marcostolto

if there are any LDS members who can give me some advise, references, scriptures or links to online articles, that can help me deal with an almost overpowering attraction to pornography & the occult, that has been engulfing me, and with which i have been struggling with for the last 30yrs, it would be greatly appreciated. thank you

greetings, i am a newly interested person, living in the city of Durban, South Africa who has started trying to improve my Italian, in preparation for a hopeful future emigration and reunion with my relatives in Italy. i was wondering whether anyone could give me some advice on how to obtain a copy of the Book of Mormon in Italian here in Durban, as i would like to take this opportunity to study it whilst improving my Italian, but have been having difficulties getting through to the LDS missionary & church offices, here in Durban, telephonically, if there are any LDS members on the forum who are resident in Durban, or are Italian or know of any Italian LDS members in Durban, or anyone else who can give me advice or the telephone number or email address of the Elder in charge of the missionary office, here in Durban, this would be appreciated. thank you

very interesting comments. thank you. i think i will focus on reading the Book of Mormon. it contains references to Bible scriptures that the authors, no doubt considered trustworthy, those not include, no doubt were considered less so. its a question of faith. i realised very early on, whilst reading the introduction to the Book of Mormon, that this was a special book.

"In the parable of the sower - the problem is not in the seed (the word of G-d)" yes, you have just confirmed what the other LDS members and myself have agreed on, that the Bible text is trustworthy.

skalenfehl, thank you for quoting this scripture. i speak as a newly interested person, not yet baptised. [br] [strong]"I beheld that the church of the Lamb, ...their dominions upon the face of the earth were small"[/strong] [br] clearly the church of the Lamb here refers to the LDS Church, as their "dominions were small" [br] [strong]"great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God"[/strong] [br] further it mentions that "the mother of abominations did gather together multitudes to fight against the Lamb of God", clearly these would be enemies not only of the Lamb of God, namely, Jesus Christ, but also of the Church of the Lamb, that is they would need to be enemies of the LDS Church [br] [strong]"wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations;and she is the whore of all the earth."[/strong] [br] obviously then Babylon the Great, the "mother of abominations" mentioned here, does not refer exclusively to The Roman Catholic Church, as indicated by Mr Mc Conkie, nor could it refer exclusively to any other church, as it must refer to "whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb", that must be anyone who has not been baptised as a Mormon, which would encompass individuals every religion [br] this makes sense, thank you

that is right. both describe it accurately, but from different viewpoints, yet both descriptions can be accepted as trustworthy. this is why LDS often quote the Bible in their articles

that seems to be a fitting description of the Roman Catholic church. many Christian denominations believe that this is the "women" spoken of in Revelation. certainly Christianity was not the original religion of the Roman empire, else they would not have been worshiping pagan gods. this also seems to be the view of Mr McConkie, although i would have to question as to how many Christian denominations he could name that accept the Book of Mormon as Gods word. very few, in fact, in my opinion, LDS and Jehovahs Witnesses are two of the most disliked Christian denominations, that exist, both commonly being referred to as cults. not a viewpoint that i share, at least not for LDS

exactly what i think i said previously. the purpose of the Book of Mormon was not to correct grammatical errors, ommissions, etc, that had been introduced into the Bible text, but to add new meaning to Gods word, that is, additional chapters, new prophets etc. that is why i believe we can find Bible quotations in most LDS articles.

are there any simularities between the LDS church and Islam? for instance Muslims believe that the actual Bible text was corrupted by man, and that it was necessary for the Quran to correct those errors. This is to an extent also what Jehovahs Witnesses believe, that Gods name was omitted from the Bible text, and had to be restored. Was this also the purpose of the Book of Mormon, or could we say that the Bible text, is trustworthy, as it is? are there any scriptures in the Bible, that you know of, that the Book of Mormon indicates were modified? i specifically refer to what the Bible says at Jeremiah 8:8 "how can you say, 'We are wise, And the law of the Lord is with us'? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. (NASB). my understanding at this stage is that the LDS believe that the Bible text is accurate, but incomplete, that is the Book of Mormon was necessary, not to correct, but to provide additional information that was missing in the Bible

why would anyone join LDS if they did not believe that it was the only true religion? the term "wickedness" that you have mentioned, is relative. and open to interpretation. wickedness could mean the LDS church, to a person who considers LDS as part of Babylon the great. as a former Jehovahs Witness and someone who has also dabbled in the occult, and had open discussions with Satanic members, i am well aware of what physical actions the bible considers to be wicked, however from a religious viewpoint, a churches teschings and doctrins may also be held to be wicked, even though they may not necessarily involve evil physical actions such as animal or child sacrifices

