Scientologist believe that space aliens came to earth millions of years ago, set off H bombs in volcanoes to kill other aliens, and the spirits of those dead aliens (thetans) are the blame for all of mans problems. LOL just like in southpark! They really believe that! And the Mormons believe that Joseph Smith translated golden plates inside a hat (just like in southpark), and that Jesus after his resurrection preached to the native American Indians. First I dont think Joseph Smith really did that, and second if Jesus really was in the Americas dont you think there would have been Christian native americans before the white man came? My real question though is it wrong to think those ideas are stupid? And second how can someone with half a mind believe those things? Maybe I dont know enough, so if anyone would like to tell me more about those faiths, I'm open to info.
2007-12-01 02:46:49 · 22 answers · asked by runic111 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
just to let all of you know, Southpark is not the source of this info, I did research.
2007-12-01 02:48:24 · update #1
As far as Scientology we have to keep in mind it's founder L. Ron Hubbard was a second rate science fiction writer in the 1950's. I think that says it all.
2007-12-01 02:51:06 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
Your questions:
My real question though is it wrong to think those ideas are stupid?
No, thinking about these things critically is what everyone should do. Not just for Scientology or Latter Day Saints but for all modern beliefs. If you look at one beliefs and say, "that seems so silly" or "that couldn't have happened." Well, then you should look at your own belief and see if it makes sense either or if you were just programmed by your family or community to believe that those beliefs were practically.
And second how can someone with half a mind believe those things?
It seems more likely that this is what someone with half a mind would believe. A person with complete thoughts would question any belief.
Maybe I don't know enough, so if anyone would like to tell me more about those faiths, I'm open to info.
Well, that wasn't a question but it shows that you are at least willing to learn something before forming an opinion which, unfortunately, so many people refuse to do so for that I commend you.
2007-12-01 02:59:26 · answer #2 · answered by clint 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I can't address anything about Scientology since I have no idea what they believe. I don't comment on Churches that I don't understand. I can comment about the LDS Church!
OK, if you have a group of people that all believe the same things and you leave them alone for hundreds of years do you think that their beliefs might change over time? Do you think that the people might fall away from the teachings? What about human nature and the desires for power, greed, lust, etc...? What about the fact that humans aren't perfect and they do wrong things?
That's exactly what happened after Jesus visited the people on the American continent. It is illogical to state that since the people weren't "Christians" when the white man came that means that Christ didn't visit the Americas.
However, if you look at some of their Temples you will see depictions of a "great white God" called Quetzalcoatl. This was the resurrected Christ. Their legends state that this God would return - 2nd coming of Christ.
BTW, if you think that "Joseph Smith translated golden plates inside a hat" you have much more to learn! Keep an open mind and stop telling me that I'm stupid for believing these things! :)
2007-12-01 05:10:49 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
Well I can't really address your concerns about the translation of the plates other than to encourage you to read the Book of Mormon and to ask yourself if someone with three years of schooling could write it. True conversion comes through the Holy Ghost when you exercise faith. That is how I gained my testimony. As for your question about Christian Native Americans, if you read the Book of Mormon you will find that several hundred years after Christ visited, the people became very wicked and all of the people who used to be righteous were killed off in war, so it was only unbelievers left.
On the surface and in isolation, LDS beliefs may seem a bit odd and not make sense, but when you study all of the teachings together, it actually makes a lot more sense than any other religion I have heard. It answers a lot of the questions that other denominations still have. We do not believe that other churches are evil at all, but we do believe that the fullness of the gospel was restored through Joseph Smith and other living prophets, so we invite people to learn about it and gain their own testimony. This is a good site to learn more about the basic teachings of the LDS church: http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/
As for Scientology, I do not even know enough to comment on, but I have not heard other people say too much different than you have said, although I am sure that the followers of Scientology are good people.
2007-12-01 04:34:39 · answer #4 · answered by moonman 6 · 3⤊ 2⤋
HAHAHAHAHAHA
Some research you did! You need to read abit deeper. Even if you ignore the scientologists and mormons versions of the same info, you still got it wrong.
Such as. you cant say "scientologists really believe that". What you are quoting is a hate sites posting of "secret information known only to the top members". So 99% of scientologists do not believe that. They havent even heard it (except for us telling them over and over that its what they believe)
Are you going to tell the christians that they believe Jesus was married and had children? Are you going to tell the muslims that they believe in killing all other religions? Are you going to tell the atheists that they believe that life started from a fart?
Rewording someones beliefs in the worst way and telling them that it is what they believe can be fun, but don't start believing it yourself and preaching it to others. That makes you look like them.
