Mormon doctrine
Submitted by Dirk Gently on January 25 2000 at 23:54:48
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. Their third Article of Faith says, "We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel." And they have a neat little escape clause when it comes to the Bible. Article 8 says, "We believe the Bible to be the Word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God. In other words, guess which book loses if they contradict one another? 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 |