How much ungodly behavior do you see in the church?

[Enoch111]

Jesus Christ = the Son of God, the Creator and Redeemer, Alpha and Omega. My Savior and Lord.

Do you accept the Book of Abraham as Scripture? If so how do you explain "the Gods" in the narrative of creation (Abraham 4), since the Holy Bible says "God"?

 

[Jane_Doe22]

To LDS people, are not Jesus and Satan, in effect, brothers, equal sons of God, who could have either taken on the task of being born to Mary as our Savior?

Not remotely.

Christ alone is the Son of God, the only Begotten. He alone is the Savior, set a part before the creation of the world. He alone has always been perfect and one with the Father.

Everyone else is a son of God. Everyone else has/will at one point sinned and falls was short.
The only thing special about Lucifer/Satan is he had the ego to rebel against the Father and say (essentially) "don't send Christ, send me instead and I'll do things my way".

 

[Soverign Grace]

Mine does extensively, both on an institutional level and also just with random members too ("every member a missionary" is literally a slogan).
Still, while we are to follow God's command to preach His words, it is the Spirit whom does the converting and changes willing hearts.

I think most believers already know that. But we are given the great commission to fulfill and from what I see, the church as a whole isn't fulfilling this. I don't know how this got lost.

 

[Willie T]

Not remotely.

Christ alone is the Son of God, the only Begotten. He alone is the Savior, set a part before the creation of the world. He alone has always been perfect and one with the Father.

Everyone else is a son of God. Everyone else has/will at one point sinned and falls was short.
The only thing special about Lucifer/Satan is he had the ego to rebel against the Father and say (essentially) "don't send Christ, send me instead and I'll do things my way".

So then God existed before both Jesus and Satan? Then God produced both of them in a spiritual, copulation-type, union that begat them both, along with the rest of "angels" and us, mankind, also?

 

[Soverign Grace]

Relevant passage:

(my emphasis)

"And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." (Luke 22.31-32)

What do you take that as meaning? I never gave much thought to that verse. I wonder what "Satan sifting like wheat" is supposed to mean.

 

[Soverign Grace]

It's good always to keep focused on the local church; what may adversely affect one local church may not affect another, as believers independently of other congregations seek to put into practice the activities of Acts 2.42.

What troubles me is seeing pastors making deals with the world. I just read of a church that invited Planned Parenthood to their church and kept out a Pro-Life group. I read things like that once a week. "Let he who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" is a good verse. I just don't know how anyone who is truly spiritually regenerated can make some decisions they make. Maybe it shows that even some pastors aren't spiritually reborn. I recall Bill Graham saying that.

 

[Willie T]

What do you take that as meaning? I never gave much thought to that verse. I wonder what "Satan sifting like wheat" is supposed to mean.

Do you know how wheat is "sifted"?

 

[Soverign Grace]

Even if you are unable to find one among the groups meeting together supposedly in the name of the Lord which really seeks to follow the Holy Spirit, you are not bound by that unless you allow yourself to be. In worst situation you may need to come out of a group that misses the Lord's way, but you alone can decide if it is God calling you to come out of her. Pray carefully and ask God to guide you in every decision...

I like our church but I feel led to evangelize again so I've been ordering tracts on my own and leaving them around. I hand them out if something moves me to do so. I began a prison ministry and I'm sharing my faith with the prisoner I'm writing to. There is a huge need there if you're so inclined to write.

 

[Soverign Grace]

Do you know how wheat is "sifted"?

Not really. I know how to sift flour

It's separating the wheat from the outer part from off the top of my head.

 

[Jane_Doe22]

Do you accept the Book of Abraham as Scripture? If so how do you explain "the Gods" in the narrative of creation (Abraham 4), since the Holy Bible says "God"?

"Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image"
"Gen 3:22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil"
(emphasis mine)

 

[Soverign Grace]

bc you imply that you are qualified to define evil, as the posts you ignored yesterday would reveal. God put that person there, but you want him removed? So again, who is doing the evil here? If you have left the world you will not care about that guy anymore anyway, and you care about that guy bc you are in the world, wadr.
That's why, since you asked

Whether God put that person there or not is uncertain. We can't ever say for certain whether God put anyone anywhere. The way I looked at it was that he was in a position where he was causing harm. We prayed and God evidently answered.

