Update: I have changed my mind and have decided against putting the no-whining, no-complaining rule in the comment policy.
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FALCON: thanks for taking the time to give a thought out response. Before I comment, and it will be short, on the specifics of your post, I’d just like to say again that I respect and want to follow the level of perseverance that you’ve brought to your outreach. That and your study habits have been encouraging to me.
As to style and approach, knowing your goals are to make positive inroads with LDS lurkers, to me the next question would be “why would the response of lurkers (generally speaking) be that different than the response of those you had posted with ‘face to face”? If responders here at MC, in general, have a negative view of your style, do you think it’s that much different with the lurking audience ?? I’m not going to speak for them, but it’s worth thinking about.
I think it’s possible to be just as convinced as you are that the stakes are as high as you, and the Bible, say they are, and yet use an approach that is more dialogue friendly. I don’t think you are any more serious or aware of demonic influence than….I’ll pick on AARON, yet his comments stay within what I would consider a more respectful (to PEOPLE, not IDEAS or BELIEFS) boundary.
Not saying any of this to be critical or “better at this than you “, but just because the stakes are high, and they couldnt get any higher, could they???…..we are still accountable for how we come across, and as a married man, I too am not about to play “smoochie smoochie” with AnY of the posters here, LDS or not.
thanks again for your work, your direct response, and your quite clear (to me, at least) love for Jesus and HIS glorious gospel.
God help us to help others. while it’s still day……. GERMIT
PS: I will point out the obvious , that to SOME LDS, no matter what approach we take, we are going to come off as “not having the spirit of Christ…..haters……negative….etc ESPECIALLY if we take action publicly (seems to be a big “no no ” for many Obviously, I do NOT accept that kind of assessment of what we’re talking about. I know I answer to Jesus, but it DOES matter to me what fair minded and level headed LDS have to say about how GERMIT interacts
does that make sense ??
If someone is an elder and hasn’t made it to high priest my guess is that they are perhaps lacking in zeal or worthiness. No planetary system to rule for this slacker.
I think we need to keep in mind who Jesus is. In Christianity Jesus is God. He is not a created being nor is He one of a multitude of gods that at last count number in the billions. Mormoninism, in typical blasphemous fashion, makes Jesus the brother of Satan. Need we say anymore about the Mormon Jesus. My guess is that Mormons must also be the brothers of Satan since they all have the same mother goddess and father god. Right? I can hear it now: “Hello sir, we’re Mormon missionaries and we’re the spirit brothers of Satan. We’d like to talk to you about Jesus.”
AARON: this part of the thread may have gotten a lttle edgey, but thanks for giving several of us a chance to air out our views; this particular thread seemed “appropriate” to me, I hope I didn’t take undue liberties with it. I don’t plan on beating the same drum repeatedly, I was glad for this particular opportunity to discuss the “package” part of what we do.
Back to other stuff; thanks again.
GERMIT
Falcon said “If someone is an elder and hasn’t made it to high priest my guess is that they are perhaps lacking in zeal or worthiness. No planetary system to rule for this slacker”
Oh now you’ve done it. You’ve cut me to the heart. You’ve made me cry. Don’t look anybody unless you want to see a grown man cry – Boo hoo hoo.
Nice to see some of you Yanks can have a good time with sarcasm.
Good come-back about the cross as well. You know though, if you read the first 2 lessons in the Gospel Principles book, which the investigators and new members learn from hwne thy come to church, its all discussed in there as to our family relationships with Jesus and Lucifer. No secret and everybody learns about it as they are learning about the church. But still, people join even knowing full well this principle.
Aaron,
two things,
1. thanks for under moderating, and letting us speak.
2. I bet you could write many topics based upon what was said here, but thats for you guys to decide. Rick b
Ralph,
I recall that we got Gospel Principles book after we joined and were baptized as part of our class. Not to quibble but I thought I would just point that out. I still have our Gospel Principles book, it is a handy little reference.
Aaron, I want to thank you as well for letting us discuss our concerns. I feel relieved to have addressed this subject, and now I look forward to talking about other things and move on.
I just figured out how to use the rating system. Rick b
You are right Arthur,
You would have received the book when you were baptised, but all the lessons taught in that class to both new members and investigators are from that book. So even though you may not have had that book when you were first investigating the church, you were taught out of the book.
Also, when I was a missionary, the Plan of Salvation, including the premortal existance and all of our family connections, were taught in the 3rd or 4th discussion (can’t remember which). So like I said, its no secret and at least I taught the principle to investigators, I can’t talk for all missionaries.
You are right, we learned that stuff about midway through. I still have the lesson pamphlets and a very snazzy hand drawn diagram of the plan of salvation written by either Elder Fischer or Elder McDaniel, can’t remember which one drew it.