The Mormon Church is a Cult

Originally posted by jeantherapy
All you have to do is sit in on some Christian ceremonies, whether they be Lutheran or Catholic or even Santeria, to realize it is a cult. If you can sit through one without feeling like it is bizarre that just shows how effective the brainwashing is.

Sat through many services like these, makes me smile every time, some wild things happen in these services, wild and inexplicable things.

I don't regret having the experience and after sitting through sourpuss long winded preaching, give me celebration any day.

What you can celebrate at a rock concert, but one shouldn't celebrate the creator/creation of the universe?

reply to post by Annee



I know we have had our differences, but thanks for the insight into the Mormon church, I bought the book of Mormon at a garage sale many years ago, thought it was a little strange, but Mormons seem very passive as religions go, and I don't recall them violently waging any wars against any other faiths.
Peace

reply to post by yuppa

Originally posted by autowrench
The basic indoctrination practices of Christianity are wholly indistinguishable from any other Religious Cult. Some are even blood cults, those that eat the flesh and drink the blood of their God

Originally posted by yuppa
Are you sure you want to hoe that row? You do know that those are symbolic to Catholics only.

Actually, they are symbolic only to Protestants. Catholics and Orthodox Christians believe they are consuming the actual flesh and blood of Christ.

PRESENCE OF CHRIST IN THE EUCHARIST

Catholics: the consecration becomes effective through the Priest, who acts in the person of Christ. The gifts change completely into Christ's body and blood and this change is termed 'Transubstantiation' i.e. the outward appearance remains the same, but the substance changes.

Orthodox: During the Eucharist, the Priest calls down the Holy Spirit (in Greek: epiklesis) upon the gifts (the bread and the wine). They then change into the actual body and blood of Christ. The precise way in which this happens is a divine mystery.

Protestant: The bread and wine, being symbols, do not change substance. There are however, a wide variety of views held within Protestantism on this subject (e.g. some Anglicans accept the Catholic view, whereas Baptists deny it). Source

The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist from The Catholic Encyclopaedia.

I am an atheist, but was raised as an Anglican. The official Anglican line is that what actually happens in the Eucharist is a holy mystery that cannot and should not be defined too rigidly. This was a politically acceptable compromise during the English Reformation, since some Anglicans inclined to the Catholic/Orthodox vision and some to the Protestant view. Since Anglicanism is a national church and all Englishmen and Englishwomen did not agree on the significance of the Eucharist, the Anglican hierarchy eventually adopted this compromise position – after two hundred years of religious violence and civil war! – in order to put an end to the violence.

The tradition of Anglican liberalism, much despised by American Christians nowadays, grew out of the bitter experience of two centuries of sectarian violence. America has so far avoided this because there is no connexion between church and state in the USA. Conservative American Christians seeking to create one are literally pushing for religious civil war in the United States of America. I wonder if they realize that.

Originally posted by Astyanax
Actually, they are symbolic only to Protestants. Catholics and Orthodox Christians believe they are consuming the actual flesh and blood of Christ.

... and the Episcopals and some of the Lutherans believe it as well. the Catholics and Orthodox believe in transubstantiation. (the bread is gone, it's all Christ physically present). The Episcopals and (some) Lutherans believe in Consubstantiation. (both the bread and Christ are physically present). All these groups believe that Christ is God incarnate. Therefore they believe they consume God Himself at communion.

These groups combined make up more than half of Christianity.

reply to post by FlyersFan

Yes. Episcopalians are what Anglicans are called in America.

The Lutheran position is ambivalent, but Methodists (originally a kind of Anglican, btw) and other Calvinists and Zwinglians insist the bread and wine are merely symbolic.

Originally posted by MrSpad

Originally posted by Keeper of Kheb


The mormon religion is NOT christianity.

Here's why...

