Mormons: What's The Deal?

[MomochiZabuza]

[QUOTE=Esther][SIZE=1]Momochi, I want you to take a look at this post:[/SIZE]



[SIZE=1]Now look at your more recent post:[/SIZE]



[SIZE=1]Hmm. It sounds to me much worse than my post. You asked me why I sound like I'm mad at you and I hate your guts, just because of my stern tone, yet you're over here yelling and cursing at a guy for commenting on your post.

I smell a hypocrite.[/SIZE][/QUOTE]

[COLOR=DarkOrange][SIZE=1][FONT=Verdana]Your face is a hypocrite.

Hell yeah what now shove that in your eye.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

(Didn't mean that in a mean way I say "shove it in your eye" to a lot of things}]

P.S. if you read the whole post of mine you can tell I'm not being 100% serious.

and if you can't... you need to work on your reading comprehension skills and it's no longer my problem.

I mean, seriously, no one is serious when they go: "OOH, YEAH THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT"

and if they are they are just obnoxious and they need to stop.

[SunfallE]

[COLOR=RoyalBlue]This needs to stop. First of all [B]MomochiZabuza[/B]... [B]Mr. Maul[/B] was referring to your statement that was in one of the previous paragraphs and a simple [I]I already mentioned I shouldn?t believe everything I hear[/I], would have been sufficient. Secondly, insulting another member by telling them to shove it or any other type of phrase is unacceptable. Apologizing after the fact doesn?t cut it. If you are having a stressful day, then don?t post until you can leave that stress out of your posts.

And [B]Esther[/B], if someone is being insulting, don?t return the favor by implying that they are a hypocrite, just use the report bad post button at the top right corner of the post and let one of us take care of it.

And finally? lets keep this civil people. I intend to leave this open for now, but if it continues this thread will be locked. [/COLOR]

[Ricin]

[QUOTE=Mr. Maul][/font][/size][/color]
[font=Garamond][color=SeaGreen]Oh, and Ricin, when [b]was[/b] the last time you went to church?[/color][/size]
[/font][/QUOTE]

[FONT=Garamond]You know, it really doesn't matter, does it? A church isn't going to change its entire philosophy in a few years. But for the sake of you not popping a vein, I was about seven. I probably would have continued attending, but at that point in time I moved in with my mom.[/FONT]

[The Spectacular Professor]

[QUOTE=Esther][SIZE=1]I was just at work going over some major problems we have in-game. I was sitting at my desk and drinking a delicious Blended Vanilla Bean from Starbucks (^_^). Then I came across this one report, which made me very, VERY, upset.

"Mormons are *******, all they do is dress up in these ugly suits, and ride around on bicycles! And on top of that they have like 500 wives!"

AHEM AHEM AHEM! Well excuse me! I really don't think that's what Mormonism is all about. And why must everyone pick on the religion? Seriously, isn't there someone else that can get fired upon all the time?

Even on Late Night shows (Jay Leno, David Letterman) are starting to take aim at my religion. It's not funny, and not fair. I mean, God forbid someone makes a crack on a Catholic (no offence people, really). The whole church would go crazy and the person who said it will go under fire.

And as I know it, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not practice polygamy anymore.

Yet, there is this one show on HBO called "Big Love" about some Mormons in SLC, Utah. I think the main character has like two wives and 10 children or whatever.

What do you think about Mormonism always under fire?

For those of you who ARE Mormon, do you find shows like these offensive?

And finally, do you think if other religions such at Catholicism, were to be made fun of, would they be very upset and make a big deal about it?[/SIZE][/QUOTE]
All religions have those weird quirks that make people make fun of them. I'm lutheran, I know a couple of jokes about us. There are also plenty of jokes about jews, muslims, catholics, etc. You just have to learn to live with it. There'll just be more if you complain.

