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    The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Modern Day Saints
    The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Modern Day Saints
    The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Modern Day Saints
    Ebook133 pages2 hours

    The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Modern Day Saints

    By Joseph Samuel Russo

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Thomas grew up on the LDS church. Nearing his mid life he has concerns the church is losing too many members at an alarming rate. He does his own research and comes up with a large number of issues that members, non-members and inactive members say why members are no longer interested in going to the church. Thomas goes to a newspaper and tells them he wants his concerns published so he could get folks to talk about getting the church to make some changes. He sarcastically tells the paper he even thought of starting a new church under the name of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Modern Day Saints. The paper gets his motivation wrong and prints an article informing the public of a brand new church in the making. This sets off a number of confrontations Thomas has with his family and the community.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJoseph Samuel Russo
    Release dateMay 15, 2019
    ISBN9780463579268
    The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Modern Day Saints
    Author

    Joseph Samuel Russo

    Born 1937, Army brat, Studied Russian at Syracuse U. USAF Top Secret Clearance,Two masters degrees, Guidance and counseling and Public Administration. I love to write, paint in oils, ride horses, hike, camp, hunt and just about anything out doors. I am a devout Christian.

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      Book preview

      The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Modern Day Saints - Joseph Samuel Russo

      The Church Of Jesus Christ

      Of Modern Day Saints?

      By

      Joseph Samuel Russo

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright © 2017 by Joseph Samuel Russo

      All Rights Reserved.

      Author’s Note

      I have always been the one who questioned authority. Not to disrupt anything but try and make it better somehow. This is just who I am. It began as a young boy in Catholic school. I questioned how could the church insist on my mother staying married to a dangerous and abusive husband or be excommunicated. I didn’t understand why an infant should be baptized for a sin committed by Adam and Eve? Or if the baby died before baptism they would go to Limbo instead of heaven. Then there was purgatory, a place where a soul would go if the mortal person died with a venial sin on his or her soul. A venial sin is a less offense against the law of God. If that happened they would go to, purgatory, which they said is a hell of it’s own kind but they could be prayed out. At one time eating meat on Friday was a venial sin however, decades ago that was changed by the Vatican. So what happened to all those souls who ate meat on Friday and died without confession? Were they suddenly freed? My pet peeve was hearing, We always done it this way. I remember challenging these words wherever I was, be it the military, jobs, politics or in church. I always tried to think outside of the box. Unfortunately I usually got myself boxed in and most times being labeled an outsider, a troublemaker or a whistle blower. I’m sorry for the hurt and confusion I sometimes cause.

      Joseph Samuel Russo

      I paraphrase; It’s O.K. to ask questions to favor your faith not to support your doubt.

      Marcus B. Nash, January16, 2016

      There is nothing wrong asking questions about our history, doctrines or practices.

      M. Russell Ballard, President of the twelve apostles.

      September 13, 2015

      We need more people with vices to feel comfortable coming to our meetings and into our chapels. We need those who smell of smoking and have other vices to feel loved and needed in our wards and then we will work together on those vices to overcome them.

      Gordon B. Hinckley, past president and prophet

      of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

      It is better to ask the honest question for the existence of God over blindfolded following.

      Thomas Jefferson, after reading the Q’uran.

      I’m sure our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ would want people to come to church vices and all.

      Spoken in the ward by several members who wish to be anonymous.

      DEDICATION

      This book is dedicated to the true American prophet Joseph Smith founder of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints and to all the modern prophets of the Church as well as all the Saints living or dead who gave tremendous sacrifice developing and sustaining the Church. Brother Smith opened the door to future possibilities. In addition, a special dedication is offered to inactive members of the Church and to non-members of the Church who for reasons of misunderstanding or lack of, may return or investigate the blessed truth.

      FOREWORD

      At first I was adamantly against my husband writing this book. I too love The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints and I did not want him, or me for that matter, to get in any kind of trouble. I didn’t want any of our leaders in the church, who we love, to feel bad or sorry for us in the event misinformation went around that did not fully understand the intent of this writing. The character of Emily in the book is actually my opposition to the proposed changes to the Church. As the writing wore on and as I had one heartfelt discussion after another with my husband, sometimes verily heated, I began to see the possibility membership in the Church could very well increase if some of these less grievous changes actually took place. Some of the seemingly objectionable things the Church asks of us are easily explained and understood once the new members receive some education. The problem is, investigators are turned off before that can happen. So the question becomes, what is more important? Getting new members in on the Plan of Salvation first with behaviors the Church deems unhealthy or objectionable with the intent of teaching the new member the merits of all of our Church teachings later or losing them altogether? Should starting a new church entirely be the answer? Personally I I think not nor does my husband. Or should the Church change some things up front? The Temple Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints is of particular concern.

