LDS defend the faith as Christian

The Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 10/07/07 | By Peggy Fletcher Stack

[BibChr]

Ooh! The cultist’s favorite game: Out-of-Context Snippets!

Can I play too? Let’s see, now....

Genesis 24:2 “Put your hand under my thigh”
Exodus 4:22 “Thus says the LORD”
Luke 10:37 “You go, and do likewise.”
John 13:37 “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

Oh, and I hope everyone notes: you did not even come close to answering my very simple question. Did you forget it already?

Here it is again:

Can I say that there is only one true God, that salvation is by grace ALONE through faith ALONE in Christ ALONE, and that the Bible ALONE is the inerrant word of God, and call myself a Mormon?

[sevenbak]

I’m not here to argue or be contentious, so please take your name calling somewhere else. This is why I don’t post much here anymore, the spirit of Christ seems to have removed from hence.

These dozens of references are there for everyone to see and look up in their entire context. They are about works, and the necessity of them to be used alongside faith. None is complete without the other. The commandments are before us, and as for me and my house, I will serve the Lord. You are free to do the same as you see fit.

Alone? No, Salvation is not sufficient if sought for by faith alone. See the above list of references, here is just one, once more for your perusal. Do with it what you will, I can only testify to you that Christ is real, and His commandments are real, and not optional.

All the best, I’m out.

James 2: 26 faith without works is dead.

[BibChr]

Now your game is Operation Broken Record.

So, once again, whether you AGREE with the statement or not: can I say that there is only one true God, that salvation is by grace ALONE through faith ALONE in Christ ALONE, and that the Bible ALONE is the inerrant word of God, and call myself a Mormon?

It’s a simple question.

[sevenbak]

Oh, and I don’t know if you meant to be crude or disgusting with your 4 references, but it was indeed. If you wish to spread the light of Christ to others, this is not a good way to go about it, IMHO.

[BibChr]

Opinion noted.

So, whether you AGREE with the statement or not: can I say that there is only one true God, that salvation is by grace ALONE through faith ALONE in Christ ALONE, and that the Bible ALONE is the inerrant word of God, and call myself a Mormon?

It’s a simple question.

[sevenbak]

I've answered the question, he who has ears to hear, hear. You sound like a lawyer, which is not inherently bad, but typical of trying to catch others in their words. Someone else had to endure that kind of treatment.

Mark 12:13

And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.

Now, I really must run, have a good day!

[Campion]

Who says that it has to be a characteristic of the godlike essence we will inherit from the Father?

I don't know what "godlike essence" means.

Scripture says that we are partakers of the divine nature. That's quite true, but we don't become possessors of a divine nature of our own.

[BibChr]

Your refusal to answer a simple question is quite eloquent.

It’s endemic.

Christians, insofar as we are true to our faith, are up-front about what the Bible teaches.

Cultists are dishonest.

Period.

[VxH]

[ folk medicine types - dare I say shaman? witches? ]

 

Con artists.

 

Algore's Great-Great-Great-Great Uncle AzGore hoodwinks the sheeple by "Making  the Sun Go Dark".

 

 

Got Shock and Awe?

[VxH]

[Cultists are dishonest.]

 

That is their nature.

 

Cult means "Hidden".

 

Ocular = sight.
Occult = hidden from sight. 

 

Cult is an appropriate adjective for an organization where one must climb the hierarchical ladder in order to get the complete picture.

 

 

[BibChr]

It should be a dead giveaway. If a religion won’t (which is not the same as “can’t”) answer simple questions up-front, you don’t need any part of it.

[Old Mountain man]

Show me the “rapture” in your scripture.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

 

 

 

 

BibChr,

 

Realize that what you have just witnessed is the Mormon approach to using the Bible. See a word, say a word, assume it means what the mormon church teaches, post it as if it is true.

 

There is no true Bible study. Just see and say...

 

ampu

 

 

 

[BibChr]

lol; that’s great.

