*Sigh* Mormons are Christians

Yeah, that's all I have to say.

from JoeUser Forums
Over the years, I have been called a lot of things for being LDS. A cult member, a lunatic, I've been "brainwashed," and more. The one that bothers me is "Non-Christian." Honestly, I can't understand where people get this notion. We believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Savior of the world, the Son of God etc etc. I'm not going to go into all that because it's been explained time and time again. So let me say this. As far as my meager studies of the Bible go, there is nothing in there to prove that I'm not a Christian.

Acts 11: 26
"And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch."
This passage is referring to believers in Christ and his teachings, is it not? Of course, this title was probably meant to be a pejorative given by unbelievers, but the name kind of stuck. :)

Acts 26:28
"Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."
We believe Paul to be an Apostle of God...therefore what he preached to Agrippa was Christ's teachings, which we believe in...so Christian?

1 Peter 4:16
"Yet if an man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf."
This is just the only other time the Bible mentions being Christian, but we'll suffer or die for our belief in God and in Jesus.

I don't want to get in an argument, and I know I don't know the Bible as well as many of you, but I really feel hurt when I'm accused of not being a Christian. I believe in the Bible, and in Jesus Christ. There is nothing in the Bible that tells me I'm not one, all the passages that have the word are listed above. I know I might get bashed for saying this things, but I just want to clarify that. Thank you for your time.
religion
6,988 views 44 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top

I prescribe to no specific church...so no one even calls me brainwashed...except maybe by the evils of science.   I think I ask too many questions to be considered a "real" Christian...I like-a playing the Devil's Advocate.

You feel as if you're a Christian...that's good enough for me.  It's unorthodox, but you've got the basics of any Christian denomination- God, Jesus, stuff like that.

If you were a Scientologist...I might call you brainwashed...those people are nuts!

~Zoo

Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
If you were a Scientologist...I might call you brainwashed...those people are nuts!
End of quote


Poor Katie and Suri...Tom is a kerrazy guy. ;)
Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
I don't really understand why Mormons want to be called Christians. Sure, they share many of the same holy books, but they've got extras that 'Christians' don't believe in.

Why not consider your beliefs a new religion rather than trying to say that it's the same as the one yours is built off?

Christians don't call themselves Jews, yet they kept their old Jewish books and just added some more and a new 'prophet', much like Mormons added a new set of books and a new 'prophet' in their faith.

This push towards religious sameness is a bit dull.

You don't have to take the Muslim approach and abandon all the old books if you don't want to, but there's no good reason to claim to be something that doesn't fully describe your faith.

It's like all those 'Christians' who believe in karma and reincarnation. So far as I know there's no name yet for their faith, but that doesn't make them entirely Christian.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Tom is a kerrazy guy.
End of quote


...and that's an understatement.  :p 

~Zoo
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
It's like all those 'Christians' who believe in karma and reincarnation. So far as I know there's no name yet for their faith, but that doesn't make them entirely Christian.
End of quote


New Age.

~Zoo
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
I don't really understand why Mormons want to be called Christians.
End of quote


Because being called "non Christian" implies that we don't believe in Christ. It misrepresents everything we believe in and the very premise of our faith. We do, in fact, believe in Jesus Christ, just like I said in my article. That's why we want to be called Christian, because we are.
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
Because being called "non Christian" implies that we don't believe in Christ. It misrepresents everything we believe in and the very premise of our faith. We do, in fact, believe in Jesus Christ, just like I said in my article. That's why we want to be called Christian, because we are.
End of quote


How about...Christian 2.0 ?

:D

~Zoo
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
I don't really understand why Mormons want to be called Christians.


I don't right care if someone thinks I'm a Christian or not.

I know what I am, and that's all that matters.

Good article, sis. I guess I just don't care as much when people say I'm not a 'Christian'. If being a Christian means you have to believe that God is a schizophrenic, narcissistic ventriloquist, I'm not one.
Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
Because being called "non Christian" implies that we don't believe in Christ. It misrepresents everything we believe in and the very premise of our faith. We do, in fact, believe in Jesus Christ, just like I said in my article. That's why we want to be called Christian, because we are.
End of quote


It's a part of your beliefs, sure, but you also believe in Joseph Smith the prophet, although believe may be too strong a word. His teachings, anyway.

Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet rather than the son of god (a fairly popular belief in the early Christian Church); should they be called Christians too?

Granted, Mormonism is a little newer than Islam, but the sooner you accept the differences with the similarities, the sooner cries of unChristian will lose meaning to you.

Because you're not Christian, not in the way that most would understand it. You're something more - your faith is an evolution of Christianity. Most 'Christian' faiths don't consider Smith to be anything more than a confidence trickster, just like most Jews consider the idea of a divine Jesus to be nothing more than a confidence trickster, but you see more in Smith's teachings than what the majority of 'Christians' would.

Do you see what I'm getting at here?

You'll only consider being called unChristian an insult so long as you continue to labour under the misconception that being called anything else is unacceptable. You may believe in Christ, but it's your other beliefs that set you apart, just like Muslims who believe in the prophet Jesus are set apart from non-divine Christians by their other beliefs.
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
Good piece, Bird.
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top

It's like all those 'Christians' who believe in karma and reincarnation. So far as I know there's no name yet for their faith, but that doesn't make them entirely Christian.

That's me.  I'm a new-thought Christian.  It's bigger than christianity - lol. 

Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
Cedarbird writes:
The one that bothers me is "Non-Christian." Honestly, I can't understand where people get this notion. We believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Savior of the world, the Son of God etc etc.
End of quote


First, isn't it only relatively recently that Mormon's call themselves Christian?

I'm one of those who don't consider members of the Chruch of the LDS as Christians, at least in the true sense of the word. The only reason I'm saying anything about it now is becasue you have written this blog and you say that you can't understand where people get this notion...

So hopefully my explanation will help you understand better...


As I said on the other blog, I think the chief doctrine of Christianity is the doctrine of the Divinity of Jesus Christ, that is, Jesus Christ is God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Christians believe that the Father, the Son,Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost is the one true God.

Mormons believe Jesus Christ is a God and that God the Father is another God. Mormons believe there are many, many gods and Jesus Christ is just one in a long line still going on today. They also believe that any Man, a human, can become a god himself.

Bottom line: Christianity teaches that Jesus is not a God in the sense of one of many. Christ Himself said, "I and the Father are one" and for that the Jews wanted to stone HIm to death.

Does this matter? I think so...and this is where Mormons go off the Christian track.
Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top
Because you're not Christian, not in the way that most would understand it. You're something more - your faith is an evolution of Christianity. Most 'Christian' faiths don't consider Smith to be anything more than a confidence trickster, just like most Jews consider the idea of a divine Jesus to be nothing more than a confidence trickster, but you see more in Smith's teachings than what the majority of 'Christians' would.
End of quote


I get what you're saying. I just think that a lot of people label us unChristian because they think we don't believe in the Bible or in Jesus Christ. I was just trying to clarify, but maybe I was mistaken. Oh well, like SC said, I know what I am, think what you want. :)
Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
I think the chief doctrine of Christianity is the doctrine of the Divinity of Jesus Christ, that is, Jesus Christ is God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Christians believe that the Father, the Son,Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost is the one true God.
End of quote


And that's why I'm fine being labeled a "non-Christian". Who wants to believe that God is some madman who speaks to himself about himself incessantly for no apparent reason all the time?

I thank God every day that he chose to speak to a young boy and restore the truth of the Godhead in the face of the foolishness of the false Trinity.
Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top
I thank God every day that he chose to speak to a young boy and restore the truth of the Godhead in the face of the foolishness of the false Trinity.
End of quote


I wish God would talk to someone else right about now to clear up all the foolishness we see in today's society. So many people have lost the true path of their religion, in my opinion.

~Zoo
Reply #16 from JoeUser Forums Top
I wish God would talk to someone else right about now to clear up all the foolishness we see in today's society. So many people have lost the true path of their religion, in my opinion.
End of quote


Um, he did, and people didn't believe the person then. What would be different now?
Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top
Um, he did, and people didn't believe the person then. What would be different now?
End of quote


I'd just like another one...because from Joseph Smith's day we've gone even farther downhill.