2007-12-02 05:44:26 · answer #5 · answered by ????? 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I'm a Christian but I wouldn't say there beliefs are stupid, it's a little harsh. To love others I think you have to be open to other people's opinions and ideas, even their beliefs. Scientologists approach me all the time passing out things, I simply say no Thank You or tell them I believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Be open minded. It hurts me to know people do not believe in Christ, but I wouldn't judge them. Everyone is here for a purpose. Just be open-minded : )
2007-12-01 02:54:14 · answer #6 · answered by g 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I would say that there's more reading to do. This is a long answer, but knowledge of a religion's entire doctrine doesn't come in 3 paragraphs.
Not all Scientologists know of the Xenu/alien stuff because they haven't paid enough to reach that level yet. Even more don't know of stories about people like Lisa McPherson (Google her).
As far as LDS (Mormon) beliefs, there's a lot of things that I'm assuming that you haven't read about, and far too much to fit here:
There were 2 groups of people in the Americas. The Nephites were the followers of God's instructions, and the Lamanites were related to what are now known as native Americans.
To make a very, very long story short, the Nephites received a prophecy of Christ, the Lamanites doubted and persecuted, He came, and both sides believed... for a while. War started about 220 years after Christ's ascension, the numerically inferior Nephites stopped following God's instruction and were wiped off the map.
Now, the answers to your 3 questions:
1. LDS believe that Joseph Smith did indeed translate the plates by the power of God by several different means. For a teenaged farmboy with a 3rd grade education to come up with a book of scripture read by 14 million people on his own with no help... that's hard for me to fathom.
No one debates that the plates existed, as there were 8 witnesses allowed to see them, LDS or not.
2. Some Christian rituals and oral traditions of Christ survived among the Lamanites after the genocide of the Nephites. However, they were corrupted over time.
In the book "An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya" by Dr. Mary Miller and Dr. Karl Taube, non-Mormon Anthropologists. Short quote from the Baptism section:
"When the first Spanish priests arrived in New Spain, they were surprised to find native forms of baptism, in this case the ritual bathing of infants and children."
In addition, do you remember in history how Cortez was able to conquer the Aztecs because Montezuma thought that he was a god? The Lamanites had passed along a little of Christ's legacy: that a white God (Quetzalcoatl) would come with the wind to save them all.
The links to a few articles are listed below.
3. Anyone can be convinced to believe anything if people in positions of authority tell them to. In the early 20th century, it was believed that the atom was a big ball, defined under the pudding model. This was hotly debated up to the point of the demonstration of nulear fission. David Koresh: people followed a known felon into the arms of death because he convinced these Branch Davidians that he was the messiah! The quest for knowledge comes from a thorough review of the trusted and untrusted sources that you come across in life.
Never stop reading.
2007-12-01 03:38:13 · answer #7 · answered by Sir Network 6 · 4⤊ 3⤋
Those ideas sound silly to anyone who is not a Mormon or Scientologist, just like mianstream Christians ideas sound silly to someone who is not a Christian.
For example, the idea that a priest can say a "blessing" over bread and wine, and that the wine and bread LITERALLY become the flesh and blood of Jesus sounds silly to a non-Catholic.
Noah's Ark sounds silly to anyone who does not believe in the literal truth of the bible.
2007-12-01 03:00:50 · answer #8 · answered by queenthesbian 5 · 5⤊ 0⤋
The ideas of Mormonism don't just strike me as stupid, they also strike me as really insulting to American Indians.
Whites can't just kill us all off, can't stick us out on rezs, can't just let us die from alcoholism and diabetes, no they have to try to feed us a line of BS about where we came from? We have our OWN stories. We KNOW where we came from, we don't need some nutso from Missouri making up stories and telling us who we are.
It's just the supreme arrogance of Mormons that gets me!
And you know, I've known a few Mormons. They really are arrogant. When you point out that archaeology doesn't back them up, they point to their own archaeologists, who totally misinterpret things or discredit things that they don't agree with.
It's not wrong to think a stupid belief is stupid, IMHO.
2007-12-02 13:48:55 · answer #9 · answered by Not 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The science says that the religions should be changed according to the progress of the science(see,History of Science). I donot think that you can relate science with religions. Moreover, science says that death will occur at a particular place & time. In otherword,science cannot predict the death of a person before long while religions have such literature where it can be pridicted belore long. Accordingly,the science cannot provide peace that is control of the mind where religion & spirituality can have. Thanks for the questioner to ask timely question for our society.
2007-12-02 00:27:45 · answer #10 · answered by misraop2004 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