[JamesP81]

I have withheld comment on this thread. I have a fairly unique perspective on Mormonism since half my family is Mormon, and I myself was a member of the LDS church at one time, from a very young age. I was a member of the LDS Aaronic priesthood even.

Post #15 tells most of the story folks. Everything there is true. The LDS church teaches that Christ, the Father, and the Spirit are not One. The LDS church teaches that God was once a man and became exalted by leading a morally pure life and became the God that we now know. They teach that any person on this Earth leading a similarly good life can do the same.

None of this, of course, is any kind of a crime. This is America, land of the free where we can worship as we please. However, it's also demonstrably true that what the LDS church teaches is in disagreement with the Bible. So there are only three possibilities: 1) What the LDS church teaches is right and the Bible is wrong (or mistranslated). 2) What the LDS church teaches is wrong and the Bible is correct. Or 3) both are wrong. As I became old enough to understand, this choice confronted me, and I knew I had to make some kind of a decision on the matter.

The LDS church claims that portions of the Bible have been mistranslated, which accounts for the differences between the Bible and LDS teaching. However, I find this hard to believe. God is so powerful that he created the entire universe by speaking it into existence. If He can do that, I suspect He can probably get a book published and thwart the efforts of mere men to corrupt that work. I came to realize that a god so weak that he couldn't get his own teaching out without it being corrupted by men is probably not a god worthy of worship in the first place.

So that brings us back to the decision I personally faced: were the Mormons right and the Bible wrong (or mistranslated) or was the Bible right and the Mormon church wrong? I eventually decided that salvation and grace was for all sin for all time and that the Father, Spirit, and Son were One, and that God was the only God anywhere (He has no peer). At that point I was in disagreement with my own church's teachings. I got saved at about the age of 12, and shortly afterward joined a southern baptist church.

None of this is intended to denigrate Mormons. I don't view them as cultists or inherently immoral people. But it's demonstrably true that what Mormonism teaches and what the Bible teaches don't agree, therefore they can't be considered the same religion. This isn't a disagreement over a differing interpretation of the Bible; this is a disagreement on the very nature of the faith and of who God is. In short, I view Mormonism not as a flavor of Christianity, but as Mormonism. It is it's own religion.

[VxH]

[• Man has become as God]

Just as the serpent promised?

Or maybe not...

Isa 14:12-15

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
KJV

 

[Froufrou]

Very good post, James, with much thought and insight.

You not only take the cake, but you baked it to perfection!

[LiteKeeper]

1 Thes 4:17 "Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord."

The term in verse 17 "will be caught up together" is the term from which we get the concept of Rapture. It is "caught up," "snatched up," "raptured." And it has to do with the catching away of the church, the taking up of the church. It's by the way a violent word.

Since the Apostle Paul wrote this letter in Greek, it is necessary to translate the Greek words into English. The Greek word used here is "harpazo" - and I have given several meanings of the word above.

If you object to this method of interpretation, remember, the word "baptise," which I am sure you have used before, is not an English word, but a Greek word used by the translators of the King James Bible, to avoid its actual meaning. Baptizo means to dip into something, as when a cloth worker dips a piece of cloth into a vat of dye to change its color. The problem with the translation is that the Anglicans, who were responsible for translating the KJV did not "dip" people when they baptised them, they sprinkled them. So they avoided theological problems by not translating the word. We have translated the Greek word, harpazo, and have used the term "rapture" as it's translation.

There are many words which are used to define theology which are not actually in the Bible, but they have been adopted over the centuries to describe theological truths. I would dare say, there are a number of terms in LDS theology that are not found in the sacred writings of the LDS. One that comes to mind is the word "Church" - not found in the Bible. "Presidency" - not found in the Bible. But they are used for clarity.

[LiteKeeper]

By the way, “Jehovah” is not found in the Bible, either. It is a corruption of the Tetragrammaton - the personal name of God, found in Exodus 3:13-15

[Osage Orange]

Good post