50 Questions for Mormons

[Duke]

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Unfortunately I'm not a fundamentalist so I don't quite take your view of the Bible. Just a few questions for you since you interpret the Bible so vastly differently than I do

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Just to stop you here -- I'm (obviously) not a Fundamentalist. However, those questions are targeted toward Christian Fundamentalists. If you allow for a liberal interpretation of the Bible, or even allow for mistakes to be in it, then you can believe pretty much whatever you want to believe (so to speak), and these questions won't phase you one bit.

The "amputee question" is targeted toward those Christians that believe that God heals people when they pray. LOTS of people (Catholics & Protestants alike) believe this. If God heals people with cancer, and heart problems, and any other # of major illnesses & diseases -- then why not amputees?

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Well, ok then. I personally think an absolute literal reading of the Bible is silly as well. This does not mean it is useless or a worthless piece of work. I think an absolute literal reading of anything is generally worthless, except for maybe works on mathematics or pure logic. Think about how much interpretational leeway you generally give writings when you are looking for the original author's intent? You don't treat every sentence like a syllogism.

I guess my point is, to come to the conclusion that the Bible is saying faith can/will heal amputees for example, you *must* take an absolute literal interpretation of Biblical passages. So much that you think every single statement in the Bible is meant to be that of pure logic: e.g. 1) The Bible says you can move mountains with faith. 2) The Bible is the word of God. 3) Therefore I can move Mount Kilimanjaro by asking God really nicely.

I don't think anyone on these boards reads the Bible so literally, so I don't understand the desire to make fun of people with these beliefs in a thread on Mormonism. Even the Mormon guy popped in on another thread and said that 90% of the "facts" listed were hilarious. I think it is possible that no one in the history of humankind gives an absolute 100% literal reading of the Bible (I doubt anyone has thought Jesus' apostles were literally sheep when the Bible says Jesus is the shepherd and we are his flock, for example), and I doubt any Christian REALLY believes God will heal amputees 100% of the time when you ask him nicely. So, in summary, I think that website is extremely pointless because it is attacking a belief virtually (possibly absolutely) no one believes in.

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I'll guess that you didn't go to the web site.

[Matt R.]

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Do you believe God has healed people with cancer?

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I don't know. Maybe.

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Do you believe God has healed people with missing limbs?

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I don't know. Maybe.

Define "healed". Since when are amputees in danger of dying? Do you think people around the world actually pray for amputees to regrow limbs? Or do they focus on life threatening stuff (or something like personal crises)? My experience says it's the latter. I do know that a lot of people report "healing" in such a way that prayer makes it much easier to get through rough times. This probably includes amputee victims.

I still don't understand why the web site thinks that an experiment set up by atheists worldwide should somehow force God's hand into regrowing a leg or two.

I would also like to reiterate the point that no Christian thinks God will murder someone even if you ask him in good faith. So clearly religious people generally do not believe God will obey your every command on all issues. It doesn't follow that prayer is worthless or even that God does not answer prayers.

[Matt R.]

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Unfortunately I'm not a fundamentalist so I don't quite take your view of the Bible. Just a few questions for you since you interpret the Bible so vastly differently than I do

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Just to stop you here -- I'm (obviously) not a Fundamentalist. However, those questions are targeted toward Christian Fundamentalists. If you allow for a liberal interpretation of the Bible, or even allow for mistakes to be in it, then you can believe pretty much whatever you want to believe (so to speak), and these questions won't phase you one bit.

The "amputee question" is targeted toward those Christians that believe that God heals people when they pray. LOTS of people (Catholics & Protestants alike) believe this. If God heals people with cancer, and heart problems, and any other # of major illnesses & diseases -- then why not amputees?

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Well, ok then. I personally think an absolute literal reading of the Bible is silly as well. This does not mean it is useless or a worthless piece of work. I think an absolute literal reading of anything is generally worthless, except for maybe works on mathematics or pure logic. Think about how much interpretational leeway you generally give writings when you are looking for the original author's intent? You don't treat every sentence like a syllogism.

I guess my point is, to come to the conclusion that the Bible is saying faith can/will heal amputees for example, you *must* take an absolute literal interpretation of Biblical passages. So much that you think every single statement in the Bible is meant to be that of pure logic: e.g. 1) The Bible says you can move mountains with faith. 2) The Bible is the word of God. 3) Therefore I can move Mount Kilimanjaro by asking God really nicely.

I don't think anyone on these boards reads the Bible so literally, so I don't understand the desire to make fun of people with these beliefs in a thread on Mormonism. Even the Mormon guy popped in on another thread and said that 90% of the "facts" listed were hilarious. I think it is possible that no one in the history of humankind gives an absolute 100% literal reading of the Bible (I doubt anyone has thought Jesus' apostles were literally sheep when the Bible says Jesus is the shepherd and we are his flock, for example), and I doubt any Christian REALLY believes God will heal amputees 100% of the time when you ask him nicely. So, in summary, I think that website is extremely pointless because it is attacking a belief virtually (possibly absolutely) no one believes in.

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I'll guess that you didn't go to the web site.

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I read some of it. I didn't read all of it because it wasn't exactly intellectually stimulating. I'm happy you thought otherwise.

[KipBond]

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Do you believe God has healed people with cancer?

