Even though we make fun of Wikipedia, and even though any serious scientific piece shouldn't cite Wikipedia, fact remains that the community-created and maintained encyclopaedia has turned into an impressive database of knowledge. Even though I don't think you should trust it blindly, it's usually an excellent starting point for information, especially when used in a casual setting. Still, its open nature is also a threat to Wikipedia, this week exemplified by the Wikipedia Arbitration Committee banning Scientology from editing Wikipedia pages.
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Member since:2006-01-10
To be fair to the 'bastardization' of Christianity of America, let's go back further in history, Christianity has been bastardized when it first became the Roman Catholic Church. Council of Nicea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea pretty much determined at that point which 'should' be canonical and which should not. Not all the members there agreed on everything.
This is what happens when a man is declared a diety 300 years after the fact, then it spreads. You can take any bit of information, pass it orally to 100 people and by the end of it that information will be distorted. Such is the way our brains work.
In conclusion, search out your own answers, don't accept them blindly from some random person with a book or pamphlet.
Member since:2007-01-01
I'd have to disagree. Mormonism has changed greatly, and quietly hides their odd beliefs, such as:
- three heavens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrees_of_Glory)
- church currently lead by a prophet and 12 apostles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolic_succession)
- 3 extra Bible(s) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Mormon, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_and_Covenants, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_of_Great_Price_(Latter_Day_Saint...))
- God is a man with a wife (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavenly_Mother_(Latter_Day_Saints))
- Not God, but Jesus, Micheal and Adam created the earth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beliefs_and_practices_of_The_Church_of...)
- Man (and women) can be come Gods and Goddesses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beliefs_and_practices_of_The_Church_of...)
- the Garden of Eden was in Missouri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beliefs_and_practices_of_The_Church_of...)
- in the Temple, member make an oath do donate ALL of their money to the church, if the church asks for it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beliefs_and_practices_of_The_Church_of...)
- men can be married in heaven to more that one women (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-d...)
- early church leader established that members follow a health law called the 'Word of Wisdom' which states that Mormons should essentially be vegetarians, by 'eating meat sparingly' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_of_Wisdom) which is ignored by Mormons.
- Mormons killed a large group of unarmed families that tried to cross through Mormon's land (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_massacre)
- and the list goes on and on
Member since:1997-10-01
It's funny how you mention that the Mormon church hides its odd beliefs (and it's true that Mormonism has many beliefs that seem odd to many Christians) but then you mention several of those odd beliefs that are actually a prominent part of the lessons that prospective members get when they're thinking of joining the church:
- The "three heavens"
- Prophet and apostles
- The "extra bibles"
- People can become "gods and goddesses"
Mormons are actually quite proud of these doctrinal innovations.
The rest of the beliefs you mention are all true, but compared against crazy things that any other Christian believes that comes straight out of the Bible, they're really not noteworthy at all. The only reason that many Christians find the Mormon beliefs odd is that they don't bother to take a step back and see how crazy their own beliefs sound to someone who wasn't inculcated with them from childhood. (and the Mountain Meadows Massacre was horrible, but doesn't exactly win the Mormon pioneers any prizes in the religion-inspired atrocities competition).
Member since:
2005-07-06
Changing beliefs is nothing strange; the US where 35% of Americans are fundamentalist Christians, have over turned centuries of conventional Christian theology on the creation of earth to concoct this 'young earth creationism' that is all the rage in the United States. Until the rise of fundamentalist Protestantism, no sane person would take Genesis literally; Augustine of Hippo himself rejected the literalism that has crept into the bastardised version of Christianity that seems to be prevalent in the United States.
Then there is the prosperity gospels that basically turn the basic tenants of Jesus up on their head with the total re-branding of Christianity into nothing more than a 'self help session to get dollars in your pocket". You point out Mormonism and the changes they have made - it pales in comparison to the bastardisation which Christianity has undergone in the new world.
Edited 2009-06-01 04:43 UTC