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So what about Mormons?

They pray to God in the Name of Jesus... They quote John 3:16 all the time and believe it.

What about Jehovah's Witnesses?
They also do the same.... They interpret the Bible differently though with different ideas about the Trinity, etc.

What about some Baptists who interpret scriptures to mean that a man must be physicaly baptised in order to be saved.

And some Pentecostals who insist that one must be filled with the Holy Spirit with evidence and when one is baptised, if one does not verbalize the name of Jesus, the salvation doesn't take.

And the Chrisian Universalists, who have a more metaphorical interpretation of the very same scriptures and don't believe in a literal Hell?

If salvation is so fundamental, why all these discrepancies? They all claim to be Christians, they all use the same book and they are all sincere.

They all claim to know Jesus and that He speaks to their heart and confirms the "right" interpretation via the Holy Spirit.

2007-12-23 05:51:58 · 13 answers · asked by John Galt 2 in Society & Culture Religion & Spirituality

13 answers

A few self-described "Christians" have claimed that the title applies uniquely to those who believe precisely as they do. They apparently take for themselves a role which properly belongs to Christ himself.

(Matthew 7:21-23) Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, ...and perform many powerful works in your name?’ And yet then I will confess to them: I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness.


Ironically, the bible most closely associates being "Christian" with preaching about Christ and Christ's teachings. Review all three times the bible uses the term "Christian" and note that the context connects the term with:
"declaring the good news"
'teaching quite a crowd'
'open eyes, turn from dark to light'
"uttering sayings of truth"
"persuade"
"keep on glorifying"

(Acts 11:20-26) [The early disciples of Jesus] began talking to the Greek-speaking people, declaring the good news of the Lord Jesus... and taught quite a crowd, and it was first in Antioch that the disciples were by divine providence called Christians.

(Acts 26:17-28) [Jesus said to Paul] I am sending you, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God... Paul said: “I am not going mad, Your Excellency Festus, but I am uttering sayings of truth and of soundness of mind. ...Do you, King Agrippa, believe the Prophets? I know you believe.” But Agrippa said to Paul: “In a short time you would persuade me to become a Christian.”

(1 Peter 4:14-16) If you are being reproached for the name of Christ, you are happy... But if he suffers as a Christian, let him not feel shame, but let him keep on glorifying God in this name


So why do anti-Witnesses try to hijack the term "Christian" and hide its Scriptural implications? Because anti-Witnesses recognize that it is the preaching work that makes it clear that the relatively small religion of Jehovah's Witnesses are by far the most prominent followers of Christ:

(Matthew 28:19,20) Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded


Learn more!
http://watchtower.co.uk/e/ti/index.htm?article=article_04.htm
http://watchtower.co.uk/e/20050422/article_02.htm
http://jw-media.org/people/ministry.htm

2007-12-26 06:05:06 · answer #1 · answered by achtung_heiss 7 · 1 0

While I am not a Christian, I agree that the non-Trinitarian view of God seems more sensible. You might want to look at the non-Trinitarian versions of Christianity.

I would suggest looking into these Christian churches which are all non-Trinitarian: Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians, Bible Students, American Unitarian Conference, Arian Catholic Church, Oneness Pentecostal, UU Christian Fellowship, etc. Swedenborgianism (look up Swedenborg on Wikipedia) was also non-Trinitarian. Perhaps one of these may speak to your condition. You can find all of them doing an online search.

While it is true that LDS Mormons do not believe in the Trinity, they have a doctrine of Godhead and eternal progression which is more polytheistic than monotheistic.

2007-12-26 10:22:47 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

First and foremost is loveing God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your soul. That would mean that you have a close relationship with Him and that you obey His law with joy, for you know that blessings will come from that. Also, the second commandment is to love everyone and never judge anyone. It is NOT easy to be a Christian in today's world. There is a lot of confusion, hate and misinformation around. People who do not trust God completely usually fall as Christians therefore leaving a bad example. But those who stay true to God are few, but great people we can look up to!

2007-12-23 05:59:57 · answer #3 · answered by timekiller 2 · 0 0

PLEASE read the articles cited below from "gotquestions.org" for the closest thing to a "Christian Statement of Faith"... AND why there are denominations... AND WHY the mormons and jw's are CULTS and NOT Christian denominations. They do NOT "conform" to the basic tenets of the Christian faith!!! (You can search for further questions and explanations about the mormons and jw's ... it's a great website!) I know people hate website sources, but THIS is a great one... AND I know how people also hate cut/pasting answers, which is WHY I refer you to these articles. I cannot express the ideas they contain any better than they do.... so why waste my breath?

