Mormons aren't Christians because...?

[_Jersey Girl]

Okay, I'm going to go along with the OP and answer. Take it or leave it.

Joseph Smith changed the nature of God and God's relationship to man. Richard Bushman, in Rough Stone Rolling, makes mention of this.

It is that change, that makes Moronism not Christian.

And please stop using the phrase, "Mormon's aren't Christians" because any EV worth their salt will tell you that we have no way of knowing and yes, Mormon's can certainly be Christian.

It is un-Biblical to say otherwise.

The only right way to go about this discussion is to compare theology between Mormonism and Christianity, and not compare the people.

So stop it.

You are asking people to read the hearts of others and we can't.

[_Polygamy-Porter]

LDS children are taught to follow the Prophet, not to praise Jesus.

Perhaps by design through 100 years of trial and error to refine LDS child indoctrination to deliver the most retention of adult members.

Praising Jesus is a cinch.

Follow all the prophets including the new ones perhaps has a higher retention result?

[_Jersey Girl]

Porter,

Please post your toll booth analogy. It is perfect for this thread.

TIA,
Jersey Girl

[_ttribe]

Perhaps as part of the recent(in past 20 years) PR push to show how they are Christians. So anyone who professes to believe in Jesus Christ are in fact Christians, even the homosexuals for Jesus church?

Yep. As far as I'm concerned, only Christ, Himself, is qualified to determine who is a Christian and who isn't.

K, fair enough.

However, remember what old Jesus told Joe?

You mean that many of the professors of religion drew near to Him with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him? So?

So then, Mormons claim to be the only true and living Christians.

[sigh] No. No such claim. Only true and living Church, yes. That doesn't preclude others from being Christian, at all. Never has.

The PR spin by LDS HQ is that the rest of the Christian world does not have all of the truth about Christ. Hell, according to Mormons, the other Christian religions barley have Jesus' name right and that's about it.

Talk about a gross oversimplification. But then, hyperbole based in only a granule of truth is your talent.

And for what it's worth, I will keep my name on the role of the church just to piss you off, and keep my sheeps clothing on to hide my ravenous real wolfness while scouring society for weak testimonkeys that I can feast upon!

Why would it piss me off that your name is on the roles?

[_Mudcat]

Hmmm...the names (in the Temple) aren't that unique and are only symbolic of becoming a new person accepted by Christ. They aren't that literal.

So do you think God will call by the name your earthly mother and father gave you or the one you received in your endowment?

If the names aren't literal and un-unique, then what is the point in them actually?

If a Melchizedek priest is supposed to resurrect his spouse by her Temple name rather than the name her parents gave her, then the meaning seems to go well past the symbolic.

[_ttribe]

So do you think God will call by the name your earthly mother and father gave you or the one you received in your endowment?

I have no idea.

If the names aren't literal and un-unique, then what is the point in them actually?

I thought I already stated the point.

If a Melchizedek priest is supposed to resurrect his spouse by her Temple name rather than the name her parents gave her, then the meaning seems to go well past the symbolic.

Why? I think it is very interesting in terms of God's expectations for our role in His work.

[_Hoops]

In fundamentalist Christian terminology

Great. Where are these terms?

non-Christians are bad, immoral people.

Wrong. Spectacularly wrong.

Therefore, since the most irrational anti-Mormon people are usually fundamentalist Christians,

And the evidence you have for this is.... what again?

Mormons take it as an insult. Fundamentalist anti-Mormons have little ammunition, other than calling Mormons non-Christian

Ammunition for what? Describing Mormonism as non-Christian? There's plenty. The Trinity for starters. And that's enough.

[_madeleine]

That seems to diminish the importance of belief in Christ does it not?

No, it's a statement to the effect that we, in the Church, don't believe we are the only Christians on the face of the Earth.

I will never understand how you reconcile this to requiring baptism of Christians in order that they become Mormon. If Mormons believed that others were Christians, there would be no need to baptize someone who has already been baptized.

But I agree with New Jersey Girl. I know many Mormons who do seek to follow Christ. Mormon teaching, however, is not Christian. Beginning with the Trinity. Christians are united in Who God is. Yes, a Catholic and a Baptist believe in the same God: The Holy Trinity. This unity to Christianity does not exist for Mormonism.

[_Polygamy-Porter]

Porter,

Please post your toll booth analogy. It is perfect for this thread.

TIA,
Jersey Girl

OK

First full disclosure, I am for the most part an apathetic atheist. I just don't care what is on the other side, sure I hope for the best, but I am not living my life on the hope of something a man told me.

So the simple story of Christ is that he built a road that goes right back to heaven.

All that you must do is simply walk on this road that Christ built.

Mormons came along and built a toll booth on the side of this road and is saying that everyone must pass through this toll booth and pay to continue on this same road. They have been trying quite unsuccessfully for years(compared to other Christian religion membership counts) to get people to pass through their toll booth.

Based on the very low membership numbers compared to the whole of other Christian church membership numbers, it is obvious that most if not all pass this toll booth with barely a notice.

[_Roger]

Porter:

That's a pretty good analogy. I would simply add that in order to get you to take the toll road, Mormons say it ends up in a much better destination than the other roads... although some of them are "okay."