h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

CULT: A religious system, a devotion to a person or thing (ie the Rocky Horror Picture Show is a CULT film)
In otherwords, cult is something popular.

I do not appriciate you calling me close minded. I have tried out other religions, and I have many wiccan freinds. I believe what I believe because I think it is the truth, you can deny me if you want, but you know what? I am human I am a sinner, I have been saved, and I have been forgiven, because The Lord Jesus Christ was sacraficed, one sacrafice for sins forever. All religions are bogus, they are RELIGION, I have life. As my mom quotes, Let the dead bury their dead. Keep this in mind, organized churches are the product of perversion of GOD's word, and the history of Jesus. My faith is not an orginization, all I have to do is believe, and I am clensed.

Now you see why I may seem close minded? It is so easy to achieve grace in GOD's eyes, I dont know why everyone dosnt believe sometimes.

<>

Why constantly criticise, then? The Mormons believe that Jesus is the Savior to save their sins. So do the Catholics, and the Protestants, and the Jehova's Witnesses. All Christian religions believe that.

And a person can't believe in something just because it seems like the easy way out. It's been my experience that doubt makes for a better person. If a person doubts something, and they prove it to themselves, they have less reason to doubt it. Doubt, if it's overcome, increases faith.

But I see you as closed-minded because you see your line of thinking as correct and no other. I see that as not only being closed-minded, but arrogance as well. To have the audacity that one knows something the rest of the world doesn't puts him or her a step above the rest. No one has universally undoubtable proof, and so cannot say, "I'm right and you're wrong."

~Sirona

PyRex.. You fool... The Baptism for the Dead Scipture in Corinthians MEANS: If you dont believe in Ressurection, Why would you Baptize for the Dead.. The Corinthians Practiced Bap. For the Dead, and he was using this practice to teach them about Resurrection. YOU are the one who doesnt understand Biblical English and Gramar. And when you speak of Temples, I have never heard anyone say so much about something they know so little..

JusRev.

I am new to this conversation. I am a current member of the Mormon Church. I hold the Priesthood. I don't want to force my beliefs on you. Would you please tell me what religions you are besides simply saying "The Church." I want Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Wiccan, Muslim, etc. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have, but please number them so I can responjd concisely. Another option would be to call the missionarys in your town and they can come to your home. They are probably listed in any phone book worldwide under "the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." If you can't find them I can give you a number to call your local mission leader and they will send people out to teach you. I encourage you to maintain an open mind and not use rumors and gossip to be the basis of your opinions.

I dont understand how me using a computer is worshiping an idol... Please enlighten me. I am Not a member of religion, I am non-denominational, if I was to go to a church it would be baptist, however, many baptists believe you have to be baptised to be saved, We do not believe that.

I only see computers as idols when you become addicted to it, using it as a way to escape from real life. I think we should ask each other questions, so ...
1. If you are non-denominational, what do you do? Do you ...
a. pray
b. read the bible
c. fast
d. meditate
e. take any form of communion/sacrament
2. What do you believe?
a. Jesus as Savior
b. Jesus as God
c. When should baptism be done?
d. When does marriage end?
e. Is repentence necessary?
f. Is the Bible absolutely accurate, or has it been altered in translation?
3. I see both of you using quotes. Have you ever read the Bible cover to cover and prayed about it's meaning?

I would like to clear somthing up, I made a mistake in The Church, it should be the church, sorry about that.

I use my computer at work during breaks and slow times, I did have a computer but my brother is using it for collage and his magazine. I may be on H2G2 but that does not mean I worship Douglas Adams, I just liked his writing, He was the father of the Sci-Fi Comedy. I do not agree with some of DNA's views, but just because someone thinks different dosnt mean you cant be friends. The only place I believe that you must be of the same faith is in marrage (Be ye not un-equally yoked togeather with unbelievers)

1)
a)Pray: Yes I pray.
b)Read the bible: Yes I use the King James Version
c)Fast: No need to fast except for personal strength (not related to my beliefs)
d)meditate: Yes, Praying is our meditation, also reading the bible and thinking about it. Stewing in the WORD in otherwards.
e) Take any form of communion/sacrament: Yes we brake bread in rememberance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone who believes on His sacrafice for us can do it.

2)
a)Jesus as Savior: Yes, One sacrafice for sins forever, once saved always saved.
b)Jesus as God: Yes, he is the SON of God, a human manifestation of God.
c)When should baptism be done: Baptism should be done when a person has knowlage of Jesus, his sacrafice and accepts him into their heart, no particular age, our youngest was about 4-6 Baptism is only a symbol of Jesus's resurrection, another way to show belief (like communion) You do not have to be baptized, I wasnt til I was 18. I wasnt strong in my belief at the time and it was just to appease my parents. The turning point for me was in boot camp, my fait in God got stronger and my hope was all I had, and when I got out of boot camp he had kept my girlfreind (though we didnt know where each other was) safe, and open. I was then able to contact her and we are still togeather, she will be down here this weekend to live,which brings me to your next question.
d)Marriage: We believe that marriage ends at death, however, you will still see your spouse, but in heaven you are no longer in the same situation and there is no marriage, everyone is with God. I am planning on getting married soon, we do not believe in two people living togeather before marriage but in my situation, It is a nessasary step towards our marriage as I am in the military. I have to get to know her in person more than I do, I know everything about her but I still have a lot to learn, reactions and such.
e) Is repentance nessesary: No One sacrafice covered everything.
f) Is the Bible absolutely accurate, or has it been altered in translation: Which Bible? (Ahh a good book I recomend it!)I believe that the KJV is the only true translation, and even so, some meaning may have been missed which is why a hebrew bible with cross references and a Hebrew dictionary (another use for computers) are very nice to have.
3) I have not read the bible cover to cover, instead I browse throug it. I look and start reading somewhere, usually I have a question when I start reading, and God guides me to the answer. I can always find the answer to my questions.

One thing you miss though. I do not believe in the same Jesus as the Mormons, or the Catholics. Satan was NOT Jesus's brother.

Which Jesus are you talking about? Here is the Jesus the Mormon's believe in:
He is the son of God.
He lived in nazareth, galillee, etc. in about the first century AD.
He was crucified by the jews because they feared him.
He was in the tomb for three days and was resurrected.
He suffered for our sins.

By the way, why is repentence not necessary? If we are going to be saved anyway, why do we go to church? Why are we here? What is the point of agency if we won't be punished for our sins.
We believe that repentence is necessary. If we are truely sorry for our sins and try to make amends, Jesus will provide for our salvation through the Atonement. If we are not sorry and do not repent, we will not be saved. We do not believe in a "Hell" as such, but there is a place where the wicked will go who know of Jesus and refuse to follow Him.

Our marriage is for all eternity. Isn't that better than just for life? We will be with our families forever in heaven, not just in a crowd of random righteous people.

If Satan is not Jesus' brother, where did he come from? Do you think that both Satan and God emerged from chaos and started the universe as we know it?

Jesus is The SON of God, but he is the human manifestation of God (I and my father are one.)
He was a Jew, and lived a long time ago, roughly from 1AD to around 30AD (do not quote me on the dates)
He was crucified by religious leaders because they feared him undermining their athority. (Let him who has no sin cast the first stone, Take up your bed and walk etc.)
He was in the tomb for 3 days and was resurrected on the third day.
He suffered one sacrafice for sins forever and sat down on the right hand of God.

Repentance is not nesassary because he made that sacrafice. Abraham said to his son, "God will provide HIMSELF a lamb" He will provide himself AS a lamb. Jesus's sacrafice was enough "It is finished." He died for our sins and nothing we do will make up for it. All he asks is that we believe on him, and walk in the Word. We try to lead moral lives and look to God for all things. Nothing is forcing you to go to "church" We in fact do not go to church. We gather at a person's house and talk. We read the bible and listen so we can get understanding of it. We call it Fellowship, "Whereever there are two gathered in my name there am I in the midst" (not an exact quote) I do not know how you could call gathering in the Word to be repentance, it is not supposed to be punishment, it is to help us grow in the Lord, so that we may go forth and speak of him (as I am) to the unbelieving. I however am not a confrentating person so I do not like to drill people because I know how it feels to have Jehova's Wittnesses or LDS's knocking at your door while you are trying to relax, etc.

When you get to heaven (or hell) you will not care for the things of the world, therefore there is no reason for us to be married. You will still see your spouse, but you will not be in the same situation. Hell is real and it is a place people who do not accept the Lord Jesus Christ into their hearts.

Satan is not Jesus's brother, he is a fallen angel, The angel of light, Lucifer. He is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen, and he was cast out of heven because he started a revolt in the angels against God. Jesus was not born til he was sent down to the earth. Before Jesus people who saw grace in the eyes of the Lord (Noah) Were taken into Abraham's bosom, which is seperated from hell by a large canyon. Abraham's bosom is a place that people who believed before Jesus died for our sins went.

God didnt emerge from Chaos, he just was. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the word was God. (John 1:1) In the beginning God Created the heveans and the earth. (Gen 1:1) Did you know the earth was judged before he created man? There was somthing that went on between the first verse and the second verse, possably thousands of years!

Anyway that is discussion for later, I think I have answered your questions to the best of my ability. Someone stole the package my mother sent to me with the books I need to continue with this conversation so please dont get upset with me till I can look at these books again...

