Question for Christians who say members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not Christians?

In the 1970's there were just over 1,000 religions registered with the US Government (for tax exempt purposes and so forth) all of whom claim to base the tenants of their religion on the Holy Bible. Today, that number has grown to over 20,000.

If we accept that there is only One Lord, One Faith, and One Baptism, meaning, only one true version of what God originally said to his prophets and apostles, then we must logically conclude, (without looking at doctrine) that at least 19,999 of the 20,000 are wrong on at least one point of what they believe and teach to be the word of God from the Holy Bible.

When talking about Mormons, they will say that the word of God isn't for private interpretation. Yet, to have 20,000 plus churches, you have to have 20,000 different interpretations of what the bible teaches. The Mormons have many church buildings, but they are all part of the same one church, as registered with the US Federal Government.

The only way any person can be sure that what they believe about the teachings of the bible to be according to what God meant for it to be, and not according to their or another person's personal interpretation is for that person to ask of God, and then get an answer from God. As soon as a person gets an answer from God, then you have God giving someone a revelation that is not recorded in the Bible.

So, how many of those 20,000 plus religions claim to have a living prophet of God at the head of their Church? Those who do not make such a claim, also cannot claim to know with any degree of confidence that what they teach, or what they believe about God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, and their attributes, are correct according what is really true about God or are their own personal opinion.

Look into the Bible itself. During the time of Christ, you have at least two religious groups claiming to teach the Law of Moses correctly. The Saaducees and Pharasees (spelling might be off on those two words.) Yet Christ called both of the leaders of these two hypocrites because the taught one thing and did another.

So when the Bible itself, both Old and New Testaments, document cases of the people going off on their own believing false truths and having to be called to repentance by another living prophet of God. And when that prophet seeks to remind them of what they should already know and be doing, and testifies "again" what the truths of God are, why is it so hard for us today to believe that God would do what he has always done, what Amos 3:7 says he will do, use a living prophet. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7 KJV)

So, all of you who are so sure that Mormons believe in the "wrong" Christ, do you know that because a living prophet received that revelation from God, or is that your own personal opinion being applied to the Holy Bible in contradiction to what the Bible itself says about not being for private interpretation.

Another and final thing to think about. If what Mormon's believe and teach about God and Jesus Christ is really true, and you who say that you believe in a different Christ really are worshiping a different Christ and a different Heavenly Father, then you might want to go back into the Old Testament about read the 10 commandments, especially the first three, one of which speaks to the subject of making false Gods or idols.

Or, you could simply accept that the Jesus Christ you claim to worship never ever at any time in the New Testament engaged in criticizing, degrading, or even commenting on what any other religion taught. So, if you believe and live according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is recorded in the New Testament, then you need to start following his example by repenting of your bad habit of trying to tell anyone what the Mormons believe.

I'm sure this answer won't be the most popular, but truth isn't always popular. Christ taught nothing but truth, and he wasn't very widely accepted in his day. Those who teach the truth, will not win popularity contests either.

Are you asking "what is a Christian" ? Hmmm. You don't want to compare doctrines, but isn't that what really matters? If a person's doctrines contradict the Bible, then isn't that the ONLY reason why it's wrong?

Or are you asking "what is the difference" ? Again, it is doctrinal.

The Mormon church uses a lot of Biblical type of words, but they create their own dictionary, so when you say something in "mormonese", it sounds Biblical, but when you apply the mormon "dictionary" to define these same words, it is no longer Biblical.

But if you discount doctrine or theology, you can have anything you want mean anything you want, and without the "rosetta stone", you don't know what's actually being said.

So, what exactly is it you want to know?

You said, "When asked for a definition of what a Christian is the answer is simply stated "You need to believe in Jesus Christ" ", and the words sound good, but when a mormon says it, it doesn't mean the same thing, because of the mormon's own personal "dictionary" in which some of these words mean something different to a mormon than to a Christian.

This is why "the answer given can, and frequently does turn into a hour long discussion"

It has nothing to do with prejudice. It has everything to do with the definitions and usages of certain "high profile" words and terms.

It is not the non-mormon that is misconstruing things, but the mormon who hasn't studied deeply the mormon meanings that get misconstrued, so when an educated non-mormon tries to explain what the mormon theology is really saying, then to the non-educated mormon (by "non-educated", I mean those who have not deeply studied what the mormon theology is really all about), so they SOUND good, but when the non-mormon tries to explain to the mormon what the mormon teaching REALLY is, it only SOUNDS misconstrued.

There is one last thing I need to point out to you, that disagreement does NOT imply hate! The homosexuals make that same mistake, claiming that Christians HATE them, just because we disagree with them! Disagreement can NOT be "construed" as "hate". They are two totally different words in the dictionary, with two totally different definitions.

But to answer your question (if I haven't done so already), Christians who answer mormons have to give a different answer than they give to other people, because the words are the same, but the meanings behind the words change, so when Christians say ONE thing, mormons here something different, so we can not use the same words.

Sorry about the length of the answer, but I knew of no other way to make sure you knew what I was telling you.

It's amazing how simple your question is, yet how many are either unable or unwilling to answer it. Instead they go off on some uneducated rant.

no1home2day was the only one that made an attempt to do so. Even then, his is not accurate. The Jesus Christ that Mormons believe in is "Jehovah" of the old testament, creator of the world, son of God. He was born of Mary in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, and died in Jerusalem. He is our savior and redeemer. He enabled us to return to live with God through his suffering in Gethsemane and death on the cross. We believe in in the Holy Bible. We believe in the words of the ancient prophets and in those of Jesus Christ himself. So, I'm not sure where he thinks we differ drastically from traditional Christian definitions besides the idea of the trinity.