Some Mormon Facts

1. Jesus is not God but "A son of God" primarily the offspring of a sexual relationship between God the father and his wife.
2. God the father is not All knowing, All powerful, All present
3. The Father, Son, Holy Spirit are 3 seperate individuals not 3in1
4. Jesus's work of salvation was completed in Gethsemene when he wept blood.
5. All life on earth is made up of Angels that remained neutral in the conflict between Lucifer and God and are sent here to make a choice.
6. God the father was once a man like you and I and ascended to Godhood.
7. Man can ascend to Godhood and have a planet of his own and populate it with his offspring with his eternal wife.
8. No translation is correct except the King James Bible "As long as it is translated correctly" in which most cases mormons read either a mormon king james where supposedly Joseph Smith corrected the mistakes or they don't read it all. they mainly read Doctrines & Covenants, Pearl of Great price, & book of mormon.
9. They believe they are part of a lost tribe of israel that migrated here and christ came over here after his resurrection and preached the gospel to them.
10. They believe salvation is through Faith & Works not the truth that salvation is by faith alone and your works is a result of your salvation. No mormon knows if he is going to heaven or not. Christians are assured of their salvation from the beginning.

This is just off the top of my head there is much much more....

If I had a dime for everytime I have heard one group of so called Christians declare another group was not Christian I would be the richest man in the world. For a religion that has spent most of it existance killing each other over who has the right version of the thousand different interpritations/versions of one book, you would think maybe you all could stop condeming each other and let the big guy upstairs do the judging.

i didn't condemn or judge anyone.the facts speak for themselves. this is not a matter of interpretation, it is a matter of creating new content not in the bible. Christianity is not a religion, it's a relationship. it's like apples and oranges. The apple is clearly different than the orange so I am simply pointing out the differences. Mormonism is NOT Christianity. I highly doubt you would be the richest man in the world because i'm sure the man that said if he had a dime every time someone said was judging another would be richer than you.

All religions are cults designed to subjugate your soul and mind, they lead to spiritual stagnation as they line the pockets of priest, rabbi's and imams. Don't you know that you are sovereign and need no one to lead you, to impose arbitrary rules of behavior and control...awaken from your slumber and claim your place as human beings, be not cattle to be milked and beefed. Stand up an be free.

reply to post by jeantherapy

Whew! Reminds me of when I was a kid and was dragged to church all the time....and then Christians wonder why I posted this thread:
Is the "Holy Spirit" in Reality a Demon?
Tis is not the worst I have seen, either, I have watched as people with this "Holy Spirit" takes up poisonous Mountain Rattle Snakes and drink Arsenic to "prove their faith". This is why I laugh out loud when someone tells me they have "faith".
One thing that almost immediately alerts me to a Cult is overly aggressive evangelization (read that "preaching) to everyone and anyone. We see that a lot in here. There are too many Christians who are way too aggressive in their attempts to "share their faith", "preach the Gospel", not to mention times in History when people were forced into converted at the point of a sword. The funny thing is, forced evangelism and/or conversion are not supported by the Bible. Proof of false doctrine. Whether or not Christianity/Bible is true, or false is a topic of much debate, and ATS is a good reflection of that debate. At any rate, when any one group claims to have an exclusive hold on truth, the rest of us tend to immediately doubt the claims of that group. And it seems that asking hard, or difficult questions about the doctrines of the group brings flak in the form of personal insults and name calling. The favored insult seems to be, "I rebuke you, Satan, in the name of Jesus Christ", as if the questioner was actually Satan himself, provided such a being really existed outside the mind of the brainwashed masses.
Yes, we can all see cult like behavior, and some of us react to it, poke fun at it, laugh at it. The truth of the matter is, if you plan to evangelize in an open forum, you had better be ready to defend you words.

Sigh...I guess I'll take a stab at being the first practicing LDS poster in this ridiculous thread.

There are so many falsehoods, lies and outright attacks packed into these 3 pages I really don't have the room, time or stomach to rebut every one. Suffice to say, I am so sorry for those of you that harbor so much anger or hatred against my church, I hope that you can find some peace in your hearts and convert that energy into some positive service to God. (you got all fired up for second there when I wrote 'convert', huh? )

Here's the ultra abridged, reader's digest response to this thread (using wiki links so no one will go to hell for clicking on aything )

1. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints believe without a doubt that it is only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that mankind may be redeemed. That is a soul-by-soul basis...there are NO WORKS ANY MAN CAN DO which will suffice to pay the debts of our sins. We believe that in order to be worthy of that gift of Atonement we must do all we can to keep the commandments and follow God. If someone has truly 'accepted Christ' in their hearts, won't their works bear the same fruit, the same sense of duty to God?