[Sojiro47]

[quote name='Aceburner']There are also plenty of jokes about jews, muslims, catholics, etc. You just have to learn to live with it. There'll just be more if you complain.[/quote]
Ace and I go to church together, and we're always cracking jokes. Even at our own religion. I think that joke's will always be made about you, directly or not. To put it bluntly, get over it! If you don't learn to laugh stuff off, then you will basicly live a life of boredom. If they make jokes about your god, then get mad. It will be for the right reasons, at least!

[musical_kitten]

Well, I am a "Mormon" as the world tends to call it, although in recent terms we have been asked to try and call ourselves "Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" though we know that's quite a mouthful. And for those of you who are wondering, we don't practice poligamy, and haven't for quite some time. The only reason our church supported poligamy for a while was because it was sort of dangerous back then, so when they sent the majority of their men off to help with the war the women were left to travel across the plains by themselves, often with little children, so the prophet suggested that they use poligamy for a while to help out with that problem.

And yes, there is some guy running around pretending to be a "Mormon", and as far as I know he has the same beliefs but has said that he and his followers practice poligamy, which, as I said earlier, our church doesn't do. They are just like being another type of religion, except that people tend to say that they are just like the true Mormons. And it doesn't help that he's trying to practice poligamy in a state that doesn't allow it.

I tend to get a little personal about the cracks made at school and in the outside world. I was in math class the other day and my teacher was telling us a riddle, something about someone who married ten people. So we were all guessing and one girl said, "Maybe they were Mormon." That sort of hurt just a bit, but with stuff like that I personally am not afraid to tell them that our church has not practiced poligamy for a long time. (And just for those who are wondering, the person who married ten people was a pastor or someone who marries people. I don't know that much about Catholism, sorry. Think about it.)

And people who are Catholic or Lutheran or whatever will say they wouldn't care if people were to make rude cracks like that, but it makes one wonder what they would really say if they were in that position. My only advice on this is to think before you speak.

[Aaryanna]

[COLOR=SeaGreen][QUOTE=musical_kitten]Well, I am a "Mormon" as the world tends to call it, although in recent terms we have been asked to try and call ourselves "Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" though we know that's quite a mouthful. And for those of you who are wondering, we don't practice poligamy, and haven't for quite some time. The only reason our church supported poligamy for a while was because it was sort of dangerous back then, so when they sent the majority of their men off to help with the war the women were left to travel across the plains by themselves, often with little children, so the prophet suggested that they use poligamy for a while to help out with that problem.

And yes, there is some guy running around pretending to be a "Mormon", and as far as I know he has the same beliefs but has said that he and his followers practice poligamy, which, as I said earlier, our church doesn't do. They are just like being another type of religion, except that people tend to say that they are just like the true Mormons. And it doesn't help that he's trying to practice poligamy in a state that doesn't allow it.[/QUOTE]Actually I was born and raised in the LDS/Mormon religion as well and if you are going to state why Mormon?s at one time practiced polygamy it?s important that you have your history correct. What you have stated is not correct. The belief that polygamy is acceptable is still part the Church?s official scriptures, namely the Doctrine and Covenants and the fact that Section 132 remains official Mormon doctrine (seeing that the Church has not removed this section) has been a rallying point for anti-polygamy groups whose leaders bitterly complain that the LDS has provided no support, financial or otherwise, in their efforts to assist women and children who have been victimized by fundamentalist Mormons. This is what that section of the Doctrine and Covenants says at least part of it:

[INDENT][I]And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified. [/I]
-- Joseph Smith's 1831 revelation on marriage and polygamy as currently published in the mainstream Mormon Church's Doctrine and Covenants, Section 132, Verse 62[/INDENT]

Now to be fair the LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley said in 1998: "I wish to state categorically that this Church has nothing whatever to do with those practicing polygamy. They are not members of this Church. Most of them have never been members. They are in violation of the civil law. If any of our members are found to be practicing plural marriage, they are excommunicated, the most serious penalty the Church can impose."

