tesuji

I would be interested in having a discussion about what is the actual official church doctrine about this. Are Mormons descended from Israel, literally? There is also the concept of adoption into the chosen lineage of Israel, which I believe is supposed to happen at baptism. I'd look this up but contrary to apperances I'm supposed to be working at home at the moment. And, to Aish and any other Jewish visitors, I realize our doctrine about all this might be odd to you...

OK, I really hope I'm not banned for this one, but I wanted ask Aish, have you seen the following movie? Jewtopia http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0878814/ Netflix link, not sure if it will work for you all: https://www.netflix.com/search/jewtopia?jbv=70287266&jbp=0&jbr=0 I thought it was hilarious, but then I was ashamed at myself for laughing. It has a lot of apparent stereotypes, most of which I had never heard of before. Then I read some reviews by Jews and they said the movie was just Jews making fun of themselves. So I thought maybe I could relax and go back to finding it hilarious. Now, I will say that I do not necessarily recommend this movie to LDS people in this forum, because it has some strong sexual references which were way too much for me. I didn't enjoy that part. It's rated NR But anyway, I wondered if you'd seen the movie and what you thought. You seem like someone who might enjoy the humor. I would have never brought it up if you hadn't insisted you were not easily offended.

No slapping. Did I say slapping?

Honestly, I find that most of the time you can defend the church just fine by simply explaining what the church and gospel are. There is so much misinformation, misunderstanding and (unfortunately) sometimes intentional distortion out there about the church. At the very least, the truth will be out there. If I can explain it and come across as a reasonable, open-minded, caring person (rather than whatever people mistakenly might think Mormons are) then I feel successful. People will then at least have correct information, and can decide for themselves what to think about it.

This is interesting. I have often thought, what is the difference between being LDS and being a hypocrite? Jesus said be ye perfect (Greek, "completed"). We have these high, ideal standards that we are going to fall short of. I think the difference is humility. If you remember you are nothing compared to God, but are still his child and he loves you anyway, and you are sincerely trying and daily repenting, I think you are good. If you forget these things, you risk hypocrisy.

Mormons and Jews have a lot in common.

Thank you for the kind words. I'm kind of an over-opinionated attention-seeker, but I really try to reign that in. I work from home all day, and even though I'm an introvert I still get people-starved. And I like thinking and writing about things. So it's been nice to find a place like this forum.

I lived in Highlands Ranch, which is a south suburb of Denver. I was there from about 2005 to 2013. That area was a great place in many ways. The library system was jaw-droppingly amazing.

I've kind of been posting all over the place here lately, so I thought I should introduce myself. I actually apparently joined the forum a few years back to make a post on some "hobby horse" topic but I didn't return. I'm a life-long member of the LDS church. I was fortunate to be raised by devout LDS parents and have the whole Primary, Seminary, BYU Provo experience. I served a wonderful and challenging mission in Paraguay. I've lived mostly outside Utah - Oregon, Virginia, New Hampshire, Colorado. I spent a summer in Stuttgart, Germany during college. After college I taught English in Japan for a year. I'm in central Utah now. I have to say I much prefer living in the "mission field" - Utah has always felt rather like a foreign country to me. But there are a lot of good people in Utah, and I've been in a few "Celestial" wards here, which is much appreciated. I am committed to the church and the gospel, which are the greatest blessings I can imagine in this life. I don't think I've been blessed with the gift of faith, yet. But Hugh Nibley says we should pray for these spiritual gifts, so I keep doing that. Faith is an abstract idea for me, but it helps me to think of it as "trusting in God." The Greek word used in the New Testament is "pistis," which means "faith, belief, trust." I enjoy learning about things, including the gospel. Since I don't really have a church calling at the moment, I've taken Elder Ballard's suggestion to heart, and often post on the internet to explain and defend the church. I actually think of the internet as how it might have been like in the War in Heaven. I imagine Heavenly Father presenting his plan, and then He let us all think and discuss it with each other before deciding to support it. (Would Satan's plan have even worked, or was it just a lie to catch people who wanted a risk-free plan?) I've been married to a great LDS woman for 20 years and have two amazing and trying daughters, ages 10 and 13. Anyway, I guess I'm happy to answer (most) questions if anyone wants to know more.

Any by the way, since sugar has come up here, In my experience sugar is every bit as addicting as caffeine. Try to go a few days without any desserts or any added sugar (it will be hard in the US, because you'll have to read food labels - most things have a lot of added sugar).

