Mormonism to mainstream Christians is and always has been
a point of ridicule. Followers of Mainstream Christianity see Mormonism as a
distortion of all they believe and hold holy. The distortion of Mormonism is
not the preserve of Christians solely non believing secularists also come into
the affray seeing followers of Mormonism as strange and dangerous due to our
belief in the supernatural as they see it.
The views of these Christian and secularists are commonly
based on the LDS (Utah )
view of our belief system. The facts are that Utah Mormons only send out an
obscure view of Mormonism these teachings are at odds with our founder Joseph
Smith. True Mormonism is Christ centred and fits perfectly with the practices
of Christianity as laid down by our Saviour. True Mormonism not Utah Mormonism
is Christ centred, indeed we could be accused of being obsessed with being
Christian.
People criticise us for having modern day revelation and
other witnesses of mans interaction with Deity for example The Book of Mormon
and the Doctrine and Covenants. However these Books just reaffirm our faith,
love, and commitment to Gods teachings as outlined in the Bible. When we preach
the gospel we rejoice in Christ, prophecy of him and write of him as the
Gatekeeper to our eventual journey into the Eternities. The fact that we have stripped
away lots of man inspired practices in a lot of Mainstream Christianity is
something that we are very proud of.
Regarding The Book of Mormon mainstream Christians would
tell you that the book is a fairy tale. The facts however, are that the Book is
supported by Archaeological evidence found in the Eastern states of the United States of America
where the Book of Mormon is set. The real point however is this, a book dealing
with the history of people relating to their God and how through the Holy Ghost
he guides the righteous. Some writers on Mormonism would have you believe that
the Mormon view of Christ is at odds with the Christ of Christianity, this is nonsense.
The fact is there is no one mainstream Christian view of the Saviour, indeed
there are many denominations just like there is more than one view of
Mormonism, not every Mormon is LDS (UTAH).
As a Latter Day Mormon (NOT LDS) we believe in a literal
Saviour who has a body who was born of a virgin and who took upon himself our
sins and died for us. We believe in a Father in heaven who does not have a
physical body but is of spirit. Contrary to what most people believe Joseph
Smith taught this all his life. Some commentators would have you believe
Mormons put the cross secondary to Gethsemane
this is simplification gone mad. In fact we hold them both as important. The
fact is in Gethsemane the Saviour took up the bitter cup and devoured for our
sake all sin, equally on the cross he showed us that as a God he was prepared
to lay down his life, this was necessary for the biggest prize we could be
given power over death in his resurrection.
In conclusion let us be one in praise of the Saviour and hope that we can unify all
those who praise God under the banner of what we have in common, not what we
have dividing us.
In the name of Jesus Christ Amen
Elder Philip A. Gill
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