Seriously. It is hard to imagine being less popular. We’ve often joked that we are on Mormon and Jehovah’s Witness “do not call” lists, because I’m glad to take the time to visit with them when they come to my door.
But this was different. Some Mormon neighbors were having a Christmas party and put in a plug for the missionaries they were hosting. I introduced myself, told them where we lived and said, “We should talk.” They were excited at the time, but never came by. Hmmmmmm . . .
These folks are notoriously hard to convert, but if they are going to come to you then you might as well be equipped to offer some brief challenges to them. You never know how God might use your efforts to save someone – especially when one of their pair is usually a junior member who hasn’t been in the cult as long. Worst-case scenario: You keep them from telling their falsehoods to one of your neighbors.
More importantly, you and your loved ones should know the basics of why these are cults. It is easier to play defense (keeping people out of false religions) than offense (converting them away from false religions). Far too many people, including some of their members, think they are just different Christian denominations.
My standard approach with Jehovah’s Witnesses is to focus like a friendly pit pull on a couple things: First, their Bible’s mistranslation of John 1:1 (“a God” instead of “God,” as all the ancient manuscripts say). They will try to change the subject but I keep bringing them back in the most polite ways. With so much evidence regarding what the originals said, why would their Bible get it wrong?
Then I offer them literature, knowing they aren’t allowed to take it. I emphasize how my religion — Christianity — tells me to test everything and hold onto the good, and to test everything in light of scripture (1 Thessalonians 5:21, Acts 17:11) . Hopefully it plants a seed that they are in a cult that won’t let them examine alternative views.
With Mormons, I focus on Galatians 1:8-9. I ask if their Gospel is the same as Paul’s. If yes, then the rest of their works are redundant. If no, then I should immediately reject it.
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Missionary Adoniram Judson said this (read these words carefully):
A life once spent is irrevocable. It will remain to be contemplated for eternity. The same may be said of each day. When it is once past, it is gone forever. All the marks which we put upon it, will exhibit forever. Each day will not only be a witness of our conduct, but will affect our everlasting destiny. How shall we then wish to see each day marked with usefulness? It is too late to mend the days that are past. The future is in our power. Let us then each morning resolve to spend the day into eternity in such a garb as we shall wish it to wear forever. And at night, let us reflect that one more day is irrevocably gone indelibly marked.
But the kicker is this statement contained in the bill:
“SECTION 1. Section 221.5 of the Education Code is amended to read:”
“(f) A pupil shall be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and facilities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.”
In other words, any boy who claims he is a girl, even though he is anatomically still a boy, would be allowed to use the same locker rooms and showers that the girls use. On the opposite side, a girl claiming to be a boy but is still anatomically a girl would be allowed to shower with all the boys. They don’t even have to be undergoing any form of sex change therapy, just say they are the opposite sex from what they really are and they can parade around in all their glory in either locker room or shower.
That is what you get from Democrats in California.
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My Apology to Mormon Readers — a devastating critique. All Mormons should read this. I believe in religious freedom and appreciate the general pro-life / pro-family views of Mormons, but by their own words Mormons are not Christians.
I am sorry that the science of genetics has refuted claims made in the Book of Mormon concerning the relationship between Native Americans and Semitic people. These refutations undermine the entire historical premise of the Book of Mormon.
I am also sorry that while archeological discovery supports the claims of the Bible it clearly does not support the claims of the Book of Mormon. Battles that were supposed to have occurred in specific locations in North America simply never took place. The archeological evidence just isn’t there.
I am sorry about the plagiarism of the Holy Bible that runs through the Book of Mormon. I am sorry that Mormons cannot see that Joseph Smith’s refusal to reveal the golden tablets is strong evidence of their nonexistence. The heavy plagiarism in the Book of Mormon puts the lie to the rest of the story of Smith, the former seeker of the lost treasures of Captain Kidd.
I am sorry that my Mormon readers have put all their eggs in one basket by constantly writing to me quoting Matthew 7:16. So I am sorry that I must now apply that verse to the very first Mormon.
I am sorry that among the 33 well-documented plural wives of Joseph Smith, there were close to a dozen unions in which the wife was already married to another man.
Every time you hear or read about the George Zimmerman trial, ask why equal time wasn’t spent on the Kermit Gosnell trial. Which had more dead bodies? Which were cold-blooded killings? Which had deliberate and consistent breakdowns in government oversight that allowed the crimes to continue? And so on.
