for atheists:
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Jeremy12345 — 9 years ago(January 17, 2017 10:13 AM)
I would be naive if I claimed otherwise. However, it has been my experience as a missionary that when people sincerely seek to know if it is true through sincere prayer they typically come to the same conclusion that I did. However, I do recognize that sometimes people do reject it after a study of the book of Mormon even after careful study. A lot of the time it is because of what they find online, which by the way the majority of information about Mormons on the internet is either flat out inaccurate or misleading or taken out of context. However, like I said it is up to us individually to do our best to seek truth and sometimes that search does get people to different places, but I am confident that the book of Mormon is true.
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Isapop — 9 years ago(January 17, 2017 11:44 AM)
However, like I said it is up to us individually to do our best to seek truth and sometimes that search does get people to different places, but I am confident that the book of Mormon is true.
Well, then, if there's only one truth, then God is letting a lot of earnest truth seekers down by letting them end up somewhere other than the Mormon Church. -
Jeremy12345 — 9 years ago(January 17, 2017 12:01 PM)
It is important to recognize God gave us free will, so we choose what direction we want to go with our lives. God sent us here to learn and grow with the ultimate goal to return back to him and progress to become like him so that we can have the same blessings he has. He knew the only way we can succeed in that goal was by making the choice ourself to follow him. That is why he does allow people to go in another direction if they so choose. There are more influences out there than just God. There is the influence of Satan who is very deceptive and wants to do everything he can to make sure we don't find the correct path. Could God come down to earth and hold a press conference and announce the one true religion? Theoretically yes, but that goes against everything he stands for and his plan for us. We need to walk by faith if we are to become like him.
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Isapop — 9 years ago(January 17, 2017 12:56 PM)
There is the influence of Satan who is very deceptive and wants to do everything he can to make sure we don't find the correct path.
If God didn't let Satan stop YOU from finding the correct path, then how can He let Satan stop other sincere seekers from doing so?
It is important to recognize God gave us free will, so we choose what direction we want to go with our livesHe knew the only way we can succeed in that goal was by making the choice ourself to follow him. That is why he does allow people to go in another direction if they so choose.
Before, you said that people doing their "best to seek truth" sometimes get "to different places". But now you're implying that the people who REALLY care about God and the truth will get to the SAME place and become Mormons, and that people who end up in a church other than LDS do so because they prefer to choose something OTHER than the truth. -
Jeremy12345 — 9 years ago(January 17, 2017 02:07 PM)
What I'm saying is we choose which influences we follow. Sometimes it can be confusing and hard to know if you are following the right path, because Satan who is the master of deception, is good at deceiving even the honest true seekers of truth. God is always doing what he can to lead people to the truth and listening to him will always get you to the same place. The hard part is actually discerning which voice is his. There are people who despite the best efforts, end up somewhere else. In those cases, it is important to recognize one of the traits that makes God who he is, is he is perfectly fair. Everyone will have their fair chance to accept the truth. If that doesn't happen in this life it will happen in the spirit world. I'm not sure how familiar you are with Mormon doctrine, but one of our beliefs is that when we die we go to the spirit world, which is a place our spirits go before they are reunited with the body and we are resurrected. Every single person on earth will one day be resurrected and the spirit world is the intermediate between death and resurrection. In this spirit world people who did not have a fair chance here will have one there to accept the Gospel.
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Isapop — 9 years ago(January 17, 2017 03:32 PM)
In other words, there's no penalty for not being a Mormon in this life. It's the spirit world (after death) where finding out and accepting the truth
really
counts . In this life, you just happen to know it before others do.
That certainly sounds nicer than the doctrines of some other churches. -
Jeremy12345 — 9 years ago(January 17, 2017 04:02 PM)
Not exactly. It certainly does matter what you do in this life. While there are some who won't have a fair chance. Many will, and they will have to choose to accept it and repent, or reject it. There is a penalty for those who do reject the gospel. If you want me to explain the full details of what we believe about the purpose of this life and what the details of the afterlife are, I will do so if you are interested. But it may take awhile for me to explain it clearly, so I will only take the time if you are really interested. But if not, suffice it to say that it does matter, but God will make sure everyone is treated fairly and will have their chance
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AbsolutelyThoughtfulGoz — 9 years ago(January 17, 2017 04:40 PM)
Aside from anything else, the arrogance of these 'churches' and cults' is mind boggling that they thing that their small number ( relative in the world )
are the small, correct, righteous chosen few!
