The Sacrament Prayer:Titan27 wrote: Only fools take offense when no offense is intended.
I find it interesting how you dismiss Denver in the same manner as you classify the Fundamentalists. The main difference is that the church claims that polygamy WAS lived by Joseph, while Denver does not. The church? ...Sides with the polygamists, even wrote an essay claiming Joseph had as many as 40 wives, without any DNA evidence that Joseph had any children through anyone but Emma. As far as the fundamentals of the restoration, yes, we believe those, but the church does not. The church has altered the sacrament prayer - thus rendering it an empty ordinance, the baptismal prayer - also rendering it ineffective, removed the Lectures on Faith - without the Lord's permission or command, turned the word of wisdom from "not by command or constraint" into a commandment required to enter the temple or to expect a celestial glory, turned the church into a Vatican-like organization in which outliving other Q12 members qualifies you to be prophet (instead of the way the Lord set it up) regardless of that prospective president's relationship with Christ or calling from Him, and a correlation department that seeks to control it's membership (which is one of the specific amens pronounced upon the priesthood leadership as found in D&C 121). It would not be difficult to list (an LDS version of the) 95 Thesis as Martin Luther did in his day, because there are increasingly more ways the church leadership has strayed from the Lord and His doctrine. Remember when the Lord visited the Nephites in Bountiful, after giving His doctrine he declared that if anyone declared more or less than this as His doctrine, the same IS NOT OF ME AND IS OF THE DEVIL. The church has done so.
And if you or anyone in the church bothered to read your scriptures (and cared to understand the true history of the church in Joseph's and Brigham's day) you would know that the Lord has rejected the LDS church (in 1844 when Joseph had been killed and the Nauvoo Temple had not been completed yet). See D&C 124. Joseph was a true prophet all the way until he was martyred, so was Hyrum. Brigham was not a prophet, seer or revelator, nor has any other hierarchally-inherited leader of the church been such. No matter how many mental gymnastics you employ, you cannot refute the words the Lord spoke in warning of the commandment He gave to the saints to build the Nauvoo Temple. The Lord said that if they had completed it, they were also to remain in Nauvoo, which they did not. Therefore every consequence laid out by the Lord is and has been fulfilled, including the rejection of the church, along with your dead (temple work), the loss of the fulness of the priesthood, etc. the church has devolved into vain and foolish traditions, and resembles more the Catholic Church than it does the church that Joseph originally intended to restore.
I would suppose that issue is taken with respect to changing "wine" into "water." I would suggest that the Lord can do it, for at His wedding, he changed "water" into "wine."
Further, at the institution of the Sacrament by the Savior as recorded in the New Testament accounts, the blessing was on the "CUP" and not the contents thereof:Ecclesiastes 3:14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.
Matthew 26:27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Luke 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
1 Corinthians 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
If the Lord did not specify the "contents" of the "CUP" on inception, then why would there be issue if it were "wine" or "water" unless someone was intent on "whining" about it. It is a non-sequitur.1 Corinthians 11:25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
The Baptismal Prayer:
The "supposed" conflict would reside in the differences in wording between the Book of Mormon account and the Doctrine and Covenants account:
3 Nephi 11:23 Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them—Behold, ye shall go down and stand in the water, and in my name shall ye baptize them.
24 And now behold, these are the words which ye shall say, calling them by name, saying:
25 Having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
26 And then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water.
27 And after this manner shall ye baptize in my name; for behold, verily I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one.
28 And according as I have commanded you thus shall ye baptize. And there shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been.
29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.
30 Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.
Please note that the beginning of verse 73 in the previous scripture prescribes the conditions that are prerequisite to the performance of the ordinance: "called of God and has authority from Jesus Christ to baptize." I would submit to you that the statement of "authority" and "being commissioned" are synonymous in their usage.Doctrine and Covenants 20:72 Baptism is to be administered in the following manner unto all those who repent—
73 The person who is called of God and has authority from Jesus Christ to baptize, shall go down into the water with the person who has presented himself or herself for baptism, and shall say, calling him or her by name: Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
74 Then shall he immerse him or her in the water, and come forth again out of the water.
I have addressed the ordinances that are had in question. The remainder of the assertions given in the first paragraph by Titan27 are spurious based upon the presumption, (which cannot possibly be known by him,) that the Lord did not give permission or command to do the things cited with respect to the Lectures on Faith, etc., etc. The verse cited in Ecclesiastes indicates that the Lord can alter and change His work according to His desires, which He has done.Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
18 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
19 The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:
21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
22 Therefore thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.
23 But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.
24 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.
Brigham Young was a Prophet, Seer and Revelator and the only one capable of providing the bold, strong leadership necessary to bring the Saints through their "refining" trials and once again establish a community in the Rocky Mountains. As token of his calling, he established the Saints in a community where, analogous to the Holy Land, they were established in an area with a "Dead Sea;" The Great Salt Lake, and a fresh water "sea," like the Sea of Galilee, called Utah Lake and the Jordan River between the two. The Lord's hand is apparent in it all . . . according to Divine pattern and prophecy.
Doctrine and Covenants 101:1 Verily I say unto you, concerning your brethren who have been afflicted, and persecuted, and cast out from the land of their inheritance—
2 I, the Lord, have suffered the affliction to come upon them, wherewith they have been afflicted, in consequence of their transgressions;
3 Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels.
4 Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son.
5 For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified.
6 Behold, I say unto you, there were jarrings, and contentions, and envyings, and strifes, and lustful and covetous desires among them; therefore by these things they polluted their inheritances.
7 They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; therefore, the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble.
8 In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me.
9 Verily I say unto you, notwithstanding their sins, my bowels are filled with compassion towards them. I will not utterly cast them off; and in the day of wrath I will remember mercy.
