The M+G+R Foundation
The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Dispelling the Multitude of Misconceptions About It
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or, as it is
incorrectly called, The Mormon Church, was founded by their prophet
Joseph Smith after a series of Heavenly Apparitions which commenced in
the Spring of 1820 in the United States of America.
In a nutshell: During the pre
Christian era one of the prophets of the time was guided by God to come
to the North American continent with a contingent of people and
establish, what would later be, the foundation for a new Church that
was to manifest itself toward the End of These Times, that is, in the
Latter Days.
According to the Book of Mormon, Jesus
Christ manifested Himself to the descendants of the North American
original group after His Resurrection and Ascension into
Heaven, personally taught them His Gospel (1)
and formed a branch of His Church.
As opposed to the carefully
orchestrated popular belief, the Book of Mormon is not a
replacement to the Holy Bible. In accordance to their Faith, it
is a Book to be meditated upon in conjunction with the Holy
Bible.
Most of Centuries long Established
Christendom discount The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as
"just one more sect" because, among other things:
(a) it is new;
(b) its members feel strongly about going out and gently
Evangelize the world;
(c) it is an American home-grown church ("and you know how those
Americans are...", non Americans will say);
(d) they are incorrectly accused of fostering and promoting
polygamy; and
(e) the story of why and how it was founded sound too unreal,
almost, like Science Fiction.
All of the above reasons are
sophomoric, at best, and ridiculous, at worst. If we apply the same
critical criteria to the Centuries long Established Christianity, then,
it too should be discounted without even having to take into
account the atrocities committed by the Centuries long Established
Christendom over the centuries in the Name of God.
Without promoting nor endorsing The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we still must raise some
very intriguing points about it, which, the seeker of the Truth, should
ponder about:
What is the condition of the world and
of the Monotheistic Faiths after almost 2,000 years of Christianity?
1. Iniquity reigns supreme; worse than
ever before. It is not a matter of living immorally. It is a matter of
living amorally; reducing the Law of God to "guidelines" and sinfulness
to "a justifiable natural human trait".
2. Evangelization, shortly after the
Apostles and early Evangelists died, quickly became just a matter of
establishing Spheres of Influence for personal and institutional gain.
Results: The state of affairs the world is in today. Unless the reader
wishes to believe that evil is stronger than God. [Warning:
The subconscious acceptance that "evil is stronger" by means of an
attitude of despondency such as "What can we do?" is a grave
sin against the Goodness of God - and maybe even a sin against the Holy
Spirit of God.]
3. The Holy Scriptures have been so
frequently translated and re-translated and interpreted and
re-interpreted that people are hard pressed to know what is the true
Word of God and what is The Word of God according to This or That
Special Interest Group. There are so many concrete examples of this
intellectual rape of the Sacred Scriptures that volumes could be
written about it.
4. Catholic Christians, Protestant
Christians and Muslims keep killing each other in the Name of God. [How
stupid can we be in believing the validity of such abomination].
5. Child sexual abuse appears to have
become a world-wide past time for many and a Vacation Destination for
others. Poverty among children increased 85% in four years in
Washington, D.C., the capital of the mighty United States of America.
110 million Latin Americans live below the level of poverty. Over
55,000,000 of them, children. There are over 900,000 children engaged
in prostitution in Thailand alone. (2)
6. Every time God tries to admonish
and warn us through messages and/or apparitions of the Virgin Mary, the
mystical event is turned into money making enterprise and "to hell"
with the messages (3). "After all, this is the
21st Century!" the faithful would be told just before the Collection
Plate is passed, "just in case..."
What happened? Did God fail? or,
instead, Did those few entrusted by God to help in the harnessing of
Creation, for the benefit of mankind and His Glorification, have
managed to handsomely live off the Word of God while keeping the
majority of the World Population as so many Lazarus' [Luke
16:19-31] waiting for a crumb to fall off the
Ecclesiastical table? (4)
How does The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints fit in the above illustrated and disturbing picture
of the world as it is today? They try to live [7 days a week, 24 hours
a day] the Word of God as closely as possible while helping in
restoring the Faith in God and the Creation demolished over the last
2,000 years.
This writer (5),
a non fanatical and an 'in extremis' practitioner of the Catholic
Faith, considers that "The Mormons" should not be discounted as just
"another sect"; instead the zeal with which they live their Faith should
serve as an example to us all.
We must look into our own backyards
and clean out the filthy debris that has accumulated over the last
2,000 years before we go out passing judgment on the Faith held by
other groups. (6)
The Portuguese (Catholic) Episcopal
Commission publicly proclaimed such intent and started to implement it
in 1995. Perhaps the remaining Episcopal Conferences throughout the
world should follow suit. (7)
Document originally prepared on June, 1997. Salamanca, Spain
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