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I don't know. Maybe.

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Well, there are a lot of people that believe, whole-heartedly, that God has and does heal people with cancer. Since you don't know, this question doesn't apply to you. But, you might want to research it and try to come to an opinion about it -- it's a pretty major thing.

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Do you believe God has healed people with missing limbs?

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I don't know. Maybe.

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Well, if this "I don't know. Maybe." is of the same degree as the former, then you might want to look around a bit.

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Define "healed".

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Umm. Cessation of the ailment? No more cancer. No more missing limbs.

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Do you think people around the world actually pray for amputees to regrow limbs?

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Well, if they are delusional, yes. Similarly, they pray for God to heal the blind, cure AIDS, let the lame walk, and many other things.

[threeonefour]

I think this is a very odd post to make in a forum where virtually no devout mormons would see it. like i have said in previous posts, my Mormon resume is pretty rock solid and could answer many of these questions from a devout mormon's perspective.

i am not about to pull out my BoM, D&C, bible etc and look up the answers to all of these question though. but you have some specific question that you would like to see tackled i would be up for it.

fwiw to repeat my credetials from the other thread, i am inactive and agnostic (but i have a generally positive view of the church), but i went to church ever sunday for ~18 years plus went to seminary for 4 years in high school. father was a bishop then in the stake presidency, brother was a missionary, and i voted in President Howard W. Hunter as prophet, seer, and revelator in person.

[KipBond]

I have a question for you, threeonefour:

Do you consider Mormons to be Christian? Why or why not?

If so, what are your thoughts on the arguments posed by other Christians that Mormons are not Christian? (See Matt R.'s previous comments for an example.)

EDIT: Here is what Matt R (a Christian) said about it:

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Nope [Mormons are not Christian]. At least they are not typically considered Christians. They have vastly different beliefs than mainstream Christianity, and sociologists who study religion almost always classify Mormonism and Christianity as separate religions. If you want to classify them under the same heading, that's cool I guess. Just realize that most people who study religion disagree with this classification because it's not very useful.

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[threeonefour]

-Kipbond

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are very very much Christians. They believe in Jesus Christ, they believe in his teachings, they believe in the new testament.


other Christians don't like LDS people. LDS people don't wear crosses. so yea, they aren't a mainstream brand of Christianity.

but going with a reasonable definition of the word, a follower of the teachings and Jesus Christ and believer that Jesus Christ is a member of the Godhood (or at least not just a simple prophet), then it very very clear that they are Christians.

Sadly though, Christianity has so much more baggage than the above definition. For practical purposes, if you consider them a Christian sect separate from the rest of Christianity (not unlike how most people separate catholics and protestants) then i would think that is reasonable. certainly Mormons would. A LDS individual certianly wouldn't feel at home at Bob Jones University, whereas most Baptists wouldn't exactly feel at home at BYU.


in fact, and this may be a little known fact to non-LDS people, LDS people refer to non-LDS people (who aren't Jews) as gentiles just like Jews refer to outsiders as gentiles. LDS people were actually adopted into the tribe of Israel (well according to our own beliefs, which might be a little offensive to many Jewish people). The LDS faith actually more closely mimics the Jewish faith than most any other Christian sect.

In short, LDS people would be offended you told them they are not Christian. They DEFINITELY consider themselves Christian. However if you asked them their religion, they would say they are LDS, unlike how many protestants would default by just saying they are Christian rather than Lutheran. So they definitely see themselves are separated from the pack and wouldn't be offended you saw them as different from all other Christian religions, but still Christian, like how most people think of the Catholics.

[bocablkr]

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51. So you really are an actual mormon? I mean you actually truly believe that stuff....? Seriously?

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This holds true for christians as well - [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

BTW, anyone who believes in Jesus is a christian.

[WiiiiiiMan]

This thread is funny.

I am Mormon.

Why?

Cause I believe with every fiber of my being that this is the truth.

And no matter how you want to try to spin stuff, that won't change, sure I could just go against everything I believe just because I don't have eye witness proof or so called skeptics and scholars think they can outsmart the bible or prophets and prove them to be stupid but that doesn't really matter does it?

What good would it do?

If I love my wife, and she loves me, just because some people could point out some things that wouldn't be considered acts of true love or they could technically try to doubt it, doesn't mean anything cause I know how I feel about her. Same goes for the Church but 100x more.

In religion, love, relationships, there are ups and downs, right and wrongs, you can't let that affect that little part of us that testifies to what we really think is true or not.

There are those who will go through life living by a principle, a true purpose and belief and fulfill that and then there are those that will wonder, and wonder until they die, standing for nothing, not really knowing anything and never believing in anything better then themselves.

The one good thing though is we do have free agency and whether or not you believe God gave us that right, we do have it and you can use it how you wish.

[threeonefour]

-Wiiiman

not to call you out, since i am a sinner (and honestly not even a believer) myself, but what are you doing on this forum?

you must be one of those lax SLC mormons, the ones that will tattoo a CTR logo on themselves, or go out to eat on sunday. :-P

eh its no biggie i guess, most LDS people i know drink, or at least least willing to drink, coke or watch tv on sunday or have some other 'favorite sin'. Gambling though, is a cut or two above those most LDS people would say.