Just Tweeted from Politico:
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Texas evangelical leader Robert Jeffress said this afternoon he does not believe Mitt Romney is a Christian. http://politi.co/r1kNry[/q
SOURCE: http://twitter.com/#!/POLITICO2012
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Just Tweeted from Politico:
Quote:
Texas evangelical leader Robert Jeffress said this afternoon he does not believe Mitt Romney is a Christian. http://politi.co/r1kNry[/q
SOURCE: http://twitter.com/#!/POLITICO2012
Also Tweeted by Politico:
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Rick Perry does not believe that Mormonism is a cult, his campaign said Friday. http://politi.co/nbGTJu
I don't understand why this is big news. Mormonism is very, very different from Christianity.
They're playing the Mormon card. Things are going to get ugly.
begorrrrahhh an' shades of the wise generation who voted for JFK, Al Smith & thah Purple Shamrock up here,
someone PLEASE DON'T PLAY the Mormon card like this thusly, these fools by blowback almost elect Mr. Mitt!
The Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints was founded on the notion that the original Church of Christ which existed during the time of Jesus Christ and the 12 apostles up until some time after his death. God removed his authority from the earth after that time and the gospel became cloudy and tainted by man and rulers (i.e. Catholicism). While the Reformation may have been an intelligent acknowledgement of this and no doubt influential in moving people over to the new world where they could practice their religion freely, the truth had not been restored to the earth yet by a true Prophet. This is key. Joseph Smith is believe to be a Prophet and restored the original Church of Jesus Christ back to the earth.
Holy Trinity
Mormons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three distinct beings who are "one in purpose"
Christians: Father, Son and Holy Spirit are of the "same substance"; three persons in one being
Original Sin
Mormons: Doesn't exist
Christians: Exists
Scripture
Mormons: For Latter-day Saints the canon remains open.
Christians: the Old and New Testament is the inexhaustible source of Christian belief. The Canon is closed.
Those three are substantial differences.
Also, while honoring the Virgin Mary, Latter-day Saints have no equivalent of the doctrines of the immaculate conception, perpetual virginity, and bodily assumption of Mary.
Mormons are Christians. I lived with Mormons for quite a while when I was in foster care. They believe some wacky things but they ARE christians. Protestant faiths all differ in one way or another.
You can worship Christ all you want, but that does not automatically make you a Christian. There is much more to being a Christian than worshiping Christ. Worshiping means nothing if you don't understand Christ's teachings and accept Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit as the Holy Trinity.
Popping popcorn for this discussion.
Their cosmology is kind of wacky, but not any wackier than Adam and Eve eating soul-damning fruit, Moses parting the red sea, or Noah having two of every animal on his Ark.
So yeah I agree, Mormons are Christians. They aren't different enough to say they are as different from Christianity as Muslims are from Christianity.
Does it matter what we think? It's pretty clear that the Republican religious right thinks Mormon are evil cultists.
My opinion:
Semantics and extremely insignificant.
-WikipediaQuote:
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons (Greek: ὑποστάσεις)[1]: the Father, the Son(Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial (Greek: ὁμοούσιοι). Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being (Greek: οὐσία).[2] The Trinity is considered to be a mystery of Christian faith.[3]
According to this doctrine, God exists as three persons but is one God, meaning that God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have exactly the same nature or being as God the Father in every way.[4] Whatever attributes and power God the Father has, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have as well.[4] "Thus, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are also eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinitely wise, infinitely holy, infinitely loving, omniscient."[4]
The definition of the trinity as three divine persons that co-exist in unity and purpose.. The only difference I see between the two is that someone who believes in the trinity will say to the person who doesn't, "NO!! They aren't separate.. I mean they are, but they aren't!"
LDS opinion:
Joseph Smith saw God AND Jesus when they appeared to him, God proclaimed that it was his son that was standing there.
Biblical references:
Quote:
John 20:17
King James Version (KJV)
17Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
Quote:
Acts 7:55-56
King James Version (KJV)
55But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
56And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
John 17:5,11,20-26; Matt 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22.
Ya, see, Mormons believe that a baby who dies before the age of 8 automatically goes to the Celestial Kingdom, which is the highest kingdom in heaven. A non-Mormon Christian believes that if they aren't baptized they go to Hell. I'm not Mormon, but if I had to choose I'd go with the Mormons on this one. I have a hard time believing that if God exists he is sending all the starving babies in Africa to hell, but if you want to believe that, feel free to.
Look, all I'm saying is that to me, the collective label of "Christian" should apply to Mormons, the same way it applies to Catholics, Baptists, Greek Orthodox and what not. I realize I may be in the minority, but to me putting Christ as a central figure in your worldview, makes you a Christian.
It's not just that he's a central figure, but THE central figure, THE Lord and Savior of mankind. They believe Christ took on our sins.
The differences are so minute, Christians who blow them up are just scared of losing people to the LDS faith because they are the fastest growing religion and their religions are losing people to the LDS faith all the time. It's really strategic, if anything. I guess it all comes down to $$ and power.
When unravelling such things, though I am not myself Orthodox, I tend to look to what they have to say, given that their theology has remained consistent for the longest stretch of time.
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Mormonism
If Christ is a god, and they worship him, the existence of potentially billions of other gods puts them more in the Hindu camp than close to anything resembling Christianity.Quote:
the Orthodox Church clearly teaches that the Most Holy Trinity has always existed precisely as one God: "the Trinity, One in Essence, and Undivided." Mormonism, on the other hand, teaches that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one in "purpose" only, and most emphatically not one in essence or hypostasis (as the Orthodox Church teaches). They are three "gods," say the Mormons, and not "one" in anything except a common purpose and mindset. Furthermore, say they, there are potentially billions of "gods" beyond the three they acknowledge as belonging to this world. All of this is diametrically opposed to Orthodox Christian teaching.
Quote:
In the Pearl of Great Price, "Book of Moses" 4:1-4 and "Book of Abraham" 3:27, Mormonism's god explains that in the "preexistence," he asked for a volunteer to serve as the savior of humankind. Two of his "spirit-sons," Jesus and Lucifer, obliged. Lucifer wanted to compel all humans to follow God, while Jesus insisted on the right of each person to choose for themselves. When "Elohim" chose Jesus over Lucifer, say the Mormons, Lucifer rebelled and was cast out of heaven with his followers. They were deprived of all chance to receive a fleshly body, and thus barred from any chance at "godhood."
The June 1986 Ensign, official magazine of the LDS Church, affirmed the teaching that Christ and Satan are, indeed, "spirit brothers"--albeit diametrically opposed "brothers."
All of these teachings, needless to say, are emphatically rejected by the Orthodox Church.
Mormonism apparently teaches that Jesus and Satan are brothers.
Hey, Mormons are free to refer to themselves as Christian. And Christians are just as free to say they aren't.Quote:
Mormons have a very difficult time understanding why Orthodox and other Christians deny that they are Christian. The simplest answer to this question is that the Mormon god is simply not God--at least not the God worshipped by Orthodox Christians (and other Trinitarians). This does not mean that the Mormons are necessarily immoral or wicked people, simply that they worship a god completely dissimilar from the Christian Trinity.
The Orthodox are among the most theologically shutting-you-out bunch out there... and if they're going to cuddle up with protestants and Catholics over this issue and shut out Mormons.... well that says something.
I can't speak for any protestant denomination, but the Catholic Church does not believe unbaptized infants go straight to hell. We have faith in God's mercy and entrust Him to save those children who have died without the opportunity to be cleansed of the original sin.
Quote:
As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them," allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism.