Posted on 03/25/2011 9:19:12 AM PDT by Colofornian
Written by a local ex-Mormon Christian friend of mine: —
This is the Christ of Mormonism:
1. He lives as a humanoid god on a star near Kolob along with his father god, bound by the physical world; he does not transcend the material.
2. He is the brother of satan.
3. He had to earn his own salvation while he was on earth.
4. He offers his “grace” only to those who work hard enough.
5. He is not from everlasting to everlasting, but was created a finite time ago by his father god, who in turn was also created by his own father god, who in turn was created by his own father god, so on and so forth
6. He is not the greatest being possible.
7. He is finite.
8. His blood is not powerful enough to wipe away any sin.
9. He aided his father in creating earth by organizing already existing matter; he is not capable of creating things out of nothing.
10. He must submit to a moral law that existed before he did.
11. You can one day become just like him.
This is the Christ of the Bible:
1. He is a spirit being that transcends space and time.
2. He is the brother of no creature; He is God, from everlasting to everlasting. No one can claim kinship with Him except those He purchased for Himself on the cross. And He is not the same type of creature they are. He is not a creature, He is God.
3. Jesus is the Author of Salvation; to say that He needed to earn His salvation is absurdity.
4. He offers His sovereign grace to whomever He sovereignly chooses; we are all tainted by sin and vile in His holy eyes. Therefore, no one is more worthy than any other human being. Thus, His grace that He offers is given unconditionally. His grace is true grace, a beautiful gift.
5. He is from everlasting to everlasting. He was never created, and Has been in relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever.
6. He is the greatest being possible, the Most High God. There is no one like Him and there is no one who will ever be anything like Him.
7. He is infinite, both in essence and in His divine perfections.
8. His blood is powerful enough to wipe away any sin, regardless of heinousness and duration. The only sin that cannot be forgive is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost; and this is not because the blood of Christ is not powerful enough to wash it away, but because God has so sovereignly decreed that all persons who blaspheme the Holy Ghost should not receive forgiveness.
9. He created everything that exists out of nothing by the mere word of His mouth.
10. There is no external law that He submits to; He is the Author and the Source of the Law.
11. No one can ever come near to obtaining the glory and excellency of Christ.
In general, born-again Christians...they tend to be more literalist and absolute on certain points and obviously promote the 4 gospels more than a lot of other religions do...not a bad thing, just how it is...you obviously know this, why are you inquiring??...magritte
Really?If you are going to make that kind of comparison to FR, please post the info provided by JR that states the religious leanings of the "conservative base" on FR is composed of Evangelicals.
I'd be interested in how this information is compiled and why you would have access to it.
Well, an atheists defending mormonISM that may be a first. (I can not think of anything to say here that would not be sarcastic, so I wont.)
****I don’t know why the abuse of another’s religion is accepted on FR.***
Christians are not the ones who started this fight back in the 1830s when a backwoods rube walked out of the woods claiming he had seen God and angels and a gold book no one has ever seen while claiming everyone better believe what he says or he will stand in the door to heaven and keep all the non believers in his gold book and other tall tales out.
Joseph Smith threw down the gauntlet and real CHRISTIANS picked it up, now Joe’s people whine and run.
Interestingly, the Catholic church does not accept Mormon baptism.
Interestingly, Mormon leaders are historically anti-Catholic.
Interestingly, those who are called anti-Mormon on FR aren't connected with those who are called anti-Catholic.
Interesting what people can call interesting.
***Interestingly, it’s both Mormons and Catholics that take the most abuse of FR.***
Mnay years ago Madaline Murray O’Hair was on Larry King Live.
In her discussion with him he asked about the general state of atheism Her reply was “The best atheists are FORMER MORMONS and CATHOLICS”.
I saw that program and it stayed with me.
This has got to be one of your dumbest posts ever...are you honestly telling me that you don’t believe that the conservative base is composed of a large number of Evangelicals? C’mon....magritte
Ah, sorry, thought you were being facetious, that’s the usual slant on these kind of threads...my apologies...magritte
Amen!
Not surprising that you come to the defense of a false accuser.
Not surprised at all.
What’s the matter? Did it strike to close to home?
Ah, Friday’s Three Minutes Hate.
Is it true Joseph Smith was a space alien from planet Hubar ?
Has anything been done to stop the Mormon conspiracy against pure foods ?
Yep, nothing like a Three Minutes Hate !
Interesting thought ... I can see Mormons going that way, since they are way out of the mainstream on standard Christian thought and if they had a loss of faith in their religion, where would they turn?...Catholics though? hmmmm...magritte
Since I was born and raised in the Mormon church, and am a great-great-grandchild of Brigham Young, I had very strong ties to the Mormon faith. I was about seventeen before I ever attended another church. As a teenager my life centered around the Mormon church. Because I was active and paying my tithing I thought I was in pretty good standing with God. I knew I sinned but I felt my activity in church would somehow outweigh what I did wrong. I believed (as the Mormons teach) that I was inherently good. I had no fear of God’s judgment. Besides the things that were wrong in my own life, I began to have doubts about my church. Could it really be the only true church? Was polygamy really right? Why couldn’t the Negro hold the priesthood? Was temple marriage really so important? Why were its rites kept such a secret? Did God actually command Mormons to wear special under-garments? I had many questions going through my mind.
When I started college I enrolled in the Mormon Institute of Religion class. I started asking questions in class, trying to find answers to my doubts. But one day my institute teacher took me aside and told me to please stop asking questions in class. There was a girl attending the class who was thinking of joining the church and I was disturbing her with my questions. What a surprise! I had hoped to find answers to the many things that were bothering me and now I had been silenced.
Shortly after this I met Jerald and we began studying the Bible and Mormonism together. As we studied I began to see the contradictions between the Bible and the teaching of the Mormon church. I had grown up thinking that Brigham Young was one of the greatest men that ever lived. He was always presented to me as such a holy man—God’s prophet, seer, and revelator. Then Jerald had me read some of Brigham Young’s sermons in the Journal of Discourses on blood atonement. I was shocked! I knew what Brigham Young was saying was wrong but I couldn’t reconcile these sermons with the things I had always been taught concerning him. I knew these were not the words of a prophet of God.
Jerald also showed me the changes that had been made in Joseph Smith’s revelations. The thought kept coming to me that if God had actually given those revelations to Joseph Smith why would they need rewriting? Surely the Creator of the universe could say it right the first time!
As I studied I not only found errors in Mormonism, I also began to comprehend there was something wrong in my own life. As I studied God’s Word I realized I was a sinful hypocrite. In spite of my sins I had thought I was right with God. Yet the Bible says: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).
After Jerald and I were married we started visiting the different Protestant churches. As I listened to the sermons I began to realize that God was not concerned with peoples’ church affiliations, but with a personal relationship. Christ taught a way of love, not a religious system. He stated: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).
Paul taught that we should “walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us . . .” (Eph. 5:2).
God reaches out to man, not because he deserves it, but because God loves him. John wrote: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Paul wrote: “But God, who is rich in mercy, . . . even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ . . . For by grace are ye save through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:4, 5, 8, 9).
I now want to share with you the particular events of the day I surrendered my heart and life to Jesus Christ: Early one morning (October 24, 1959) I decided to listen to the radio for a while. I turned to the Christian radio station and listened to a sermon. The minister was preaching on the great love of God and the mercy offered to us through Jesus Christ. Nothing ever struck me with such force. I opened my heart to God and accepted Christ as my own personal Saviour. The Holy Spirit flooded my soul with such joy that I wept for over an hour. After the sermon the station played this song written by Elton M. Roth—
I love the Christ who died on Calv’ry,
For He washed my sins away;
He put within my heart a melody,
And I know it’s there to stay.
In my heart there rings a melody,
There rings a melody with heaven’s harmony;
In my heart there rings a melody,
There rings a melody of love.
This song fully describes the way I felt. How glorious to know Christ died for my sins so I could have a new life in Him. Our lives testify to all we meet whether or not we are truly Christians. Paul wrote: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law” (Gal. 5:22-23).
Today converts are swarming into the Mormon church, but very few of them really know much about Mormonism. We feel safe in saying that many of them are converted to the social program of the church rather than to its doctrines. Those who were born in the church in many cases “know” it is true but don’t know why it is true. Many Mormons will stand up in testimony meeting and dogmatically assert that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that they belong to “the only true church,” but very few of them check to make sure that their faith is based on reality. Many members of the Mormon church prefer to let their leaders do their thinking (”when our leaders speak, the thinking has been done”); it is so easy to let someone else do our thinking.
The Bible warns: “Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord” (Jer. 17:5). We sincerely hope and pray that the Mormon people will begin to awaken to the true message of Christ, realizing that in Him, and Him alone, can we have salvation—salvation that brings genuine deliverance from sin and real fellowship with the God who loved us enough to die for us.
Sandra Tanner
Maybe you can point out to this “knucklehead” where EXACTLY I or anyone else here has denied them or anyone their 1st amendment right and or “abused” them?
They post on FR, proseletyze or knock on doors about their religion claiming it is THE Christianity, telling me that I follow a WHORE of a church and I’m supposed to remain silent on the matter?
You all better think again, because it ain’t gonna happen.
That some on FR get their knickers in knot over this is a good thing to see because it just demonstrates one of two things; either abject ignorance about mormonism or thinly veiled bigotry to those who resist mormonism’s advances.
“Are you trying to say that people who disagree with an idea are to shut up because there is no absolute Truth? That is total rubbish and unChristian”
No I was pointing out that the poster did not understand what contention fully means.
I support the right of the followers of j.smith and the succeeding “prophets” of the mormon religion to believe as they wish, that does not mean they may do so with out Christians contending for the truth as per Jude.
Nestorian, Socinian, Arian, Trinitarian, Modalist. Differences of view over the unity of God, and the deity and nature of Christ. This should come as no surprise that there would be a struggle over these crucial matters, any more than the many other differences of view in other Christian disciplines, such as in eschatology: Preterist, Historicist, Futurist, Dispensationalism, Premillennialism, Amillennialism, Postmillennialism.
Same with differences of leadership and authority. Protestants sharply disagree with the RCC over the primacy of the Popes, and Mormon “Apostles,” etc.
Most of us Biblicists could care less about Constantine, the councils of men, the Pope, Mormon Apostles, or anything else that sets itself up as the last word on Christian truth. It is for the individual Christian to seek out and find for himself.
Its an in house thing among us Christians, none of which has anything to do with you as an Ingersoll quoting Atheist.
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