....are Mormons Chirstians?


caliuso
 Share

Are Mormons Christians?  

19 members have voted

  1. 1. Are Mormons Christians?

    • YES!!
      18
    • Oh Heavens No Mormons ARE NOT Christians
      1
    • I dont know? Good Question
      0


Recommended Posts

I... Myself... am on a Journey in Life. [As we all are].
I am a Christian, and I have 2 Mormon Missionary Elders visiting me tomorrow.
I decided to do more research and I am here to preach the Gospel. 

I am a Christian, a bit lost on my path, but GOD knows I'm on my way.
My question, is are Mormons Christians?
If you're a Mormon, Can you be a Christian?

Edited by caliuso
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The answer is yes...

But other Christians tend to deny us a place at the table because we do not believe the various Creeds.  They have established the Creeds as the bench mark for Christianity, and we believe such Creeds to be an abomination. Note that the bible does not set the creeds as the standards.  By the standards of the Creeds the early Church Leaders (Peter, James, John, Paul, etc) aren't Christian either, because the Creeds did not exist back then.

The bible sets a different standard.  The tells us to have Faith in Christ, to Follow Christ, to obey his command however imperfectly we might be.  By that standard the early Church Leaders we very much Christian and so are we.  Our actions can be summarized as it is in the Book of Mormon 2 Nephi 25 versus  26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

Do note that calling us Mormons is like calling other Christians Mattans, Markans, Lukeans, Johnans, or Paulans.  Simply because they believe the words that Matt, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul wrote about Christ.  We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  And we are Christian even if the rest of Christianity wants to deny us that title. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, caliuso said:

I... Myself... am on a Journey in Life. [As we all are].
I am a Christian, and I have 2 Mormon Missionary Elders visiting me tomorrow.
I decided to do more research and I am here to preach the Gospel. 

I am a Christian, a bit lost on my path, but GOD knows I'm on my way.
My question, is are Mormons Christians?
If you're a Mormon, Can you be a Christian?

Yes.  Our church is called "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". 

No other organized religion bears the name of Jesus.  It is he who is at the head of our church.

We worship Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer.  He is the Son  of God.  He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament.  He is the God of Israel.

We have 13 statements of belief which we call "Articles of Faith".  Here are some of them which I believe address your question.

Quote

-- 1st Article of Faith
We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in his son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

--  3rd Article of Faith
We believe that through the Atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.      

--  6th Article of Faith
We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc.    

-- 8th Article of Faith
We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.  We also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.    

 -- 13th Article of Faith.
We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men.  Indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul.  We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things.  If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy we seek after these things.

Based on the above, you tell us. Do we sound like Christians?

BTW, we call ourselves "Latter-day Saints" (Saints for short).  While the nickname "Mormons" is not offensive, it is inaccurate.  We'd appreciate being called "LDS" or "Saints".  This does not mean "Saints" like the Catholics use the term.  It is "Saints" as used in the New Testament which simply meant someone who followed Jesus Christ.

Edited by Guest
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You've put this as a poll question. If I were to vote for myself, I would probably vote "Yes, we are Christians", but sometimes I don't know -- mostly because the question has a lot of other baggage underneath it. To illustrate the baggage that I see, one of the transformative moments for me in regard to this question was the day I put "Are Catholics Christian?" to Google. Naturally, Google found several Protestant counter-cult ministries' pages asserting that Catholics are not Christians. The reasons were interesting, but, when all was said and done, I concluded that, if it is that easy to completely dismiss arguably the oldest and largest Christian denomination from Christianity, the answers must be flawed in some way, and perhaps the question is flawed as well. I think, if I could write the available answers to the poll question, I might answer something like "I don't know, but I think it's a bad question, because the answer says more about the beliefs of the respondent than it says about the beliefs of any given church.

Edited by MrShorty
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi and welcome caliuso!

I'm not a Mormon.  I don't go to the Mormon church.   I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I believe Christ visited the Americas, and a record of those people has been brought forth by the power of God, and one of the people mentioned in that record is named Mormon, but that's as far as it goes. 

And if you define Christian as "follower of Christ Jesus, someone who has accepted Jesus Christ as savior and redeemer", then yes, I am a Christian. 

I don't want to be called a Mormon.  I don't care if you call me Christian or not, but I'm not a Mormon.

Edited by NeuroTypical
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, caliuso said:

I... Myself... am on a Journey in Life. [As we all are].
I am a Christian, and I have 2 Mormon Missionary Elders visiting me tomorrow.
I decided to do more research and I am here to preach the Gospel. 

I am a Christian, a bit lost on my path, but GOD knows I'm on my way.
My question, is are Mormons Christians?
If you're a Mormon, Can you be a Christian?

