Max, I understand your argument, but where do you draw the line? Is not the direct communication with God & Jesus a "perversion" (please no one get upset...I am speaking abstractly) of the original Catholic doctrine? Even farther back, is not the declaration of Christ as the son of God a perversion of Judaism (since they started it all and have yet to see a Son and, according to them, his arrival will begin Judgement and the reign of heaven)? Really, that is my only point. Ignoring my verbosity...where (and perhaps how) do you draw the line?
rimmy -- it's a fair point...i hate to sound like a supreme court justice talking about p*rnography, but i know it when i see it! truly...i don't have all the answers, so my opinion is nothing more than my opinion backed up by my own interpretation of scripture and where it conflicts with the Book of Mormon. check out Galatians 1:6-9 if you're interested... i'm confused on the god & jesus communication...not sure what you're talking about....but absolutely, Christianity is a perversion of Judaism...I don't think there's any doubt about it...Judaism as it exists as a religion does not accept Jesus as the Christ..as the Messiah. so ask a practicing Jew if Jesus Christ is a perversion of Judaism, and I'm sure you'll get a resounding yes. what makes me draw the line with LDS??: 1. existence of multiple gods and goddesses... 2. god didn't create ex nihilio (out of nothing) 3. god was a man who did good things and earned his way up to being god of his own world 4. there is some equal footing between god and man, as man can earn his way up to become the god of his own world this isn't the extent of it...but these points so drastically alter the very essence and nature of God, that I would call it a perversion...I understand others wouldn't call it that. I also understand there are many in the Mormon faith who don't subscribe to this view...all I can speak on is the Mormon faith as it has been proclaimed by the various Prophets through the years. When emphasis is taken off the cross and the gift of salvation, it looks less and less like Christianity to me, personally, and my understanding of scripture.
I will just clarify this point, leaving the others untouched not out of lack of interest, but out of deferment to those who know more than I. What I meant was that, originally, Christian doctrine was such that one individual could not directly communicate with God. That was a line one could not cross. There was a "Celestial Hierarchy" which corresponded with an earthly one. Priests acted as mediators, etc. With protestantism came the more personal relationship such that now people tell stories of God locking all the doors to their car and talking to them (true story). Thus: Christianity = perversion of Judaism, Protestantism = perversion of Catholicism (Christianity), Mormonism = perversion of Protestantism? Haha, hurts my head. 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel-- 7 not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, If any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed. Wouldn't something I grew up with - The Book of Common Prayer - apply? It is extremely Anglo-centric and met political as well as religious needs. Thus, it turned away from the original books.
one could certainly make the argument...i wouldn't...but i supposed one could make the argument. ultimately, the book of common prayer doesn't detract from the ultimate message of the Gospel...i could argue a lot easier that the book of mormon does.
Since we have gone WAY away from the pledge and onto the LDS, here's a question. A man who claims to be LDS has several wives. One of those wives was 13 when he impregnated her. So now he's going to prison. I wonder if the 9th Circuit would overturn his conviction based on freedom of religion.
I wouldn't be surprised -- especially since that 13-year-old (now a grown woman) has refused to press any charges against her husband.
the courts have ruled over and over again that there is no carved out exception for Mormons to the law that you can only have one spouse...someone may refuse to press charges...but it won't be overturned on 1st amendment grounds.