A friend’s Facebook status about refuting the false doctrine of purgatory reminded me of this post. Key line from below: If anyone teaches a method of salvation based on Jesus Plus (i.e., his sacrifice plus your good deeds, or purgatory or whatever else) or Jesus Minus (i.e., “Jesus is one way, but other religions are just as good”) then you have a heresy on your hands.
Let’s just keep it all Jesus, all the time, OK people?
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One of the errors of Mormonism is in 2 Nephi 25:23, which reads, “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” [emphasis added]
That sounds humble enough. It makes it appear that we are saved by grace and the sacrifice of Jesus. It sounds like the Bible, but there is a big difference. Look more carefully and see what really saves you:
You do all you can, and you are saved by grace.
You don’t do all you can, so you are not saved.
So what is the difference between the two? It is ultimately about what you do, not about what Jesus did. In that case, it isn’t grace that saves you, it is your works.
The key word is “after,” and the phrasing is clear. And after all, Joseph Smith said the Book of Mormon is the “most perfect book in the world,” so that wording must be accurate, right? And every Mormon I have talked to acknowledges that the works are required for salvation.
If anyone teaches a method of salvation based on Jesus Plus (i.e., his sacrifice plus your good deeds, or purgatory or whatever else) or Jesus Minus (i.e., “Jesus is one way, but other religions are just as good”) then you have a heresy on your hands.
And while this isn’t the reason that being saved by grace through faith is true, consider which is better news:
Having to rely on your efforts with no assurance of salvation (Mormonism and other works-based religions)
Knowing that Jesus did it all for you and you just need to repent and believe in him (Christianity alone)
This is the truly good news. Take it from someone who has not “done all he can!”
Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Yes, I’m familiar with James 2:20 (You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?). Of course real faith will produce real deeds. But as the Ephesians passage makes clear, it goes like this:
Real faith in the real Jesus = real salvation followed by real works
Faith in the wrong Jesus + lots of good deeds done out of pride = still spiritually dead
False faith + works = still spiritually dead
Courtesy of Ms. Green, here is a list of requirements to be saved in the LDS view:
Step #1:Have faith in Christ
Step #2:Be repentant
Step #3: Be baptized by the LDS Church
Step #4: Receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands from a member of the Melchizedek priesthood
Step #5: Males are ordained into the Melchizedek Priesthood
Step #6: Receive temple endowments
Step #7: Participate in celestial marriage
Step #8: Observe the word of wisdom
Step #9: Sustain the prophet
Step #10: Tithe
Step #11: Attend sacrament meetings
Step #12: Obey the church
Oddly enough, while the LDS church and Christianity preach a different Jesus and a different Gospel, on paper orthodox Christians have more in common with Mormons than with theologically liberal Christians – a high view of scripture, pro-life, pro-family, pro-Jesus is the only way, and more.
But they teach a false, works-based gospel. I know that many will not escape from there, but I pray that few new people join.
Oddly, countless people will get up even earlier than usual on a day off to fight traffic and massive crowds to save a few dollars, yet are shocked — shocked!, I say — to learn that corporations will shift jobs to equally effective countries to reduce their taxes by more than half. Or that if you raise taxes that people — even politicans! — might change their behavior to avoid them.
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Are Non-Mormons Considered Christians by the LDS [Mormons]? — Short answer: No. They started marketing themselves as a Christian denomination a few decades ago but they don’t really believe it. Glenn offers a big pile of evidence in their own words.
It isn’t only a matter of Hostess being forced to pay extravagant salaries for menial labor. There is also lunacy like this:
“The snack giant endured $52 million in workers’ comp claims in 2011, according to its bankruptcy filing this January. Hostess’s 372 collective-bargaining agreements required the company to maintain 80 different health and benefit plans, 40 pension plans and mandated a $31 million increase in wages and health care and other benefits for 2012.
Union work rules usually required cake and bread products to be delivered to a single retail location using two separate trucks. Drivers weren’t allowed to load their own vehicles, and the workers who loaded bread weren’t allowed to load cake. On most delivery routes, another “pull up” employee moved products from back rooms to shelves.”
It’s amazing that Hostess managed to sell Twinkies for less than $20 apiece — but still more amazing that anyone thinks bailing out industries rotted through with unionization (e.g., the auto industry) won’t lead to national bankruptcy in the end.
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Teachers face termination for refusing to promote gay marriage — Coming soon to a country near you. We’ve been warning for years that legal recognition of “same-sex marriage” would necessarily reduce the freedoms of speech, religion and parental rights.
