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Midnight_Trooper said:
After visiting Colorado last summer I was left wondering about Mormons so this thread is already of interest.
My thing is this; why is the theology based on the teachings of some guy in the 1800's who claimed he had visions of God instead of historic scripture? You cant base a religion on the Bible and the teachings of Christ and then add a bunch of new rules to it.Granted the Bible has many variations and authors but providing the intent of the teachings of Christ are preserved what else matters? Why make up a whole new set of rules for earning your way into heaven when the teachings are what is important and they are already established?
Lots of branches of Christianity have crazy rules and traditions that come from man and not God. People tend to forget that Jesus did not stress the importance of ceremonies or traditions. He didn't say "Make sure to ring the little bell three times to make it Holy" Or "Its more Holy when you do a mass in Latin" (Digs on the Catholics ; )
He taught about the importance of loving God and each other. Also that we are sinful by our nature and therefore we can't ever behave well enough here on earth to earn a spot in heaven. It is by the grace of God we are saved and that comes with faith and trying to behave the way he taught us.
Now that's not saying I think Christians should behave badly just because its human nature to sin. But as far as rules for how we should live Christ essentially is saying, Try to live the way God wants you to live because that system works. He was a patient and forgiving teacher.
Sorry that's not a very clear post. Here is another question;
I understand masturbation is not allowed and that is based on a passage from Genesis? If that is correct I would wonder how that connection was made since the passage is not really about that.
Peace. Be excellent to each other..
You must understand, we do not claim that our teachings are those of some dude from the 1800s. We do not believe he even added any new doctrine. We believe that he restored what Christ had already taught, and what was eventually lost to the earth. We do not claim to be Catholics, Protestants, or anything in between. We are Restorationists, who believe that the Church, its authority, and its teachings were corrupted with the deaths of the apostles, and that Joseph Smith restored what was lost.
As for grace, faith, and works, which is often a hot topic between Mormons and Protestants, I wish you'd been at my Sunday School lesson about three weeks ago (yes, I teach Sunday School at church). I addressed this very topic, and Mormons and Christians don't believe so differently. We acknowledge that salvation is only obtained through accepting Christ's grace. We acknowledge that all our actions and faith amount to nothing, and that it is through Jesus Christ that we can approach God. The biggest difference is that we believe that "faith without works is dead" (see James 2:17-18), which we interpret to mean that in order to accept Christ's grace with faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), he expects active effort. It's not like he has a checklist of good and bad deeds performed. He just wants to know you've done your best to be obedient.
As for masturbation, it has nothing to do with that passage. It's kind of an awkward topic to address, but let's leave it with two quick points: it has nothing to do with the Genesis passage (Double05 has it right, he was punished for disobedience), and God does not want us to be lustful. Of course masturbation can be done without lustful thoughts, but...yeah right, like anyone's doing that.