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Is issue over competition for souls?
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They didn't get it. He was then and is now the Savior of ALL mankind - everyone! He did not tag ANYONE as being the only acceptable candidates to be "lifted up" when he comes, other than those who believe on him and keep his commandments.
Today's evangelical christians are the modern day equivalent of Old Jerusalem's Pharisees. They protect their image and wealth by saying they are the only true disciples of christ - yet they deny revelation, prophesy, and prayers from the heart. They are the people Isaiah spoke of with itching ears who seek out TV Evangelists that say what they want to hear and entertain them with dancing, rock music and fiery sermons .... then require only the words "Jesus Save Me" as a sign if repentance, and not the heart and sole of the sinner who desires to be a child of God.
I know my redeemer lives ... I wonder if they even know his name ...
All he wants is all our prayers. Nothing what-so-ever to do with "would you like to hear more?"
But it is the other way around! The Mormons have been attacking and persecuting ALL other religions from the beginning when their Founder, Joseph Smith, declared that all other religions were FALSE, and "abominations" and that their leaders are all "corrupt."
That attitude and doctrine continues to this day. It is, truly, a clever form of "religious-bigotry-judo" being used against other Christians.
Huckabee has been accused of playing up his religion to get the evangelical vote in Iowa. Arguably, when he refers to himself as the "Christian leader" in his Iowa ads, the subtext is that the other leading candidate in IA, i.e., Romney, is not.
Yet, how often do political races in Utah feature politicos touting "Utah values", or prominently featuring their (large) families in their campaign literature. Surely, we must admit that these are "code words" to the UT electorate referring to the candidate's religious affiliation.
Doctrinal points notwithstanding, when we cry foul about Huckabee courting the evangelical vote, perhaps we should also take a long, hard look in the mirror. If, as a national minority, we (LDS) are looking for acceptance in a religiously pluralistic society, then it had better start with us extending the same courtesies to those of other faiths in areas where we are the majority.
former SLC resident
"their Founder, Joseph Smith, declared that all other religions were FALSE, and "abominations" and that their leaders are all "corrupt."
Nope. Look it up. God and Jesus Christ said they were corrupt. Joseph was just as surprised by their statement to him.
You can only win your war of ego ("I'm right/No, I'm right") if you can drag the Lord's work down to being Joseph's imagination or power grab.
The fatal flaw in your logic is that the Prophet Joseph wasn't in it for himself.
He gave and gave and taught and raised people up and loved and healed and repented and forgave and gave his life in both senses of the word.
The Prophet Gordon and the other leaders continue to do the same today, not for money and power like the Tele-Evangelical$ and profe$$ional pa$tor$.
No motive, no crime. Just your/our Father in Heaven's message to you and me.
you prove my point, though in the "reverse" direction. SLC, being the non-Mormon island in the sea of Mormonism, has a voting bloc looking for all the opposite "code words" coming from their mayorial candidate. When I lived there in 1999, Stuart Reid was the Mormon target, and Rocky Anderson was the non-(practicing-)Mormon beneficiary. Rocky won handily, despite both candidates being Democrats and having similar political positions.
Watch, however, when the state legislature races start in earnest next fall, especially the contested races in Davis, south SL and Utah counties. I'm afraid, unless a large cultural shift has happened in the 7 years since I left UT, that you'll see exactly the things I referred to in my last entry. We're just as human as everyone else, and, unfortunately, Utah's voters respond to the prospect of religious homogeneity as much as IA or the Bible belt states.
The Bible speaks of one eternal God. Christians worship this one God.
Mormons believe that there are many gods, that men become gods, and that the God they believe in was once a man like us.
Christians believe in God who created the universe, and created us.
Mormons believe there is a Mr. and Mrs God making spiritual babies who become people - us.
The Bible teaches salvation is a gift of grace, that we are saved by faith alone. The Bible specifically adds that salvation is "not of works, lest any man should boast".
Mormons believe men must "choose to do good and work righteousness" to be saved.
The list goes on and on. Mormons are not Christians unless one takes an extremely elastic view of the word "Christian". They might be good people, well-intended, but they are not "Christians". That is why most Mormons who examine their theology in-depth become ex-Mormons.