First, “I regret my abortion” is the easiest pro-life pitch to refute. That is, all the other side has to do is put up a woman who says, “I don’t regret mine.”
Second, a heavy emphasis on post-abortion testimonies often works against the Christian tradition. Christianity entails confessing your sins, then forgetting them in light of the grace given us. . . .
Third, there’s a plausible danger that subjective testimonies will dictate pro-life policy. For example, I’ve seen some (by no means, all) post-abortion pro-lifers object to graphic depictions of abortion on grounds that the images are mean-spirited. Never mind that pictures work; all that matters is that we not make people feel bad. . . .
Finally, how do the husbands feel? In most cases, post-abortion testimonies involve a previous relationship, not a current spouse. If the wife’s ministry centers on retelling what she did with her ex, how does that help the current marriage relationship move forward and flourish?
The Christian gospel is the fantastic news that God the Father declares guilty sinners righteous in virtue of another–the sinless Lamb of God. Isn’t it time we focused more on that blessed declaration and less on our own canceled sins?
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From the “I am not making this up” department, the new Massachusetts Highway Safety Department leader has had 34 issues on her driving record.
Given the outrageous hypocrisy of our liberal rulers — who govern by the motto, “Do as I say, not as I do” — it would be hard to imagine a better bureauweenie to head the Massachusetts Highway Safety Department than Sheila Burgess:
[C]onnections [with the likes of Hanoi John Kerry] helped her secure her $87,000-per-year government job even though she had no experience in the field of highway safety.
Her personal experience with traffic violations, however, are extensive.
[The Boston Globe] reports that she has had 34 different entries on her driving record since 1982.
Those charges vary, and include four speeding violations and two instances where she refused to stop for a police officer. There are single counts of times when she was cited for not having her license or registration in her possession, not staying in her lane, and not wearing a seat belt.
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If they are consistent, those making the pro-abortion “parasite” / bodily autonomy argument would judge this woman not guilty of any crime or moral wrong as long as she slit the infant’s throat and stabbed her before the umbilical cord was cut or while she was breast feeding.
Cassandra Elyse Norwood cut the throat of her newborn son almost immediately after giving birth two weeks ago in her eastside Athens home, according to Athens-Clarke police arrest warrants.
The death was apparently premeditated, according to the warrant, which states that Norwood “did unlawfully and with malice aforethought cause the death of Baby Norwood … by cutting the throat of the infant and stabbing it in the abdomen almost immediately after it was born.”
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Sad Elmo’s Very Bad Week — too bad for Kevin Clash (the voice of Elmo on taxpayer-funded Sesame Street) that these allegations didn’t come out until a few years from now when the moral freaks on the Left will have made the case to the public that pedophile homosexuals were “born that way.”
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Obamacare: Tales from the front lines — I urge people to take note of these examples and share them. It will only get worse as more of it gets implemented.
A Physician’s New Reality Under ObamaCare: Patients Ask Me to Break the Law…
..there is the “annual ” or “preventative” exam, which according to Obamacare is “free” …
What they did not tell you, and I am, is that it covers absolutely nothing more than the bare minimum.
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Here’s another one: Obamacare hits academia — You’ll have a tough time suppressing the schadenfruede.
Normally it would be highly inappropriate to guffaw at the fate of those who will be thrown out of work or have their hours dramatically cut as a result of ObamaCare. But considering that the percentage of academics who voted for Obama is probably in the 90s, an exception can be made for this:
“Pennsylvania’s Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) is slashing the hours of 400 adjunct instructors, support staff, and part-time instructors to dodge paying for Obamacare.
“It’s kind of a double whammy for us because we are facing a legal requirement [under the new law] to get health care and if the college is reducing our hours, we don’t have the money to pay for it,” said adjunct biology professor Adam Davis.”
Great piece by Randy Alcorn highlighting the many false beliefs of Mormons (and why they aren’t part of the Christian church) and why he will vote for Romney over Obama.
Yes, their doctrines really do teach these things, even if many of their newer members don’t realize it:
God was once a man like us.
God has a tangible body of flesh and bone.
God lives on a planet near the star Kolob… The sun receives its light from the star Kolob.
God the “Heavenly Father” has at least one wife, our “Mother in Heaven,” but she is so holy that we are not to discuss her.
Jesus was married.
There are many gods, ruling over their own worlds.
We can become like God and one day rule over our own universes.
