Here’s a log of selected email communication with AllAboutMormons.com users. I’ve edited it freely, removing personal information, removing blatant anti-Mormon statements, and adding comments in red.
I want know the number and address of church mormon of Sarasota .
THANK YOU FOR YOU.
Dear *******,
My name is ***** *******, and I’m the webmaster of AllAboutMormons.com. Sorry for my delayed response to your recent email. I assume when you say Sarasota you mean Sarasota, Florida. There is one LDS chapel in that city. It can be found at 7001 Beneva Rd, Sarasota, FL 34238. The local ward meets at 10:00 am on Sundays. Please don’t hesitate to email me if you have any further questions!
Sincerely,
***** *. *******
Why do the Lds chruch let a member get away with bearing false witness about people,not supporting their child,making death threats to a woman carrying his child.Yes these things were brought to the attention of his bishop and NOTHING was done this member still is in the chruch,still holds a priesthood authority and just recieved a temple recommend so he can get married to someone he was living with BEFORE they were to marry,he can still baptize and be apart of sacrement. It does not make any sense you talk about being more “christ like” but yet you have members like this??? What is the problem?
Hello I believe on christmas day I emailed you regarding a “issue” with another member of our beloved chruch I was hoping you can send any feedback if possible regarding my issue it would be greatly appreciated.I am lost on this one and really could use help…Thank you
Dear Sister ******,
Let me start by apologizing for my delayed response. Thanks for your persistence in contacting me a second time.
I should start off by emphasizing that it is obviously impossible for me to comment on this fellow’s specific situation, as I have never met him. Furthermore, I have never served as an LDS bishop and do not understand church-disciple policies. I’m my ward’s organist and can explain how hymns are chosen much better than I can answer your challenging question! Not knowing what I’m talking about has never stopped me from talking before, though, so I’ll forge ahead anyway.
It seems to me there are two possible explanations. First, it is possible that, while this fellow committed some grievous sins in the past, he has repented of those sins and is now trying to put his life back together. While the sins you described in your email are indeed serious, none of them is beyond the Savior’s power to forgive. Bishops (and/or branch presidents, and/or stake presidents) are almost always better aware of where a troubled member of their congregation stands than are other (non-family) members of the congregation. It is the very function of a bishop to accept confessions and help sinners on the path to repentance; as personal repentance does not involve the congregation as a whole, members of the congregation are usually not (nor should they be) privy to an individual member’s personal struggles to repent. In bishop’s interviews those seeking help often bare their souls in confidential ways; they may chose to share their struggles to repent with the bishop, information that would be otherwise private, as part of the process of spiritual healing. Only the bishop may be aware of the sinner’s sincere efforts to make himself right with God.
Another possibility, unfortunately, is that this fellow may have been successful in convincing the bishop that he has repented even though he continues his sinful ways. While I think nine times out of ten members simply perceive a “mistake” on the bishop’s part because they are not aware of the sinner’s sincere repentance, it is certainly true that bishops, like all of us, are not perfect and do make mistakes. The miracle of Mormonism is not that God manages to find perfect people to lead His Church, but rather that He manages to lead His Church despite all the imperfect people in it! I suspect most members of the Church are not aware of the great burden that is being an LDS bishop. Bishops receive no pay and must bare in confidentiality the confessions and troubles of the members of their congregation while struggling with them to help them on the path to forgiveness. Time that could otherwise be spent with family is often spent listening to neighbors’ deepest sorrows, guilt, and confessions. It is not a pleasant job! When bishops do make mistakes, we must support them regardless, recognizing that they are doing their best and trusting that God will work out His justice at the last day despite the possible mortal mistakes of well-intentioned Church leaders.
Please keep in mind that these comments apply equally well to branch presidents, district presidents, and stake presidents. All are privy to personal information that may not be available to the congregation at large, all are capable of mistakes, all work without pay, all carry great burdens, and all require our support despite their possible shortcomings/mistakes.
Hope this message helps! Please don’t hesitate to contact me with further comments/questions.
Sincerely,
***** *. *******, Jorge Prado
P.S. I only got three hours of sleep last night, so if this email is nonsensical, my sincerest apologies!
