Lying - A Foundation Of The Faith
What is one of the foundations of Christianity? It is truth.
"Jesus said, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6
"Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor..." - Ephesians 4:25
How can a church call itself Christian, if lies are regularly used as the best arguments to say this church is Christian?
Read about the Mormon church. This blog post has moved to:
http://www.movetoassurance.com/mta-blog/2008/04/18/lying-a-foundation-of-the-faith/
8 Comments:
I've had a thought that I should mention. In an earlier post I stated that the LDS church has changed the meaning of many common words Christians use. As a result when they read the Bible they are not reading it in their own language. This would also apply to a book such as C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity." What they understand C.S. Lewis as saying is distorted by their thinking they are reading LDS English, when in reality it is standard English.
However, this does not excuse the author from misusing what C.S. Lewis said. It is up to the author to correctly research the quotes they use and not twist the indented meaning, and misrepresent what the quote says. This quote in particular has been used many times to support LDS doctrine, and this use has been refuted many times.
Plus this quote is not the only instance of the distortion of reality (a nice way to say lying) in this book. But that's something I'll put off for a future post.
Hey guys.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I just ran across this post as I was doing some research on grace and works, and was just amazed at some of the comments that were made.
For some reason I always thought that the definition of a Christian was someone who believes in Jesus Christ.
We do not oppose the truth, we teach the truth, and we do not apologize for any of the things that we believe.
In James 2:20, it says "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" Later in verse 22 it says that "by works was faith made perfect." (thats the grace part)
It is amazing to me to think that some can knowingly live a life that is not in accordance with God's laws and commandments and yet "have faith" that he will pay up when all is said and done and save you with His grace. What is the purpose of life if no work is required from us?
We know and believe that it is impossible for any human to live a perfect life, we would never presume that it is only by human works that we are saved. But we do not believe that we can just sit back and not put any effort into following the commandments the Lord has asked us to follow and then expect him to save us when we have done nothing to deserve it.
We believe that it is Christ's grace that saves us after all that we can do to be worthy of that grace.
Faith in the Church, faith in Christ alone "is dead," it means nothing unless we are willing to apply it to our lives; unless we are willing to apply it to the choices we make and things we do.
Astri, thank you for your comment.
Please don't take this as persecution, but we really need to get to the truth, and the LDS church is (in truth) about as far as you can get from being Christian.
Yes, believing in Jesus Christ is what makes someone a Christian, but you must believe the right thing and believe in the right Jesus Christ.
Remember, even the demons believe in Jesus Christ. But they believe and shutter. (James 2:19)
The demons don't believe in Jesus Christ as their savior. They know he brings their doom. They don't believe in the right thing about Jesus.
But at least the demons believe in the true Jesus Christ. The one that really exists.
You can not create an imaginary god, name that god Jesus Christ, and then say you believe in Jesus Christ. You are not believing in Jesus Christ at all, you are believing in a man-made god.
The Jesus Christ of the LDS church is very different from the Christian Jesus Christ. They have little in common. So if you say you believe in the Christian Jesus Christ, you must deny the LDS Jesus Christ.
I'll make a series of new posts that explain why this is so. With the redefinition of words by the LDS it is not something that can be done in a comment.
"O it is a living, busy active mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good things incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done this, and is constantly doing them. Whoever does not do such works, however, is an unbeliever. He gropes and looks around for faith and good works, but knows neither what faith is nor what good works are. Yet he talks and talks, with many good words, about faith and good works."
- Martin Luther
Preface to the epistle of Paul
I think most Evangelicals have a fundamental misunderstanding of LDS theology. Don’t confuse the LDS doctrines of salvation vs. exaltation.
You see, Mormons believe ALL mankind is SAVED by the GRACE of God, that even Hitler will end up in a degree of glory, which will only be Hell relative to having missed out on the higher glory where God dwells and family units are eternal. This LDS salvation requires NOTHING, not even accepting Christ. In this way the LDS view of God is one of great mercy, consider all of the many people who died never hearing the message of Christ. Protestant belief damns them.
