Comments about ‘Smart and faithful? God wouldn't have it any other way’

beatrice: What do you consider Christian? Your description of Christianity doesn't exactly coincide with how I see it in the scriptures (ie, that Jesus would sue somebody).

What is your definition of "real" Christianity? Do you consider Roman Catholics to be Christian? Are Arminians, or only Calvinists? Are both Baptists and Anabaptists? By traditional Christianity, one might assume that you meant Roman Catholicism, but I repeatedly hear people ask if I'm "Christian or Catholic," thereby implying that the religions are exclusive, though, of the two (ie, "Protestant" or Catholic), Roman Catholic is far more traditional.

How about Orthodox Catholics? The oldest continuously observant church in the Christian world is one of the Orthodox Churches in Palestine. Their doctrine is quite different from American Protestantism. Are they both Christian?

Latter-day Saints do not lay claim to being Christian by virtue of long tradition. We claim Christianity by virtue of our belief that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of all mankind, the Creator of the world, the great Jehovah, the fulfillment of all scripture. If other things are required, I question why.

There are things that I've experienced that can't be explained with Scientific knowledge.(well our current level of scientific knowledge that is)
And I'm just one of maybe millions upon millions or more, who have evidence enough.
And let's get this strait, there are people that have had physical evidence given to them of the reality of Jesus Christ.
But for these people it's not even really important to them to argue on some website.
Because they know God is ready and willing to let everyone know things, all in due time.
They know God will do a better job of convincing people then any man could.
But God does command them sometimes to leave a testimony.
The Prophets are sent forth to set that testimony before the world.

It seems to me that Faith requires more patience then science. You can't just go into a lab and throw some chemical's around to reach a conclusion. Sometimes(not all times) Faith requires long periods of trust building and understanding to be given the evidence.
So to Science I say; keep experimenting and learning.

Bill:"...but I repeatedly hear people ask if I'm "Christian or Catholic," thereby implying that the religions are exclusive, though, of the two (ie, "Protestant" or Catholic), Roman Catholic is far more traditional."

Those who ask such a question are not knowledgable about basic teachings of Jesus the
Christ. Catholics are most certainly part of the Christian community...and those
who claim to be such "experts" on Christian doctrines should know that already.

One is either pregnant or not pregnant.
One is either LDS or Christian...

@beatrice ... re "One is either pregnant or not pregnant. One is either LDS or Christian..."

Jeff, not Bill, is pregnant? He'll be rich if he is ... Oprah, magazines, television, etc.

But anyway. Since one can be LDS and pregnant, or LDS and not pregnant, or Christian and pregnant or not, can't one then be LDS AND Christian, preggers or no? Certainly one can't be pregnant and not pregnant ... yet. But I think the other mixtures work.

@Jeff ... Congrats!

JM:"The evidence is there, that the Book of Mormon and PofGP are ancient records, that LDS/Christian Temples are ancient (predating Masons), that Mormons are,and have been very progressive, and much less of racism than mainstream Christians, gays, atheists, and others, that God spoke to Joseph Smith and others and gave all important answers."
........

Where is such evidence? There isn't any.

LDS/Christian temples??? There is no such thing...temples are of the OT, the
place where Mormonism seems to be stuck.

Progressive?...examples please.

"much less racism"...this is a hoot. Christians, gays and atheists are lumped together
here...??...I think we call it "arrogant discrimination".

The doctrines of Joseph Smith,jr. have racism written down in it in words!

Beatrice: By now you know that I am not Bill.

You have not given me your definition of "Christian," merely an exclusion (you do not consider Latter-day Saints to be Christians, despite their beliefs in Christ) and one inclusion (Roman Catholics). You still have not said whether or not Arminians and Calvinists are both Christians (they once fought a war over the question).

Your post is disjointed and illogical. One is "either LDS or Christian"? This is an astounding assertion. The entire world is Christian EXCEPT for the Latter-day Saints.
I'm sure you cannot have meant what you wrote, but I wonder what else you have written that you didn't mean.

For instance, you write that "The doctrines of Joseph Smith,jr. have racism written down in it in words!" What you mean by this tautology (how else would it be written but in words?) is anyone's guess, but there seems to be the suggestion that Joseph Smith encoded racism, which tells the whole world that you haven't read very much written by Joseph Smith.

The shotgun approach to anti-Mormonism has been tried before. Be specific and direct, and maybe we can talk.

Igualmente,

The "eternal perspective of their mortal estate" you reference comes from a human being. All religious tenets were created by a man or woman.

The view on God and the alleged nature of God and heaven and any pre-mortal realm and even the concept of "sin" comes all from a human being.

The teachings of God and Christ, the Creation, the Flood, the Resurrection, the Atonement (as told in the Book of Mormon) and all other religious principles, ordinances and tenets of all faiths including Christian, Catholic, Mormon, Islam, Judaism and any other religion that espouses a "god figure" are all concoctions of a human being.

Keeping an "eternal perspective" about anything is a perspective from one person's point of view and not some inspired, god or holy spirit guided perspective as many Mormons and many Christians and other religious folks claim they have.

Jeff,

The Book of Mormon is a racist book in that it states how the Lamanites were cursed with a dark skin because they didn't follow a certain tenet of religious dogma.

If that isn't racism I don't know what would be.

@Thinkman ... Think, man. How can an imperfect being arrive at the idea of perfection? And please don't use the unicorn analogy. Man's mental image of a unicorn is a composite of known creatures. But how can Man imagine a perfect being (God) without being given the ability to do so? In saying that man has invented or concocted those things you mentioned, you're giving Man power that he doesn't possess. If the idea of God is a mere human construct, it is the ONLY construct fashioned by humans about which humans can't agree. Not possible.

Re. the Book of Mormon being racist. The BoM teaches that we are not to discriminate based upon skin color. You know this. With that in mind, are we justified in concluding that the curse of the Lamanites was necessarily racist (with all that the word connotes) rather than a mark of distinction? Even when Cain received his mark, God made it clear that anyone who bothered him would be in deep stuff. That's not racism.

To clarify... a 'mark of distinction' can be either positive or negative. "A mark of separation" might be a better term.

Thinkman: I have always understood racism to be the belief that one is superior to others because of one's race. I have understood race to be defined by more than skin color, also.

In that sense, the Book of Mormon is not racist. It does not say that the Lamanites are inferior to the Nephites because of their skin color. It also does not say that the Lamananites represent a new race from the Nephites--an absurd notion since they are siblings. Further, the Book of Mormon overtly teaches that all races are the same to God, and that no race is superior to any other.

Is racism present in the Book of Mormon? There might be an argument that the Nephites' aversion to dark skin could be considered racist, reflecting a pre-western hemisphere racism, but that doesn't equate with the idea that the Book of Mormon is a racist book.

I agree that you don't know what racism is.

Great article! I look forward to reading more in this series!