is good and families are bad, they've said abortion is ok and children aren't." CM - "I think we need to agree to disagree" ME - "Fine by me." But seriously...to throw the argument of what society thinks like it should actually matter? It's like a sign I saw hanging up in a grocery store once. "Just because everyone is doing it, doesn't make it right. Just because no one is doing it, doesn't make it wrong."

I dunno I would agre Why yes they are Cool deal Alrighty then

Sounds like good advice to me. Maybe visit her gravesite with flowers. I also don't have any experience with this. I am sorry to hear of your loss though.

Well I know people around here think being saved is all it takes to get into Heaven, but this is the first time I've heard of this term. I wonder if they're the same thing.

On another board I'm on they have a religion section and one of the threads was about what religion everyone is and SEVERAL people claimed to be "blood bought" Christians. Someone asked what that was and this was the reply... This was the first time I've ever heard of it. I'm wondering if this means that they can literally do anything and still get into Heaven as long as they accept that Christ died for their sins. Anyone know? **edited because I was going to correct the title...though I'm seeing that's not possible.

Yes...but there's a lot of conversions. I'm willing ot say that most converts that heard all the anti dribble prior to joining. And like I said before, at least in my area I'm willing to bet that.

When Spencer and I were getting married we had a church wedding and a friend of the family was the one who was going to be marrying us and so we had to have 6 pre-martial counseling sessions with him. One the first one he met us at my parent's church bldg and to make what could be a long story VERY short, he didn't want to marry us because I was Mormon. He said that perhaps I was just telling my parents I was active when in fact I wasn't (because I didn't live in the same town as they did) and then he goes on to preach to Spencer about how un-Christian we were, how we didn't believe in God and we were on the pathway to hell and he gave Spencer some reading material and told him to seriously think it over before he even married me. Needless to say he did preform the ceremony. Also needless to say he's no longer a friend of the family. I had never pressured Spencer into joining the church (though I knew deep down he would) and I never forced him to go or anything. He later said that while Todd was sitting there talking all this anti nonsense, it made Spencer more curious about the church and made him think that there must be something to it. I should send him a thank-you note for convincing him to investigate further :)

Then all the bad press the church recieves, membership shouldn't be rising. But it is. For every bad publicity the church gets, someone out there is interested and investigates further. Some end up joining. And conversions should cease to exist in the South. Everyone around here pretty much thinks we're all going to hell. I've had people I call close friends bring me anti-mormon pamplets, not out of disrespect, but out of genuine concern for my soul. Yet we still have baptisms and a rise in membership every year. When the Dell spokesman was arrested for drug sales, Dell's sales saw an increase. How many times have you heard people say "I heard something about it in the news, but don't know what's going on." Studies have even shown that candidates who are in the news for scandals, end up getting an increase in support because people voting or polled recognize the name (without knowing why) and vote for them.

Well let me make it clearer then. There's not such thing as bad publicity FOR THE CHURCH. Better Snow?

No. When I was in high school, my brothers and I were always so active in so many extra curricular (sp) activities that it literally became impossible at times for us all to sit down together. So on Monday's we started just spending them together if we could. So if one of us had a sporting event, then the whole family would attend and then we would go out to dinner afterwards. Sometimes our FHE was on Tues or some other night. I dunno what the actual guidelines are, but I saw nothing wrong with this system because we still spent time together as a family once a week.

There's no such thing as bad publicity.

I'm only posting this because I saw there were no posts in this forum. It seems to me that when we hear the Priesthood sing their opening songs, it's always "Ye Elders of Isreal" Do you guys sing any other songs?

Very interesting Cal. And very interesting take Snow. I'm not sure I actually understand the whole "born again' term, but I am familiar with the term "being saved" and I would guess that some think that because they are "saved" they can honestly do whatever they want without fear of going to hell. At least in my neck of the woods that's true.

This reminds me of a commercial that's being aired around here. Not sure if it's a national commercial or what. But it's set up like the church is a club and there are bouncers outside saying "You can come in" and then 'No...you're not allowed" and then the message was "God doesn't turn people away....and neither do we" and I keep complaining about it. I've honestly never treated someone different because their clothes or shoes or accessories or anything wasn't "churchy" so this whole commercial baffles me. But I guess there are people out there who do judge a book by its cover. Though once at a Ward Christmas party I thought a guy wore a shirt that was distasteful. I can't remember what it was, but it had a sexual tone to it.

Found this article... Article regarding garments being sold on EBAY

?? The Young Women's Motto?

I've seen auctions that EBAY has pulled because they were wrong or there was a law broken. Not saying that applies here...just saying it's happened.

Faith = Belief in things not seen, or belief in things without physical proofIt's not "Believing without KNOWING"

Interesting

I believe that some of these blessing are based more on the person's faith who asked for the blessing as opposed to the worthiness of the priesthood holder. I want to note that I am NOT saying that unworthy priesthood holders should not worry about repenting and continue to perform their priesthood duties. So don't come back and say I did. I just think that if there's a situation where maybe the only one who can give the blessing isn't worthy, but is asked by someone, I think the greater sin would be denying the person who asked for the blessing. That's just me. Flame away!

Wow...I admit to not knowing the entire history behind you, but seems like a very sincere post. Goodluck in your own spiritual journey, hope you find what you're looking for.

I particularly thought the Mall Mission was funny :)

Telestial is the lowest, not Terrestrial. I've also heard of this, but not sure if I've ever seen it as a quote, and if so, I don't remember from where.

Have you looked at the rest of the site? They're trying to shut down Landover Baptist Church which IS a sattire site. I dunno...I think it's a joke site.