However, Evangelicals believe a person must perform the WORK of actually “accepting Jesus” to be saved. If you don't perform the "work" of accepting Christ you are not saved.
Therefore, mormons believe in being saved by grace and Evangelicals believe in salvation by works (work of being born again).
Also, the question isn't whether Mormons are Christians. The question is whether Christians are Mormon. Truly, there are many doctrines presented by Joseph Smith that have now become adopted by every wing of modern Christianity. These are teachings that Smith was ridiculed for and were not known then. Now they are common among Evangelicals. For a list see:
http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/response/general/madsen_christians_mormon.htm
Ethan, thank you for your thoughtful comments. I appreciate your taking the time to write and your desire to clear up misunderstandings and misconceptions.
One basic problem is that I was writing to English speaking Christians and you speak Mormon English. The two languages use the same words, but with major differences in meaning. Without translation the result is misunderstanding.
I took a look at the web page you recommended. It does the same thing the book I was reviewing does. It misrepresents Christianity; takes quotes out of context; twists the meaning of words; and uses fringe and liberal (meaning non-Biblical) sources. There is nothing there that shows a similarity between Christianity and the LDS church to anyone who knows Christianity. It is LDS double-talk. I'd guess it was written to make LDS members feel good and to deceive non-Christians. I don't mean this as an attack. My comments are based on historical evidence of the LDS church doing this in many other similar circumstances.
If you seek the truth I'd recommend that you learn something about Christianity. In order to comment on the LDS church I've purchased many books, spent a lot of time studying -- including studying in official publications such as the LDS Student Manual -- and had many discussions with LDS members and missionaries (My wife and I used to regularly take LDS missionaries to lunch.) I can recommend some good Christian books if you'd like. John McArthur is a good author in general.
But you also need to learn to be able to translate the languages. For example, the destination of Christians who are "saved," in Mormon English would be translated as those going to the celestial kingdom. In Christianity we say we go to heaven (there is only one spiritual heaven). There is nothing higher than heaven (Christian heaven).
Based on LDS teaching, for a Mormon to reach what Christians call heaven requires A LOT of work. You must work your way into the celestial kingdom. That's why Christians see Mormans as working their way into heaven.
Belief that everyone is "saved," as LDS doctrine teaches, has always been considered heresy by Christians. It is not even close to Christian doctrine. When talking about salvation, for a Christian universalism is not an option.
Christians do not perform a work of "accepting Jesus" in order to be saved. First of all "accepting Jesus" is a cultural term. It is not in the Bible and accepting Jesus does not make someone a Christian. But, that's not the point.
To become a Christian you must believe in Jesus as God and your savior. Another way to say it is that you must trust Jesus. So you could say that Christians must do the "work" of deciding to believe.
But that's not true. Before someone is a Christian they are dead. What can a dead person do? Nothing.
Our belief comes from God. It is God who gives us the faith to believe and trust Jesus. It does not come from ourselves, but is a free gift from God. Salvation (meaning salvation from the wrath of God) is 100% a gift from God.
And God's gift is not partial. There is no lower level heaven. (The three heavens are the sky, outer space, and spiritual -- where God resides.) Salvation is from God's wrath, through trust in Jesus Christ, who frees us from sin and thus allows us to live with God in His kingdom forever. That's Christianity.
I hope I've helped a little to clear up any misunderstanding about Christianity.
No one is mormonism has ever said you can work your way to salvation. We believe that works come as a result of true faith. If your faith does not move you to do righteous works then your faith is false faith and profits you nothing. Faith without works is dead. If you have true faith then works follow. They go hand in hand.
This blog and post have been moved. I've copied Christopher's comment to the new location and posted an answer there. You can read it at: http://www.movetoassurance.com/mta-blog/2008/04/18/lying-a-foundation-of-the-faith/#comment-137
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