I also risk a charge of pedantry here, but I do feel a need to take issue
with what appears to be a statement that Mormons should be included as
Christians. If by that you simply mean that they have a false teaching,
but they can still come to a saving faith I would agree, but if you mean
that their teaching in fact should be included within the definition of
Christianity I would disagree there. From what I understand of their
doctrine, they teach that Mormon males have the possibility of attaining
Godhood and also that God himself was once a man. Or how about the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit as one in purpose but separate in being? This only
scratches the surface of many discrepancies which are not minor at all and
contradict the Bible in key areas, and even the statement of faith of the
ASA. This is quite a difference from the comparison of ICR or young/old
earth, and many other discussions which occur on this list which I would in
fact include within the definition of Christian. There are central issues
(e.g. the Deity of Christ) and non-central issues (e.g. evolution). Also,
I would propose that it is not the non-factual teachings and preachings
which are bringing them (or brought you) to a saving faith, but rather the
incongruity between these and the truth as revealed by God. And finally
another self-reminder that it is of course not for me to judge who is and
isn't a Christian, that is God's role. However it is also not for me to
water down God's definition of Christianity especially in such key areas.
In Christ,
Vince
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Vince D. Calhoun, MA, MS, Research Engineer
WORK: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Psychiatric Neuro-Imaging Division
600 N. Wolfe St., Meyer 3-166, Baltimore, MD 21287-7362
VOICE: (410) 955-7861, FAX: (410) 614-3676
WWW: http://www.welch.jhu.edu/~vcalhoun
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"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so,
somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have
already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press
on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."
Phil 3:10-12