About 25% of all Christians do not believe in the trinity. A belief in one of the trinitarian creeds is not what makes one a Christian. If that were so, Jesus Christ himself could not accurately be described as "a Christian".

Several others described Christ in the same way we believe in Christ, yet claimed we weren't Christians because we didn't see Christ that way.....when we actually do see him exactly as he was described.

If one person feels that Christ had brown eyes and another felt that he had dark eyes, it doesn't mean that there were "2 Jesus's" walking around and one believes in one and another believes in the other one. It simply means that they have slightly different views on how Jesus was.

It seems as though many responders don't feel that we believe in the Bible. We do read, study, and learn from the Bible and believe it is God's word.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know you did not to particularly want to hear from members, but I think I can answer your question. The fact is we are talking about Apples and Oranges, here, when discussing the Protestant Christians and the "Mormon" Christians. The Protestant Christians are actually a group of self proclaimed Christians. I know they do not like that, but who actually told them they were Christians? It wasn't the Catholics, so who else is left? They themselves declared themselves Christians. And they are also the ones who decided what requirements it took to be a Christian, like them, and anyone who does not comply with their criteria, are not Christian, but according to them are in fact a Cult.

So how do we Latter Day Saints become Christian, when we certainly do not measure up, according to their made up list. There is more than one way to become a Christian. Their way is one way, the other is to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. When the Apostles had been "Endowed from on High" by the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, they later were found outside teaching the multitudes. And in the course of that sermon, Peter set forth 4 steps by which one could become a member of Christ's Church, and be called a true Christian. Acts 2;38.."Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." These 4 steps are...1 Have faith in Jesus Christ. 2. Repent of all your sins. 3. Be Baptized by immersion for the remission of sins. 4. Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Now we know from the Bible that other things also played a big part in this process. We also know that the Catholics and Protestants may qualify for steps 1 & 2, but cannot qualify for steps 3 & 4. Which is where the rest of this process comes into play. Both steps 3 & 4 require the Priesthood which was held anciently by John The Baptist and the 12 Apostles. In 1829, John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and bestowed upon them the Aaronic (Levitical) Priesthood with it's keys, giving them the authority to baptize. Then a short time later Peter, James and John appeared to them and conferred upon them the Melchezedek Priesthood with all the keys of that Priesthood, and ordained them Apostles. Therefore the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only Christian Church on earth today, that did not appoint themselves as Christians. We have conformed to Christ's qualifications in every detail. Therefore we have one very large group of self appointed Christians, and one very small group, comparatively speaking, which are Christians by Christ's definition. Therefore that large group cannot compare to the small group, because we each became Christians in a totally different way and have very little in common...whew4

I am a 'Christian' and I must confess that I have heard a lot of the preconceptions you are talking about but I don't know enough about the tenets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to make a call.

Ordinarily, the dictionary defines a Christian as “a person professing belief in Jesus as the Christ or in the religion based on the teaching of Jesus.”

What I know from my own understanding of Christianity is that a true 'Christian'must be one as described by Jesus Christ in John 3 Verses 1 - 21 - "5I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You[c] must be born again.'

Well my favorite thing is the LDS article that points out that we are indeed Christians.

I know you're asking for non-members to post but this article from Jeffrey R. Holland, states the reason why we consider ourselves Christian.

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=23...

A shorter abridged version of this talk can be found on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtEQ8Tjr2EI

A belief in the trinty does not make a person a Christian. I have issues with the trinty as the fact that it doesn't correspond with Christ having a flesh and blood body and him being part of a Godhead that is suppose to be sprit.

Our doctrines should also not be what makes us not Christian as there so many christian sects that have so many variations in their doctrines that if we went by that then Baptists are not Christians or Methodists are not Christians or Catholics etc.

The fact is that Christians are those who worship and praise Jesus Christ as Savior and redeemer of the world. That's what makes a person a Christian. Nothing more nothing less. LDS do praise and worship Jesus Christ, so we are Christians.

It basically comes down to this - the vast majority of Christians believe in the holy trinity - that the father, the son and the holy spirit are three in one and one in three. The LDS church does not believe in jesus in that way, and therefore mainstream Christianity rejects its claim to be Christian. Sorry to give you a doctrinal difference but that IS the answer. The LDS church also believes in a number of things such as celestial marriage which mainstream Christianity rejects.

if the only answer you receive about being a christian is you need to believe in Christ, then you are not receiving the whole answer. even demons believe in Jesus, does that make them a christian?

Would you consider the Proxy Baptism of Adolf Hitler in 1993 "Doctrine" and if you do Can you reveal the best Mormon Site to view the details Including the cover up please

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As you are not forthcoming with the truth regarding what I asked It begs the question Who can believe in the rest of what you claim and to answer your question

Christianity is a Belief of some standing Your organisation I believe is a Cult

To me a general definition would be any individual or group who devoutly, thoughtfully, seriously, and prayerfully regards themselves to be Christian. That is, they honestly believe themselves to be a follower of Yeshua of Nazareth.

That said, although you want no comments on doctrine, and I respect that, what a person believes is important. Part of the problem we have with judging is that when people say "judge" they usually mean or imply "condemn," but that is not what is talked about here. "To judge" means "to make a distinction" or "to separate." You judge every day, in every aspect of life. You had to make a judgment in order to decide what clothes to wear today, or what to eat. We are also responsible for judging between truth and error. What are we not supposed to judge right now? Men's hearts! God has not authorized us to judge other people's hearts and minds. And I do not judge yours.