Posted on 10/29/2007 8:28:33 AM PDT by Invisigoth
The Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Mormons and a few other faiths have three things in common – they believe in Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God and that He died and was resurrected for our sins.
So what’s the problem?
The political pundits continue to try and make Mitt Romney’s religious beliefs a big issue as he runs for the Republican presidential nomination. Different denominations of Christianity are just that – different denominations – which means different worship practices of the same fundamental Christian beliefs.
Some people have commented that they cannot support Mitt Romney because he is a Mormon. When they are pressed to explain why that is objectionable, they stutter. Still others are skeptical of Mitt Romney based solely on hearsay or lack of knowledge about Mormons.
(Excerpt) Read more at northstarwriters.com ...
I agree with you, its a matter of what he does in office that counts in the election, not what happens to him when he stands before his Maker.
Step 2: Attempt to address doctrinal issues after knowing what they actually are...
It is ridiculous that such discussions should enter into politics. But if it means something to you, at least get your facts straight.
Better you should go out on team-ups with the full-time missionaries to seek out the pure in heart who are ready to receive the message of the Gospel and act on the promptings of the Holy Ghost....
Better you should go out on team-ups with the full-time missionaries to seek out the pure in heart who are ready to receive the message of the Gospel and act on the promptings of the Holy Ghost....
Better you should go out on team-ups with the full-time missionaries to seek out the pure in heart who are ready to receive the message of the Gospel and act on the promptings of the Holy Ghost....
Or you could go to Best-Buy and buy a new mouse for me....
Or you could go to Best-Buy and buy a new mouse for me....
“When people believe they themselves can become gods, they’re clearly not practicing the same religion as other Christians.”
Nobody says we Mormons are the same as other Christians, if we were the same there would be no reason to exist. We are not orthodox Christians but the fact however that we believe in Christ makes us Christians.
As for that one doctrine, the important question is who comes closest to the doctrines and teachings of the early church.
Here are some quotes from the early Christian fathers. Men held in respect by Catholics and Protestants alike (plus some quotes from other sources):
Saint Irenaeus
- “Do we cast blame on him [God] because we were not made gods at our beginning, but first we were made men, then, in the end, gods?
- How then will any be a god, if he has not first been made a man?
- Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, of his boundless love, became what we are that he might make us what he himself is.”
(the above quotes taken from: Henry Bettenson, The Early Christian Fathers: A Selection from the Writings of the Fathers from St. Clement of Rome to St. Athanasius (London: Oxford University Press, 1956)
Clement of Alexandria
- “Yea, I say, the Word of God became a man so that you might learn from a man how to become a god.”
Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks, 1.[
and
- “if one knows himself, he will know God, and knowing God will become like God. . . . His is beauty, true beauty, for it is God, and that man becomes a god, since God wills it.”
Clement of Alexandria, Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, 3.1 see also Clement, Stromateis, 23
Justin Martyr
- “[in the beginning men] were made like God, free from suffering and death,” and that they are thus “deemed worthy of becoming gods and of having power to become sons of the highest”
Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 124.
Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria
- “The Word was made flesh in order that we might be enabled to be made gods. . . . Just as the Lord, putting on the body, became a man, so also we men are both deified through his flesh, and henceforth inherit everlasting life.”
Athanasius, Against the Arians, 1.39, 3.39.
and
- “He became man that we might be made divine.”
Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 54.
Augustine of Hippo
- “But he himself that justifies also deifies, for by justifying he makes sons of God. ‘For he has given them power to become the sons of God’ [John 1:12]. If then we have been made sons of god, we have also been made gods.”
Augustine, On the Psalms, 50:2.
Then you have more modern theologians teaching the same idea and acknowledging deification was part of early Christianity...
C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.”
