Second, if you claim to be a Christian you might want to ask a Mormon about the concept of 'eternal progression' since their religion is based upon the notion that something material that their god was born into as a man on a planet and progressed through to achieve the exaltation of becoming 'God' existed before God. The Bible is very clear in several places that 'in the beginning God' and that The Word was with God and was God in that beginning, the beginning before there was anything, only God.
Mormonism is not Christianity. It cannot be Christian with the beliefs they have reagrding Whom God is, Whom God was and Whom Jesus IS. They will lie to you without believing they are lying to you. They will tell you untruths about their own religion and their religion's history. But they will not awaken to see their own deceits so long as the spirit of thier religion binds them. When people on this forum expose the facts about Mormonism using LDS sources, the apologists for this cult will flatly assert that we do not know what they believe. Ask any 'honest' Mormon to explain in detail the Mormon term 'eternal progression'. If they are honest with you, they will eventually tell you the father of Jesus went throuygh a physical existence as a mere mortal and achieved godhood via exaltation. The god of Mormonism is not The One God Whose name is I AM.
“Um, first, you could not have had Mormon ancestors who fought int he Revolution because the religion wasn’t conceived of until the 1830.”
Um, first, I knew that. The point was that they were Americans who emigrated here, settled, fought in the revolution, migrated again, and adopted Mormonism, etc.
So my interest in Mormonism lies in its relationship to our country’s history. Like the Mormon Battalion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_Battalion
Second, I am not in the slightest bit interested in arguing over who is and is not a Christian. I will leave that to those who think God has delegated the judging job to them.
I admire Mormons for their values, patriotism and conservatism. Their religious beliefs are none of my business, nor are my religious beliefs any of theirs.
I have three cousins who were raised Mormon. One stayed strongly with it, one left it entirely, and I don’t even know about the third—probably more out than in.
They are still my family, are good self supporting parents and grandparents. And fine people, two with careers in the military.