However the original practice was considered a divine commandment from God so it was not some temporary move to help women travel across the plains by themselves. I?m also going to point out that the reason polygamy was discontinued is because the LDS/Mormon Church decided to renounced polygamy in 1890, but the disavowal came only under severe duress. At the time, the United States government was threatening to destroy the financial foundation of the church by seizing church assets. The widespread practice of polygamy was also preventing Utah from gaining long-sought-after statehood. So it was a move to gain statehood but to also keep their assets from being seized for failing to follow the civil laws of marriage that required monogamy.

I believe this is what SunfallE meant about members of the LDS/Mormon Church being kept ignorant. It creates a lot of confusion over why others would make fun of the Church, but in spite of stating they do not follow the practice, they have yet to change their doctrine to match, so it looks like a we follow the law of the land, but in reality we do believe in polygamy, so naturally it?s going to look strange that there are others who claim they are Mormon and practice polygamy. And the fact that the Church has never bothered to change their official doctrine (It's been there for over a hundred years in spite of the change) well, it makes it look like they actually support it, just not ?publicly.?

In short it makes them look less than creditable and anytime a religion has contradictions in their stance towards a particular belief or practice, others can and will make fun of it. I myself know a number of jokes about the LDS/Mormon Church and truth be known I find them rather funny, especially since some of them require more extensive knowledge of the Church to fully understand why they are so funny. [/COLOR]

[Sara]

[quote name='Aaryanna][COLOR=SeaGreen']I myself know a number of jokes about the LDS/Mormon Church and truth be known I find them rather funny, especially since some of them require more extensive knowledge of the Church to fully understand why they are so funny. [/COLOR][/quote][color=#b0000b][size=1]And on that note (as well as the notes of Ace and his friend above), every organisation of religion that I am familiar with has jokes about it. Quite often they are so obscure that only a practicing member of the religion would find it amusing. (For example, there are actually books published with titles like "[url=http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/lutheranism/35195]you might be Lutheran if...[/url]" They're written by Lutherans, sold by Lutherans, and bought and read by yet more Lutherans, all in the spirit of capitalism and good fun.)

Of these small jokes within a group, some become well-known and find fame among those not within the group, simply because they deal with better-known (although no less or more true) stereotypes.

And of course, the things mentioned in the jokes are almost always much more universal than the labels would lead you to believe.[/size][/color]

[musical_kitten]

[QUOTE=Sara][color=#b0000b][size=1]Quite often they are so obscure that only a practicing member of the religion would find it amusing. (For example, there are actually books published with titles like "[url=http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/lutheranism/35195]you might be Lutheran if...[/url]" They're written by Lutherans, sold by Lutherans, and bought and read by yet more Lutherans, all in the spirit of capitalism and good fun.)
[/size][/color][/QUOTE]

Oh, yeah, there are books like that toward Mormons too. But books like that are usually bought by people with that religion. My aunt and uncle have a book like that for Mormons, and from what I've heard from my cousin its very funny. But one who wasn't a Mormon probably wouldn't understand the jokes in it - In fact, one who wasn't a Mormon probably wouldn't even be thinking about reading a book like that. I know I haven't even thought of reading a "You might be Lutheran if..." books. So, "to each his own."

[The Spectacular Professor]

[quote name='Sara][color=#b0000b][size=1]And on that note (as well as the notes of Ace and his friend above), every organisation of religion that I am familiar with has jokes about it. Quite often they are so obscure that only a practicing member of the religion would find it amusing. (For example, there are actually books published with titles like "[url=http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/lutheranism/35195]you might be Lutheran if...[/url]" They're written by Lutherans, sold by Lutherans, and bought and read by yet more Lutherans, all in the spirit of capitalism and good fun.)[/size'][/color][/quote]
Yeah, we might even start some Numbers jokes, even though it's not even a religion.

[Sojiro47]

[quote name='Aceburner']Yeah, we might even start some Numbers jokes, even though it's not even a religion.[/quote]
Don't even think about it!