“Check out the essay that started this thread. Then repeat your absurdity.”
I recognized some time ago that this thread was the exception to the rule.
But it’s the fourth thread I’ve been involved in that has turned into this kind of puerile mess. The other three had original posts that that little to nothing to do with religion.
Do you think thread discussions like this one are going to help or hurt Mitt’s run for the White House? I don’t think it helps and in fact reveals just how divisive his candidacy will become in conservative cirlces. You would not stop claiming to be a Christian sect, yet your religion has at its heart the assumption that all other Christian sects are apostate and only Mormonism restores the Apostolic aAuthority. THAT will be magnified like you cannot even imagine when Romney comes up against the “D” candidate.
Your immortal soul is a most precious thing, to God The Father Almighty. And as a lowly Christian that I am, your soul is most valuable to me, also. [I shall return to that notion momentarily] I have spent literally decades studying the Bible, from angles you wouldn't even imagine at your age. I happen to believe the striving of Mormons (as different from the religion itself) is behavior after God's own heart! God has said clearly that He will in no wise ignore the broken and contrite spirit in a man or woman.
I've met and spoken with many Mormons, most are 'converts' from a Christian sect. This conversion is always as the result of Mormonism sowing doubt regarding the salvation the 'convert' thought they had before meeting Mormonism missionaries. Only a small percentage of milk-fed or starving Christians convert when confronting Mormonism, but that tells us something about the plea to the mind of those who may well have started their Christian journey with salvation in Christ, then the 'birds of the air' swept in upon the good seed'.
When Jesus handed the keys to Peter, and the Holy Spirit came down upon the believers at Pentecost, the great commission was to go into all the world and preach the Gospel ... OF GRACE ... baptizing the believers, those who will come unto Him, in the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. In the day of Cornelius, the arrival of the Holy Spirit into the believer was evidenced by tongues, etc. and then the believers were baptized. The important thing to note is that the commission was to bring the gospel of Grace, and baptize any who would receive it. Salvation was the central theme of Christ's great commission to the Apostles and believers at His Ascension.
I've had missionaries bring the Mormonism message to me on several occasions. NEVER have they begun the exercise asking if I am saved; never have they begun their mission with the essentials of the great commission. They are there to proselytize for members to the Mormon religion. I speak/write to you and any readers of this post the single vital reason for Christ appointing believers the task once salvation is theirs ... be converted to trust in the Saving Grace of God in Christ, then be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind ... focus upon Jesus and your relationship with Him, wherever He finds you, whenever He calls, however He works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure to transform you.
Can one find Christ in a false religion? That is wholy up to God's Spirit, but if the scriptures are any indication, with the numerous examples of people caught up in cults and things like Baal worship, the answer is 'He will not contend within the confines of heresy.' It is only when someone steps out of the heretical worship regimen that God's Holy Spirit will be heard within.
If I were to sit idle while what I honestly believe is a false religion claims to be not only a Christian manifestation but the ONLY representative of Christ with true restored authority today, I would squelch the Spirit within me Who has been instructing me for lo these many decades. If I pass you by in your grievous state of spiritual injury, I am what Jesus spoke of in the story of the others not the Samaritan and the injured man on the road. If your soul is precious to my Lord, can I treat it as nothing, to be ignored when your mind shares heresies you believe in?
If you love the Lord --as Saundra Duffy has spoken several times on a thread in which she started her discussion with a diatribe against those who would strive against what they honestly believe are Mormonism heresies-- then you will hear as I plead with you to turn away from this false teaching, and turn to the Lord Whom gave Himself for your ransom. He will guide you then, whether you remain in the Mormon religion or not, but He will eventually guide you away from heresies as you allow His still small voice to do in you. I beg you to open your mind and ponder the gross contradictions in Mormonism where compared to the message Jesus taught. If the book of Mormon is from God, leaving it closed whle you study the Bible intently will not be difficult, for the Truth from God doesn't change. Give it a try, I plead with you. Let your considerable intellect focus solely upon the Bible message found in the New Testament for a spell. Allow His voice to be heard within and ignore a 'burning in the bosom' which Satan can produce quite easily. This is not an emotinal thing. God wants to renew your mind!