Originally Posted by
alanmolstad
The deal is this:
....as long as you don't change who Christ is...
....as long as you don't change what the resurrection is....
Then there is no problem with all the other things that the Mormons got added to their religion.
All the rest of the Mormon stuff is just window dressing...(the temple, the handshakes, the undies, the many wives, the BOM etc)...all meaningless in the end.
It is only the resurrection of Jesus Christ that makes us what we call "christian"
NOTHING ELSE!
There is no other set of things you must believe in to be saved or be called a christian.
There is no other "Good News" that you have to believe in.
( FYI - When it comes to the Calvinist-Arminian debate, a Christian does NOT have to take a position on it and pick a side.)
All you have to do is not screw with the Bible's teaching of who Christ is....and what the resurrection is, and you will be fine.
The moment you believe in Jesus you are saved.
Its a done deal...
Its a completed journey from death into Life.
The moment you believe in the resurrection you have already p***ed from death to life.
You are as "saved" as you are ever going to get...
You cant get more saved.
The point of what Im saying is that many Mormons, (or all of em perhaps?) have a lot of family connections and personal affection for many of the things that are different in Mormonism.
They love the songs, they love the friends and family they have in Mormonism, they love the trappings of their church.
My response is that all that stuff is just window dressing, if it means a lot to you? fine you can hang onto it if you want....its not important....
All that stuff is not concerned with the question of being a true "Christian" or not?
All that is important is that the Mormons have changed their ideas about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and that is the only real issue with their salvation.
The Mormons teach a different Jesus
The Mormons teach a different resurrection.
That is where the problem is....
all the rest of the stuff that separates the Mormons from the Christian is window dressing,,,,,its simple additions that are well within the freedom of the christian church to debate and disagree over...
So I'm not interested in the debate over if this or that Mormon leader predicted a date that failed.....its not important.
I'm not interested in showing a Mormon that his church used to be as racist (as much other white churches from that same time and place).....its not important.
I'm not interested in showing a Mormon that the Book of Mormon has a questionable source....its not important.
The only thing important is that the Mormon church and it's leadership have strayed away from the truth Jesus Christ....they have walked away from the only core teaching the christian church has....that being the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So I tell the Mormon that they can continue worshiping where they want I dont care.
I dont care if they want to always worship at the local Mormon church,
the Utah Mormon temple,
outside under a tree,
or underground in a catacomb....thats not important..
The only thing I do care about is "who" they worship....and "what" did that person whom they worship do?
That the Salvation of the Christian is due only to the faith we have in the resurrection of the truth one-and-only Jesus Christ.