Mormon doctrine
Submitted by Dirk Gently on January 25 2000 at 23:53:39
In reply to Definition of a cult Submitted by Mark on January 25 2000 at 10:36:29
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do they believe that Jesus was the son of God, both human and divine, crucified and resurrected, that we are saved from our sins by faith in him, and that we should follow him in obedience? No. At least, not the way that you do. Their language sounds very Christian, as does that of the Jehovah's Witnesses, because it is sorta biblical. The trouble is, the meaning invested in all the biblical talk is at odds with the meaning maintained for 2000 years of Christianity. The Book of Mormon calls itself "another testament of Jesus Christ." (see 2 Cor. 11:4 and Gal. 1:8) At least it has the appearance of trinitarian orthodoxy, and large portions of the book are direct quotations of the KJV Old Testament. Where things start to get a little more weird is in the other books they accept. I've got a copy of Doctrine and Covenants, which contains such stunning theological insights as "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also, but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us" (D & C 139:22). Kind of hard to reconcile with such passages as John 14:20 or 17:23. Apparently The Pearl of Great Price is even more bizarre, but good luck finding a Mormon who will let you read it before you're baptized! Dirk |