2. Warren Jeff and/or Polygamy have no connection to the LDS church. Yes polygamy was practiced for a short time back in the late 1800's. It is not in any way part of the modern teaching of the church! Link

3. In an LDS Temple, an individual makes covenants (sacred promises) to God. These covenants are treated as sacred and profound to the individual making them, to the point of vowing to not speak of them to any outside the temple (including members, bishops, spouses, etc...not just 'outsiders)
Every temple has carved upon it "The House of The Lord" and is treated as such. Therefore, no unclean thing may enter (including me, a good-standing LDS member who has a little bit of stuff to work on, it's not a lifetime acess thing, you have to stay worthy) Every temple I have been in is peaceful, full of simple and unadorned beauty. It's a very quiet, hushed reverent place where you have the luxury of focusing your mind upon wholely spiritual things, without the distractions of the world fighting for your attention. The wedding ceremony is simple and straightforward, no different in it's essence than any other ceremony you could witness.

4. Joseph Smith was a farm boy of 14 when he began the process. If someone could explain the details of how a teenage boy could plagiarize so many "high end" books and teachings that'd be great. Also, if anyone could come up with the motivation to create a religion which caused him and his people to be murderously evicted repeatedly across the country westward I'd appreciate that too. More here

5. The Golden Plates which Joseph Smith translated were not 'invisible', and were seen by several witnesses, whose accounts are recorded in the preamble to the Book of Mormon. Several of these witnesses left the church or were excommunicated, yet none of them ever rescinded their testimony. educate yourself here

THere's more I could add, but I gotta take the kids to school, so have a great day and stuff!

This is 'Christianity' at it's finest and proves to me exactly who 'Christians' are. The hate and innuendo that is brought out in these posts make me despise 'Christianity' even more. The 'you don't believe as I do so therefore you are evil' attitude shows the truth more than anything else could.

What about 'love thy neighbor', 'forgive all men', 'do not judge' etc. Sorry, I misunderstood, we are speaking about 'Christianity'.

So, if you have a people who believe in Christ, albeit, in a different way than you, why hate on them? Should you not be more concerned about those who do not believe at all that Christ is God? Or is it just easier the bash those who are then same yet different? Should you not bring all men to Christ and not try to change how people believe in Christ?

This is what bothers me the most about 'Christianity'. It is the attitude of 'my god is better then your God'.

Sorry if I sound angry, but it is religion that turned me away from religion. The more I see how one group of believers treats another, the more I see that they all can't be following God, that they can't all be correct, that the people in that group are so fixated their own views that they need to hate all others. It just proves to me that religion is of man and not any God.

Peace all.

Darwins "origins of the species" is their bible. The evil Christians their mortal enemy, or Satan. Stephan Hawking their high priest...

Even not believing is a religion.... Don't be naive. You think because you don't believe in God your hip and a rebel? Haha. No, the atheist make just as much money off you as any church.

reply to post by ObservingTheWorld


If you think by accepting Christ that automatically makes you perfect then you don't even understand what your talking about. Christ came to earth to save the worst of the worst. Murderers, prostitutes, rapists. He wasn't hanging out with choir boys while here. We are all evil humans Christians very much included. If we were anything less than inherent evil we wouldn't need Christ...

reply to post by knightsofcydonia

The Mormon Church is a Cult

All organized religions are.

IMO of course

reply to post by knightsofcydonia


look how the zombie jesus flesh eating, blood drinking so called christians quickly dismiss themselves from "those" people...


what a joke..

over 30k different varieties of the so called christian faith, each claiming to be the one true way..

pathetic really...

if you all followed jesus there who be one church.. thats it..

liars one & all..

reply to post by blamethegreys


Good response man. There is obviously a lot of disinformation about the Mormons.

I was raised Mormon but do not attend their church.... as I have moved on in life since I moved out of the "nest."

btg.... I understand your sticking up for Joseph Smith and saying ..."why would he do all that" and so on just to get persecuted.

Like other men ....Smith obviously liked power and attention. He grew up in extraordinary times where a lot of new things were happening. People moving west, new cities being built, and much more.

So ... he was apart of a new country and wanted to make a new religion for this new country. There is no doubt he was a Charismatic man and knew how to get the attention of other people.

Either way ... no disrespect ...but if you look further into the history and read other sides of the story besides the Mormons side ..... then it's pretty easy to see that Joseph is full of a lot of Sh**.