 

[farouk]

What do you take that as meaning? I never gave much thought to that verse. I wonder what "Satan sifting like wheat" is supposed to mean.

Actually I wasn't particularly thinking of the Satan aspect; I was thinking of the sifting aspect. Maybe I'm a bit off-beam, in any case.

 

[Willie T]

Not really. I know how to sift flour

It's separating the wheat from the outer part from off the top of my head.

Basically, yes. But, it is a lot more involved, and kind of barbaric and crude.
First, the whole stalks of the plant (containing hard stalks, long leaves, and pods with the wheat kernels [germs] inside, were all thrown on very hard-packed ground in a special area about the size of a basketball court between two small hills, or walls. A big pile of what looks like brush and weeds with the wind funneled across it by the side barriers.

Then the pile is beaten for a few hours with sticks till it is all beaten down to just a bunch of broken-up trash.

Then the whole mess is thrown up into the crosswinds. The useless lightweight shattered pulp is blown away while the heavier kernels of wheat fall back down to the hard floor. A couple of more hours of this, and all that is left on the floor is just the wheat.

 

[Jane_Doe22]

So then God existed before both Jesus and Satan? Then God produced both of them in a spiritual, copulation-type, union that begat them both, along with the rest of "angels" and us, mankind, also?

No. Sex is not remotely involved here. And the Father and Christ have always existed.
If you want to move away from talking about God/Christ to talk about other people, we can. But let's just make sure it's clear that that it's a different subject.

 

[CoreIssue]

To LDS people, are not Jesus and Satan, in effect, brothers, equal sons of God, who could have either taken on the task of being born to Mary as our Savior?

They are actual Brothers born to the father and one or two of his wives.

 

[Nancy]

Basically, yes. But, it is a lot more involved, and kind of barbaric and crude.
First, the whole stalks of the plant (containing hard stalks, long leaves, and pods with the wheat kernels [germs] inside, were all thrown on very hard-packed ground in a special area about the size of a basketball court between two small hills, or walls. A big pile of what looks like brush and weeds with the wind funneled across it by the side barriers.

Then the pile is beaten for a few hours with sticks till it is all beaten down to just a bunch of broken-up trash.

Then the whole mess is thrown up into the crosswinds. The useless lightweight shattered pulp is blown away while the heavier kernels of wheat fall back down to the hard floor. A couple of more hours of this, and all that is left on the floor is just the wheat.

Wow, thanks for the explanation...never knew what that "threshing" was all about

 

[Willie T]

I have a collection of about three dozen articles from FairMormon, SLC Messenger, Ensign, and several other LDS publications that tell quite a different story.

Personally, I don't care, I happen to like you, but I would hate to think you are saying we all believe the same when other LDS publications don't say the same thing.

 

[Jane_Doe22]

They are actual Brothers born to the father and one or two of his wives.

Again, false information.
Please actually get your facts straight rather than blindly parroting Walter Martin's lies.

 

[VictoryinJesus]

Basically, yes. But, it is a lot more involved, and kind of barbaric and crude.
First, the whole stalks of the plant (containing hard stalks, long leaves, and pods with the wheat kernels [germs] inside, were all thrown on very hard-packed ground in a special area about the size of a basketball court between two small hills, or walls. A big pile of what looks like brush and weeds with the wind funneled across it by the side barriers.

Then the pile is beaten for a few hours with sticks till it is all beaten down to just a bunch of broken-up trash.

Then the whole mess is thrown up into the crosswinds. The useless lightweight shattered pulp is blown away while the heavier kernels of wheat fall back down to the hard floor. A couple of more hours of this, and all that is left on the floor is just the wheat.

Tells us a lot. But it leaves me with questions. The wheat is what is left after the threshing and the waste is removed. 1)why would Satan want to sift Peter as wheat...when after the threshing, wheat would be the final result. Jesus said He prayed for Peter that his faith failed not. 2)why would God allow Satan to be involved in the threshing to produce wheat?

 

[Willie T]

Wow, thanks for the explanation...never knew what that "threshing" was all about

Well, our "threshing" and what they did back then (and still do in some countries today) are quite a bit different.

An interesting side note is that the oriental num-chuk weapon is derived from the sticks they used to thresh wheat.