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Originally Posted by DizzyDee  Actually I used to be a mormon, and you are just splitting hairs. Mormons are christian based on the definition linked above. To Mormons, Jesus is the Son of God, equally in authority and power and one with His Father. They view the three members of the "godhead" - Father, Son, Holy Ghost as three gods in one - very similar to the trinity, but you are right there are differences. They believe themselves to be christian, profess faith in Christ and to me that makes them christian. |
I had a feeling you and I had traveled some similar paths, Dizzy Dee.
I was an member of the LDS Church for nine years, then a member, elder, and pastor in the RLDS Church (which redubbed itself the Community of Christ in 2001) for fourteen years before leaving the latter day movement in 1998.
Over the years, I learned that any concept of the nature of God that did not slavishly agree with three-in-one concept of God was enough for some Christian groups to exclude other groups who saw God differently, no matter how close the similarites might have been. Thus, neither the LDS concept of three distinct personages (two of flesh and bone and one of spirit), nor the concept that was popular in the RLDS faith for years (two personages of spirit with the Holy Ghost being the combined influence of the two - this is based on the Lectures of Faith that were used widely in the latter day movement in the 1830's) would set well with these folks.
I've also seen groups excluded from the Christian camp because they refused to accept the Bible as the only valid scripture. Obviously, any of the fifty or so Latter Day denominations would not fit that bill, since all of them consider at least the Bible and the Book of Mormon to be scriptural. However, this idea has also been used at times to exclude Christian Scientists and Seventh-day Adventists (who don't have an extra book of scripture per se, but put a lot of stock in the writings of their founders).
Interestingly enough, I have seen folks who belong to churches that many do not consider to be "Christian" enough to be the ones who are more concerned with feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and helping people develop skills to improve their lot in life.
Now, as for me, I tend to not worry about this sort of thing. If someone tells me their religious preference is Christianity, then I assume they accept the teachings of Jesus in some manner. What that manner may be is their business, unless they start to tell me that I don't "measure up". Then we will have to engage in a tad of discussion
As a UU Christian, I find value in focusing in on the teachings attributed to Jesus and not feeling particularly bound by the ideas expressed in the Pauline epistles, etc. For me, such sections as John 17 and the Sermon on the Mount, as well as Jesus' good old fashioned common sense approach of "he who is without sin cast the first stone" define Christianity for me.