Interesting Things

I really enjoyed some of the commentary found on this blog.

Indeed, questioning the Christianity of Latter-day Saints is like questioning the wetness of water.

I’ve always lived in an environment of doubt and relative rudeness towards my religion in southern Ohio.

(Side note: People are often very closed minded. It doesn’t matter whether folks are “conservative” or “liberal,” I like another like-minded friend, they are all too often closed minded individuals. People who often proclaim openness are the most closed individuals of all, interestingly enough. It goes both ways. This is a long post for another day…
(Side note cont’d: We, as Latter-day Saints, are some of the most conservative free thinkers on this planet. Most, who *really* understand religion and the true teachings of Jesus the Messiah or Christ (both meaning “Anointed One” in their respective languages) do see that we must be truly open to continual revelation from High. Indeed, the Savior was the epitome of liberal conservatism during his mortal life. The prophet Joseph Smith was also very much a living example of this during his life and experiences with Jesus and other resurrected and translated beings from the Old and New Testament.)

People of some other mainstream religions generally accuse that we are not Christians. The truth could not be farther from this. I very much like the statement by the First Presidency of the Church in 1907 in regards to whether “Mormons,” or Latter-day Saints, are Christians:

“Our religion is founded on the revelations of God. The gospel we proclaim is the Gospel of Christ, restored to earth in this the dispensation of the fullness of times. The high claim of the Church is declared in its title—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Established by divine direction, its name was prescribed by him whose Church it is—Jesus the Christ.”

“The religion of this people is pure Christianity. Its creed is expressive of the duties of practical life. Its theology is based on the doctrines of the Redeemer.”

“If it be true Christianity to accept Jesus Christ in person and his mission as divine; to revere him as the Son of God, the crucified and risen Lord, through whom alone mankind can attain salvation; to accept his teachings as a guide, to adopt as a standard and observe as a law the ethical code he promulgated; to comply with the requirements prescribed by him as essential to membership in his Church, namely, faith, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, if this be Christianity, then are we Christians, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a Christian church.” (”Address to the World,” March 26, 1907, cited in Messages of First Presidency 4:142-155)

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