I have just read your propaganda about Mormons not being racist. Waht about this quote from your infallible prophet Brigham Young… (User cites some quote proving that, big surprise, Brigham Young was actually influenced by the prevailing philosophies of his time.) You just took the easy way on race in the 70’s and on polygamy to get statehood… You say that your church never has been racist at all because you don’t like the Klan. Atleast they are honest about who they are. There are racists So are you. They admit it. You hide like cowards.
Dear Friend,
My name is ***** *******, and I’m the webmaster of AllAboutMormons.com. I
don’t usually respond to messages like yours, but on a whim I thought I’d
answer anyway. You clearly have some misconceptions about Mormons. Hope this
email helps.
1. Mormons do not believe their prophets are infallible. Only God is
infallible. In the quote you cite below (which I have not verified for
accuracy), Brigham Young is obviously wrong.
2. The Journal of Discourses is an interesting book but is not considered
scripture in the LDS church. There are many truths in it, but there are also
many incorrect statements (like the one you cite).
3. Your statement that I claim Mormons have never been racist is also not
accurate. As I write at the top of the web page, in the past some Mormons
have been racist, as were most Americans and Europeans at the time.
Unfortunately, people are products of the societies in which they live. My
impression is that in the early 20th centry Mormons in general were less
racist than Southerners but more racist than Northerners. Of course now a
days Mormons (and Evangelicals, and Southerners, and Americans in general,
and Europeans) have largely abandoned racism. Thank goodness!
4. You may wish to reconsider your idea that modern Mormons are racist.
Worldwide, Caucausians are a minority in our church. Your email to me is
particularly ironic, as my wife is an Afrobrazilian.
Hope this information helps! Please keep in mind the importance of learning
about a religion from reliable sources, instead of from the bigoted and the
hateful.
Best of wishes,
***** *. *******
I don’t consider all Mormons racists.
Your church has an obiously racist Doctrine. Your church is different from other racist churches in that your scriptures are racist. Christian churches are racist because of flawed interpretation by man. I also think that you are naive that Christians and southerners have gotten over racism. That’s another issue. (Admittedly, I’ve never lived in the South.)
(User cites a Book-of-Mormon scripture out of context, claiming it is racist. How about this BOM scripture instead?
2 Nephi 26:33: For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.
Or what about Helaman 13, where a lighter-skinned people have become wicked, so God sends a darker-skinned prophet, Samuel, to bring them back to the fold? Funny how these scriptures never get mentioned by anti-Mormons.)
That’s your book. If you followed your book you wouldn’t have married who you did.
What bothers me is the lies that come out of the LDS. Here is arelease from one of your.
(User provides a quote from someone who is not a general authority of the Church, trying to pass his comments off as “official.” He then proceeds to give a very distorted acount of LDS race-relations, not worth printing here.)
I am only saying that you should have the courage to stick to your scriptural beliefs… God can’t be racist if He says blacks are inferior. Which is what your book says.
You also shouldn’t have let us take away polygamy from you. That was God’s law you should have stood up for your scripture.
Dear *****,
Thanks for your response. I can see this conversation isn’t going to go anywhere, and so this will be my last email to you. I assure you that I understand LDS doctrine much better than you do, *****. Our doctrine is not racist, although it’s obvious that no amount of explaining will convince you of that. You quote the Book of Mormon out of context and think you’ve proved your point? Please don’t waste my time. I could make the New Testment look terribly racist if I took things out of context as well.
Truth be told, I don’t think you even really care what LDS doctrine actually is; I may be wrong, but I suspect that, like so many others who hold your views, you will continue to criticize us regardless of what we actually believe. It seems, *****, that some have a need to hate. Ironically, the same forces that drove racism are likely driving you. Rational conversation will have no effect.
So you really think I married the wrong person, *****? That comment, of all the silly things you’ve said, most proves you don’t know what you’re talking about. My wife and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple by a church-authorized authority. At the cerimony he said specifically that God approved of our marriage. Racists? Yeah, *****, we’re racists. Give me a break.