OK, we don't call it Hell but we have the equivalent.
It seems we believe in the same Jesus. We may disagree on his form or godhood, but that doesn't matter that much.
I won't heckle you about repentence. As long as you believe in being good and obeying the commandments, that's good enogh for me.
What do you think we'll be doing in heaven?
I'm confused about the "I do not know how you could call gathering in the Word to be repentence, it is not supposed to be punishment, it is to help us grow in the Lord, so we may go forth and speak of him to the unbelieving." We do not believe that merely going to church constitutes repentence. Repentence consists of sorrow for your misconduct, a determination to make amends, and doing all you can to recieve forgiveness from God, the transgressed, and yourself. The purpose of the sacrament is to remind us of our covenent to try to repent for all our sins and not commit them any more.
I'm glad you don't believe in the creation taking exactly six days.
Have you ever read the Book of Mormon?
Try to get a copy of the Articles of Faith. It summarizes all of our beliefs in one page. I'll try to answer any questions you may have about them.

I never said cration took more than six days... It did, the earth and heveans were created long before. Some other civilization, or race was on the earth. God judged them and that is why there is a mention of the spirit of the Lord moving along the face of the water. For all I know the compalation of the earth took millions of years, but he created everything else in a matter of days...

I have to go but I will continue this tomarrow...

can you say..ugh? i mean come on, just give it up. Each time you reply it makes you sound more and more bigoted. and didn't jesus want us all to love another? Hmm?

SOrry, if you want me to leave, I will. I just hate looking at people make judgements about the Mormons without having all of the facts at hand.

I would have the facts had someone not stolen my mail. My mom was mailing my books on mormonism down to me and someone jacked them from the mail room. I wish I didnt seem so Biggoty. I am just trying to say that the Jesus that I belive in could not be the same as other versons, for example, catholics believe that Jesus was angry at men and Mary has to stand between him and us when we are judged. I beleve that Jesus wanted to be sacraficed because he loves us, and dosnt want us to go to hell.

The Universe (earth and heavens) could have taken thousands of years, but the actual creation of everything that made them up (galaxys, stars etc) I believe took six days. The bible fits with the pulsating universe theroy, I am not exactly sure of it's scientific name, but it works.

There are all kinds of books on Mormonismin your local library or bookstore.
Of course Jesus loved us and wanted to save us, why else would he have suffered as he did?
Lets drop the creation timeline, OK? In the grand sceme of things I doubt any of our salvation depends on understanding the creation.

In our church trust is a big thing, trusting the Lord Jesus Christ to have taken care of everything as he promised is important, because for us it is pretty much a sin to try and get salvation by recruiting people, doing work for the church (marching against abortion etc) Or whatever else. To know that it has all been taken care of is a great releif because nothing I could do would be enough to save me. All it boils down to is works. Our life is tried by fire, the straw, or our works burn away, but God's word spread by us will not melt away. We will recieve crowns for the people we witness to, and will throw them at Jesus's feet as he is the one who truly deserves them.

Sorry if I got carried away with the creation thing, I just enjoy talking about it. The big bang theroy could be more correct than most creationists believe as God does not require a universe to exist.

Oh well...

We don't believe that our works alone will gain salvation for us, but we need to do all we can to show God that we are willing to do his Word however we can. Simply saying "I believe in Christ and his teachings and I'll be good," and sitting back isn't enough. Have you read the parable of the sower? Some seed took root easily, but they died at the first sign of oppresion. Not to sound insensitive, but do other religions target you and your small group. No. They target the Mormons. For 170 years we have been persecuted, mobbed, exiled, attacked, and despised. We are still here. We were chased across the country to Salt Lake City. We turned the desert into a paradise. We provide welfare for thousands of disaster vicitims around the world. We do not recruit people. We welcome them. If we knock on a door and the resident does not wish to hear we do not hassle them. i challenge you to hear what they have to say. I chalklenge you to read the Book of Mormon. I don't care if you chase me out of this conversation. I just want the truth to be known.

In the end it is all works. If you believe that his sacrafice was not enough you are denying that God could provide his own sacrafice for us. That is the major point, yes you can get involved in pro-life, disaster relief, but it is all in vain. Doing things according to his purpose is not what gets you into heven, the sacrafice is all we needed. Serving him is a way of spreading his word so he may have what he desires, many of us in heven.

Yes we do get attacked. even though 95% of the people in our group have tried religion we are still called close minded. I would not think of me as a bigot, because I am very accepting, I know that no matter what you do you can be saved, and even if you cannot bring yourself to walk in the word, you are saved. Everyone has a different relaionship with God, which is why there are so many religions. I have a relationship that is built on hope, he always provides me with somthing I hope for and will make it happen if I keep him in my mind. I always thank him for everything he has brought to me, and everything he hasnt. You have to thank God for the good along with the bad, because somehow, the situations that affect your life will someday reflect somthing that you will use to serve him and spread his Word.

And about the recruiting thing... I didnt mean It like I said it, when you find someone and they accept what you say... that is recruiting as I meant it.

Looking back on my previous posts, I admit that I sound like a deranged maniac. I still don't understand why we're here if our salvation is gauranteed. Please tell me why we're here if we're all going back to heaven anyway?