Mormons are the furthest from Christianity

Mormonism is not only the religion that is furthest from Christianity, it is the religion furthest from any of the monotheistic religions. Mormons believe in an infinite number of Gods. Even atheists are only one God away from monotheism. Anything Mormons have in common with Christians is incidental not definitive. Mormons are not monotheists, and they're certainly not Christians.

 

How is that useful information?

 

Do you measure "furtherness" of religions solely on the number of gods?

Based on five minutes of googling, it seems that "exalted" humans can take a role similar to that of Jesus Christ, and given that Jesus' position is often considered not to be a problem for monotheism (many consider the trinity to be persons "within" God, also in Christianity) that doesn't seem to be that much of a problem.

It seems to me this post is more telling of where you draw the line for what you call Christian than it tells us very much about Mormonism. Mormons follow Christ (even Jesus Christ) and consider him a central point of the religion. They have a god concept in which either "God the Father" can be considered one monotheistic god, or in which the trinity (although that trinity may expand to include more than three people) can be considered god (similarly to how it is in Christianity). I don't have a predefined notion of whether that's enough to call them Christians, but calling it "far" or even "furthest" seems to warrant at least some detailed explanation.

 

I worked 6 months for a large-ish company owned by and primarily made up of Mormons. They're by far the most consistantly Christ-Like people, as a group, of any faith I've yet encountered

True, they are fairly quirky and 'nice' to an uncomfortable extent at times, and I was told by other employees that I would never make management without converting... but as a whole, I was impressed, as a nondenominational Christian myself, with how consistantly they behaved and treated others as Christ told us to.

 

I saw sometimes Mormons in France, I'm impressed by their use of french language, and quite admirative of their devotion to their religion. That does take a lot of conviction to learn another language and being send to the other side of the atlantic.

 

I do not "measure furtherness" solely by the number of gods; however, atheism, monotheism and polytheism are the first points of division.

 

Christlikeness can be found in many people who have not even heard the name of Jesus Christ.

 

Mormons are not monotheists.

 

I mean, I can see how it would often be a first point of division but if the distinction is a technicality of what counts as a god, I could see there being merit in other "points of division" too. I don't see why there has to be a single or canonical concept of furtherness.

So, if we say that number of gods is not the only distinction, what is it that makes Mormonism further from Christianity than, let's say Hinduism or ancestral worship?

 

Ever walk into a Christian bookstore? They have racks of books as to why Christians should hate and fear Mormons. Why? Because Mormonism is
a threat to the Christian money tree - Mormons have a growing flock in an age where most Christian Churches are shrinking.

So there are these occasional drives by Christian Church members to disparage the Mormons. That is what this thread is about.

 

That is very true. But Mormons have. Are you suggesting they are Christlike out of coincidense?

 

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 2 Peter 1:4 KJV

And Paul on Mars Hill to the Athenians: "For in him [the Lord] we live, and move, and have our being; as certain as your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.'" Acts 17:28, Paul alluding to Aratus, Phenomena, 5, in mentioning their Greek poets.

The Mormon doctrine has similarities to the above, and I have read in the Book of Mormon that there is no possible salvation without the sacrifice of Christ. Lots of opaque differences, of course, but much in common at the essential core, which they told me when I first went to church after I got out of the military is "Jesus saves."

While I would not join the Mormon Church I will always come to the aid of a Mormon as any other Christian brother, and have nary an unkind word for them.

 

There is no more fundamental theological disagreement two can have than what "technically what counts as a god".

 

No, out of providence. I don't believe in "coincidence".

 

I do not consider Mormons to be Christians.

 

They caught a Mormon

 

The creation of a new religion fascinates me given a mere lad from the backwoods could somehow write the book of Mormon and it maintain complete coherence from front to back. How did such a young person pull this off unless guided by some very learned scholar ?

The story goes that this lad Smith was directed to some golden tablets in an ancient language and an angel would appear and tranlate it for him to write down.

You would have to read this book to appreciate what a barely educated boy did. Just the book looks to be a miracle.

I have nothing bad to say about these people given all that I have met have been good people and very devoted to this religion .

I figure they are Christian since they also read and believe in the bible.

If we every have a catastrophe the mormons are well prepared for they are required to keep a surplus of food and water and most people dont store up like they do .