Sincerely,
***** *. *******
Sorry. I wasn’t clear as to the point I am trying to make. I don’t think you married the wrong the person. My wife is of African decent as well. i gues we would call her African American. What I really want to say is that you should stick to your theology in spite of societal forces. You gave up your belief polygamy and your belief [racist] because we Christians imposed our beliefs on you. This is inherently worng and is not what Christ would have done. (Boy is this sentence every enigmatic! First of all, Mormons are a Christian denomination. Second of all, Mormons have a very long history of doing things despite societal forces, almost to a fault. Changes come through revelation from God. Third, it appears here that the User is suggesting that polygamy and racism are good things… what in the world is he trying to accomplish here? “Oh, User,” perhaps he expects me to say, “I guess now that you put it that way, you’re right. Even though Mormons are not racist, I guess I have no problem admitting they are, now that you’ve made it clear that racism is such a great thing.”)
I am sure you could make the new testament racist. Most Of my fellow Christians do. The old testament is inherently racist. (I would say that’s a question of interpretation…) I have read the book of Mormon in its entirety. Admittedly I have the one that given to me in military by people who tried to get me to convert. (User shares strange comments several Mormons once made and tries to convince me they represent the opinions of Mormons everywhere, even though as a practicing Mormon I obviously know that they do not.)
I do retract my statement about your wife. I only meant it to illustrate what I perceive to be a theme through the BOM. That doesn’t excuse me making it personal. I apologize for that. I think you have read me wrong. I could be convinced that you aren’t racist. I don’t know you from anybody else. Although I don’t think that I could be convinced that the blood of Christ didn’t remove any curse [that may be on Black people]. (Again, a confusing statement. He seems to be supporting racisim here, but I’m sure he’s not racist based on his previous comments. Oh well, just one more comment that makes no sense…)
That was the most fantastic thing I have seen! It made me cry! Is there any way to download this to show to my Gospel Doctrine class this Sunday. I wish I had seen it sooner. Thanks for putting so much work into this- it is wonderful-
Dear *****,
Happy you’ve enjoyed my site so much. While you didn’t mention it in your email, I’m assuming the video you’re referring to is the one entitled “LDS Stake Growth 1830-2004.” Please correct me if I’m wrong.
It can be downloaded from video.google.com. Visit the following site:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4731328707513660562&q=
stake+growth
You may need to download Google’s video player if you haven’t already done so. I believe it’s available from the same site.
Good luck to you!
Sincerely,
***** *. *******, the Jorge Prado.
gostaria de obter partituras para coro misto com acompanhamento em piano
Ola *****,
Me llamo ***** e soy el webmaster de allaboutmormons.com. Gracias por su email. Infelicmente, no tengo partituras como las que describió. Las únicas que tengo encontranse aqui:
/SPAN_library_4.php (solamente para el piano).
Espero que encontre lo que busca.
***** *. *******
Tenìa màs de 26 años de no ver un video de la familia osmond, era fans de ellos cuando tenìa 12 o 13 años, me gustarìa estar recibiendo informaciòn sobre mi artista favorito
Querida ****,
Perdona mi pobre espanol. Soy *****, el webmaster de www.allaboutmormons.com. También me gustan mucho los Osmonds! Mi tio salió con Marie Osmond una vez cuando jóven! 🙂
Puede encontrar un video de Donny Osmond en mi sítio, aquí: /SPAN_Video25.php.
También, el sítio oficial de Donny Osmond es www.donny.com.
Buena suerte con tudo!
***** *. *******
Por favor necesito una copia de este video del crecimiento de la Iglesia, es para una charla con los Jóvenes, soy el Obispo del Barrio Centro en Mérida, Yuc.
Si pudiera decirme donde bajar este video o conseguirlo, se lo agradecería mucho.
Querido ******,
Perdona mi pobre espanol. Soy *****, el webmaster de www.allaboutmormons.com. Estoy feliz que usted visitó mi sítio e que le servió. Para conseguir una cópia del video sobre el crescimiento de la Iglesia, visite este sítio:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4731328707513660562&q=
mormon+growth+stake&hl=en
Será necessario conseguir el google video player tambíén, de este mismo sítio. Si usted tenga más preguntas, por favor mandeme otro email.
Buena suerte,
**** * *. *******
Meu nome é ********, sou membro da Igreja a 5 anos, sou da cidade de Petrópolis, estado do Rio de Janeiro…Adorei o seu site, achei super interessante, ficou muito bem preparado, já pesquisei vários sites que falam sobre a Igreja e nunca encontrei um tão completo como o seu…seu site é muito maravilhoso, aprendi muitas coisas boas e coisas que posso colocar em prática na minha vida….Um grande Abraço….
