What is it like living in Salt Lake City?

me | 11-20-2001 | me

[freedomcrusader]

I have a potential job opportunity in Salt Lake City, Utah, and I was hoping to get insights on living there from folks who have lived there, or are currently living there.

I don't mean to be biased/bigoted, but I've heard negative things about being Christian (especially Catholic) in Mormon Utah.

Any thoughts, insights, cautions, reassurances, etc. are greatly appreciated!

[Paulus Invictus]

Is it Sherwood Hills? If not, it looks a lot like it. The view west on top of the other side of those mountains is spectacular too--all the way to Salt Lake. We spent a pair of nights in the hotel there and it was the worst!

[CubicleGuy]

Well, we can't take anything ol' C. S. Lewis has to say at face value, because [lowering voice to a whisper, looking around to make sure nobody else is eavesdropping] he's not LDS, you know? </sarcasm>

C. S. Lewis did seem to have a pretty good grasp on the idea of who we are and who we are supposed to become. He's quoted on this Theosis/Divinization/Deification webpage. Not LDS, but has some interesting things to say, nonetheless.

[HarryDunne]

:D

Thanks for the info

[Abigail Adams]

Wow! Thanks for posting such a succinct summary of why MORMONS AREN'T CHRISTIANS!

It's just as ridiculous for a Mormon to say they are Christian as it is for a Christian to claim to be Mormon. I wonder if any Mormons would object to me, as a Christian, saying "I'm a Mormon too!"

I as a Christian have every right and authority to determine what beliefs and theology are consistent with Christianity and which are not. Just as a Mormon can tell me whether or not my beliefs make me a Mormon or not. I don't mean to be rude, but you can't have people running around claiming the name of Christ when their beliefs are inconsistent with basic tennants of the Christian faith.

The definition of a cult is a religious organization that takes some truths of the Christian faith, adds their own heretical beliefs, and runs around claiming to be "Christian" in order to deceive people. Again, I don't mean to be rude, but please don't profane the name of Christ by claiming your religion is Christian!

[lady lawyer]

Not to be rude, but I believe you profane the name of Christ by your claim to define a Christian to exclude people who believe in Christ as their Savior, and attempt to follow Him, but disagree with you on points of doctrine. Christ, not you, will judge who is Christian, or not.

[jo6pac]

Well said.

[Abigail Adams]

I think people have a right to believe whatever they want, and follow the faith they believe to be correct. But you can't disagree with very basic beliefs of a faith and then claim to follow that faith. If I said "I'm a Mormon" but I don't believe that children are "spirit children", or that I will become a god someday, or that salvation is at least partially dependent on my own works (ie obeying certain rules and regulations), and don't believe in the Book of Mormon as inspired by God or any of his prophets, then I would not really be a Mormon, would I? Wouldn't you have a problem with my interpretation of being a Mormon if I didn't hold some of the basic beliefs of your faith? That's all I'm saying.

Christians believe in the Bible, and nowhere in the Bible does it talk about spirit children, or Jesus being the first born of the spirit children, or wearing holy undergarments in the temple, or salvation being based on your own good works rather than on Christ's work of salvation for us, or about a second "following" or Israel in North America, or Joseph Smith, or baptising dead relatives...See what I mean?

I think there are probably many Mormons who believe in Christ as their Savior, and are otherwise deceived in their faith of Mormonism. God will judge fairly, and probably many sincere (but deceived) people of non-Christian faith may be judged to be "faithful" to Christ and therefore enjoy Heaven. I'm not trying to determine who these people are and aren't. But basic theology says you can't maintain the integrity of a religion unless you have some "non-negitiable" points of truth. Otherwise the religion doesn't mean much. Mormonism has a lot of conflicts with Christian theology. It doesn't fit in. You really can't argue with that if you compare the two. May God bless you as you search for him and for truth.

[HarryDunne]

Very well said.

[razorback-bert]

It's a mountain meadow in the Unitas at 8800 ft. 20 miles south of Flaming Gorge.

[HarryDunne]

You got some of our beliefs right, if you want to know more, here's a website

nowhere in the Bible does it talk about spirit children
Jer 1:5 "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."

wearing holy undergarments in the temple
Perhaps not specifically, but as for the importance and sacred nature of temples, there are plenty of references to them in the Old Testament.

salvation being based on your own good works rather than on Christ's work of salvation for us
James 2:26 "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

second "following"
Not sure what you mean by that

Joseph Smith
He's not mentioned by name, but here's a scripture about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon
Ezek. 37: 19 "Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand."
The stick of Judah is the Bible, the stick of Joseph is the Book of Mormon. The people who wrote the plates where of the tribe of Joseph. (The New and Old Testaments were written by the tribe of Judah.)

baptising dead relatives
1 Cor. 15:29 "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?

Mormonism has a lot of conflicts with Christian theology
Not from what I see.

Unfortunately, however the Mormons are way out of line. They have created a new religion that does NOT line up with the OT prophets and the faith practices of Jesus.
For example?

[Saundra Duffy]

"the Mayor of Salt Lake City is a Democrat". Ugh!! How can this happen? Say it ain't so! For victory & freedom!!!

[jo6pac]

Yes, Happy Valley (SLC as it is known locally) is infested with the varmints.

Democrat infestation is in almost inverse proportion to the Mormon population of any area in the state.

With the exceptions of the mining communty of Carbon County, the Four Corners area and several mini-nests, the state is preponderantly Republican and Mormon.

Why?

My view is that riffraff gravitate to mostly larger urban areas, the mining unions are traditionally Democrat, and the Four Corners area perceives Demos as the Great White Father - SOCIALISM!