Do you think Mormons are true Christians?
- Thread starter Alan McDougall
- Start date
*************
M*W: Expanding on your question, what is a 'true christian?' I doubt that card carrying christians are 'true christians.' What is the purpose of the original christian religion (assuming it was the 'true christianity' that branched off into thousands of denominations and sects), each believing that their sect is the only 'true christianity? There is no one 'true christianity.' Believing that there is one 'true christianity' is a delusion based on the programming (brainwashing) that one received possibly from birth. There are no gods to worship. To do so, one would be in denial (and unwilling to accept the truth). What we do have are humans who believe in myths of propagated myths. The religions known to mankind, and made by mankind (100% if them) are not true. So, it really doesn't matter what the LDS believe. It matters not what Baptists, Methodists, Unitarians and Catholilcs believe either. All religions evolved from ancient Egyptian sun worship, and we can thank the nomads down at the delta for their observances of the night sky.
More evidence to reject your religion.
Yeah...maybe we could address that issue when all the other thousands of denominations reach a consensus of which one is the only "true" version of Christianity and which ones are false...so basically never. So asking if any one denomination of the Christian theology whether or not their version is true in comparison to the others is the equivalent of well asking each denomination whether or not their version of Christianity is the true one.
[video=youtube;MfA6mTgl7tU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfA6mTgl7tU[/video]
It's funny watching these groups fight. Fingers crossed that they destroy themselves
Mazulu: The following implies that you know a lot of atheists:
I have an atheist cousin & several atheists friends. Our ethics & behavior compare favorably with those of the religious people I know. Our ethics & behavior are better than that of many religious people I know.
Atheists have been given a bum rap by theist types who do not know any atheists.
Theists are the close minded ones. To become an atheist one must have a very open, inquisitive mind. I was raised in a culture which was basically religious. Almost everybody I knew professed to be religious.
I had a very close bond with my father. I started to question theist views (at age 7) when I was taught about Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son, Jacob. I viewed this as evidence that there was something wrong with god & expressed that opinion. I could not believe that a sane entity would make such a request & I was appalled that Abraham agreed to kill his son.
The more the Sunday school teacher tried to defend the request, the more I felt that there was something fundamentally wrong with the religion being taught.
I doubt that you know any.
I have an atheist cousin & several atheists friends. Our ethics & behavior compare favorably with those of the religious people I know. Our ethics & behavior are better than that of many religious people I know.
Atheists have been given a bum rap by theist types who do not know any atheists.
Theists are the close minded ones. To become an atheist one must have a very open, inquisitive mind. I was raised in a culture which was basically religious. Almost everybody I knew professed to be religious.
I had a very close bond with my father. I started to question theist views (at age 7) when I was taught about Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son, Jacob. I viewed this as evidence that there was something wrong with god & expressed that opinion. I could not believe that a sane entity would make such a request & I was appalled that Abraham agreed to kill his son.
The more the Sunday school teacher tried to defend the request, the more I felt that there was something fundamentally wrong with the religion being taught.
There is nothing inspiring about atheism (which is why it's so difficult to attack). If you don't do anything at all, then nobody will fault you. Nothing beautiful comes from atheism, nothing inspiring, not that creates passion or awe. You're just a bunch of philosophical zombies running around trying to root out and destroy the spiritual experiences of others.
Atheism seeks to mock religion; Pastafarians are an example. This is what atheists want to offer the world.
You got Genesis wrong. Abraham's son was Isaac. Jacob was Isaac's son.
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
But free from the constraints of religion, we're able to get passion and awe from everything else in the world. I know plenty of atheists who create music and other art.
There are certainly atheists like that, but for the very reason that they strive to stand out, they appear to be more numerous than they really are. Most of us don't make a big deal out of our lack of religion any more than the average American so-called "Christian" makes a big deal out of his religion.
In the 13 years I've been a member of SciForums, I've had more discussions about religion and atheism right here than in the entire rest of my life. Only my closest friends even know that I'm an atheist because the topic simply never comes up in conversation with anyone else.
Most Americans who identify themselves as Christian don't give much more thought to their religion than I do to my lack of religion. It simply doesn't come up in their daily lives and casual conversations. The fundamentalists are the obvious exception, but it seems to be rather easy to avoid them:
- 1. Stay out of the section of the country known as the Bible Belt.
- 2. If you do encounter one, remember that you have virtually nothing in common so there's no point in starting a conversation unless you're in a bad mood and are looking for a heated argument.
Yes yes, Pastafarianism and the Flying Spaghetti Monster are good for a laugh. Some people find religion so offensive that they have to respond to it. I don't, and lots of other non-religious people don't either.
Many people have dismal lives, often through no fault of their own, simply bad luck. One of my dearest friends has MS (multiple sclerosis), and in addition her husband, her brother and her best friend all died in the past 12 years. She says, "I have to believe in Heaven. It's the only thing that keeps me going."
I understand. I don't try to argue her out of it.
The world used to be a much more dismal place than it is today, at least here in opulent 21st-century America. I can understand why people invented religions.
The infant mortality rate was 80% right up to the end of the 19th century, when medical science (vaccines, asepsis, antibiotics) and public health engineering (covered sewers, running water, wrapped food--not to mention the automobile so the streets were no longer shin-deep in horse manure) brought it down below one percent. Imagine a world in which you and almost everyone you know is constantly mourning the recent death of a child.
You just had to hope that something better was in the offing.
Fraggle Rocker The world used to be a much more dismal place than it is today said:
Are you implying the progress in the society was mainly by atheist ? and not by the society as a whole ? Schools in the past were not secular but an extension of churches and synagogs . So by that argument the improvement to the society come because education and education was funded by churches and synagogs .
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
No.
Of course it was by society as a whole. In the 19th century there weren't enough atheists to accomplish much of anything.
Not in the USA. You say you live here but you don't seem to have studied our history very thoroughly.
The country began creating public, government-funded schools right after it won independence from Britain in the Revolutionary War. By 1870 every state had schools of this type, although often only in the cities.
By 1910 three out of four American children attended elementary school (grades 1-8) and high schools began to be built. Of course the churches had been building schools of their own and many children attended them. But free public education was available to the majority.
There are still many church-supported schools, especially Catholic, but there are Protestant, Jewish and Islamic schools as well. In addition there are many private schools that are not religious in nature, such as Montessori.
The USA has an impressive number of government-supported universities. Every state has at least one that is run by the state government; the larger states like California have a dozen or more. New York even has a university run by the city government.
Two year "junior colleges" or "community colleges" (grades 13 and 14, "freshman" and "sophomore" only) are widespread, typically funded by cities and counties.
Fraggle Rocker The USA has an impressive number of government-supported universities. Every state has at least one that is run by the state government; the larger states like California have a dozen or more. New York even has a university run by the city government. Two year "junior colleges" or "community colleges" (grades 13 and 14 said:
spandrel
Registered Member
Most people in the world have no idea what on earth you are arguing about. I hereby rescind my Fraggle-Rocker credentials. Seriously, there are better things to be doing, people. Atheism is just another belief. Let it go. The mind is the problem It's always nice to feel that your belief is better than others. Do you want a list of all the different denominations? Hundreds? Thousands? And that's just Christianity. Take a step back and see what's going on here. Tower of Babel. You can't get to heaven with the intellect. Brain = small, reality = big. It's not that hard to understand.