IOW Mormons are Christian because “There are LDS scholars that have examined the issue,1 and they show beyond a doubt that by any standard our opponents use, the LDS church is indeed Christian.”
We’ve even put together a chart of ways in which we are alike.....but we’ve puposely hidded the differences ....we wouldn’t want to give them meat before milk and scare any of our potential tithe payers away.
Delphi, you forget that I KNOW what the LDS Church teaches. This miles and miles of information is crap. It is purposely elusive. You know it too, don’t you?
If I may interject, the specific issue is defining what is and what is not a “Christian.” All your arguments re divine ontology, cosmological weltanshauung, revelatory continuity, and so forth are besides the point. The issue is “what is and what is not a Christian.”
What standard is then appropriate? Naturally the Bible but it does NOT create the criteria. IOW, it does not say a person must believe X, Y, Z in order to be a Christian. John’s shibboleth (http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/bicycleroad/21/id62.htm #23 & 24) was aimed at the protognostics (and is utterly devastating to the Baha’i religions btw since it is impossible for Baha’ullah’s claim to comply with John’s condition - see endnote 16 in http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/bicycleroad/21/id62.htm ) but sadly the rest of the NT canon lacks similar demarcations re what is and what isn’t a Christian.
What then must an honest person do? Naturally, examine the biblical beliefs concerning the person of Christ by those KNOWN to be Christians.
Only a person utterly ignorant of the diversity of beliefs and practices of first, second, and third century Christianity, with the scores of competing groups (especially the Gnostics, Judaists, Johannine, and Syrian churches, including the outrageous Carpocratians) would use the standards you employed in claiming Mormons are not Christian.
Stick to the Bible! Does it ever say a person must NOT believe Heavenly Father has possession of a glorious, immortal, material body in addition to being a spirit entity in order to be Christian? Of course not. Pneuma ho theos simply states God is spirit, but since Mormons believe humans are also spirit entities who are united with a material (albeit mortal and weak) body; the contrast is not mutually exclusive. It is possible for both man and God to have both.
I can use the same approach with every single one of your arguments denying Mormons are Christian:
“Does the Bible ever say a person must NOT believe ______________ in order to be Christian?
Every single one is answered in the negative. Ergo, the entire edifice is a red herring and a logical fallacy.
Stick to the Bible! It isn’t hard. What then did the NT Christians believe that MADE THEM Christians?
Well, that’s easy to the honest person. They believed Jesus Christ is:
The Savior.
The Redeemer.
The Messiah.
The Lamb of God.
The Son of God.
God.
The I AM.
The Son of Man.
Born of a virgin.
The First/Last.
The Creator.
The Paraclete/ Advocate/ Comforter.
The Mediator/ Intercessor/ Reconciler.
He died for our sins.
He died on the cross.
He rose from the dead.
The Judge.
The Foundation.
The Rock.
The only Begotten Son of God.
Worshiped.
The name used to pray to the Father.
Obeyed.
We take upon ourselves his name.
The only source of Salvation and the greatest name possible
As I’ve proven, every single biblical criteria for what is a Christian is found in Mormonism (http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/bicycleroad/21/id108.htm ).
However, what you can do when highlighting the differences between what you believe from ours is show Mormonism believes different things than the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant branches of Christianity. Classification-wise, we are all “Christian,” just belonging to different branches.
This irrational intolerance by some “Christians” against Mormonism is foolish, and dishonest. I fully allow you to be considered “Christian” despite you believe things diametric to what I consider genuine characteristics of Christianity. For example, your belief in a God foreign to NT thought that is based on pagan Greek philosophical concepts (God is mind, ontologically formless, nonmaterial, and omnipresent, comprising three hypostatis in one ousia) would be appalling to a NT Christian with a Hebraic mindset outside Philo’s influence. Despite this fundamental difference, Mormons still accept you as Christian, just not belonging to the LDS branch of it.
If you really want to know what Mormons believe, see my free books:
Everything about God the Father: http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/bicycleroad/21/id26.htm
Everything about God the Son: http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/bicycleroad/21/id27.htm
Everything about God the Holy Ghost: http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/bicycleroad/21/id28.htm
Everything about the Doctrine of Exaltation: http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/bicycleroad/21/id33.htm
Everything about the first century Apostasy: http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/bicycleroad/21/id32.htm
If you think you can refute a single chapter, feel free. Twenty years of debating anti-Mormons has convinced me there is not a single argument against Mormonism that holds water.
Oh, and DelphiUser, thanks! I hope my other works are similarly beneficial.