      This is the most holy of holy places, the true house of God. Upon entry members must be clean and pure and that includes The Word Of Wisdom, which is the template to a clean and healthy mind, body and spirit. The Word Of Wisdom states if the body is a temple it must be treated as such ergo not be polluted by drugs, alcohol and or a bad diet. How could a member teach purity if they do not treat their temple bodies well? After all, how could members carry the word of God if they are sick?

      Members who do not follow the Word Of Wisdom to the letter cannot go into the temple. That is cast in stone. Could our prophets receive revelation to change things?

      Like my husband we have no problems with the way things are. My husband, on the other hand is adamantly engaged in hastening the work. He feels his book will do that on a grander scale rather than occasionally working with the one. Not to discount the method of the one, we know every great journey begins with one small step but Joseph is seventy-nine as of July 27 2016. We converted a mere five years ago. Knowing what we know now plus decades of researching to compare, we know our church is true and Joseph wants to increase our membership as if he spent a lifetime as a missionary.

      As a district supervisor for home teaching, a singles group leader and just talking to non members, he has come to the conclusion too many people stay away from becoming a member or remain inactive over things that are not, in their minds, so egregious against the original laws of God. He is merely asking questions to get information not to prove negatives but perhaps to seek the correct path the Church could take. These things are debatable of course and all of that takes place in the book. So, the main point is, let’s get them to come to church first, we’ll talk about the other stuff later.

      Linda S. Russo

      Singles Group Leader, Relief Society Member, Primary Activity Coordinator, Historical Tour Guide.

      INTRODUCTION

      This will be the little book that just may change a great religion into the most populated Christian religion on earth. The purpose of this book is designed to create a dialog in order to bring about changes, if decided, and to dramatically bolster the membership. It is not created to change the most reverent and sacred doctrines of the church but just to tweak a few things here and there in order to increase membership. The vast majority of the book is a discussion between two brothers who grew up in the church. One who is comfortable with the way things are and the other who upon listening to non members and inactive members decided to look into the need for change. not necessarily for himself, but for others who are investigating and still more who may be thinking of leaving over one thing or another. In addition, the book explores the possibility of developing a new and improved church some out there even suggested suggested a kind of sister church that recognizes the original church. Better yet, it asks the Church if making changes in order to recruit and retain members without changing sacred covenants may be more attuned to modern mores.

      There are mainly two characters and most of the discussion between them takes place in the kitchen of one of the brothers. This method is a unique way of teaching non-members the beliefs and precepts of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints.

      The author of this book does not necessarily agree with the changes outlined in the book and in no way attempts to force any changes.

      PREFACE

      I love The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. I write this book because I Love this Church. The point of this book is to get more people around the world to join and to re-activate members who may have strayed for one reason or another. To do so I believe the leaders of my church need to take a look at what some of the investigators and in-actives are saying. Some of the ideas presented are things that just might need change in order to rekindle the spirit and or vastly increase membership. I am a convert. I am one of those who after searching all my life for some spirituality that made sense finally was truly called to Utah by some kind of divine intervention in the form of a lifelike dreamvision for lack of better understanding. This is explained in my first book, Born Again Hen. I’m sure you have heard of the guy who quit smoking becoming a pest getting others to quit. He is not very subtle. He doesn’t just confront the smoker angrily with a better than thou attitude, he runs around the room faking a cough and opening up windows. Well I’ve been the same way trying to convert anyone to what I found, The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. It is the closest to early Christianity than any others I have known. We all know before Martin Luther and other Protestants, Popes would summarily toss out gospels that didn’t fit their particular agenda. Brother Joseph Smith restored the gospel for today’s dispensation. Things like not baptizing infants to wash away the original sin of Adam and Eve, which newborns had nothing to do with, are exchanged for full emersion in water for young adults who have the agency or choice to make an informed decision and to commit to Heavenly Father as well as to take on the name and role of our Savior Jesus Christ. As I went around banging the drum for the church I found I was rubbing some people the wrong way. They had in their minds, legitimate questions about the Church’s practices. I began to listen making a mental note of what they were saying. After awhile I began to compile a more structured list of their concerns, in a way, a straw poll. In writing this book I left out some of the more ludicrous misconceptions about our church. The practice of plural wives still came up a lot. I would not go into a long rendition about that. I merely said the church outlawed all that in 1890 adding Joseph Smith said we should obey all the laws and magistrates wherever we

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