Jesus and Satan (“Lucifer”) are spirit brothers, and they are our brothers—we are all spirit children of Heavenly Father
Jesus Christ was conceived by God the Father by having sex with Mary, who was temporarily his wife.
Before coming to this earth we lived as spirits in a “pre-existence”, during which we were tested; our position in this life (whether born to Mormons or savages, or in America or Africa) is our reward or punishment for our obedience in that life.
The Garden of Eden was in Missouri. All humanity before the Great Flood lived in the western hemisphere. The Ark transported Noah and the other survivors to the eastern hemisphere.
If a Gentile becomes Mormon, the Holy Ghost actually purges his Gentile blood and replaces it with Israelite blood.
A righteous Mormon will actually see the face of God in the Mormon temple.
But as Alcorn notes, you should still vote for Romney. Obama displays no fruit of Christianity and he is a pro-abortion zealot, incompetent with economics, appoints bad judges, is trampling religious freedoms and is a lousy leader.
I’m with Randy, and Martin Luther:
Christians are not needed for secular authority. Thus it is not necessary for the emperor to be a saint. It is not necessary for him to be a Christian to rule. It is sufficient for the emperor to possess reason.
It isn’t much consolation, but in a sense Olive Goom didn’t die alone. Bureaucrats have told general practitioners to cut expenses by putting 1% of patients on the “death list.” Yes I’m serious:
GPs have been asked to select one in every 100 of their patients to go on a list of those likely to die over the next 12 months.
The patients will be singled out for ‘end-of-life care’, potentially saving the NHS more than £1billion a year.
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Parents support abstinence education — Almost 60% of Democrats and more than 70% of Republicans oppose President Obama’s efforts to eliminate all funding for Sexual Risk Avoidance Abstinence Education.
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Yes, Obama was taught to destroy the middle class. If you have never heard of Saul Alinsky then you probably don’t know about Obama’s worldview. This is one of those “so bizarre that people wouldn’t believe it” things, but the data is all there. The media just isn’t telling people about it.
Let’s see, it is really bad that Romney is wealthy via his hard work and business skills, but it wasn’t bad that John Kerry was really rich because he married someone who inherited wealth from someone who worked hard. No class warfare here, folks. Just move along.
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It was bizarre how Obama said that gas prices were low under Bush because the economy was bad and are high now because the economy is supposedly good. How can his followers believe that?
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Despite what the President said, Planned Parenthood still doesn’t do mammograms. But he’ll repeat what he knows to be a lie to advance the “war on womyn” meme and the media will talk about Romney’s shoes or something. Romney and his supporters should continually remind people that Obama & Co. are forcing pro-lifers to pay for abortions. That isn’t pro-choice, that’s pro-abortion, and even most pro-choicers oppose that.
Global warming ended . . . 16 years ago — it is sad how many people still believe the Leftist meme about how it is real and how humans are causing it, and how the only solution is for us to redistribute wealth and take a major reduction in our standard of living (but oddly enough, the leaders get to keep all their stuff).
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Tar pit shows complete absence of evolutionary change — false predictions from Darwinism. Again. Ask yourself if the media gave equal time to this compared to recent fossil finds that allegedly supported evolution (then quietly went off to obscurity).
Comedian Jon Lovitz mugged by reality — twice! — First, he felt betrayed by Obama’s class warfare and lies. Then he found out how “tolerant” his liberal fans were of opposing viewpoints. Ouch.
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Great video on why Christianity is true and Islam is not.
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Obama’s creepy composite character, “Julia,” and her cradle-to-grave consumption of other people’s money should make even Liberals realize how ridiculous his government-will-solve-all-your-problems worldview is. But alas, discernment seems to be at an all-time low.
By her mid-twenties, Julia is a litigious member of the workforce suing for equal wages while hard working Americans subsidize her. She has her fatherless child and for twenty years drops off the map. That’s the most curious part — that and the fact that this paragon of Obama’s liberal America has no documented abortions and was not herself aborted.
James Taranto at the Wall Street Journalpoints out “[t]hat period includes the typical peak earning years–the time at which, assuming Julia is gainfully employed, she will be paying the biggest price for “Obama’s” generosity.” We know nothing of her time during those key years. Perhaps they were of little consequence because her whole adult working life was spent paying for the benefits of those who came after her.
That is the key. There is no mention of cost, no mention of debt, and no mention of tax burden for Julia. She receives everything and gives nothing. What is Julia’s fair share? In retirement, Barack Obama claims social security helps her live comfortably. Really? It boggles the mind.
