Do any former Mormons recall being taught that the Mormon church was a restoration of Jesus' original church? It was very eye opening to me to discover that from the very start there were very many different forms of Christianities with some very diverse concepts. At this point, I'm no longer convinced that a Jesus that may have exisred ever intended to create a new religion but only to reform the beliefs of the Jews. But like all ideas and movements, it took on a life of its own - and in this case many lives.
The Youtube video is an early Christianity scholar who appears to have somes very good information on the formation of Christianity.
Yes I was taught that, but if anything the way the church is run and much of the "restored" revelation is actually variations on Gnostic teaching, half remembered and expediently altered plus a large does of restored Scottish rite Free masonry
I don't doubt what you say. What I'd read was that Smith came up with the temple endowment ceremony after being inducted into the higher order of the Masons, and that Smith's ceremony was remarkably similar (unmistakenly so) to the Mason's ceremony.
@RussRAB Smith whole family were involved in York rite Freemasonry in Palmyra but it was John C. Bennett was the one who sold Smith the Reformed Scottish rite ceremonies first used in the Nauvoo temple
Posted by LenHazell53One afternoon in The Sacred Grove
Posted by CManSo Very True
Posted by LenHazell53Anyone else know this?
Posted by CManQuestion: Why are the mormon$ allowed to build & operate ca$ino$ in residential neighborhoods? Answer: Because the house always wins!!!
Posted by LenHazell53While mourning the deaths at Colorado Springs park to honor five people killed and 17 wounded in a weekend shooting at a gay nightclub.
Posted by snytiger6Just as I thought...
Posted by snytiger6LMAO... Help me Joseph Smith...
Posted by snytiger6The desert quadrillogy.
Posted by snytiger6An apt description.
Posted by snytiger6Missionary positions...
Posted by snytiger6Sadly, I was raised Mormon...
Posted by LenHazell53LDS opens new incontinent "men only" old folks rest home in SLC
Posted by LenHazell53Proof that Mormons really are special
Posted by LenHazell53And Why is President Nelson Scrooge McDuck evicting people at Christmas? To build yet another Temple in Utah that no one wants or needs. These bastards just get worse and worse [fox13now.com]
Posted by CManHappy conference weekend
Posted by LenHazell53Saw this on reddit, sums things up quite well I thought