Guess Who?

[Trout]

The following article is posted here with the permission of the author:


Guess Who?

Members of the LDS Church are familiar with the charge that Mormonism isn't a Christian faith. They hear it often enough, but they really don't understand why people think that. "We are Christians," Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley insisted. "We have the name of Jesus Christ right in the name of our Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We follow Christ. We worship Him. We love Him. He is the center of all we do"("Inspirational Thoughts," Liahona, June 1999, 3; 2 Nephi 25:24-29).

In the summer of 2005 we asked Mormons in Nauvoo, Illinois to take a quiz we called "Guess Who?" The quiz consisted of 15 relatively recent statements made by LDS leaders; we asked the participants to see if they could determine who their Church leaders were talking about. We invite you to take the same quiz. The answers will be at the end; see if you can do this without scrolling down for the answers.

1. His teachings "are the foundation of our faith. Everything we have is a lengthened shadow of [him]."

2. "I pray we may learn from his example, that we might incorporate into our lives the great principles which he so beautifully taught; that we ourselves might emulate him;..."

3. "I honor and revere [his] name... I delight to hear it; I love it. I love his doctrine... I am his witness."

4. "He died for those he loved. He reigns in the realms above."

5. "The more I learn of him, the more I love and revere him."

6. "I look to him. I love him. I seek to follow him."

7. "He not only gave us joy, happiness and opportunity here, but also a great hope in the life to come."

8. "Today, this Sabbath day, in many thousands of congregations, perhaps as many as twenty-one thousand, in many areas of the earth, our people have sung or will sing the praises of [him]."

9. "Of noble seed, of heavenly birth, he came to bless the sons of earth."

10. He was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief."

11. "Church members are interested in learning more about [him] because they love him and they love the gospel he brought forth."

12. "How great indeed is our debt to him. ...Great is his glory,... We stand in reverence before him... Let us not forget him. Let not his memory be forgotten in the celebration of Christmas."

13. "...and he shall stand in due time on the earth, in the flesh, and fulfill that to which he is appointed."

14. "The light, provided to the world by [him], illuminates the confusion, clarifies the principles of the gospel, and helps lead men and women to their own eternal reward, if they will but endure to the end."

15. The "work that has been carried out by President Young and his brethren [of the Twelve] has been in accordance with the plans, and designs, and Spirit, and instructions of [him]."

How did you do? If you thought these statements were about Jesus—the One Mormons claim to worship and adore, the One they say is the center of all they do—you are incorrect. In each statement above, the speaker was talking about Joseph Smith.

Quotes with References:

1. His teachings "are the foundation of our faith. Everything we have is a lengthened shadow of [him]." (15th President Gordon B. Hinckley, Church News, 3/19/2005, p.3.)

2. "I pray we may learn from his example, that we might incorporate into our lives the great principles which he so beautifully taught; that we ourselves might emulate him;..." (Thomas Monson (First Presidency), Ensign, 6/1994, p.7.)

3. "I honor and revere [his] name... I delight to hear it; I love it. I love his doctrine... I am his witness." (2nd President Brigham Young, quoted in Ensign, 1/1996, p.7.)

4. "He died for those he loved. He reigns in the realms above." (3rd President John Taylor, Hymns #296, "The Seer, Joseph, The Seer." While this hymn was written in the 18th century, it is still in use as evidenced by its performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during the 175th Semi-Annual General Conference of the LDS Church in October, 2005.)

5. "The more I learn of him, the more I love and revere him." (Apostle Joseph B. Wirthlin, Church News, 2/19/2005, p.5.)

6. "I look to him. I love him. I seek to follow him." (15th Gordon B. Hinckley, Church News, 12/13/2003, p.3.)

7. "He not only gave us joy, happiness and opportunity here, but also a great hope in the life to come." (Apostle L. Tom Perry, Church News, 7/3/1993, p.4.)

8. "Today, this Sabbath day, in many thousands of congregations, perhaps as many as twenty-one thousand, in many areas of the earth, our people have sung or will sing the praises of [him]." (15th President Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, 9/1994, p.62.)

9. "Of noble seed, of heavenly birth, he came to bless the sons of earth." (John Taylor, Hymns #296, "The Seer, Joseph, The Seer.")

10. He was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." (BYU Professor Robert Millet, Ensign, 9/1994, p.19.)

11. "Church members are interested in learning more about [him] because they love him and they love the gospel he brought forth." (LDS Church Historian Glen M. Leonard, Church News, 12/6/1997, p.4.)

12. "How great indeed is our debt to him. ...Great is his glory,... We stand in reverence before him... Let us not forget him. Let not his memory be forgotten in the celebration of Christmas." (15th President Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, 12/1997, p.2.)

13. "...and he shall stand in due time on the earth, in the flesh, and fulfill that to which he is appointed." (Church News, 7/19/1994, p.5.)

14. "The light, provided to the world by [him], illuminates the confusion, clarifies the principles of the gospel, and helps lead men and women to their own eternal reward, if they will but endure to the end." (Church News, 12/13/1997, p.16.)

15. The "work that has been carried out by President Young and his brethren [of the Twelve] has been in accordance with the plans, and designs, and Spirit, and instructions of [him]." (George A. Smith (First Presidency), quoted in Church News, 12/20/1997, p.7.)

For more articles like this one please visit www.mrm.org

[Ninjalan]

Ouch! I misunderstood the quiz at first, and thought the quiz was given to LDS members to see who they would pick. I didn't realize these were actually quotes made about Smith, which is quite shocking.

