Peter, I have no real reply for you because Capslock summed up my argument rather well.
Plus, not sure what word your Webster's definition was for, but it was a great definition for whatever word it was...I guess.
Mike, and everyone. I am a "Mormon" therefore I am the most qualified here to make the claims Mike has just made. Mike you meant well and quoted some true points, but apparently you've read the info coming from a negative source. And as with ALL negative speakers of others, the truth has been twisted and misrepresented. So here is my take which is also the take of the "Mormons".
read on...
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Mike King @ April 01 2004,4:34)]Yes the Mormons do believe Jesus was married...
We don't know for fact whether He was married or not. NO ONE DOES!
In the New Testament KJV I know of at least 6 places where Christ was called Rabbi or Rabboni. It is true that to be a "Rabbi" in the Jewish traditions one must have a wife. Therefore we can speculate.
BUT!! "Rabbi" could also be translated as to have been simply saying "master". Therefore, we could argue both ends, but we have no proof to say one or the other.
WPG and Mike, you may have met someone in my church who leans on believing that Christ had a wife. But, it is HONESTLY not a doctrine of our church. It is simply interesting to speculate.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]and he had no 'virgin birth'.Mormons like the Jehovah's witnesses belive that jesus was a created being and was simply a spirit before he came to earth.
Correction. We DO believe that Mary was a Virgin when Christ was born. I don't know anyone in the church who differs with that opinion. It IS our doctrine that she was a virgin. If you meet someone of my church who says different. Tell him he is wrong. You have my permission...
j/k
On the matter of Christ being a Spirit before he was born, that is true. He wasn't EQUAL with us, but He was one of the first Spirit born to The Father. When Christ came down to earth He condescended and took on for the first time a physical body. When Christ resurrected He received a physical but perfect, immortal body.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Mormons also believe that the universe is inhabited with many gods who produce spirit children and that 'good mormons' become gods.
Our doctrine is that Christ is a God. He IS a GOD! He was the "Word" with the Father and Christ Himself IS the God of this world and Created the World. That is why Christ as a Spirit was much higher than we were. We believe that the ultimate Glory for God is that we become like Him. He is a God, and will always remain OUR God and we will always bring Glory to Him. But, we can follow Christ's example as He has admonished and be Perfected in Him. Following Christ and becoming like Him is our goal. Christ and Heavenly Father are both Gods. So, like Mike said. We believe in multiple Gods. But those two are the only Gods we worship.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]The other differences of mormons to Christinaity is that one earns salvation through good works when Romans 3 23 says that salvation is a free gift.
Our doctrine is that there are TWO main obstacles Christ overcame for us. The PHYSICAL death and the SPIRITUAL death. When Christ arose from the dead and was resurrected He overcame PHYSICAL DEATH. Because of His grace and great Sacrifice EVERYONE will be resurrected. Therefore "saved" from bands of death. THIS RESURRECTION IS A FREE GIFT TO ANYONE! Now, many people will be terrible murderers and sinners, but thanks to the GRACE of God they will also be spared from Death, and will be resurrected. However, Christ also sacrificed in the Garden of Gethsamene. There he sacrificed for all of our SINS. In order to be cleansed from our sins we need to have Faith in Christ and repent from our sins. That is where GOOD WORKS comes in. You can't earn a place in the Kingdom of God without good works. You will resurrect by the grace of God, but depending on how well you follow Christ and perform good works will DECIDE whether you spend eternity with God or not.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Mormons also belive one can be saved in the next life when the bible says man is set to die once and face judgement!
Our Doctrine is that after this life there is a waiting period before judgment day. We all will be judged by Christ. But, some of us are still COMING to the Earth and others are still here. While many people have already died. Those are spending their time in what is called by scripture as either "Paradise" or "Spirit Prison." We do believe that there are MANY people who have died young, or even without the CHANCE to even HEAR about Jesus Christ. Those people get an opportunity to hear about Him and accept Him as their Savior. Read New Testament 1 Peter 3:19-20 and 1 Peter 4:6. These scriptures talk about preaching to those after this life, but are very vague and lack further explanation. I can THANK my Heavenly Father for Prophets today, because through them we have learned more about those passages!
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]There are many more differences, but it is interesting to note that the book of Mormon contains text amounting to 25,000 words identical to the King James Bible passages.. Now if Joseph Smith was translating from an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics..! Some revelation!
Here's a statement from Moroni, one of the record keepers from the Book of Mormon. He wrote this roughly around 400-421 A.D. :
32 And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.
33 And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record.
(Book of Mormon | Mormon 9:32 - 33)
You need to remember that when Joseph Smith was dictating the translation of the Book of Mormon to the person who at the time was writing for him, he was doing it at a very fast pace and was translating by simply reading it out loud. Joseph had no training in this language of the peoples of the Book or Mormon. So, while he was translating, like ANY person translating from a different language he wasn't doing it literally. i.e. If someone translated the English idiom, "Spill the Beans!" They would confuse the idea behind the phrase if they translated LITERALLY. A translator would have to take the idea of "Tell us what you know!" and translate that IDEA in words similar. Joseph was placing AN IDEA from their ancient language into words familiar in the English language. Since, Joseph Smith's vocabulary represented what he read the most, the KJV of the Bible, it is no mystery that he used references and words from the Bible to express the IDEA of these ancient peoples.
Hope that helps!
Aaron King (Odysseus)