The Religious Path

[luna-tic]

To those of whatever religious denomination. What made you want to follow the doctrine?
What circumstances led you to that decision?
How were you convinced by the book, priest, family or friend if you had no religious inclination before?
What keeps you believing?

[Louisa 69]

Naomi the book of mormon was indeed given to Joseph Smith by the angel Moroni . It was a work of scripture that was written thousands of years ago , mormon who was the record keeper of the time pasted it on to his son, Moroni, who then hid it for safe keeping, due to the turmoil of the times. Joseph Smith was then given the book to translate hundreds of years after Moroni hid it, so he translated it as it had been written, in times past. So that's why it worded in the way it is.

[bladski]

Naomi - to answer your first question of why it is written in the same format as the Bible. The text was originally written in reformed egyptian and the first author of the record was from Jerusalem, as you might recall the Book starts out in Jerusalem and a group left for the ancient americas. They were writing in the same format as Bible writers wrote because that is where they were from and the method was passed down to each writer in the Book of Mormon. Now you might say "wait but the Bible is written the way it is not because of the writers but because of the King james translators so why is the Book of Mormon translated that way also?". Good question.... Joseph Smith was a young back woods boy with no education when he found out about the plates of gold upon which was contained the now Book of Mormon. He was given the gift to translate it by the power of God... And to be honest with you I don'y know the exact official reason it is written in the style of the Bible besides the fact that it was written by people of the same era and teaching.

[bladski]

Luna - to answer your second question. why would he need to translate the record if he was receiving revelation directly from God. The Book of Mormon is the basis of our religion... it contains many important teaching about Christ from ancient prophets and is their history. It is very important if not only interesting. Joesph Smith was made a prophet to restore God's church on earth and receive revelation and direction from God for our modern day. Also many of the prophets who wrote in the Book of Mormon wrote for our day, it is very important to have their teachings. And yes there maybe many confusing parts int he book for some readers but it also maybe a testimony builder.... for me it was a conversion tool... in the end of the book the last Prophet Moroni challenges the reader saying:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

[bladski]

Naomi - u are correct that Moroni took the plates of Gold back and no one knows where they are. There is a list of people who have documented and witnessed that they have seen the plates. The reason that they are not around to be seen or to prove validity of the Book of Mormon is simple. The Book is written to read and to learn about Christ and to gain a testimony of Him (Christ) and the LDS (Mormon) faith. God works in mysterious ways... it is not His way to come out and prove one religion is true over another with solid cold hard evidence. It is my belief that God wants people to find Him through suttle promptings and not cold hard evidence. The word faith means believing without seeing. If there is a Christian God which most people believe than why doesn't he just come down and announce himself and make people believe? Because it is not His way... we are on this earth as a test not to be forced to believe in Him... He wants us to choose Him, not to be forced. It is sad that so many religions feel the need to 'force' people into accepting a certain religion even if it means violence.... that is not God's way. We believe it is God's way to share our religion but by no means force it upon people. By having the plates here and having solid cold hard proof of the Book of Mormon, that would eliminate faith... I believe the first principle of Christ's gospel is Faith. It is not for us to have that kind of proof because God wants us to use faith.

[bladski]

I hope I have answered your questions the best I could.... I am only human and so any error or misinformation I might have given you about my beliefs is only due to the fact that I am not perfect and make mistakes but I hope I have informed you and given you the correct info.

If you are interested more it really would be no trouble to send the missionaries to visit you and they could answer many of your questions a lot better and easier than I could (i'm just rusty). There are missionaries in almost every part of Europe so it would be easy for me to contact them and have them stop by your place for a visit where they could answer your questions and share more info about our beliefs... they would even give you a free copy of the Book of Mormon.... If you aren't quite ready for a visit I could even have a Book of Mormon mailed to you free of charge ;)

[naomi24]

Bladski, thank you. This is a very interesting discussion. However, the translation still bugs me. Joseph Smith, as you say, was a young backwoods boy, and as such, fairly uneducated, so why he should have used language such as he did I really can't understand. Why would he say 'ye' and 'thee' rather than 'you'? I know you can't answer that, and don't expect you to try. It's just an observation and something that, for me, remains a mystery I would really like to solve.

Thanks also for your offer for us to meet representatives of your church, but I must decline. I've met representatives of the Mormon church before and had lengthy discussions with them. Whilst I couldn't fault the Mormon way of life - family - healthy living etc - there was one thing that bothered me greatly. I was given quite a lot of literature, and amongst the leaflets was one meant specifically for the outreach people, and it said something like, 'If a man doesn't believe you, make him your enemy.' That to me, is not Christianity.

[naomi24]

Louisa, please see my last post. Are you a Mormon?

[luna-tic]

Thank you bladski for taking the time to give us all the information. I may not want to engage directly with any Mormon representatives but I have found this little step into the belief system of LDS through yourself quite informative.

Luny

[Theland]

What a cracking thread Luna. Unfortunately I have no time right now to read all of the posts, but will come back to it tomorrow. this will hit the 100 mark I'm sure.
Glad to see you posting again. Take care.

[luna-tic]

Thanks Theland.
I'll take a look at the mormon link tomorrow Wiz, Much obliged.

[Ice-Maiden]

Thanks Bladski - I could keep on about this, but too tired now. No offence meant.

[bladski]

Naomi - I don't know what leaflet you read about making someone an enemy but i can tell you that it was not from us and if it was it is misinformation. We teach strictly to not contend with others, we are told not to "Bible bash", we are told to love all people no matter what, we were told when there was a surge of baptist missionaries in Utah to welcome them into our homes and treat them with love and respect. Now remeber just because that is what we are taught does not mean that everyone follows it perfectly. The church and the gospel is perfect but those in the church are not... we are all humans and make mistakes, please do not pass judgement on our religion (not saying that you are) for actions of individuals because they may be making mistakes.

[naomi24]

Good morning bladski, it was certainly Mormons I spoke to. They came to my house several times, and from what they said, I must admit I was astonished to find that sentence among their literature - it did seem rather to contradict everything they had told me.

Am I correct in thinking that all young people in your church work as missionaries abroad for a period of time? Have you done it?

[bladski]

Naomi - We are encouraged to serve as missionaries when we are young. A mission is for 2 years for men and 1 and a half yrs for women men go at age 19 -21 and women can go when they are 21. We pay our own way and receive no pay from the church. We put in our application and get a letter back with what country we are called to. It is quite exciting to get that letter because your location could be any random place in the world. Yes i did serve as a missionary in the Philippines and am fluent in Tagalog language. I had two brothers serve in Brazil and they are fluent in Portugese and a fourth brother has just recently been called to Washington DC.

[bladski]

Wizard - That is deep doctrine and it goes like this I believe.... If you receive the highest glory of heaven being that u lived a great life and followed the gospel and what not you will receive the highest form of exaltation. With that you will become a God and create life and worlds... so kind of. That is a difficult question to answer and I'm not entirely sure.... it isn't much discussed as we tend to focus on the gospel principles that are needed now in this life to be worthy of God's kingdom.

[bladski]

Wiz - hahaha good question! But let me corrrect you... they have always been admitted, it was that they weren't given the priesthood until then, but you were close. Whatever answer i come up with will not do it justice... I have heard the answer before and cannot really recall what it was. I wish I had an answer for you but I don't want to make up anything so I'm just gonna pass on this one... you might check online but beware there are many anti-mormon websites out there that give a lot of false information and slander our religion.... try to find sa site that looks like it is from oour church or has a positive informative approach... obviously a website against ours will not give you our offical tand on what happened. sorry i couldnt help on that one