In the end...Mormons are just like Baptists... Evangelicals .... and the rest

I'm not saying something extraordinary didn't happen to him when he was young .....but it wasn't the Almighty God. Maybe something paranormal.... which happens to a lot of people.

This is a programme anbout the Mormons and Mitt that aired in Australia few weeks ago on our public channel. the ABC. At the time I started a thread on it with a link to the full programme but it turned out that anyone trying to watch it from the US were denied access. It is now available on you tube in its entirety so if you haven't yet seen this please watch it so you know what to expect should Mitt become POTUS. His own brother calls it a cult

reply to post by KnawLick


Exactly. He came to redeem us from evil, from our sins. He came to help us be better, not perfect.

So then, why does one group who claims to follow Christ see the need to disparage another group who claims to follow Christ? That to me is the antithesis of Christianity. It is just feeding into hate and pride to say 'you are wrong and evil and I am right and just'. If a person does this then that is an individual belief, if a group, or 'church', or denomination does this, then they spreading the gospel of hate.

The Bible can be interpreted many ways. Jesus says he is God, then later he tells the disciples that they are one as he and God are one. So were the disciples a single entity or were the one in mind and purpose? I don't actually want or need an answer to this, it is just an example how there can be differing views on the same subject.

Yes, individuals sin. But a group that sets itself up to be representatives of Christ should be held to a higher accountability.

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000
similar to why Freemasons do not have windows on their lodges.

Same reason you have blinds on your bathroom window. MYOFB.

Originally posted by Keeper of Kheb


The mormon religion is NOT christianity.

Here's why...

Some Mormon Facts

1. Jesus is not God but "A son of God" primarily the offspring of a sexual relationship between God the father and his wife.
2. God the father is not All knowing, All powerful, All present
3. The Father, Son, Holy Spirit are 3 seperate individuals not 3in1
4. Jesus's work of salvation was completed in Gethsemene when he wept blood.
5. All life on earth is made up of Angels that remained neutral in the conflict between Lucifer and God and are sent here to make a choice.
6. God the father was once a man like you and I and ascended to Godhood.
7. Man can ascend to Godhood and have a planet of his own and populate it with his offspring with his eternal wife.
8. No translation is correct except the King James Bible "As long as it is translated correctly" in which most cases mormons read either a mormon king james where supposedly Joseph Smith corrected the mistakes or they don't read it all. they mainly read Doctrines & Covenants, Pearl of Great price, & book of mormon.
9. They believe they are part of a lost tribe of israel that migrated here and christ came over here after his resurrection and preached the gospel to them.
10. They believe salvation is through Faith & Works not the truth that salvation is by faith alone and your works is a result of your salvation. No mormon knows if he is going to heaven or not. Christians are assured of their salvation from the beginning.

This is just off the top of my head there is much much more....

1. Wrong - Mormons completely believe Jesus is a god.

2. Wrong again. Mormons most certainly believe God is all knowing, present, powerful. Where in the world did you get this nonsense?

3. That one is correct. Jesus must be a very skilled magician to make it seem as though his father's voice was coming from above when he was baptized. Crazy good voice throwing skills.

They are seperate beings, one in purpose.

4. Jesus bled from every pore, not tears from his eyes. This was one step in the greater atonement process. Again, you're way wrong.

5. You're 100%, completely off on this one. Mormons believe in a war in the heavens before this life. Everyone that has ever been born on the earth chose God's side before this life.

6. This one is correct. That's 2 out of 6 so far. Not good.

7. Somewhat correct

8. The King James bible is accepted equally as scripture with the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine and Covenants. There are additional footnotes added by Joseph Smith, but there is no Mormon version of the King James bible.

9. The Book of Mormon tells the story of Christ coming the Americas after his resurrection. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I got to them. The Book of Mormon is not about a lost tribe and the Mormons do not believe they are from a lost tribe. WOW. Hopefully you're not a journalist.

10. This is correct.


Please do your research before posting nonsense like this. This is so far off it's embarrassing.

reply to post by reeferman


That is pure ignorance. Good for a morning laugh. Do all black people agree, all scientist agree? So we all have to be a mind-less hive to be valid in you eyes...?

I am a new ATS member but I thought we were suppose to make reasoned arguments. Not just insult people from our mothers basements.