Wheres the sense in bashing a religion???

If you have 30 wives, do you still have to do time in pergotory? I mean how much more suffering can a man go thourgh!!!

I'm not an expert by any means on masonry, but I do know a lot about Joseph Smith. I also know something about that website, the UTLM, that you sourced from. UTLM is about as good a source for Mormon information as Freemasonry Watch is for masonry, i.e. a very poor source.

UTLM does have some good information, but a lot of their facts get mixed in with falsehoods and out of context quotes and that sort of thing, until the Tanners (the creators of UTLM) can basically 'prove' whatever conclusion they want to. This is a rather common occurrence with masonry as well; people twist facts or just plain make stuff up to 'prove' that they are all horrible people trying to take over the world. I trust the Tanners about as much as I do somebody like David Icke; they get some of the history right, but their conclusions are so far from accurate that they aren't even worth considering.

Also, it should be said that Joseph Smith founded the Mormon religion on April 6, 1830. He became a Mason (not sure exact date) sometime in 1842, if I recall correctly. I'm not sure if he was ever expelled from masonry, as I have seen conflicting reports on whether he was or not. He died in June 1844, so if he was expelled at some point, he wasn't a Mason for very long.

Using Masonry degree structures for the said religion sheesh

Again, I'm no masonry expert, but I think I would know if we were doing this. It is true that some of the temple ceremonies resemble masonic ceremonies, but the temple ceremonies were in place before Smith became a mason. Some have accused Smith of changing the endowments later to incorporate masonic elements. Smith did add to some of the ceremonies over time, but when he told people about them initially, he also told them straight out that what he was giving them was incomplete, and that more would follow.

I've seen several arguments on both sides about why some of the Mormon ceremonies resemble Masonic ones, so I'm not sure which one, if any, is the right reason.

I have a thread for people to ask me questions about mormons, the link is in my signature somewhere. Ask anything you want, as long as you keep in mind two things: 1) please don't bash my religion and 2) I'm really busy with school right now, so I may take several days before i get time to make a proper response after seeing your question.

Originally posted by lost in the midwest
If you have 30 wives, do you still have to do time in pergotory? I mean how much more suffering can a man go thourgh!!!

Well, the answer I suppose would have to be 'no', but only because in Mormonism there is no purgatory. I sure wouldn't want multiple wives...

In "Around the world in 80 days" by Jules Verne, the character Passepartout is on a train in the US, and he meets a Mormon missionary trying to convert the passengers. He asks the missionary if he has more than one wife, and the missionary replies "Heavens, no! One is MORE than enough for me!"

Just an amusing quote for the day.

Originally posted by Nygdan
Wheres the sense in bashing a religion???

None most of the time the facts speake for themselvs. The NWO ehh reglions actions ensure that there is plenty of valid points or flaws that can be pointed out without resorting to "bashing."