Repost: A little dose of reality please.

I wrote this Oct. 11, 2011 because I had just had enough of the anti-Mormon thing.  With the new attacks on Ann Romney I just felt it was appropriate to repost.  It’s long and I apologize but I felt it necessary to take each item separately.

I don’t mind if people don’t agree with me.  As the daughter of rabid liberals from the Socialist Democratic Republic of Maryland, I’m used to being the lone voice of sanity within a group.  As the mother of 6, that’s right SIX children I am used to people thinking I don’t have anything between my ears but air, after all who in their “RIGHT MIND” would have 6 children.  As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints I’m used to people not believing the same way I do and making a issue out of it.  My husband’s lost jobs because of our faith, my children weren’t allow to play with other children because their parents thought they might “catch” Mormonism, I guess.  I have lost family members and good friends because they were willing to listen to the lies of others about what I believe.  Even after 32 years I still have people who tell ME what I believe as a member of my church.  They know this because they heard some pastor, preacher, politician, friend or family member (who of course has never been to our church) or former members ( who of course have no axes to grind) say something that sounded like whatever it was they were telling me.  Of course they were only telling me for my own good and of course when I told them they were wrong they shook their heads and told be how “brainwashed” I was.

What brought this on you are probably asking yourself? What has got our dear girl”s knickers in such a twist?  I found this little gem on the internet and lest you think this is unusual, you can take it from me, this is somewhat tame. Frustrating, irritating, absolutely hair on fire infuriating, which is why I can not leave it alone.  It is so bad, so without merit, so without even the patina of intelligence that it fairly reeks of unhinged zealotry.

IS A CANDIDATES’ RELIGIOUS FAITH FREE TO QUESTION?

Last weekend at the Values Voter Summit, a Christian pastor raised the question of whether Christians should vote for Mitt Romney because he is of the Mormon faith. The Pastor was lambasted from the GOP RINOs and from the liberal media as a religious bigot. Monday night Ann Coulter, commenting on Fox, dismissed the question as irreverent, and in my opinion, she flippantly mocked Christians by describing Mormonism as merely another Christian denomination.

Some of the major differences between Christianity and Mormonism are:

Mormons believe Satan is the elder brother of Jesus;

That Jesus tricked God the Father into giving Jesus Satan’s birthright to rule over the earth, and someday Satan will come back to earth to reclaim his rightful kingship over the earth from Jesus;

Mormons believe when they die, their spirit goes to another planet where they are awarded a group of celestial virgins to populate a new and different planet and become its’ Christ.

When they convert others to Mormonism, at death those people will join them and become their slaves.

Until recently, the mid 1900’s, people of color were not allow to join the Mormon Church.

These differences, and there are more, show such a radical deviation from the Christian faith there is no joining the two.

I believe, with respect to Karl Rove’s and Ann Coulter’s opinions (both Romney supporters), that the Pastor’s question is relevant and appropriate.

Just as conservatives demanded in 2007 of then candidate Obama to answer why he sat in a church for twenty years listening to Pastor Wright spew hatred for America, Mitt Romney, who claims he is a longtime, proudly practicing Mormon, must answer if his character has been built upon theology such as described above, and how it affects and influences his decision making processes.

That isn’t being anti-Mormon, it’s being prudent. A man’s faith should affect his character and how he lives his life every day. If it hasn’t changed him, it’s a

phony faith, worthless… and so is his character.

While I hate to waste time on such utter dreck I feel like my head will explode if I don’t counter some of this mindless swill.

1. Everyone on this Earth that has a body IS a spirit child of our Heavenly Father.  As spirits we lived with him in Heaven before our time on Earth.  If we are spirit children of Heavenly Father then we are all “brothers and sisters”.  Which makes Jesus Christ OUR elder brother as he is the FIRST born.  That also makes Satan our brother in spirit or at least he was until he was cast out for rebellion. Which makes him Jesus’ brother as well.  Logic who’da thunk it.

2. The brother who “tricked” his father into granting him his brothers birthright was Jacob.  Rebekah and Jacob conspired to receive a blessing from Issac.  A birthright by the way that the elder brother sold to the younger because he was hungry.  Read the Bible(KJV) for a change instead of allowing illiterate preachers to make up your minds for you. Satan wants to be the god of this world, but Jesus Christ is the Messiah and He and only He will reign over the renewed earth, under the direction (as always) of our Eternal Heavenly Father.

3.  When we die we go to Paradise (until the 2nd Coming) then we’re judged (some of us should be uncomfortable right about now) and then unlike some other denominations we will await instructions from our Savior and our Father.  We will not spend eternity sleeping on a cloud or playing a harp or any other recreational activity.  There will be plenty of work to do to enhance and enlarge our Fathers kingdom and add to His Glory. (Oh, and the virgin thing, that’s islam dear not Mormonism. Catch a clue please).

4. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints do not believe in enslavement of any kind. Not for people, not to tobacco, not to drugs, not to sexual misconduct, not to money or fame or power. Latter Day Saints were chased out of Missouri and Illinois for just those reasons.  They would have voted to rescind slavery before the civil war.  People of color have always been free to join the church.  Men of color could not hold the priesthood until 1978 (not because they weren’t worthy in MY OPINION, but because we as human beings were not ready- beside God does what he does according to His time period, not ours).

5.  The basic difference between “Mormons” and “Christians” are that some Christians refuse to admit that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints testifies of the same Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father these so called Christians pray to and read about in the scriptures.  The Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ testifies of the divinity and divine mission of the Savior Jesus Christ on this Earth.  Members of the LDS Church read and study not just the Book of Mormon but the Old and New Testaments so that they can further serve the Savior and our Father and help others to return to live with Them after this life. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ to the Father several times a day and many of us have added the names “our trespassers” to our prays in the hopes they will find some kind of happiness that doesn’t involve hating us.

The saddest thing to me is that those on the left are the ones defending us.  These are people we can never support.   Their agenda is Satan driven but he has agents on both side of this debate.  Those who inspire intolerance and who perpetrate lies and those who by their support seek to insert a wedge between conservatives hoping to drive us asunder. “A house divided against itself can not stand”.  My thanks to Mr. Rove and my hero Ann Coulter for their unwillingness to join with the unhinged.

In the end the only real way to know about Mormons is to ask one.  Our missionaries and members ask that you allow us to share our message with you but if you decline that’s quite alright.  If you think there is something that might make you happy in that message we’re glad to have you.  If you think we’re wrong, that’s ok .  We think you’re wrong too, but we can still agree to disagree.

That I think is the true test of Christianity.  Are you really willing to do unto others as you’d have others do unto you?  How many of you would appreciate being lied about, slandered and made a hiss and a byword?  Really, how many of you are willing to “take one for the team”?  13,000,000+ of us are, many experience this everyday. So gives us a break and at least try to do some research  other than at anti-mormon sites and find a active practicing LDS member to chat with.

We don’t bite, I promise.

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In memorandum: “Requiescite in Pace”

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Life imitates art………………(spoiler alert)

Last week my sweetheart and I went to see the Avengers, which I’m going to talk about so if you haven’t seen it, don’t read any further until you do.  It was, as many of you already know, awesome.  The highest praise I can give them is that I would pay to see it again.  While I go to movies like that because I love superheroes, mainly because we don’t have any in reality, I always find some life affirming or moral component that I can ponder and apply to my life.

The Avengers was just chock full of these little, as I see them, gems.  The one that stood out to me though was the scene where all of the “heroes” were gathered together in the meeting room, discussing what to do now that they had captured their “arch nemesis”.  Now the characters had been brought together mostly against their will.  They’d been threatened, ordered, manipulated and simply compelled to come together.  Most of them had ego’s the size of the sun, due in part to their abilities to save the world all by themselves.  In this case though they can’t do it alone, they have to work together, to have each others backs, to be willing to give the last great measure.

Although the bad guy was able to affect them and cause contention, their egos and attitudes are why tempers flared, offense was given and taken and contention ruled the day.  They were so busy one upping each other, so busy scoring points, so busy giving out the “burn” they didn’t even know the bad guys had landed on their ship and were systematically destroying it. By the time they realized this it was almost too late.  People died including a very good man, who kept his eye on the prize and was there to try to stem the tide of disaster.  His sacrifice enabled the good guys to come together but at what cost.  Revenge fueled their rage and while it united them the fight still had dangerous and disastrous consequences.

So why did that so affect me.  Because that is where we are today.  We as conservative Republicans and Libertarians can either unite behind the nominee or continue to tear each other apart.  All the while the “bad guys”, those people who have put our economy in the toilet, who have made us a laughing stock internationally, who have compromised our security by allowing unfettered access to our boarders and intelligence, to take away our liberties and freedoms and who have forced us to endure illegal search and seizure (in our homes, schools and at airports, bus terminals and concerts).  People who allow those without the best interest of the country access to the halls of justice, who are more interested in not offending our enemies and who don’t care how they offend our allies.

We have a choice.  Loki, the trickster god who sought the subjugation of all mankind with himself as the all powerful ruler and god or the freedom to create our own destinies.  Which group of politicians desires to make decisions for everyone, which seeks the freedom for everyone to make decisions for themselves?  Which seeks to “help” us because we are too stupid, or ignorant, or childish to rule ourselves or which want to assure us the opportunity to make those decisions and to live by the consequences of our decisions?

This scene illustrates my point exactly: (Loki is the bad guy and he starts a rumpus in Germany)

Loki: [to crowd] Kneel before me. I said… KNEEL! Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It’s the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.
German Old Man: [Stands] Not to men like you.
Loki: There are no men like me.
German Old Man: There are always men like you.
(source IMDB quotes The Avengers)

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