By the way, I did a bit of study on Mormonism in comparative religion. With your addition you have incorporated the Americas into Biblical history, explained Native Americans as well as giving the Europeans a connection with the land in which they now lived...it's really quite ingenious.

~Zoo
Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top
I'd just like another one...because from Joseph Smith's day we've gone even farther downhill.
End of quote


There is another one, Zoo. That's what's so great about the LDS church - there's been a prophet (14 soon to be 15, actually) since Joseph Smith.

The most recent prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, passed away on Sunday night. Another prophet will be chosen, and Christ's church will continue just as he intends it to be - led by someone who receives inspiration from God, not someone who went to the right theological college or has the right "nobby" parents or friends.

It's truly amazing to know that God still speaks to us through his prophet in this day and age - and it's not going to stop.
Reply #19 from JoeUser Forums Top
Lula: Okay, I forfeit. I'll be a non Christian if your definition is the one that the rest of the world uses. I know what I believe and what I am, and that's enough for me.
Reply #20 from JoeUser Forums Top
I'll be a non Christian if your definition is the one that the rest of the world uses.
End of quote


Be proud of being a non-Christian.

Christ was a non-Christian.

Peter was (not a Pope, but a prophet) and a non-Christian.

Alma was a non-Christian.

Joseph Smith was a non-Christian.

Gordon B. Hickley was a non-Christian.

Can't complain too much with company like that.
Reply #21 from JoeUser Forums Top

Is Jesus Christ your personal savior?  If so, then yes you are a Christian.

It used to bother me when people would say I'm not a Christian also.  Now I just look at who it is making that accusation and shrug it off.  I'll let Christ decide if I am a Christian or not and leave it at that.

Cacto:

 Christians don't call themselves Jews, yet they kept their old Jewish books and just added some more and a new 'prophet', much like Mormons added a new set of books and a new 'prophet' in their faith.

Interesting comment, considering we believe that "the House of Israel" refers to all followers of "The God of Ambraham, Isaac and Jacob".   In the Old Testament, the Lord called Israel "mine elect".  So all that is of Christ is of the House of Israel. 

Jesus didn't "start" Christianity when he began His earthly ministry, he simply refined it and gave us the higher law. 

Zoo:

I wish God would talk to someone else right about now to clear up all the foolishness we see in today's society. So many people have lost the true path of their religion, in my opinion.

The Good News is, He does.  We speak with Him in prayer, He speaks with us in many ways.  We can recieve revelation from God in things pertaining to our life and our responsibilities.  For things pertaining to everyone, He speaks to Prophets.  By listening to the Prophets today, we will live better lives.

 

Reply #22 from JoeUser Forums Top
For things pertaining to everyone, He speaks to Prophets. By listening to the Prophets today, we will live better lives.
End of quote


Trouble with that is, we have to figure out who's lying and who's crazy before we can take them seriously.

There have been many false Prophets...which is such a pain in the ass because then you have trust issues.

~Zoo
Reply #23 from JoeUser Forums Top
How about...Christian 2.0


Zoo, you know quite well that's a vapor religion. It's been in Alpha forever with no sign of Omega forthcoming.
Reply #24 from JoeUser Forums Top
Zoo:
Trouble with that is, we have to figure out who's lying and who's crazy before we can take them seriously.

There have been many false Prophets...which is such a pain in the ass because then you have trust issues.

~Zoo
End of quote


Exactly, which is why the personal communication with God is important. We don't have to take anyone's word for anything. If we want to know if a prophet, teacher, preacher, minister, evangelist, missionary, or blogger is speaking the word of God. We can go straight to the source and ask Him if things we learn are of Him, or someone else.
Reply #25 from JoeUser Forums Top
Zoo, you know quite well that's a vapor religion. It's been in Alpha forever with no sign of Omega forthcoming.
End of quote


How about Christianity 1.¥ ;~D