"Church of the Firstborn?" is this the Church of the LDS's? "Church of the Devil"? are these the literal Satanic worshiping churches? "all those who fight against the Lord"? who are these? those who do not accept the Bible as Gods word, those who do not accept Jesus as Messiah, or those who do not accept the Book of Mormon as Gods word? excuse my ignorance, however, if its the former, then are for example, the Orthodox Jews & Muslims who do not accept the New testament and Jesus Christ as Messiah, part of Babylon? if the latter, then all religions exept LDS must form part of Babylon? as a former Jehovahs Witness this question is quite important to me, because when i was ex-communicated from the JW church it was for rejecting the JW religion as the only true religion, so it would seem reasonable to me that the LDS explanation of Babylon the Great, should refer to all those who reject the Book of Mormon, as Gods word

Rev 17:5 mentions "Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots", and Rev 18:4 says "come out of her (Babylon the Great), my people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues". how do Mormons interpret this scripture. Is this a reference exclusively to the Roman Catholic Church or to all other Christian religions, or is it a reference to non-Christians, or to all other religions ?

as a newly interested person, i have been reading the Book of Mormon, but am having a little difficulty understanding what the LDS belief is with respect to the above topic. should we accept the complete Bible as the undefiled word of God, or are there parts of the Bible that have been corrupted, and need to be rejected, and if the latter, is the purpose of the Book of Mormon to indicate what parts of the Bible we should accept or reject, or is it just an extension of Gods Word, serving to complement what has already been written, without any criticism? i feel this is an important issue, that i would like to understand, and hope a member will be able to help clarify this, especially with respect to what scriptures in the Bible, if any, have been spoken of in the Book of Mormon, as having being erroneously modified

ciao e grazie, (thank you), this answer has really helped, and have to say, i truly love the LDS temple in Italy. and am very pleased that a 2nd temple has been approved for construction in Durban, South Africa, the city where i have lived most of my life. these buildings are very beautiful. i was left agast when i first saw the LDS Salt Lake city temple..truly incredible.if anyone can help with identifying the LDS elder who gave me a copy of the book of Mormon, it would be appreciated. the only info i have is that he & his wife had a office on the 2nd floor, and were in charge of the missionaries, in the city of Durban, South Africa, in the late 80's, or early 90's, and that he was a Vietnam veteran, airforce pilot. i would also like to hear from anyone who knows Elder Browne, who has just finished his missionary term of service in Durban, this month. i owe these elders a lot, for having introduced & helped me..thank you

greetings, i am Italian and was raised as a Roman Catholic, but converted to the Jehovahs Witness religion whilst living in South Africa, in order to avoid military conscription, during the apartheid era. I was a JW for 15yrs but left in 2000 as a result of disagreements with some of the JW teachings. i subsequently became an Atheist but in effect am still really Catholic, as are all my relatives. I have been reading the book of Mormon, and am really impressed as it answers so many questions about the Bible that i have been unable to find anywhere else.sometimes i even wonder whether men did not unknowingly corrupt Gods word. i really would be interested to hear from LDS members who might be able to answer the following questions: 1) does the LDS Church excommunicate serious sinners publicly ie is an announcement made at the meetings? 2) does the LDS church practice the shunning of excommunicated members at church & in public ie are standing members prohibited from speaking, or even greeting, an excommunicated member? 3) does the LDS church prohibit the eating of blood eg blood sausage and does the LDS church prohibit the use of blood transfusions? thank you