Thought of the Day about Mormonism and Gratitude or is it Gifts of the Holy Spirit?

Today I received an e-mail from the Church. A few years back I signed up to receive daily inspirational quotes from past and present LDS leaders and while they usually provide me with enough subject matters to witness to Mormons with, I thought I’d share this one with my readers.

There are times when we read the quotes of these leaders and have to wonder where they get their ideas from. Okay, okay I know it’s not the Lord, but I mean really, where do they get these ideas??? What is going on in those heads of theirs that opens their minds to some of this stuff?

Here’s the “LDS Gem” of the day and my rebuttal;

The Divine Gift of Gratitude

General Conference, October 2010; “A grateful heart, then, comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives. This requires conscious effort—at least until we have truly learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude.” —Thomas S. Monson

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/the-divine-gift-of-gratitude?lang=eng

Galatians 5:22-23; “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

John 14:23; “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

First of all if you have to work and practice to change something about your personality is that really a gift from God?

Secondly the Lord tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is what changes us, not us practicing to change ourselves. And what about the promise of Jesus in the scripture listed above? Where does that fit in with Mormon theology?

The work of the Holy Spirit is a mystery to the average Mormon.  As a Mormon I had never heard of the Holy Spirit working inside of me to change me, to guide my every step and to comfort me in time of need.

Leaders of the Church have purposefully misled and tricked members into believing He isn’t God, that there are two comforters (D&C 88:3-7) and that any good they do is because of their own doing and not because God has supernaturally instilled in them the ability to behave in the most rudimentary of ways. 

Sadly most members of the Church believe He is just a spirit waiting to take a body someday (Encyclopedia of Joseph Smith’s Teachings, pg 321).  On another day they’ll teach that people must qualify to have the Holy Ghost with them (Ensign, July 2008, pg 29). And then sometimes they’ll tell members He is a constant companion for them (D&C 121:46) but not always (D&C 130:23). They’ve also lied by teaching He isn’t omnipresent and Brigham Young went so far as to say he can’t live inside people because he could get females pregnant (Journal of Discourses 1:51).

As you can see this is far from the God of the Bible and trying to reach a goal of being perfect or even partially good is an unobtainable one that will never be realized.

This subject matter in Mormonism is one of the saddest in my eyes. It is what’s led many in the Church to be self-loathing because of the teaching they have to do all this on their own volition.

There is no grace when God isn’t near and there is no truth when you wake each morning, look in the mirror and can’t see the hope and joy God intended for you to live in.