Al Sharpton makes bigoted remark about Mitt Romney (LDS, faith)

[SoyLeche]

The comment has caused the morning talk radio program here in Lynchburg, VA to be discussing the question of whether Mormons are Christians today. I just sent off an email - we'll see if it gets read on-air.

Yesterday - at the end of the day - a caller said something to the effect of "That's why they are called the Godmakers...". If the show wasn't almost over I probably would have tried to call in.

[jonny]

Originally Posted by SoyLeche

The comment has caused the morning talk radio program here in Lynchburg, VA to be discussing the question of whether Mormons are Christians today. I just sent off an email - we'll see if it gets read on-air.

Yesterday - at the end of the day - a caller said something to the effect of "That's why they are called the Godmakers...". If the show wasn't almost over I probably would have tried to call in.

I love it when people who are not Mormon start discussing what Mormons believe. It always makes me wary of talking about other people's religions because I can see how people just don't get it.

[SoyLeche]

The email I sent this morning:

I have had this conversation many, many times, and I have probably thought about whether or not I am a Christian (I am a Mormon) a whole lot [I just realized that I was going to go back and reword this - oops]. I understand the position of those who say that Mormons aren't Christian - but I cannot accept it. I am a Christian. That is the bottom line.

So, it all comes down to what you are using as the definition of the word "Christian". Usually what it boils down to in this debate is that the Mormons do not accept the Nicean Creed - mostly the doctrine of the Trinity - therefore they cannot be Christian. I have been told that calling Mormons "Christian" hides the fact that they do not accept the Trinity. Personally, I think not calling Mormons "Christian" hides the fact that they do, in fact, believe in Christ.

I've gone through many different attempts to define the word "Christian" in the way I see it. Believing in Christ may well be enough, although followers of Islam believe in Christ and I don't think they would consider themselves Christians. I settled on "Someone who believes in Christ as the Messiah" for a while- and I think that definition works pretty well. I think I have come up with a better definition though. A Christian is someone who hold Christ as the ultimate authority in their religion. This does exclude Muslims because, as far as I know, Mohammed supercedes Christ in their religion. Mormons are Christians because Christ is the ultimate authority. Joseph Smith and all of the prophets after him are subservient to Christ.

I can accept that Mormon's aren't "Traditional" Christians, or even "Mainstream" Christians, but those qualifiers are needed to be accurate in stating where Mormons fall when it comes to Christianity.

Thanks. If you think it would be useful I could probably arrange to have somebody come to your station for an interview. Let me know.

Feel free to comment/critique what I said.

[SoyLeche]

Originally Posted by SoyLeche

The email I sent this morning:


Feel free to comment/critique what I said.

They just read the first half of my email, but then ran out of time. Apparently I caused a bit of confusion because someone else called in earlier (from my ward) saying that we do believe in the "trinity". I sent another email clarifying this.

[Bright-ness' Shadow]

Originally Posted by Comprehend

.... I get told I am going to hell regularly...

I hope it's not frequent trips but a repetition of being told - not that that's much better.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by SoyLeche

They just read the first half of my email, but then ran out of time. Apparently I caused a bit of confusion because someone else called in earlier (from my ward) saying that we do believe in the "trinity". I sent another email clarifying this.

Someone from your ward said we do believe in the Trinity? Oh brother! What's he on?

[SoyLeche]

Originally Posted by Katzpur

Someone from your ward said we do believe in the Trinity? Oh brother! What's he on?

She - and she meant that we believe in God, Christ and the Holy Ghost. I did send a clarification, and someone from one of the other wards called later on and clarified too - although she struggled a bit too - especially when they said something to the effect of "so, doesn't that make you polytheistic?".

I didn't really have much of a problem with the hosts of the show - they seemed to be open minded enough, especially the guy that isn't religious anyway. He ended up saying the gist of what the second half of my email said, even though they didn't get to reading it. The callers - that's another matter. I was talking to my E. Quorum president and he got pretty mad when he heard the caller talking about the "Godmakers". He wrote them an angry email that I guess they read earlier in the day (probably when I was still asleep ).