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were “gods” and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him-for we can prevent Him, if we choose-He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said”
Westminister Dictionary of Christian Theology:
Deification (Greek Theosis) is for orthodoxy the goal of every Christian. Man, according to the Bible, is ‘made in the image and likeness of God’...it is possible for man to become like God, to become deified, to become God by grace. This doctrine is based on many passages of both O.T. and N.T. (Psalms 82: (81) .6; 2 Peter 1:4), and it is essentially the teaching both of St. Paul, though he tends to use the language of filial adoption (Romans 8:9-17, Galatians 4:5-7) and the fourth gospel (John 17:21-23).
William R. Inge, Archbishop of Canterbury:
“God became man, that we might become God” was a commonplace of doctrinal theology at least until the time of Augustine, and that “deification holds a very large place in the writings of the fathers...We find it in Irenaeus as well as in Clement, in Athanasius as well in Gregory of Nysee. St. Augustine was no more afraid of deificari in Latin than Origen of apotheosis in Greek...To modern ears the word deification sounds not only strange but arrogant and shocking.
I grew up in a Fundamentalist Evangelical Grace Brethren home and church.
I attended a fundamentalist Evangelical Bible College and graduated with a B.A. in Bible and a Minor in Biblical Greek.
And you know what? I am sick and tired of all the snobbery in Fundamentalist Evangelical Christian circles.
When Jesus died on the cross, there were two men on either side of him.
**************************
“According to Luke in chapter 23 it seems sure, at least at the beginning, one of His co-accused was riling against Him. Luke 23: 39-41 says, “One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: ‘Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!’
But the other criminal rebuked him. ‘Don’t you fear God,’ he said, ‘since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.’”
Jesus was suffering in a way that we cannot begin to grasp or even partially understand, so too was this criminal. He was never to come down from that cross alive, and yet he saw, or sensed something in Jesus that moved him in such a way that it became the road to his salvation. If ever there was a soul hovering on the brink of Hell it was this criminal, a virtual nobody hanging beside Him, the Son of God.
In a heartbeat, he voiced what his intuition had detected; that Jesus was indeed the Son of God! Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom’” (Luke: 23:42).
What Jesus did next was a wonderful example of understanding, acceptance, love, and compassion all wrapped up in one conclusive act.
It is the epitome of the life of Jesus, strength thru adversity. Without hesitation Jesus responded to his plea for mercy: “Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise’” (Luke:23:43).
(from http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/two-thieves-crucified-faq.htm )
Who was this man who was granted eternal life?
Did he know Who Jesus was?
Did he understand the kingdom concept?
Was he even baptized?
I really think in the end we will be surprised by who will share our heavenly home.
God is the One Who judges, not us.
I guess the thief that died beside Jesus on the Christ is in hell. He didn’t satisfy all your qualifications.
I guess the thief that died beside Jesus on the Christ is in hell. He didn’t satisfy all your qualifications.
I guess the thief that died beside Jesus on the Christ is in hell. He didn’t satisfy all your qualifications.
That particular response, the one about Mohammad or the sword and Joseph Smith or the sword, was made by none other than Joseph Smith. IOW, Smith was advocating that either the entire Christian body become Mormons or be put to death. Interesting, isn’t it, how much Mormons have in common with Moslems?
It is extremely relevant to bigots who don’t want Mormons to be seen as normal, successful, Christian-living people or our church to be seen as an acceptable part of society. How can they marginalize us and spread their bigotry if Mitt is is a living example of how wrong they are?
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.The standard is clear, and it comes from the Bible.
“may I remind you that a number of LDS leaders have gone on record to say they consider themselves “gods-in-embryo”
We consider ALL people to have the potential (thanks to the atonement) to become like Christ. Don’t be fooled by dishonest or ill-informed people who try to make it sound like some individuals consider themselves better than their fellowman.
Go to the back of the class, Professer.
That is PRECISELY what we need........again. We need godly men who seek His guidance and adhere to the Christian principles upon which this country was built to run this country.
Now save yourself the trouble and don't even try to deny that it was just that sort of men who built the United States of America. High time we went back to that and be a God-fearing country once more.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.