 

Mormonism actually makes more sense in a way. Most Christians believe that people either go to heaven and hell. It seems pretty awful to torture the majority of the human population just because they aren't Christians. And why did God even make us sinful weak humans anyway if he is going to have most of us tortured for most of eternity anyway? And why make any sinful human at all, why not make more angels and perfect spirit people? And what exactly do we do in heaven anyway? Just sing praises for God? Its like having a bunch of kids who just live at home and don't really achieve very much. And what is the point with testing us on earth? Its a sick joke when God can just know who is good and who is not.

In Mormonism, this experience on earth is to get your body like God has, and the body is pretty important for some reason. This is something angels are lacking but will attain when they get their turn on earth. We are here to be trained on earth with our bodies. And under mormonism most people won't go to hell, most will simply go to lower kingdoms because they don't have what it takes to be a God. And those who never heard of Mormonism or Christianity will have a chance to convert in a between period before the final judgement. Which makes sense. And a tiny select few will become Gods with a lot of works and obedience to God. We are God's children, and children by their very nature become parents some say. So it makes sense that children of God are here to grow up to be Gods themselves if they do things right. This gives everything a quite rational and understandable purpose.

Now I don't believe in mormonism for many many reasons, but their view of the after-life is a lot more rational.

 

Imo LDS is a sect of Christianity Some teenage elders baptized me, my brother and 2 cousins one summer after talking my mom into allowing them to take us to a park to play baseball with around 20 other kids araround 12 years old

We most of us ended up being baptised into the LDS church. We got all of these official documents with seals ! So to this day our names on in church record in salt lake.

My dad was having none of it and withdrew us from attending their church. . I have nothing but good things to say about these mormons . Better than the Baptist church I had grown up in . No Hellfire and brimstone! Lol

They sseemed much kinder than southern baptists who tend to be stern and not as happy .

In LDS you fasted one day a month and donated that money to feed the poor . WWhat I did not like was you could not drink tea coffee or caffeine softs drinks like coke! We drink iced tea in the south and I didnt want to give it uup!
So I cheated . lol. I never liked raw milk so it was tea or water at meals. L
But I digress...

 

According to who? It would seem to me a Mormon would not agree that the distinction between Christianity and Mormonism is fundamental enough to separate the two, certainly to the point where you would say that it is more different than Hinduism or atheism.

 

Is the difference between no god and one god more or less than the difference between an infinite number of gods and one god?

Christianity is monotheistic even if polytheists call themselves Christian.

 

The problem being, most professing Christians arguably believe - at least on an intellectual level - in three Gods, which puts them two away.

Hell if I know why it matters, seeing if you believe in more than one, you don't believe in the Real Deal anyway, so you might as well be an atheist.

 

The God of the bible is one. There is only one true God of the bible. However, when the God of the bible acts, the bible always attributes the intent to the Father, the affect to the Holy Spirit and the effect to the Son. The only times the bible ever makes a distinction between them is when God acts, and it is always in the economy outlined above. One can say that Jesus is effectively God. The Holy Spirit is affectively God, and the Father is, for all intents and purposes, God.
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit each have their own individual intellects, emotions and will; that's what makes them individuals persons. However, their individual intellects, emotions and wills are infinitely identical; that's what makes them one. The "trinity" describes how God acts not what God is.

God does not read minds; He writes them. I can author a character that knows they are a character and that I am their author. I can even create a dialog between myself and the character. However, that dialog is not a conversation; it's a condescension. There is another way by which an author can condescend to his characters. He can write himself into his novel work as himself. He would be no less the author because he is also a character, and his character would be no less a character than any of his other characters. Jesus Christ is God's character incarnate. The difference between our characters and Jesus' character is that our characters are novel whereas Jesus' character is autobiographical.

 

Essentially two Trinities with different emphases have been handed down in Christianity:

Firstly, the Orthodox Trinity emphasizing the Monarchy of the Father by the honors He holds:

"All that the Father possesses the Son also possesses, save the honor of being Father. All that the Son possesses the Holy Spirit also possesses save the honor of being Son."

Secondly, the Trinity handed down by the Catholics emphasizes the equality of the Persons, and deemphasizes the honors.

At the core the Orthodox and Catholics have the same Trinity, and this was later accepted by Protestants when Protestants emerged, primarily as the Catholic Trinity with the emphasis on equality of Persons.

But there have been many other iterations of Godhead beginning with the dualism of the good god of spirit and the evil god of matter in the first through the fourth centuries as taught in more than fifty variations by the Gnostics.

 

All organized religions have an element of truth, and all organized religions screw it up. Look inside for the truth, not to some ******* in robes who says “do this and donate money or go to hell”. Religion/spirituality is a personal journey. Organized religion hijacks this and uses as just another path to power and control.