Mormon America

Moksha · #1 (**permalink**) 11-03-2009, 12:53 AM

Quote:

At the October 1987 general conference, President Ezra Taft Benson … spoke “about our divine Constitution, which the Lord said ‘belongs to all mankind’ (D&C 98:5) ‘and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles.’ (D&C 101:77.) “The Constitution of the United States has served as a model for many nations and is the oldest constitution in use today.
“‘I established the Constitution of this land,’ said the Lord, ‘by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose.’ (D&C 101:80.)

On the link, it there is a quote about the book the student is holding as being Cleon Skousen's The Five Thousand Year Leap.

http://www.getreligion.org/?p=19434

YouTube - One Nation Under God

What sayest thou?

hordak · #2 (**permalink**) 11-03-2009, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moksha

On the link, it there is a quote about the book the student is holding as being Cleon Skousen's The Five Thousand Year Leap.

http://www.getreligion.org/?p=19434

YouTube - One Nation Under God

What sayest thou?

Quote:

The Five Thousand Year Leap” by Cleon Skousen. It explains that if it had not been for the founding fathers and how they set up our Constitution we could not have created the environment to allow for the great advances of the modern world. We literally went from hoes and shovels to placing a man on the moon and we took a five thousand year leap in human development. Truly these men were inspired!

I think Cleon is oversimplifying. As an American it's easy to be proud of our accomplishments as a nation but it is necessity that breeds innovation not necessarily freedom. Some of the greatest advance of the modern world have come from from war and death. The rocket necessary to put man on the moon, was descended from the V-2, created in Hitlers Germany, hardly a bastion for freedom, and designed with the intent of killing.

Just_A_Guy · #3 (**permalink**) 11-03-2009, 09:58 AM

The artist is a guy named Jon McNaughton. The website where he explains each component of the painting is here.

I'm not particularly impressed.

talisyn · #4 (**permalink**) 11-03-2009, 10:04 AM

Bet it sells a lot. Reminds me of last Sunday when a woman gave the closing prayer, asking for blessings on the U.S. constitution. When did that become official scripture?

sixpacktr · #5 (**permalink**) 11-03-2009, 10:24 AM

We all ought to pray that somehow the Constitution is protected. What she did was appropriate.

When I was at BYU many, many years ago I attended the Asian ward with my wife. It was made up of Japanese, Chinese, Polynesians, Vietnamese, other Asians, etc., and their American husbands/wives. It was a great ward, but there was acrimony because of the war, etc., but I digress.

Once Sunday just before the 4th of July, our Bishop got up and told all of us that we should all celebrate this great national holiday even if the US wasn't the place of our birth or nationality because the US Constitution was set up by the hand of God and without the US and the freedoms enshrined within it the church could not have come forth.

So while it is SO cool to denigrate those of us that believe that the Constitution is being dismantled at an alarming rate, always, always remember--Joseph himself talked of the Constitution, talked of the founders of this country, and that those men appeared to either John Taylor or Wilford Woodruff so that their temple work would be done.

We have forgotten what it is to be American.

changed · #6 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009, 04:02 PM

read this:
White Horse prophecy - MormonWiki.org

then read DC 98 & 101
CONSTITUTION. See also Government; Law

In the Doctrine and Covenants, "the Constitution" refers to the Constitution of the United States of America, which was divinely inspired in order to prepare the way for the restoration of the gospel.

Constitutional law should be befriended, D&C 98:5–6.
The Lord caused the Constitution to be established, D&C 101:77, 80.

(Guide to the Scriptures | C Constitution.:Entry)

Just_A_Guy · #7 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009, 05:35 PM

FWIW, MormonWiki is dedicated to making the LDS Church look as weird as possible. I look to them for cherry-picked quotes, but not for balanced doctrinal expositions.

talisyn · #8 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009, 06:27 PM

I know exactly what an American is, Sixpacktr. Americans look and act amazingly like everyone around me, and I see one every time I look in the mirror. The US constitution is a great living document, and I do believe it's inspired. However, I also believe the Magna Carta is inspired as well, with the desired result the Restoration of the fullness of the gospel. Accomplishment achieved, let the latter-days roll!

Moksha · #9 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009, 06:48 PM

Talisyn, where do you stand on the Code of Hammurabi?

Elphaba · #10 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by changed

read this:White Horse prophecy - MormonWiki.org

The White Horse Prophecy has been denounced, or at least parts of it. From the White Horse Prophecy, by George Cobabe: pg. 6:

Quote:

Finally, authorities of the Church have denounced portions of the account [the prophecy]. In General Conference in October 1918, Joseph Fielding Smith made the following comments:

Quote:

I have discovered that people have copies of a purposed vision by the Prophet Joseph Smith given in Nauvoo, and some people are circulating this supposed vision, or revelation, or conversation which the prophet is reported to have held with a number of individuals in the city of Nauvoo.

I want to say to you, my brethren and sisters, that if you understand the Church articles and covenants, if you will read the scriptures and become familiar with those things which are recorded in the revelations from the Lord, it will not be necessary for you to ask any questions in regard to the authenticity or otherwise of any purported revelation, vision, or manifestation that proceeds out of darkness, concocted in some corner, surreptitiously present, and not coming through the proper channels of the Church.

Let me add that when a revelation comes for the guidance of this people, you may be sure that it will not be presented in some mysterious manner contrary to the order of the Church. It will go forth in such form that the people will understand that it comes from those who are in authority, for it will be sent either to the presidents of stakes and the bishops of the wars over the signatures of the presiding authorities.

Or it will be published in some of the regular papers or magazines under the control and direction of the Church or it will be presented before such gatherings as this, at a general conference. It will not spring up in some distance part of the Church and be in the hands of some obscure individual without authority, and thus be circulated among the Latter-day Saints. . . . (I added paragraph breaks to make it more readable.)

His father and President of the Church, Joseph F. Smith, followed immediately after his speech and said:

Quote:

The ridiculous story about the “red horse” and the black horse,” and the “white horse,” and a lot of trash that has been circulated about and printed and sent around as a great revelation given by the Prophet Joseph Smith, is a matter that was gotten up, I understand, some ten years ago after the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith, by two of our brethren who put together some broken sentences from the Prophet that they may have heard from time to time, and formulated this so-called revelation out of it, and it was never spoken by the prophet in the manner in which they have put it forth. It is simply false; that is all there is to it.

Elphaba