'No enmity against anyone.'
 

Quote:

Why is it that the babbler gains so many followers, and retains them? Because I possess the principle of love. I am as ready to die for a Presbyterian, a Baptist or any other denomination as for a Mormon.

Friendship is the grand fundamental principle of Mormonism.

Ever candidate, (speaking of women of the Relief Society) should be examined closely and that the society should grow up by degrees and become a kingdom of priests moving according to the order of the priesthood.

The grand fundamental princciples of Mormonism are truth, friendship and relief.

Let truth come from whence it may.

Wherein do you differ from others in your religious views? In reality and essence we do not differ so far in our religious views but that we could all drink into one principle of love. (see Corinthians 12: 12-13, emphasis on drink)

Christians should cultivate friendship with others and will do it.

If I esteem mankind to be in error shall I bear them down? No! I will lift them up and each in his own way if I cannot persuade him my way is better, I will ask no man to believe as I do.

Righteousness is not that which men esteem holiness. That which the wolrd calls righteouness I have not any regard for. To be righteous is to be just and merciful.

Mormonism will revolutionze and civilize the world.

--

Care to guess who said all these things?

By his tenents are we revolutionizing and civilizing the world by drinking in the love and charity and relief of Christ with our Christian brothers and sisters?

Joseph Smith, correct?

Very correct.

I found the comments about 'drinking in' and women being 'priests' quite enlightening.

The implications of such comments are quite extensive.

Nice quote. I like the idea of there being 'one love.' I'm not sure if it is simply a matter of semantics, but it is an idea that I have tried to cultivate in my life... the idea that there is only one kind of love, and that we should try to extend that love to all people. So I don't try to distinguish between 'romantic love' and 'brotherly love' and 'agape' or whatever different categories of love other people try to see. I think these categories are ultimately limiting, and prevent us from realizing the potential of our relationships with others. The difference between my love for one person and another is defined by two factors -- the intensity of that love (which is often a factor of familiarity and intimacy), and our respective roles to one another (my role of husband means that I sleep with my wife and have a unique duty to her and our son.) Now some people might think that it all becomes semantic at that point, but it feels different to me.

As for the intensity of the 'one love,' I think that Christ's teachings, along with those of Gandhi and the Dalai Lama, is that we should strive to have a perfect love for all people. A perfect love would always be just as intense for every being as it is for the most intimate people in our lives.

Anyhow, the JS quote is lovely, and makes me think about these things.

Cheers,

R.

How so?

Drinking in is found only once in the standard works, when it talks of drinking in the whole body of Christ. It's the scriptures many evangelists use to verify that the many churches are simply appendages to the body of Christ and as long as there is a belief in Christ that church belongs to Jesus.

The implications that Joseph would feel that all churches are part of the body of Jesus runs highly different than the prevailing thought among many LDS leaders and members that the LDS church is the only true church of God. Joseph always maintained that the LDS church was the only one with authority, but also said truth was to be sought out wherever it was taught.

I highly different point of view than the standard ideology of current LDS.

His description of women being priest's runs in contradiction to current theology that men only can be called to the office of a priest. Again a highly different point of view than the current LDS thought.

semantics again with the "true church" thing.. all that means is that the church is the only church/organization with proper authority, which is what you said. So in essence, you agree with the "only true church" concept as it is defined this way..


as far as females and the priesthood, I have no doubt that females can become priestesses.....

Could you imagine the shaking of knees that would occur if the prophet in GC said, all churches are true, we want to build a community of churches, we want our members to search for truth wherever it is found, be it in the Baptist, Catholic, etc....

Joseph essentially taught this, he maintained that the church had authority, but said that let man worship as he will, highly different than what you taught or thought on your mission.

It's not simply an issue of semantics, its much more poignant than that.

Priestesses and Priests are different. Joseph said women could be Priests, I think Joseph was teaching that one day woman would have priesthood just like the man.

umm what are you talking about? sure any person can be a member of any church, but without correct authority, it matters not. I highly doubt joseph meant that men can join any church and it would be true (and they would be saved). quite the contrary. How do you know that joseph was saying that women would hold the priesthood just like a man? you are making assumptions. Priestesses insinuates a priesthood, but we don't know exactly what it means. You might be taking to many liberties with that quote IMO. But more power to ya, if it helps you.

There's only one Church that has the complete truth, the priesthood, and the ordinances necessary for exaltation. I think many members have a different attitude concerning other churches than they should - many churches do have a lot of truth and do a lot of good things - I really really doubt the Church is ever going to encourage its members to attend other churches to search for the truth when the Lord inspires men here to create the curriculum He wants taught. We can find all the truth we need to know about the Gospel within our own religion - by saying that I'm not saying that other religions don't have portions of the truth and don't accomplish wonderful things, but here, we have it all.