-RRH-

Where can I get a good description of fantastic creatures in the Mormon tradition? (Angels, demons, giants, resurrected people, etc.) They can be non-canon beliefs. (Eg. Moon-men)

sighhswolf

Try going to the nearest LDS Chapel, there will be many "fantastic creatures" there
just take your pick.
Ever seen the Stepford Wives?
Wolf

Vibr8gKiwi

<a href="http://www.exmormon.org" target="_blank">www.exmormon.org</a> is probably a good place to start.

Asking the question on the message board there would probably get replies.

[ September 24, 2002: Message edited by: Vibr8gKiwi ]</p>

sighhswolf

RRH,

Let me explain my answer, usually I dont respond
with such utter disdain for the subject matter,
but having had 25 years of personal experience to draw on, my response was based on those years.

For the purposes of your research I can offer a couple of examples of Joseph Smiths background.
He was a second generation mystic.
Heavily involved in the role of seer divinator.
He worked with his father using occult methods to
"find" things, valuable items and mystical items.
His life was influenced by the occult, and Kabbalistic theories which he supposedly learned from an European Orthodox Jew with whom he studied.
His organization of the LDS organization was influenced by Masonry.
The following will be very good sources you may find what you seek in these:

John L. Brooke, The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844, Cambridge University Press, NY, 1994, 421 pages. This non-Mormon author is an associate professor in the Department of History at Tufts University.

D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, Signature Books, SLC, 1987, 315 pages. This work is comprehensive and thoroughly documented. The author is a former BYU professor and one of the most respected historians of Mormonism.

Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism, Magic and Masonry, Utah Lighthouse Ministry, SLC, 1983, 97 pages. This former Mormon husband and wife research/publishing team are well-known for their carefully documented critiques of Mormonism.

As an ex-priesthood holder I can tell you that not only was Joseph Smith a mystic with occult ties, but Brigham Young held some theories that
were so far from reality that the GA's buried them to keep them from getting out to the general public, and struck them from the D&C and church material so they could not be given to prospective converts by mistake.
Bunch of loonies......
Wolf
Edited to add:
Institute for Religious Research online has tons of material on Mormonism as well as just about anything dealing with religion. Have fun




[ September 25, 2002: Message edited by: sighhswolf ]</p>

galiel

Anyone else notice that LDS is suspiciously close to....LSD?
hmm....
[cue Twilight Zone theme]

Stephen T-B

I sometimes wonder why Christians and Jews can believe Moses received the Ten Commandments from the hand of god, but scorn the idea that Jospeh Smith received the Book of Mormon from - who was it, Gabriel?
(And why aren't Mormons digging up all the places he might have visited in order to find the tablets of gold it was written on? They must be worth a bit.)

freemonkey

60 Minutes did a story about some controversy over the (faked) tablets and some documents some time ago, but I can't find the story on their website.

[ September 26, 2002: Message edited by: freemonkey ]</p>

MortalWombat

It was Moroni (I'm not making the name up).

sighhswolf

Yes it was MortalWombat, the Angel Moroni.
(alledged)
For the record the following is an introduction to the BOM.
In the following paragraphs, a very clear message is sent and that is: the LDS are the ONLY true religion, the ONLY gospels that have been restored by god and given directly to mankind, through his chosen messenger.
The "holy bible" is not considered to be anything more than a historic look at the ancient hebrews
and information concerning jesus teaching BEFORE
his arrival on the North and South American Lands.

The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It is a record of God’s dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains, as does the Bible, the fulness of the everlasting gospel.
The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Their words, written on gold plates, were quoted and abridged by a prophet-historian named Mormon. The record gives an account of two great civilizations. One came from Jerusalem in 600 B.C., and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are the principal ancestors of the American Indians.

The crowning event recorded in the Book of Mormon is the personal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Nephites soon after his resurrection. It puts forth the doctrines of the gospel, outlines the plan of salvation, and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come.

After Mormon completed his writings, he delivered the account to his son Moroni, who added a few words of his own and hid up the plates in the hill Cumorah. On September 21, 1823, the same Moroni, then a glorified, resurrected being, appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and instructed him relative to the ancient record and its destined translation into the English language.

In due course the plates were delivered to Joseph Smith, who translated them by the gift and power of God. The record is now published in many languages as a new and additional witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that all who will come unto him and obey the laws and ordinances of his gospel may be saved.

Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was 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.”

In addition to Joseph Smith, the Lord provided for eleven others to see the gold plates for themselves and to be special witnesses of the truth and divinity of the Book of Mormon. Their written testimonies are included herewith as “The Testimony of Three Witnesses” and “The Testimony of Eight Witnesses.”

We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is his revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the second coming of the Messiah.

This is some of the most dangerous propaganda ever written by mankind.
It promises that by living the "word of wisdom"
studing the BOM and the D&C "Doctrines and Covenants" and the sayings of it's founders and teachers "the Pearl of Great Price" that each and every one of us as human beings have the capability to become gods ourselves and will be given domain as gods on other worlds that Jehovah
and Elohim have created elsewhere in the universe.

Jehovah did not create this world alone there were many other gods who helped to create many other worlds just as this one.
Also anyone who is on earth now, prexisted in heaven with the gods before being born of earthly parents here.
We (mankind) are sent to earth by god to learn the lessons required to return and assume our rightful place as gods for other worlds.

"In my fathers house there are many mansions, I go therefore to prepare a place for you".
Supposedly refers to many planets and worlds created, we are not alone in the universe.
(actually this is the only statement that I can agree with, we are not alone in the universe and we must be very arrogant to think otherwise).

The endowments, temple weddings, annointing of the Priesthood are all based in part on mysticism and Kabbalistic ritual with many strong references to Masonic rites.

There is quite a bit of occult ritual and reference within Mormonism, and there is no other religion that inspires a more elitist mentality.
Dangerous.
Wolf
<img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" />

One of the last sane

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