Oh, and JUST because a religion involved the personage of Jesus does NOT make them a CHRISTIAN religion! Take ISLAM, for example. Try going up to a Muslim and say, "Hey, YOU have Jesus in YOUR religion, so that makes you CHRISTIAN, right???" and see how far you get!!


Have a blessed day!

2007-12-23 07:03:30 · answer #4 · answered by wyomugs 7 · 1 1

I have one correction for you. I am a Baptist and in the Churches I have attended baptism does not save for. baptism is done in obedience to Jesus and to follow his example. Baptism is also an outward demonstration of an inward belief. The main belief that a person must have to be a Christian John3:16 If you believe that Jesus God Son died, rose again, and ascended to Heaven. If you believe in Jesus, confess you have sinned in your life and ask Jesus to save you, you are a Christian. You need to read the Bible and pray. Let God help you discern who is correct.

2007-12-23 06:12:12 · answer #5 · answered by Tessa 5 · 0 1

Everyone has their opinion.

There are 612 Laws, 10 Commandments, and three requirements. Being the simple-minded guy that I am, I prefer to focus on the three requirements.

Micah 6:8 He has shown thee, oh man, what is good and what the Lord requires of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.

Do justly---do the right thing
Love mercy---Give people a break, forgive, help people, be kind to all of God's creatures.
Walk humbly with thy God---God is God and you are not. Deal with it.

I think that anyone who can do the first two, no matter what their beliefs are, is going to do well in the afterlife, if there is one. Even atheists.

2007-12-23 06:31:55 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1 1

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) is a beautiful Christian religion. Because Mormons believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ and consider Him to be the way to salvation, they are clearly a Christian denomination. It is true that they are not an orthodox denomination (they are neither Protestant, Catholic, nor Eastern Orthodox), because they don't accept the post-New Testament creeds, but their Christ-centered theology clearly qualifies them for the Christian label.

Most objective scholars agree that Mormons are Christian. Consider this quote from an academic book entitled “Anthology of World Scriptures” by Robert E. Van Voorst.

“…the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints…see themselves as Christian, and most experts in comparative religions would view this labeling as basically correct. That they…accept the Christian Bible as their first cannon is a good indicator of this. Moreover, “outsiders” to [Christianity], such as Buddhists, would almost certainly recognize them as belonging to the stream of Christian tradition.”

Likewise, a recent poll showed that the majority of Americans believe that Mormons are Christians.

You should be extremely careful when trying to learn about Mormons from others. There are many who hate the Mormons and spread lies, distortions, and conspiracy theories about them. Others think they understand Mormon doctrine because of "what they've heard," but are actually misinformed.

Because Mormons are Christian, we believe in most of the things that Christians believe, including:

1) Christ is divine and salvation comes only through Him.
2) The Bible is the word of God.
3) Men ought to love one another.

Mormons are a unique branch of Christianity, however. We are neither Catholic nor Protestant, so naturally we have some different beliefs. Most of the differences are minor. One significant difference has to do with the authority to act in God's name. Mormons believe that soon after the death of Christ and His apostles, the early Christian Church was greatly influenced by Greek and Roman philosophies and political pressures. Despite the efforts of many good men and women, the true Church of Christ was eventually lost because of these outside pressures and internal, man-made changes. Mormons believe that God reestablished the original Church of Christ in 1820 through a man named Joseph Smith.

To learn more about Mormons, visit my site at http://www.allaboutmormons.com !

Hope this helps! Mormon Christianity has changed my life by helping me better follow Jesus Christ.

2007-12-23 15:03:24 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

First and foremost; "You must accept and believe that Christ Jesus is your Saviour and Redeemer. If you don't accept and believe it, then you are NOT a Christian." It doesn't matter what religion you are, all Christians need to accept Jesus as who he is and why he died for you. If you feel Jesus cannot save you, forgive you, and redeem you; then his death was for nothing to you. Then you are just a lost soul just wondering in the wilderness until your death.

2007-12-23 07:20:19 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

The discrepencies have arisen because people can make a living out of changing things to please people.

Many people are just looking to be acepted by people or they are looking for friends / social life. God's way is not about pleasing "the flesh", so people will compromise, add & subtract to please themselves or others, then they call it love.

When someone comes along and says you are spiritually murdering yourself & others they are rejected as evil-doers.

Only those who want what only God can do will see the right way.

2007-12-23 06:03:34 · answer #9 · answered by potentiallywonderful 6 · 0 0

If you believe that Christ was or is God , you are automatically a Christian .

2007-12-23 06:00:14 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0 1

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