It depends on how one defines Christ or the Messiah and then how one defines a disciple or follower.

I am a scientist and engineer and find it difficult to reconcile what many claiming to be Christian define as the Christ or Messiah and then what it means to be a disciple or follower of what they define as "Christ".  I will give you one example - it was the year 1649 before any society calling themselves Christian was willing, able or forced to pass a law saying it was unlawful for a "Christian" to kill a non-believer or deprive non-believers (by whatever their standard of believer and thus non-believer is) of their property.  I honestly do not believe a Christian would allow anyone in their lawful employ or support a government specifically to do such things.  I do not believe Jesus taught it lawful before G-d to kill and steal from "strangers" or anyone; just because you do not agree with their religious beliefs. 

Though some would call me a Mormon - I intend to be a disciple (disciplined) in teachings and example of Jesus Christ.

 

The Traveler

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, caliuso said:

If you're a Mormon, Can you be a Christian?

100%!!!!   

Other people have answered philosophically, I'm going to instead tell my story.

When I was ~6 six years old, I was going through a really rough time in life.  I was bogged down in the difficulties of life and in pain this existence can bring.  I also felt weighed down for my own shortcomings- that I couldn’t do this or that, that I wasn’t good enough, or that I had done wrong things, even things which brought pain to those I loved.  There was so much I regretted, so much I wanted to get away from—part of me even hated myself for all of this.  I felt very alone in all this, that no one self could understand what I was going through.

During this time I would frequently go out the backyard swing set for solace to think with hanging upside on the monkey-bar swing for hours, just thinking. Sometimes I would get bogged down in my self-hatred.  Sometimes I would say a prayer to fight off those demonic feelings.  I wonder the purpose of it all.  On one such day, a song came into my mind that I had learned at church that day:

“Heavenly Father, are you really there?

And do you hear and answer ev'ry child's prayer?

 Some say that heaven is far away,

 But I feel it close around me as I pray.

 Heavenly Father, I remember now

 Something that Jesus told disciples long ago:

 "Suffer the children to come to me."

 Father, in prayer I'm coming now to thee.”

I remembered that song.  I remembered the story of Jesus which went along with it.  I remembered how He asked specifically for the little children to come to Him, and blessed them.  I remember how He lived, prayed, and died to understand all of us and to save us from evil.  He suffered for all of it—He understood all of it—even the littlest thing.  Like Jesus understood exactly what it was like to have a sister-with-a-temper!  He also understood the more complicated things I was going through.  And there was a reason for it!  The end of all this struggle was so glorious—such amazing great things to come!  God hadn’t forgotten about me or anything- I was His child- He cared beyond measure.

I sat on that swing and just poured my heart out in prayer.  I can’t express the relief to have someone to talk to- to have someone to understand.  That feelings of welcome and love….And then, to have someone to that could Heal on top of it—that knit up my heart so much that day.  To express it in words…. “the best hug ever!” is what my little self called it, and those are probably the best words I still have at ~28 (or however old I am now).     

As I grew up more, I had more moments and wavering and certainty in faith, and in God.  I knew God was the person whom Understood everything I was going though: my wishes, my desires, my pains.   I devote myself to Him every day: He is my Lord, my Savior, the only begotten Son of God.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have thought some more, and want to add this to my response. Another idea that strongly informs my response to the poll question is an essay (I could not find it) I read a few years ago by a Catholic, speaking of his brothers in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He said something to the effect of, anyone who can sign off on what he called the basic kerygma of Christianity was his brother in Christ. He referenced 1 Cor. 15 (see verses 3 through 8 ) in defining that kerygma, and further research suggests that most descriptions of the basic kerygma list a handful of basic assertions like - Christ lived, died on the cross, and was resurrected. He appeared to various witnesses as recounted in the NT. His death and resurrection provide a substitutiary atonement. Those kind of things. Since we readily and willingly agree with these most basic declarations of Christianity, many, including ourselves, consider us Christians.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, caliuso said:

I... Myself... am on a Journey in Life. [As we all are].
I am a Christian, and I have 2 Mormon Missionary Elders visiting me tomorrow.
I decided to do more research and I am here to preach the Gospel. 

I am a Christian, a bit lost on my path, but GOD knows I'm on my way.
My question, is are Mormons Christians?
If you're a Mormon, Can you be a Christian?

I would recommend the challenge given by our Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, who asked church members (particularly the women in general conference) to read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover and highlight (i.e. circle) every time the Lord (Christ) is mentioned on the page (circle any time his name or a name he would go by is used).

If you do this, at the end of the challenge, then ask yourself -- Is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Christians? I would provide a prophecy, if you have read with a sincere heart you will know the answer to this question before you finish reading the Book of Mormon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share