Wow, just Wow.
They are all like thatlook at each fundy member of each 'Christian ' religion we have on here!
It beggars belief!'l -
Jeremy12345 — 9 years ago(January 17, 2017 05:54 PM)
I would like to think that he still is. He is very understanding, in fact, he is perfectly understanding. He knows every situation and he wants nothing more than for every single one of His children to be happy and to become like him. However, that is not his choice, it is ours. It is up to us through our actions to decide if we want to accept his truth and follow his commandments. It is not easy to obtain the ultimate goal, which is to become like him and have the same blessings that he enjoys. It isn't supposed to be easy. But God gives us every chance to make that decision to repent and follow him. I know you said no need for details, but I think it is hard to understand without the details, so I have decided to write down some of the details of my beliefs here anyway. So read if you want to, don't read if you don't want to.
Anyway, probably the most fundamental belief we have is that we are literal sons and daughters of God. Before we were born to this earth, we lived with him as spirits. We had no body yet, but we lived with him. He set forth a plan so that his children could obtain everlasting joy and enjoy all of the same blessings he has and so we can progress to become like he is. We could not do that without a body (because God has a glorified body of flesh and bones he is not just some spirit), so he would send us here to earth to obtain a body, and also to test our worthiness to live with him eternally and have those blessings of eternal salvation. The only way to do so is if we lived by faith. We would need to make decisions for ourselves and choose if we wanted to follow him. That, in a nutshell, is the purpose of this life, to obtain a body and prove ourselves. He knew, however, that we would make mistakes, and if we made mistakes we couldn't return to live with him because no unclean thing can dwell with God. So he said he would provide a Savior for us, Jesus Christ, who would perform an Atonement and meet the demands of justice and pay the price for our sins. Through the Atonement, if we repent we can become cleansed of our sin. Also, when he performed the Atonement, he died and overcame death and was resurrected, and because of that the gift of resurrection (reuniting body with spirit coupled with immortality) will be given regardless of your actions. Resurrection is a gift that will be given to all. When we die, as I mentioned, we go to the spirit world. Those who lived righteous lives, their spirit continues to live on in a state of happiness called paradise. They will be free from all sorrow. Those who died in their sins or without a knowledge of the truth, or those who rejected live in a state referred to as spirit prison. Here, these people will have an opportunity to repent and accept the truth, but do not reside in the same state of happiness as those in paradise do. Our spirits remain here until Jesus comes to earth again to usher in the Millenium (a 1000 year period of peace). Those who have accepted Jesus or lived honorable lives will be resurrected and will live during this Millenium. Those who lived in sin and rejected him and did not repent remain in spirit prison and are punished for their sins and will experience Hell. We don't actually believe in the same conventional hell that most christians do. When we speak of hell it is this spirit prison, which is temporary, and the 1000 year period when those who didn't repent will be punished and pay the price, also temporary. After that, we will each be judged according to our actions and will inherit a kingdom of glory according to those actions. There are three degrees of glory (or you could say three heavens). Only the highest is where we can acheive the ultimate goal to become like God and to live with our families for eternity and enjoy the blessings he does. This is called the Celestial kingdom. Those who repented and accepted the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ inherit this kingdom. Those who do not accept the fulness of the gospel but live honoroble lives inherit the one lower in glory, the terrestial kingdom. Those who rejected the gospel, continued in sin and did not repent in this life inherit the last kingdom of glory, the telestial kingdom. There are a select few who have committed sins so severe that they will not inherit a kingdom of glory and will go to what is called outer darkness, or you could say that is going to Hell permanently. For the most part, however, most will eventually live in a kingdom of glory, but only those in the celestial kingdom will receive all of the blessings that the Father has in store for us. So he really is quite understand and does love us so much that he has provided a plan where the vast majority of his children will eventually obtain a kingdom of glory. For some that will come after they pay the price for their sins, for others they will not have to pay the price if they repented. To me, this plan is very marvelous. Of course, the ultimate goal is the celestial kingdom, but if y