Mormons have the right to try to change USA laws?

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Salt Lake City, Utah - Mormonism - the world's one and true religion (fact according to Mormonism).

Does Salt Lake City have the right to raise money in Mormon Temples to be used to intentionally change USA laws so all the USA laws match the dogma of Mormonism?

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Official USA Department of officially approved religions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Hous ... rtnerships
(Invented due to a heavenly vision from above by extremist Prophet George Bush, Jr.)(Reformed due to a heavenly vision from above by extremist Prophet Barack Obama).

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No. Salt Lake City cannot dictate Federal law that span the nation.

Regarding the polygamy in LDS, the apostle Paul’s directions to Timothy on the appointment of congregation overseers, or “bishops,” make this clear. He writes: “A bishop must be above reproach, the husband of one wife.” (Italicized for emphasis; 1 Timothy 3:2, Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition) Notice that there is no suggestion at all that it was unfitting in any way for “a bishop” to be married. Paul simply indicated that “a bishop” should not be a polygamist; if married, he should have only one wife. They cannot therefore claim to be Christian if they cannot properly observe what is found in the bible with regards marriage.

As far as other Mormon beliefs Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, explained, “God Himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens.” To the Mormons, God is a glorified, perfected man. He has a body of flesh and bone, but not of blood, in which dwells an eternal spirit.

“All men and women are . . . literally the sons and daughters of Deity,” wrote Joseph F. Smith, nephew of Joseph, Jr., and president of the church from 1901 to 1918. “Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal body.”

Thus, according to Mormon theology, all humankind existed as spirit beings in heaven before coming to earth. The purpose of their coming to earth is so that they can be tested and, if successful, be exalted, that they may eventually become gods themselves with worlds of their own. So Mormons believe in the existence of not one but many gods, each of whom rules over a world of his own. Brigham Young, second president of the church, once said: “How many Gods there are, I do not know. But there never was a time when there were not Gods and worlds, and when men were not passing through the same ordeals that we are passing through.”

These beliefs explain why so much emphasis is placed on marriage and the family. It is viewed as a duty for faithful Mormons to marry and to have as many children as they can care for so that they can provide physical bodies for other spirits to come to earth. Their marriage and family must be sealed in the temple “for time and eternity” so that they can become heavenly parents and bring forth spirit children. Plural marriage, or polygamy, which church members openly practiced at one time, is clearly tied in with this concept.

Obviously, to support such a theology, much more than the Bible is needed. Thus the eighth of the Mormon Articles of Faith declares: “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.” On the other hand, the Book of Mormon is said by Joseph Smith to be “the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” Yet the Book of Mormon itself is a translation. Joseph Smith claimed to have translated it from “Reformed Egyptian” inscriptions on golden plates (long since disappeared), delivered to him by the angel Moroni, by using “the Urim and Thummin,” a special pair of spectacles. Interestingly, this “most correct of any book on earth” has had over 2,000 textual changes since first published in 1830, and it contains about 27,000 words—a tenth of the book—quoted verbatim or slightly modified from the King James Version of the Bible, including some of its translation errors.

Two other books are also considered to be standard works of the church: Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price. In these books, containing further “revelations” and translations, Smith worked out the elaborate system of Mormon theology, including doctrines not found in the Book of Mormon, such as plurality of gods, polygamy, curse of the black race, baptism for the dead and a host of others.

Mormons also believe in continuing revelation — the heavens are not closed to them. The president of the church, as prophet, seer and revelator, receives communications or answers to current questions direct from God. A recent “revelation” was proclaimed by President Spencer W. Kimball on June 9, 1978, that “all worthy male members of the Church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color.” That put an end to the mounting racial tension within the church because blacks, barred from the priesthood up to that time, could never attain the celestial kingdom, according to Mormon teaching.

Mormons are fond of quoting the words of Lorenzo Snow, their fifth president: “As man is, God once was, and as God is, man may become.” In taking this view, they put personal exaltation and glorification ahead of sanctifying God’s name and doing his will, as exemplified by Jesus Christ. (Matthew 6:9; John 5:30) This is, at best, a self-seeking and self-serving delusion. Jesus taught his disciples to pray to God: “Let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matthew 6:9, 10) As a Jehovah’s Witnesses we direct people’s attention to God’s Kingdom as the only means for restoring peace and harmony. We look forward to the time when, under the rule of the Messianic Kingdom, earth will be a Paradise restored, and “death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.” — Revelation 21:4.

The Bible is God's word and is truth. (Matthew 15:3; Colossians 2:8) It is more reliable than man-made traditions. (2 Timothy 3:16, 17; 2 Peter 1:20, 21; John 17:17) And to believe in anything other than Bible for direction and guidance is folly.

I've read that they fund any movement that is against gay marriage. Probably other movements as well. I see the LDS and other movements like it as the death twitches of religion now, so I'm not worried

Last edited by Vigilans on 22 Feb 2011, 2:24 am, edited 1 time in total.

Where Mormon priests participating in polygamy?(I don't really focus much on them at all) That passage doesn't really say anything about anyone but bishops. Also the use of the word reproach would imply polygamy as a social issue not as necessarily a sin.

We all have the right to try to change laws by means of legal processes.

ruveyn

Ruveyn is correct
this time

more often than not.

ruveyn

Interesting... my dad's church used the same line to say women weren't allowed to play church elder with the boys.

Except the time he made this claim.

Mormons have always been a funny bunch, they can change laws but only if God allows it and in his time, he has a set time peoples.

This could be a another of God's signs, and I think I'm nearly home, we are approaching eternity. Looking forward of getting my reward, it is waiting for me to collect it. Peoples God is only one who is in control.

Are you all ready to meet our lord?

Na, am not ready for it yet. I still have a lot of sex to do.

How is this "another of God's signs", and what are some of the others?

Which makes them different from every other religion in the world precisely how?



Yes, they do have the right to do it.

The question you should be asking is, "Do they have the right to do [the above] while retaining the benefits regarding taxation granted to religious groups in the US?" Unfortunately I don't think there's any "bright line" test you can apply, but there's generic IRS guidance in Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations (link), starting on Page 5.

As a practical matter, the bar must be set pretty low in this area. After all, the Church of Scientology had its tax-exempt status stripped, and then restored, and has retained it since. And this is after they actually engaged in out-and-out criminal conduct of the RICO sort, organizing a plan whereby the CoS tried to infiltrate the IRS itself to find out information related to those it considers its enemies, stalked bureaucrats and did who knows what else. A bunch of people got fined,and even sent to prison...see US v. Hubbard (link) for a high level review.

But, Xenu must have smiled upon them, 'cuz they're still tax exempt. Just another happy day on Teeeagack

Would the Real pgd please stand out? topic

Are you Roboposter? Or just Imposter?

World's Edge - thats the best summation of the issues so far in this thread.

In a free country you are free to use legal means to campain against freedom.

If the Mormons want to start a legal campain to persuade America to vote itsself into becoming the Mormon Republic of Americastan, they are welcome to take a shot at it.

But religions-you-dont -like taking over America are a rather remote threat to America.

But a certain criminal organization pretending to be a religion to exploit tax laws and combining that with illeagle tactics of intimidation to further its criminal scam IS a real and present scurge on society.

What to do about it I dont know. But a good start would be to go back to stripping them of their tax exempt status as a faux "religion".

How to do THAT I dont know because of the diffeculty in legally defining what is a "religion".