Moodshadow
Veteran
SoftSpoken, I'm going to take both of your responses in one, here, if that's okay. Here goes (and I'm putting today's comments in green, to distinguish):
Constant effort, under fear of being counted unworthy by those who rule my lifethat is a burden. And it is not mylife in the LDS faith. This is where I get and originally got the idea. It is no distortion of your words; it is the very thing they imply. This is what you said earlier:
What we do have a problem with is for Joseph Smith - or any other would-be prophet - to come along and change the plain and precious scriptures and change the very rules and requirements for eternal life, adding layer upon complicated layer of commandments, laws and ordinances along the way, and then tell us that oh-by-the-way, if we don't keep ALL these extraneous requirements, we are banned forever from our Father's kingdom. Um...I don't think so.
Simple is easy. Complicated is burdensome. Are you not saying that Mormonism's "layer upon complicated layer of commandments" is a burden to bear? Are you not saying that in the LDS church it is a royal pain in the neck to get to heaven? Is that not what you're saying? If it is not, then I truly have misunderstood. And it is, as I have stated, a sincere misunderstanding, not some calculated attempt to twist your words.
When I was LDS - as I've now repeatedly stated - I never considered it a burden at all - that word or that sentiment never would have occurred to me. Like you, it had been ingrained into me from my baptism that all of the requirements were necessary steps, and to fulfill them was just part of what it took to achieve the glorious blessing of living with Heavenly Father and the Savior and my family in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, and therefore 100% worth it. I was a bishop's wife and mother of seven children, held multitudinous callings over the years, and for all of my LDS years was happily 100% active, considering every requirement a great blessing - just part of the parcel, so to speak. "Complicated" never entered my head - until after I was all the way out of the church and learned the real Plan of Salvation, the way Jesus Christ Himself actually taught about it in the Bible. Then the night-and-day contrast hit me like TEN tons o' bricks. Since then I've read studies about depression and suicide rates inside the LDS church, and they are sobering indeed. Some people - like you and me - have no problem whatsoever "keeping up" - but there are others for whom it is very difficult indeed, and they suffer feelings of inadequacy and inferiority and slip into depression and have all kinds of problems. I'm sure you've seen these people in your own experience. I dealt with some of them when I was in leadership callings, but at the time I wasn't thinking objectively and so didn't understand clearly enough to be able to help them the way they really needed it. How I wish I could go back and talk to them now! So yes, to answer your question, I guess I am saying that it is a burden, but when you're inside you don't see it that way at all because it's called something much prettier instead. All those layers of complication Joseph Smith and his successors have added are 100% un-Biblical and 100% unnecessary, according to what Jesus Himself taught. And what Jesus Himself taught is perfect, all by itself.
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Constant effort, under fear of being counted unworthy by those who rule my lifethat is a burden. And it is not mylife in the LDS faith. This is where I get and originally got the idea. It is no distortion of your words; it is the very thing they imply. This is what you said earlier:
What we do have a problem with is for Joseph Smith - or any other would-be prophet - to come along and change the plain and precious scriptures and change the very rules and requirements for eternal life, adding layer upon complicated layer of commandments, laws and ordinances along the way, and then tell us that oh-by-the-way, if we don't keep ALL these extraneous requirements, we are banned forever from our Father's kingdom. Um...I don't think so.
Simple is easy. Complicated is burdensome. Are you not saying that Mormonism's "layer upon complicated layer of commandments" is a burden to bear? Are you not saying that in the LDS church it is a royal pain in the neck to get to heaven? Is that not what you're saying? If it is not, then I truly have misunderstood. And it is, as I have stated, a sincere misunderstanding, not some calculated attempt to twist your words.
When I was LDS - as I've now repeatedly stated - I never considered it a burden at all - that word or that sentiment never would have occurred to me. Like you, it had been ingrained into me from my baptism that all of the requirements were necessary steps, and to fulfill them was just part of what it took to achieve the glorious blessing of living with Heavenly Father and the Savior and my family in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, and therefore 100% worth it. I was a bishop's wife and mother of seven children, held multitudinous callings over the years, and for all of my LDS years was happily 100% active, considering every requirement a great blessing - just part of the parcel, so to speak. "Complicated" never entered my head - until after I was all the way out of the church and learned the real Plan of Salvation, the way Jesus Christ Himself actually taught about it in the Bible. Then the night-and-day contrast hit me like TEN tons o' bricks. Since then I've read studies about depression and suicide rates inside the LDS church, and they are sobering indeed. Some people - like you and me - have no problem whatsoever "keeping up" - but there are others for whom it is very difficult indeed, and they suffer feelings of inadequacy and inferiority and slip into depression and have all kinds of problems. I'm sure you've seen these people in your own experience. I dealt with some of them when I was in leadership callings, but at the time I wasn't thinking objectively and so didn't understand clearly enough to be able to help them the way they really needed it. How I wish I could go back and talk to them now! So yes, to answer your question, I guess I am saying that it is a burden, but when you're inside you don't see it that way at all because it's called something much prettier instead. All those layers of complication Joseph Smith and his successors have added are 100% un-Biblical and 100% unnecessary, according to what Jesus Himself taught. And what Jesus Himself taught is perfect, all by itself.
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No arrogance. No condescension. Misunderstood courtesy.
Okay. I will accept that I misunderstood your intent because of the emotion. It happens. We've all been on both sides of it, unfortunately. I hope that we have cleared up our mutual misunderstandings. If not, please feel free to continue asking questions until we have.[/FONT]
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