If something big were coming, let's say a storm, and your neighbor comes over and warns you about it, would you say, "Gee, thanks, for the info! I can prepare"? Or would you say, "Get out of my face. I'm doing OK as I am"?
That's what the Lord has done many times, is send the good news through His prophets, of the course correction He wanted the people of that time to make. Like the prophets throughout history, even the Savior Himself, Joseph Smith faced persecution for simply delivering the message, "Update! Our Father has spoken, wants us to listen and make some changes, prepare for His coming."
Now that message is Love and Good News, UNLESS you are so deeply invested in the limited understanding you were taught, that you can't accept more goodness (or unless you are making a living preaching the traditions that have become dominant.)
The churches of 180 years ago mostly chose, as was prophesied, to ignore (and fight against) the update.
Right, what you wish to call "Mormonism" is NOT [what has become] Dominant Christianity (DC).
DC is the loose alliance of a series of different interpretations of the Bible, with various man-made traditions built around them.
By being the majority, they consider themselves the authority, but conveniently in discussions like this one, they overlook their contradictory beliefs.
The doctrinal points you mention are generally agreed upon by DC, but not entirely, especially when you consider the various Catholic churches. (Roman Catholic disagrees with Greek Orthodox, etc.)
However - and see the comment 'for Dan' - the good news is that our Father in Heaven, your Father and mine, loves us and has sent again a real Prophet, and that's good news -- straightening out the many man-made interpretations and misunderstood doctrines.
The folks you refer to who leave the Church, didn't examine it with the Spirit of God in their hearts;
they looked until they could find some mortal flaw in some leader, or some other excuse, so they wouldn't have to continue to live the commandments: things like Law of Chastity, Law of Tithing, the Lord's Health Code, all hard to live in the world today.
Many, many Mormon doctrines and beliefs are contrary to the Bible - and even contrary to the book of Mormon. When one researches the Bible (as I have) and researches Mormonism (as I have), one concludes (as many have) that Mormonism is a religion, but not Christian. I understand Mormons have, for the past 15 years, worked hard at convincing the world that they are "Christians" too, but their beliefs and Biblical teachings are too far apart in too many areas.
Saying that my car can fly just like an airplane does not make it true, though they are both modes of transportation. The difference is that one will get me across an ocean - the other won't. Christianity leads to eternity with God - Mormonism doesn't. This fact makes me sad for my Mormon friends.
God did create Satan but the Bible says in Colossians 1:16 that Jesus created ALL THINGS IN HEAVEN and in earth. So if Jesus created ALL THINGS IN HEAVEN then that would also mean the angels and Satan/Lucifer was an angel so that would mean that Jesus created Lucifer. So how does that make Jesus and Lucifer brothers? When Henry Ford created the Model A, did he call it his brother? Of course not, he called it an automobile.
How can Jesus have a brother when He is the only begotten of the Father (John 3:16)
The LDS church needs to read out of the same English dictionary that the rest of the English speaking world does.
The Biblical account in Acts 11:26 says that the disciples were called Christians FIRST in Antioch, a number of years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. People called them little Christs, Christians, because they resembled the living Christ through their actions.
The Alma passage creates a problematic timeline in its passages because Christ had not been born yet. The historical and Biblical accounts both refer to God's people as Jews or Hebrews before the death and resurrection of Jesus, not Christians. Christians is a post-Christ term not a pre-Christ term.
Jesus Christ is the way to salvation, but that does not absolve our own responsibility to repent and have faith in Jesus Christ. We are to have charity, to love and serve one another as he would do. We are to be baptized. We are to keep the commandments. Yes, we are to have faith and it is through the grace of Christ that we are saved, but there is more asked of us than simply believing. If we love him and truly believe in him, we will believe him and do the things he has commanded.
Before you protest think about this; anytime you make a statement which implies that your religion is the "most correct," you are concurrently telling everyone who doesn't subscribe to your religious beliefs that they are wrong (on some level).
Why is the battle of being the "most correct" so important? Seems to me that it's a persons values, not religion, that defines him.
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