[Da Lone-Warrior]

I believe that if "Christians" had not initially reacted so violently against Mormonism that they had to migrate west and were then able to set up in Utah and come to dominate the politics of Utah that the faith would never have dug terribly deep roots and, as such, been able to pave the way for more cults to emulate them.

Justo Gonzalez in "The Story of Christianity" tells the story of the origins of the major cults in the US during the 19th ctry well...
dlw

[mossrose]

I believe that if "Christians" had not initially reacted so violently against Mormonism that they had to migrate west and were then able to set up in Utah and come to dominate the politics of Utah that the faith would never have dug terribly deep roots and, as such, been able to pave the way for more cults to emulate them.

Justo Gonzalez in "The Story of Christianity" tells the story of the origins of the major cults in the US during the 19th ctry well...
dlw
I suppose it is the Christians' fault that Islam is around, and Buddhism and Hinduism and all the others, as well. And the Christians who drove the Mormons away, well, they should have done like the Israelites when they went into Canaan, and accepted them and intermarried with them and finally abandoned their own faith for the false one. Because that is what would have happened.

Good grief, dlw! Cults are around because ungodly people come up with lies, maybe mix a teeny bit of truth in, and then sell it to other people. Those who don't have the Holy Spirit to guide them into the truth swallow it.


You sound just like those who have blamed Israel over the centuries for everything that is wrong with this world.

Personally, I blame Adam and Eve. She believed a lie (just like all Mormons do, just like all other "religions" do), and Adam was too wimpy to stop her. And then he went along with her sin.

Put the blame where it belongs. The fallen nature of all mankind.

[Trout]

Usually I'm fairly immune to LDS craziness, but those quotes are shocking.

[Da Lone-Warrior]

I suppose it is the Christians' fault that Islam is around, and Buddhism and Hinduism and all the others, as well. And the Christians who drove the Mormons away, well, they should have done like the Israelites when they went into Canaan, and accepted them and intermarried with them and finally abandoned their own faith for the false one. Because that is what would have happened.

Good grief, dlw! Cults are around because ungodly people come up with lies, maybe mix a teeny bit of truth in, and then sell it to other people. Those who don't have the Holy Spirit to guide them into the truth swallow it.


You sound just like those who have blamed Israel over the centuries for everything that is wrong with this world.

Personally, I blame Adam and Eve. She believed a lie (just like all Mormons do, just like all other "religions" do), and Adam was too wimpy to stop her. And then he went along with her sin.

Put the blame where it belongs. The fallen nature of all mankind.

I had a lengthy response that was lost by computer failure.

Here's the short version. The persistence of cults is due in part to economics. The violent non-Christ-like response of Christians to Mormonism initially is what drove them west and allowed the Mormons to dominate the state of Utah and build up an economic base that still funds their ability to do missions in the US and abroad. Other cults have, in part, emulated the success of the Mormons.

The best way to have dealt with them then and now is to let them be and win back Mormons through relational evangelism and the promotion of more Christians knowing more about the Bible and Theology and Christian History.

My pov is that the many historical failures of Christianity come down to failures in our leadership, how we've made disciples of each other(or failed to do so) and how we decide to let our lights shine before the world so others will also become followers of Jesus.

dlw

[Krusader]

I had a lengthy response that was lost by computer failure.

Here's the short version. The persistence of cults is due in part to economics. The violent non-Christ-like response of Christians to Mormonism initially is what drove them west and allowed the Mormons to dominate the state of Utah and build up an economic base that still funds their ability to do missions in the US and abroad. Other cults have, in part, emulated the success of the Mormons.

The best way to have dealt with them then and now is to let them be and win back Mormons through relational evangelism and the promotion of more Christians knowing more about the Bible and Theology and Christian History.

My pov is that the many historical failures of Christianity come down to failures in our leadership, how we've made disciples of each other(or failed to do so) and how we decide to let our lights shine before the world so others will also become followers of Jesus.

dlw

The so-called persecution of Mormons by non-Mormons had little to do with Mormon doctrine and everything to do with Mormon political aspirations. Smith had prophesied that Missouri would be the center of God's new Kingdom, to be ruled by the Mormons. Now, Missourians didn't take kindly to that, and feared for their land rights and the loss of political power if the Mormons were to settle there in any great number.

We have to recall, as well, that Smith's Mormons had organized the secret Danites - at first a group selected to control internal descent, but later evolving into a more defensive group. Also, the Mormons had the "Armies of Israel," where Lyman Wight was Colonel in "Adam-ondi-Ahman," a Mormon village in Missouri where Adam was supposed to have built an altar.

These agressive para-military organizations, coupled with the millenial aspects of Smith's designs on Missouri, did not play well with the locals - and naturally hostility erupted. Actually, hostility of the Mormons own making. Other millenialist groups had settled in the Midwest without engendering the hostility brought about by Mormonism's political ambitions.

Putting yourself and your town in a similiar situation today - don't you think that if, say, the Hare Krishnas came in and said they were establishing their new kingdom on your doorstep - and brought along a military machine to back it up - well, I know where I live folks wouldn't take kindly to that.

Persecution of Mormons in Missouri and Illinois was, again, a result of their political aspirations, not doctrinal. Although, later on the open practice of polygamy by Young, et. al., was bound to cause a reaction among Christians, and it did.