Querida ********,
Me chamo ***** e sou o webmaster de www.allaboutmormons.com. Queria lhe
mandar um email agradecendo pelas palavras bondosas que me escreveu. Já
investi muito tempo no meu site; parece que tudo vale a pena quando
fico sabendo que o site tem ajudado alguém. Fico muito contente sabendo
que alguém beneficiou de meu esforco.
Eu já visitei Petrópolis alguns anos atrás. É uma cidade encantadora.
Um forte abraco,
***** *. *******
Querido *****,
Não precisa agradecer, realmente adorei seu site, quase todos os dias entro
para dar uma olhada e assistir alguns clipes, discursos e histórias. Adoro a
parte dos BÔNUS ESPECIAIS, sempre me divirto… Eu gosto muito de assistir o
Video Clip “Guaraná Brothers” dou muitas gargalhadas. Eles são engraçados.
Seu site me passou muitos conhecimentos, aprendi coisas que nunca ouvi
falar, como você é especial, você não sabe o quanto me ajudou, toda vez que
tenho uma dúvida ou tenho que preparar um discurso pego idéias no seu site.
RSRSRSRSRS. Meus parabéns!!!!!
Eu sei que Jesus vive e que Ele nos ama e como sou grata por pertencer a
esse evangelho, não vejo ou imagino minha vida fora da igreja, sou grata e
amo o Senhor. Sei que essa igreja é verdadeira e a cada dia que passa tenho
mais certeza disso, pessoas como você, fortalecem meu testemunho.
Obrigada!!!
Um grande abraço.
********
por favor estoy interezado en los arreglos en partitura
de los himnos para coros gracias por su atencion
Querido amigo,
Perdona mi espanol. Soy el webmaster de www.allaboutmormons.com. Infelicmente, no tengo arreglos en partitura para coros, pero se usted quere partituras de himnos para el piano, encuentranse aquí:
/SPAN_library_4.php
Espero que le gusten, pues yo mismo soy el compositor. 🙂
Buena suerte con tudo,
***** *. *******
Hey, I just wanted to let you know that most of the pages on allaboutmormons.com don’t seem to be valid XHTML, as it states on the footer of each page.
In terms of content, I think the site is great. Thanks for the hard work in putting it together!
Why did Joseph Smith write in the language of the king james bible rather than the language of his own time?
Dear *****,
My name is ***** ******* and I’m the webmaster of
www.allaboutmormons.com.
Sorry for my delayed response to your email.
You ask a very good question. I can only guess, of course, but I
imagine
Joseph Smith wrote in “King James English” because at the time the King
James version was the version of the Bible used by most Christians in the
United States. Today we have many different translations of the Bible,
many of them in plain English. Thus for many Christians today, the King
James English does not even “sound” like the Bible. At the time of Joseph
Smith, however, I imagine that when one thought of Biblical–and thus
scriptural–language, one automatically thought of the type of English
used in the King James version. Because Joseph Smith considered the Book
of Mormon to be scripture like the Bible and wanted people to be
comfortable reading it as such, he chose to make it sound like the Bible
of the time. That’s my best guess, anyway.
By the way, I swear I once heard of a plain-English rewrite of the
Book of
Mormon. It’s not sponsored by the LDS Church, of course, but if you’re
interested you might do a google search.
Thanks again for your question. I’m constantly updating
www.allaboutmormons.com with new content and features. Feel free to visit
again when you get a chance!
Sincerely,
***** *. *******
Thank you, *****. It sounds reasonable, but I do wish he’d simply used his own words.
If wishes were horses… 🙂
*****
I AM EVER SO DELIGHTED TO SEE SOMEONE THAT TOOK THEIR TIME AND CLARIFY TO MANY, THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST. I DONT HAVE ANY PARTICULR QUESTION I AM JUST GREATFUL.U AND I KNOW THAT THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATER DAY SAINT IS THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST THAT HAS BEEN RESTORED IN THIS DISPENSATION, BUT MANY SOUL(S) ARE CONFUSED. THIS I OBSERVED WHEN I WENT OUT WITH THE MISSIONARIES TO TEACH SOME INVESIGATORS.
CARRY ON WITH THE GOOD WORK. GOD BLESS.