This is Barack Obama’s vision of America — a welfare state from cradle to grave where parents and spouses are not needed because you have a federal government there for you the whole way from the delivery room to the death panel.
Here’s a good spoof (hat tip: Matthew from Facebook)
This blogger will note a few other telling problems with Julia’s life: no where does it mention where this money is coming from. It assumes that social security will be available into the indefinite future, which is plainly erroneous. It also assumes that income-based repayment for college will exist throughout Julia’s life, which is also erroneous (explanation to follow shortly). Julia has a sexy job as a web designer, but it never mentions that any old college major won’t qualify her for that job, nor does it say that she eschewed the liberal arts in favour of computer science. Julia has a baby at age 31 but still needs more government help than my parents did when they were in their very early 20s. No where does Julia turn to charity, participate in charity or her community (except for a community garden, which is helpful only to those in her nice, middle-class area), go to church, or do many other things that normal Americans do. It never said, “Julia’s Catholic Church shut itself down rather than pay for abortion drugs, so she was left to say her rosary at home.” No mention is made of how Julia’s one child, and, by extension, everyone’s precious one baby, can pay for Social Security for their parents.
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More reality from Roxanne as she nails the upside-down nature of Obamacare:
The only way that ObamaCare can control costs (and not reduce them, see above), is to ration care. We’ll eventually all have “free” doctor’s visits but be denied life-saving treatment, which is the exact opposite result that you want for insurance, which is supposed to cover the really expensive things you can’t pay for yourself. It would be like homeowner’s insurance that covers a leaky faucet for free but doesn’t give you a cent if your house burns down.
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Some good pro-life news: Georgia becomes 6th state to protect pain-capable preborn children. That’s progress, but even if someone doesn’t feel pain it is still immoral to kill her because she’s unwanted. Pain-free killing is still killing. If we really love our neighbors we’ll fight abortion.
So today, let’s acknowledge that words are indeed important. Let’s follow the lead of our friends on the progressive left. Let’s agree that “illegal alien” is inaccurate, insufficient, and possibly charged with interplanetary racism.
Today, let’s begin using the far more accurate and race-neutral term of criminal entrant.
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Black Teen Run Off the Liberal Plantation — fascinating story about a teenager who dared to write about the similarities of slave-owner mentality and those who rule her schools. Monopolists don’t like to give up their power! Oddly, she hasn’t received a call from the President.
And see Rewriting History, where Stan exposes the many myths about which political party has really helped black people.
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California apparently solved all their financial problems, so they are branching out. Now the anti-choice zealots want to take away the rights of people who want to leave the LGBTQX lifestyles. Stan has a good analysis. Apparently all the stories of change from places like this must be lies, because the State of California said they couldn’t be true.
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The non-virgin Virgin Mary of Mormonism — very thorough analysis of one of the many foundational errors of Mormonism. Chock full of facts and quotes you won’t be hearing from the young men knocking on your door.
General Electric: $14,000,000,000 in profits, 57,000 page tax return, zero taxes paid.
The sole purpose of corporate taxation is that it allows for Big Government “picking winners and losers,” as Paul Ryan puts it. Not even corporations that lack GE’s cozy relationship with the Obama Regime pay the taxes themselves; all costs are passed along to customers. In any case, the government’s main source of income is Ben Bernanke’s metaphorical printing press. The tax that actually produces the most revenue is inflation, a means of taxing every penny in your pocket.
The point of our tax code is to allow bureaucrats to “reward our friends and punish our enemies,” to use Obama’s phrase. Otherwise, corporations would devote their resources to hiring, cutting costs, and producing better products rather than to bribing the leeches in Washington.
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“Attacked by tolerance.” Not coming soon to the mainstream media near you. These would be front-page “hate crimes” if done in the other direction. I expect this hypocrisy from the pro-LGBTQX groups, but not from those claiming the name of Christ who aid, abet and encourage them. I pray that they all repent and believe.
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This is a great video by those upset that Obama is taking all the credit for killing Bin Laden.
Romney was not on my list of desirable Republican candidates, but I’ll still vote for him. Why? Because the lesser of two evils is less evil. And the current President puts forth truly evil and destructive policies.
It is interesting to see how the media and the fake Christians were quick to defend attacks on Romney’s faith when they were trying to help him win the Republican nomination but are subtly and not-so-subtly attacking his faith now. Hypocrites.