Maybe I'll get banned for saying this -- but as far as I understand, and despite what BYU vending machines seem to preach: Caffeine itself isn't strictly against the Word of Wisdom. I've never heard any General Authority say it is. And drinking it won't keep you from getting a temple recommend. Now, I avoid caffeine mostly. And I think the church counsels against all addictive substances. But as far as strict church doctrine, you can still be a Mormon in good standing and drink a Coke or a Rockstar etc. Correct me if I'm wrong.

In case it wasn't clear, I was trying to make a joke about the "minor" thing. We believe Jesus was the Son of God and his mission the most important thing that's happened in human history. I respect that the Jews see it differently, though. #11 of our official articles of faith:

If you like books about depressing trends in America, here's an even better one: The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, http://www.amazon.com/Unwinding-Inner-History-New-America/dp/0374534608/

Or listen to media that challenges their views, since broadcasting is fading out and narrowcasting is in. Or talk to people who aren't like them, since people are tending to live in like-minded neighborhoods: http://www.amazon.com/Big-Sort-Clustering-Like-Minded-America/dp/0547237723/ Too many people live in echo chambers and only hear their own views repeated back at them

Temples are greatly important to Mormons, as you may know. We have built about 150 of our versions of temple around the world. What do Jews think about the temple exactly? Do they feel there can be only one, and that it has be be rebuilt in Jerusalem, otherwise nothing else counts? So the problem is that (if I remember correctly) the Muslim Dome of the Rock is there now on that spot, right?

I love the idea of WGU and I've looked into it several times. But it really only makes sense if you go full time, because as has been said they charge you a flat rate no matter how many classes you take. This makes no sense to me, since I assume many people who want flexible education would be part-timers, wanting to finish school while still holding down a day job. The other thing I have heard is that they don't give you regular college credits. So you can't transfer any of your work to another college, and if you don't finish the full program you are out of luck. If anyone knows better, please correct my understanding.

So you're telling me that we believe essentially the same things and the only issue Jews and Christians really have is a minor disagreement about who Jesus was?

Double post - not sure how that happened

I was fascinated to learn about the Shema. Because I recently decided that if I were to sum up what Mormonism is about, what all Christians should be about, I would give the following scripture from Matthew: It turns out Jesus was quoting from the Torah here. Isn't that right?

I was fascinated to learn about the Shema. Because I recently decided that if I were to sum up what Mormonism is about, what all Christians should be about, I would give the following scripture from Matthew: It turns out Jesus was quoting from the Torah here. Isn't that right?

So it's grammatically plural, but you understand it to be singluar, one G-d? Hey, I just learned about the Shema from that book I mentioned. So you say it every day? Very cool. I googled it - is this what you repeat every day?: http://www.jewfaq.org/shemaref.htm

Another question - do you have a favorite online Tanakh text you can recommend? I recently found the following great site. If you play with the settings you can get the Hebrew Old Testament text. Actually, is there such a thing as "Hebrew Old Testament"? The two texts' names they have are called: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia Westminster Leningrad Codex http://biblewebapp.com/study/

What is your interpretation of the word Elohim as used in the first line of Genesis?: בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ: If I remember my alefbet correctly, I believe אֱלֹהִים says Elohim? "El" is "God," but "Elohim" is plural. Correct? I always that it was interesting - so why isn't it ever translated as "Gods created the earth?" To give you the Mormon angle on this, we believe in and worship what we call the Godhead, which consists of 1) God the Father (whom we call Elohim), 2) Jesus Christ (Jehovah, the God of Abraham and the rest of the Old Testament) and the 3) Holy Spirit. We believe they are three separate beings but one in purpose. We believe Jesus Christ created the earth under the authority of God the Father. So I think Mormons would tend to think of the beginning of Genesis as "in the beginning, Jesus Christ created the heavens and earth." But our founder Joseph Smith also delivered a sermon where he gave the idea as "In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted [prepared] a plan to create the world and people it." https://www.lds.org/ensign/1971/04/the-king-follett-sermon?lang=eng This interpretation isn't discussed much by Mormons, but it's out there.

What brought you to this site, full of crazy Mormons? I hope we have at least given you a good welcome. Do you want us to call you Aish? What kinds of discussion are you interested in? What sort of questions from Mormons would you enjoy responding to? Are there any questions you want to ask of Mormons?

I really am NOT a stalker... LOL Don't read any of the political threads. Fighting about politics does not represent the essence of what Mormons are about