Why do some people believe mormons are not christian?

[Kuan]

So, you can probably tell I'm Mormon and I'm willing to debate my religion or answer questions. The purpose of this thread though is that I have had many people tell me I'm not Christian even though I believe in Jesus. I'm wondering why that is. Thanks for any answers!

[Kuan]

>>>The institutional Church is run by men who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood. This priesthood authorizes them to act in Jesus' name.<<<

And Christians believe that Jesus had the authority to act in God's name and they look to Jesus/God for sanctification. If you believe that the church has the authority to act in Jesus's name then you are saints, mormons, latterday saints, but not christians.

The Roman Catholic Church is run by a man who holds the keys of Saint Peter. The Holy Father is authorized to act in Jesus' name.
And, according to sleepyhead, Christians believe that Jesus had the authority to act in God's name and they look to Jesus/God for sanctification. If the Roman Catholics believe that the church has the authority to act in Jesus' name then they may be Catholics, but not Christians.
Right?

Hello mcculloch,

I was raised as Catholic and attended catholic school through 8th grade. My understanding is that they changed some stuff since the 1950's. While growing up I was never encouraged to refer to myself as Christian. We were all pretty content to just be known as Catholic.

The distinction I attempted to make with mormonboy is whether or not they rely on Jesus for their salvation or in the case of mormons exaltation. If the membership relies on anything else (usually their church) then based on my understanding of what a christian is then they wouldn't be christians.

What I was taught is that you can't have any mortal sins when you die. Missing mass was considered a mortal sin. So in that case they would be relying on there church for salvation, however, I don't know how common it is for individuals to make it to adulthood still believing that. I also remember they had the sacrament of extreme unction when a person was about to die, but I don't recall what that was supposed to do. Are there any catholics who believe extreme unction has a value?

mormonboy>>>The church only approves you to be worthy to enter the temple to perform that ordinance. That might be what you said but this will stop misunderstandings in the future.<<<

My understanding is that in order to obtain your exaltation you need to perform these ordinances. Is that incorrect?

Somewhat. This is where it becomes blurry.

[officer2002]

I am a Mormon. We are perplexed about this because of how willing we are to call other people "fellow Christians".
The way I see it you are a fell Christian if you believe:
-Jesus Christ was born of a virgin
-is the Son of God
-is the only way to receive salvation

and do not believe:
-"collective salvation" which is that one person's salvation is dependant upon another person's salvation

[officer2002]

The God of the Bible is not an exalted man. The God of the Bible is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient.]

Your thought process makes no sense to me. I do not see how his past prevents him from being omnipotent and omniscient now. We believe he is omnipotent and omniscient.

The Mormon Jesus is the brother of Lucifer,

I do not understand why some people get so fired up about this. None other the scriptures which you quoted say anything about this. I am not aware of any scripture in what has survived of the Bible which give great detail about the origins of Satan. None of those scriptures contradict our belief which you sighted. By the way, we believe that you and I are His siblings also. My brother-in-law is in jail. Should they arrest my wife because it is impossible for siblings to be different.

Mormons totally avoid the Biblical teaching of Christ's atonement for sin which was accomplished on the Cross.

So far from truth to be not worthy of comment.
You can read what we believe by reading the Book of Mormon at lds.org.

[sleepyhead]

Hello officer,

I'm an ex mormon and I have no personal desire to claim the title of Christian. Earlier in the thread one individual was willing to define Christian as anyone who wanted to consider himself a Christian. The mormons that were posting then didn't accept this definition but wanted the title of Christian to actually mean something. You in turn have listed certain criteria for being a Christian.

>>>-Jesus Christ was born of a virgin
-is the Son of God
-is the only way to receive salvation<<<

The significant criteria is the last one (-is the only way to receive salvation). In order for a mormon to complete the various temple rituals required for exaltation, you need to be considered worthy by the church. If the church is the decider with regards to who can perform these ceremonies wouldn't you be dependent upon their approval to obtain your exaltation?

[Kuan]

From how you point it out yes but it also seems different to me though. I see it as yes, you do need to receive a recommend to enter are temples. You probably know why we do that. So I believe that if the church went astray and was denying that to good people deserving of it, God would realign his church. I know you might not acccept this as an argument, its just a statement of how I believe it to be. This has become somewhat irrevelant it seems, I would be happy accepting the definition, anyone who wants to be christian.

[Joshua Patrick]

If you believe in the Trinity, your Christian. You do not.

The Apostles Creed condemns Mormonsim.

The true source of Christianity, the church Christ established, what as stood for 2000+ years even says your not Christian.

To be classed as a Christian, you need the essentials of Christianity, which Mormonism does not profess.
Protestants are even classed as Christian because they uphold the essentials of Christianity.

We don't, in fact, deny that many Mormons try to love and serve the Lord Jesus. Active members do genuinely try to make him and his will a center in their daily lives, but your not Christian. Just as Protestants are not in the Church of Christ, Mormons are not in the Abrahamic faith of Christianity.

[Kuan]

Mormons are not in the Abrahamic faith of Christianity.

You might not classify us as christians but to say the last part is very false. "Mormonism" falls under that classification even though you might not classify us as christian.

[Joshua Patrick]

You might not classify us as christians but to say the last part is very false. "Mormonism" falls under that classification even though you might not classify us as christian.

Ok maybe Abrahamic a faith, but not the Abrahamic faith of Christianity. Mormonism is something out of Star Trek.

[Kuan]

You might not classify us as christians but to say the last part is very false. "Mormonism" falls under that classification even though you might not classify us as christian.

Ok maybe Abrahamic a faith, but not the Abrahamic faith of Christianity. Mormonism is something out of Star Trek.

Could you retract that statement of star trek. Its somewhat offensive to me.

[Katzpur]

You might not classify us as christians but to say the last part is very false. "Mormonism" falls under that classification even though you might not classify us as christian.

Ok maybe Abrahamic a faith, but not the Abrahamic faith of Christianity. Mormonism is something out of Star Trek.

Only to someone who gets his information on the religion from a dubious source. To someone whose idea of keeping up on what's going on in the world is reading the National Enquirer, the more bizarre something is made to sound, the better. I suspect you fall within that group.