Mormons aren’t Christians, but I have a lot more in common with them politically than I do with Leftist (read: fake) denominations like Obama’s apostate UCC. Mormons are pro-life and pro-family. Romney will spend far less than Obama.
And remember, we haven’t seen the worst of Obama. If he wins again he’ll be even more unrestrained than when he pushed through the un-Constitutional Obamacare, arbitrarily decided not to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, took over General Motors to give $$ to the unions, and so much more.
Most importantly, the next President will get to appoint a couple of justices to the Supreme Court, which will swing the court to the good or the very bad for decades.
Since Mormonism is back in the news I thought I’d share the post below. The “still not Christians” part of the title is sure to offend, but words mean things. Short version: The Mormon Jesus is not the same as the Christian Jesus, so we don’t have the same religion.
They come to my door trying to convert me because they think I have the wrong religion. But that doesn’t offend me. I know we’re different. I would expect anyone who thinks they have the proper view of God, salvation and the world to want to persuade others to their way of thinking (and shame on Christians who have no such desire to do that, whether by doing it themselves or supporting others who do so).
Also see Mormonism 101 for a terrific overview of that religion. It doesn’t say why they are wrong and Christianity is right, it just gives a thorough and accurate history and overview of Mormonism — thus highlighting why Mormonism is not just another Christian denomination.
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A Mormon on a now-defunct blog wrote the following after I pointed out how it is frustrating for them to play the “We’re Christians, too” card while simultaneously trying to save us via their worldview. I really appreciated his candor, especially in contrast to the kind of responses I got on Part I.
I can see that we do double speak, trying to stand on both sides of the line and often feint ignorance until called out. I found my self doing it with that last post. I almost took the polyandry references out because I wanted to protect other LDS readers who I know are following this conversation. I realize that I have this knowledge and my tendency is to hide it from less informed members of my faith. Ultimately I decided to leave it in and that is in large part due to reading your criticisms in other places and not wanting to be apart of this legitimate frustration.
I fully understand that as a Mormon, I am dishonest if I try to make our doctrines sound the same as yours so that we can get along better. They are different and I know that. When bloggers say, “Billy Mormon would never talk bad about your beliefs” it is just silly. By definition, our church proclaims that yours is wrong. We send out missionaries to say other churches are wrong, come be baptized here instead. I saw these types of comments and I recognize them for what they are.
What he wrote was the opposite of what many Mormons have said on this blog and elsewhere. I realize that not all Christians agree on every topic and not all Mormons agree on every topic, but what he addressed was obviously related to the essentials of their faith. So if Mormons don’t agree with him then one of you isn’t a Mormon (or at least one of you isn’t well educated in your faith).
Again, kudos to him for his honesty. That goes a long way towards having productive dialogues. It doesn’t bother me if people disagree with me, but I don’t like to waste time with folks who insist that they agree and disagree with me at the same time on the same subject.
P.S. I think this is one of the items we were discussing at the time:
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 150: “When our father Adam came to the garden of Eden he came into it with a celestial body, and he brought eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world.
He is Michael, the archangel the ancient of days, about whom holy men have written and spoken he is our father and our god and the only god with whom we have to do.”
Those are irreconcilable differences in who God is and how the world works. Different God. Different creation narrative. Adam = God and Michael ??!! You can’t even get out of Genesis 1 without seeing the clear differences, let alone John 1 or countless other passages.
Make no mistake: I view Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons as cults and think that their followers are not saved. And religions like Islam are false. But think about how much closer they are to authentic Christianity than theologically liberal “Christians.”
Islam believes that Jesus was born of a virgin. They say the word of God can’t be corrupted. Mormons and JW’s will speak very highly of the accuracy and inspiration of the Bible. They believe that Jesus performed miracles. All those groups tend to be pro-life and pro-real marriage. Mormons will tell you that Jesus is the only way to salvation. And on and on.
Most theologically liberal “Christians” believe none of those things. They are so far removed from the truth of Christianity that they make cults and false religions look downright orthodox.
Again, those who die in the belief systems of cults and non-Christian religions will go to Hell. I am just pointing out how theologically liberal “Christianity” is even farther removed from the truth than they are. What makes it especially evil is that it pretends to be the real thing.
Run, don’t walk, from theologically liberal “Christians.”
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
One of the errors of Mormonism is in 2 Nephi 25:23, which reads, “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” [emphasis added]
Eternity Matters 