The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a Christian church.
I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this, especially here on tumblr. Two of the common reasons I've heard for this accusation are:
our belief in the Godhead rather than the Trinity
our view that the Nicene, Athanasian, and other related Creeds contradict the truths that Christ Himself set forth in the New Testament (often summarized in casual conversation as, "we reject the Creeds")
I'd like to share a conference address with you that clarifies where we stand on these topics—and why we stand there—far better than I could. It's by Jeffery R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and was given during the October 2007 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It'll take less than fifteen minutes of your time if you want to watch it.
I've also put some quotes from this address (which I've bolded in places for emphasis) below the video so you can get a quick idea of his points. You can also read, watch, and listen to the full address here.
I would appreciate it if you could please share/reblog this post so the information can be seen by more people. Thank you.
↓ Quotes from the address ↓
The Godhead vs. the Trinity:
Our first and foremost article of faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.” We believe these three divine persons constituting a single Godhead are united in purpose, in manner, in testimony, in mission. We believe Them to be filled with the same godly sense of mercy and love, justice and grace, patience, forgiveness, and redemption. I think it is accurate to say we believe They are one in every significant and eternal aspect imaginable except believing Them to be three persons combined in one substance, a Trinitarian notion never set forth in the scriptures because it is not true.
Indeed no less a source than the stalwart Harper’s Bible Dictionary records that “the formal doctrine of the Trinity as it was defined by the great church councils of the fourth and fifth centuries is not to be found in the [New Testament].”
The Nicene and related Creeds:
In the year a.d. 325 the Roman emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea to address—among other things—the growing issue of God’s alleged “trinity in unity.” What emerged from the heated contentions of churchmen, philosophers, and ecclesiastical dignitaries came to be known (after another 125 years and three more major councils) as the Nicene Creed, with later reformulations such as the Athanasian Creed. These various evolutions and iterations of creeds—and others to come over the centuries—declared the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be abstract, absolute, transcendent, immanent, consubstantial, coeternal, and unknowable, without body, parts, or passions and dwelling outside space and time. In such creeds all three members are separate persons, but they are a single being, the oft-noted “mystery of the trinity.” They are three distinct persons, yet not three Gods but one. All three persons are incomprehensible, yet it is one God who is incomprehensible.
We agree with our critics on at least that point—that such a formulation for divinity is truly incomprehensible. [...] How are we to trust, love, worship, to say nothing of strive to be like, One who is incomprehensible and unknowable? What of Jesus’s prayer to His Father in Heaven that “this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”?
Not believing the Trinity doesn't mean we're not Christian:
It is not our purpose to demean any person’s belief nor the doctrine of any religion. We extend to all the same respect for their doctrine that we are asking for ours. (That, too, is an article of our faith.) But if one says we are not Christians because we do not hold a fourth- or fifth-century view of the Godhead, then what of those first Christian Saints, many of whom were eyewitnesses of the living Christ, who did not hold such a view either?
New Testament evidence for our view of the Godhead:
We declare it is self-evident from the scriptures that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are separate persons, three divine beings, noting such unequivocal illustrations as the Savior’s great Intercessory Prayer just mentioned, His baptism at the hands of John, the experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the martyrdom of Stephen—to name just four.
With these New Testament sources and more ringing in our ears, it may be redundant to ask what Jesus meant when He said, “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do.” On another occasion He said, “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” Of His antagonists He said, “[They have] … seen and hated both me and my Father.” And there is, of course, that always deferential subordination to His Father that had Jesus say, “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.” “My Father is greater than I.”
To whom was Jesus pleading so fervently all those years, including in such anguished cries as “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” and “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me”? To acknowledge the scriptural evidence that otherwise perfectly united members of the Godhead are nevertheless separate and distinct beings is not to be guilty of polytheism; it is, rather, part of the great revelation Jesus came to deliver concerning the nature of divine beings. Perhaps the Apostle Paul said it best: “Christ Jesus … being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.”
Elder Holland also touches on our doctrine of an embodied God, and bears his testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm sure I've quoted over half of this talk here already, so here is another link to the full address if you would like to read those sections.
If you've made it this far, thank you. It means a lot to me that you'd take a little time out of your day to read about the beliefs and doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I hope this was helpful in clarifying what we do and don't believe when it comes to the Trinity and the Creeds.
My ask box is always open to honest questions and discussions about my faith. I'm not here to debate anyone, but I'd be delighted to explain, clarify, and give my view on things. :)
Sadly, the doctrinal ignorance in the pulpits of today is being replicated in the doctrinal ignorance and indifference of the pews, and the people are not even seeing the picture, much less getting it.
LA MENTIRA CALVINISTA
Y el Espíritu y la Esposa dicen: Ven. Y el que oye, diga: Ven. Y el que tiene sed, venga; y el que quiera, tome del agua de la vida gratuitamente.
Apocalipsis 22:17
Parte 2 (b)
2.- ELECCION INCONDICIONAL.
Si una persona pecadora por naturaleza no puede ser salva porque a Dios en su soberanía no le Placio salvarla ¿Por qué entonces Dios la juzgará y le enviará eternamente al lago de fuego, si esa persona no tenia alternativa, pues no fue escogida para ser salvo? El juicio final entonces sería absurdo ¿sobre qué bases estaría sentado este juicio si los condenados lo fueron por que Dios no quiso salvarlos y al no estar escogidos para salvación debían morir en pecado y no tenían alternativa?
La soberanía de Dios es claramente mostrada en la biblia, pero el calvinismo la desvirtúa haciendo creer que el ser humano no puede decidir entre rechazar o recibir la salvación que Dios le muestra, y sin embargo la escritura es totalmente clara en definir que el hombre está condenado precisamente porque la rechaza.
El que me rechaza, y no recibe mis palabras, tiene quien le juzgue; la palabra que he hablado, ella le juzgará en el día postrero” Juan 12:48.
Y esta es la condenación: que la luz vino al mundo, y los hombres amaron más las tinieblas que la luz, porque sus obras eran malas” Juan 3:19.
Los calvinistas dicen que solo pueden arrepentirse aquellos que Dios escogió para salvación, quienes no están escogidos para salvación por ende, dicen ellos, no pueden de ninguna manera arrepentirse. Eso no lo dice la biblia, el llamado de Dios es para que todos los hombres se arrepientan.
Desde entonces comenzó Jesús a predicar, y a decir: Arrepentíos, porque el reino de los cielos se ha acercado” Mateo 4:17.
Es la bondad de Dios que nos guía al arrepentimiento pero es el hombre quien se arrepiente y si no se arrepiente pues Dios lo condena.
¿O menosprecias las riquezas de su benignidad, paciencia y longanimidad, ignorando que su benignidad te guía al arrepentimiento? Pero por tu dureza y por tu corazón no arrepentido, atesoras para ti mismo ira para el día de la ira y de la revelación del justo juicio de Dios Romanos 2:4-5.
Os digo: No; antes si no os arrepentís, todos pereceréis igualmente
Lucas 13:3
Según la doctrina de Calvino solo pueden arrepentirse los que Dios les conceda que se arrepientan, es decir, los elegidos, ¡increíble Calvino sabia más que Pablo! Quien dijo; Pero Dios, habiendo pasado por alto los tiempos de esta ignorancia, ahora manda a TODOS los hombres en todo lugar, que se arrepientan.
Hechos 17:30
Continuara....
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