timdiggerm said:
Earlier in the thread you said that Christians and Mormons don't really believe very different things. This struck me as odd, as I just read a blog post by Al Mohler, a very conservative Baptist with whom I disagree about a lot (particularly Genesis, age of Earth, etc), in which he went on and on about how Mormons and Christians believe very different things. I'm not particularly interested in his point ("Is it okay to vote for Mitt Romney?!?!?!"), but I was hoping you could respond to his points about the differences, some of which I've quoted below.
Mormonism starts with an understanding of God that rejects both monotheism and the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. The Mormon concept of God includes many gods, not one. Furthermore, Mormonism teaches that we are now what God once was and are becoming what He now is. The Mormon doctrine of sin is not that of biblical Christianity, nor is its teaching concerning salvation. Rather than teaching that the death of Christ is alone sufficient for the forgiveness of sins, Mormonism presents a scheme of salvation that amounts to the progressive deification of the believer. According to Mormonism, sinners are not justified by faith alone, but also by works of righteousness and obedience. Mormonism’s teachings concerning Jesus Christ start with a radically different understanding of the Virgin Birth and proceed to a fundamentally different understanding of Christ’s work of salvation.
So, uh, thoughts?
Accidently almost skipped this one. I would have stopped already, but I don't want to overlook this. Unfortunately, this is a topic of lengthy discussion. Whom do Mormons worship? God the Father. One God. Do you worship the Son also? Yes, we do. How can you explain this discrepancy? Well, we worship the Father in the name of the Son. That is one way. We worship the Son as our Savior, but see the Father as even higher. That is another perspective. But my favorite answer is that we see the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as separate beings who are united in goals, intents, purpose, and mission. We believe this to be strongly supported biblically, and even stronger still when examined in light of the ancient languages used to compose the scriptures. What about other gods? Well, we believe that God's ultimate purpose is to have his children (very literally his children in our belief system) become like him. We see Gods, angels, and men as the same "species" so to speak. We have the potential to be as he is. We believe this to be supported in the Bible as well, and I will try to provide references at a later point (help me remember, I really have to go). We believe that he will always be greater than we are, that he will always be God, and that as we become more like him, we will give him even greater glory. Yes, we also believe God went through what we're going through, as in an eternal cycle of men growing to become gods. Does this offend many? Yes, I know it does. Does this seem weird to those who read your posts? Oh, probably, but at the same time, it can be seen as quite logical and beautiful when not simply perceived through pre-existent notions. Do Mormons believe that Christ's atonement is not enough to cover our sins? Nope. This is where I said we were not too different. Christ's atonement is all that covers our sins. We believe that he expects us to strive for perfection, but no matter how imperfect, Christ can cover all our sins. Remember, the sinners were the ones Christ said would get to heaven, not those who simply were living more righteous lives and missing the whole point. See the earlier post for greater depth. If this brief article is anything like the very nice book of the same title (both entitled Believing Christ by Stephen E. Robinson), you might better understand our similarities. I think Evangelicals would agree with our position better, and I think more Mormons should understand our position better (yes, I think many Mormons do not understand this very important doctrine).