Interesting Questions and Clarifications

Some of you may have seen the list of 21 questions that the Mormon church offered answers to on FOXNews.com.  I found it interesting that there were more than 21 questions posed, but these are the 21 questions that the Mormons felt were worthy of answering.  Makes me wonder what the other questions are.  What struck me is that they repeated themselves too much, made sure that the answers sounded Christian enough, and really (to me it seemed) tried to answer things in a misleading way.  If you can't be straightforward about your doctrine, then you have problems.  I found it interesting that in their attempt to sound like Protestant Christianity, they really failed in my opinion.  What scares me is that people that do not know their own beliefs within Protestant Christianity or those who have a misunderstanding of Protestant Christianity will read those answers and think that Mormons are not part of a cult.  I especially liked the postmodern definition of "cult."  I would encourage persons within the Christian community to realize what is not talked about -- the Holy Spirit was left out of each answer.  I know that they claim to believe in the Trinity and Holy Spirit, but that person of the Godhead was not mentioned.  Additionally, Jesus was created instead of co-eternal in the answers that they provided.  They mention that Jesus is immortal, but they leave out that He is, always was, and always will be.  All things were created by Him, and to Him, and through Him.  He is the Word.

Today I ran across another blog that clarified the Mormons' answers to the questions.  I would definitely suggest reading both since the Mormon faith will be a topic of conversation at least a little while longer while Romney is in the running for president.  What impressed me about Rob Bowmans additional information and clarifications was that he pointed out how the answers were misleading or lacking essential information to be a true representation of what the Mormons believe.  

Why is it important to study God?

This past weekend I picked up a book that I bought a while back and started to read, but put down probably to read another book that interested me more. As I began to read the book again, I quickly became overwhelmed with different terms used to describe various views of God and His interaction with man. So overwhelmed that I found myself wondering whether it would be beneficial to continue reading the book, especially since there are many others that I have not read and that definitely look easier to read.

The more I thought about it, the more important I realized it is for me to continue reading the book. I think that one reason is that too many people who label themselves as Christians or Evangelicals or who even claim to believe in the same God I do even though they do not call themselves Christians do not understand who my God, the God of traditional orthodox Christianity is. Unfortunately, I often do not understand enough about their view of God or my own view of God to be able to carry on an intelligent conversation where I can start at the point of disagreement instead of having them try to convince me based on the points of agreement. Over the past several weeks, I read the debate between Mohler and Card (mentioned in a previous blog I believe), and I realized that the only way that Mohler was able to distinguish Mormonism from Christianity was by pointing out the differences. This took a knowledge of what Mormons believe about Jesus. However, it also took knowledge about what Christians believe about Jesus and knowing the issues that we refuse to compromise on. Of course this knowledge must be obtained somehow, and I believe it is by studying the Bible and allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us about God through Scripture. It is only then that we are able to read the words of other men and know that they speak truth when describing God.

Anyway, I think that I am embarking upon an interesting journey during which I hope to learn about the areas that modern (or postmodern) man with his worldly wisdom is seeking to make God Almighty, Creator of the universe, Savior and Redeemer, Sovereign Lord into something or someone that God is not. Maybe this will prepare me to respond to people who attack who God is. It will definitely enable me to better understand the points of difference. So in conclusion I think that it will enable me to be better prepared to give a defense.

Are Mormons Christian?

Recently I have been reading a series of blogs that are supposed to be a back and forth discussion between Dr. Albert Mohler (president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) and Orson Scott Card (some science fiction author and a Mormon) debating whether Mormons are Christian. As most of you are aware, Mitt Romney, who appears to be one of the top three leading candidates for president in the Republican Party, is a Mormon, and his openness about his faith has led to quite a bit of debate on the issue of whether Mormons are Christians. The debate can be found here http://blog.beliefnet.com/blogalogue/.

Well, I decided I wanted to weigh in on the issue. I think that the only religious systems that can call themselves Christians are those who believe in the historic Jesus Christ, as portrayed in the Bible from Genesis to Revelations. This means that you have to believe in the deity of Christ, understand redemptive history as revealed throughout Scripture, and believe in substitutionary attonement. From the little that I know about Mormonism, they do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, making Him 100% God but also 100% man (a concept that is difficult for our minds to comprehend, which is where faith comes in). They think of Jesus as Savior, but from what I know (and I might be wrong), they believe Jesus' did not save us by taking on our sins on the cross and dying in our place (accepting the punishment for our sins), and/or He wasn't resurrected (which shows the completeness and sufficiency of the sacrifice, and therefore, is one of those issues that defines Christianity). Also, I believe that to be considered a Christian religion, the religion must believe in the Trinity. Although many claim that the concept of the Trinity is not found in Scripture or laid out for us in the Bible, clearly those persons have not read Ephesians (although Mormonism probably doesn't teach the writings of Paul because they also clearly mark out the deity and humanity of Christ and substitutionary atonement). Ephesians starts out by laying out the role of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in salvation. Throughout, Paul teaches the different roles of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in dealing with the Church (invisible church, that is) and building of the body of Christ.

It is so important for Christian (and now I am talking true Christian churches, and not Mormons) churches to teach issues of doctrine so that we know what to look for in other churches claiming Christianity, such as the Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses. We need to be grounded in our view of Christ, and know why it is important to believe what we believe. I am saddened as I read some of the comments that think just because the Mormon church uses "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" or whatever the name is, is Christian because it contains the words "Jesus Christ." Others think the Mormon church is Christian because they say Jesus is Savior. That is not the test. We need to learn who Christ is through study of God's Word so that we can recognize Him. As part of the Christian church, we need to contend for THE FAITH, which means that our opinions will not always be accepted in our world that touts tolerance. I admire men like Dr. Mohler who are willing to stand up against popular opinion to point out the truth to a world that does not believe in truth.