I think I’ll pass on answering that because I’ll just get a bunch more questions I don’t know how to answer. Others could deal with all the questions but obviously I can’t. You probably already know my answer anyway.:rolleyes:
You said that well, Friar Ted. While I do believe these some of these other religions like the LDS, JW’s, etc. have teachings that aren’t true, there may be true Christians that belong to these. As to religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, etc; I can’t accept these as Christian religions obviously. They don’t believe that Jesus is the Saviour, they don’t accept Him. I realize that and respect that many people want to believe that everyone is going to be saved no matter what they believe or what religion they follow but I don’t share that belief. Jesus said He is the only way to the Father. Not many paths, only one for everyone. That’s why we send missionaries to do what Jesus commanded and go into all the world and preach the gospel.
Aren’t Christians people who follow Christ? - people who follow the Bible wouold be Biblians wouldn’t they? (or bibiliolators?)
Slam dunk, Mangetout.
Actually I don’t think he said that to mean that you must be his disciple and declare him God to be “saved”. In fact, since John is the only gospel that records him making such a statement, it is doubtful he actually said it.
But even allowing for the statement, it can easily be interpreted to mean that Jesus was telling his disciples that following his example of living humbly with devotion to Love (remember God is Love). Here’s my take on it.
“Look, guys” Jesus said. “I’ve been with you for this long and you still don’t get it? Jeez, y’all are thick-skulled. I live my life as an example of God’s Love. If you’ve seen my life, you seen God for anywhere Love is, so is God. That’s what you have to do. You have to live a life of Love.”
(Remember what Jesus said about Love God. Love Everyone? On these hand all of the law and prophets)
His4Ever:
Please see my earlier posting regarding your mouthing off about something you don’t understand; i.e., the LDS Church.
Well, yeas, they’re obviously not Christian, and to you they may be totally false, but you ought to at least learn about what they teach so you can A) learn to refute them, B)not get dismissed by displaying ignorance, as when you call ancient religion by the belittling name “cult.” Ditto for the JWs and the Mormons. If you misste their beleifs and show that you know little of their religion, they’re not going to listen to you, and that does not serve God’s will.
Don’t you think it’s time you learned how to discuss these questions? Jesus didn’t say, “OK, only foreign missionaries need to carry out the Great Commission. The rest of you can just chill.” Every Christian is a missionary to the people around her, and if you can’t answer their questions, then it shows that your own understanding of the Chrsitian faith is shallow. Get you to the library and read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Actually, read every C.S, Lewis book–his works are an invaluable source for defending the faith.
More good books on Christian apologetics (which does NOT mean “apologizing”; it’s a term of rhetoric meaning “arguing for a philosophical position.”)
The embarrassed believer : reviving Christian witness in an age of unbelief by Hugh Hewitt
The Christian Book of Why, John McColister
I can’t recommend Josh Mcdowell’s Evidence That Demands a Verdict because he gets his historical and archeological facts wrong.
Other devotional books that may be of interest:
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, William Law
The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Seven Storey Mountain, by Thomas Merton
Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, by John Boswell
And some books on the Bible, history, and science
**In The Beginning, ** Isaac Asimov
Asimov’s Guide to the Bible, Isaac Asimov
**Dinosaur in the Haystack, ** Stephen Jay Gould
Measuring Eternity, Martin Gorst
**In the beginning : the story of the King James Bible and how it changed a nation, a language and a culture, ** Alister Mcgrath
Wide as the Waters; the story of the King James Bible, Benson Bobrick
I hope this helps.
I’m a True Scotsman!
No, I’M a True Scotsman!
The ball is in your court .
[/quote]
In that case, I shall put the ball in my pocket and say, ‘good game. Maybe next time we should play on clay.’ 
gobear: You’ve given absolutely outstanding advice in your last posting above. I’d like to add a couple of books to that list (in alphabetical order):
[ul][li]Anecdotes of Confucius[/li][li]Book of Mormon[/li][li]Discourses of the Buddha[/li][li]Doctrine & Covenants[/li][li]Glorious Koran[/ul][/li]
Actually, there are too many to list–read the great boooks of all the major religions.
A Presbyterian and a Baptist who were arguing this question.
The Presbyterian said, “Tell me this. You’re a Baptist. If a man goes into the water up to his knees, is he baptized?”
The Baptist said “No, he is not.” “Well if he goes in up to his waist, is he baptized?” “No, he’s not.” “If he goes in up to his shoulders?” “No.” “Well, suppose he goes in clear up to the top of his head, is he baptized then?” “Yes!” the Baptist said. “Ah,” said the Presbyterian, “you see, it’s the water on top of the head that counts!”
[sub]NB: C+P from some Christian website or other; this joke appears to be all over the internet with no mention of the original source; I assume it’s public domain[/sub]
**
Now I’m curious. Such as?
And–how would these “teachings” affect whether or not they’re Christians?
Be specific; use both sides of the paper if you wish. We are all here to learn, to educate, to Fight Ignorance, not to flame, so you may speak freely without fear of retribution. 
Down, Monty…Down, I say!
Er, just ignore the very large AKC Mormon Mastiff leaping about here on the end of his alarmingly slender Martha Stewart Collection leash–he doesn’t bite.
Hard.
P.S. Guin: What’s “sola scriptura”? Googling it brings up lots of hits but doesn’t give me a context. 
DDG, Jehovah’s Witnesses use “The New World Translation” of the Christian New Testament, at least. I think they’re working on translating the rest of it. I don’t believe they’ve finished though. They’re the only Christian denomination to use the version, and some critics of the translation say that it’s inaccurate and biased toward the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
I found a website set up by some Jehovah’s Witnesses defending the translation here:
http://users.eggconnect.net/noddy3/nwtmain.htm
As they put it
So it seems like the NWT is the primary translation used.
I keep on butting in on questions to everybody else.
Sola scriptura is Latin for “Scripture alone”. It’s the doctrine that the bible is the only authoritive statement of what Christians should believe. It was advocated by the Protestant reformers, who rebelled against the Catholic idea that, along with the bible, Christian tradition and the statements of theologians, Popes and church councils also were binding sources of doctrine.
Cardinal, Yes, the first christian book I read was Child Of Satan, Child of God by Susan Atkins, one of the Manson murderers.
I figured, oh well, nice for her, I’m not a murderer, I don’t need saved.
Then I found Hal’s book in Woolworths and bought it.
It was the first I’d heard of the rapture, and I knew I wasn’t ready.
So I asked jesus to save me Sept. 20, 78.
I also spoke in tongues once, after reading a book on how to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Differing denominations think you should, most think you don’t really Have to.
fandies: Yes, i make typos. Maybe fandies would be a better term for us.
We’re fans of deity.:rolleyes:
How many of you guys have been baptized(dunked)?
I have, twice!
I supposed I should be flattered that I just got compared to Martha Stewart (she has cash) instead of her investors (they don’t).
And I haven’t (until this very second) pulled out the term Niner regard H4E.
whats niner mean?
Is that higher than a tenor?
I’ve been baptised once, never spoken in tongues, but I did attend a church for awhile where people were barking like dogs, strongly shaking and falling down etc. I stayed because I loved the worship and the biblical teachings and once I went up for prayer with my SO and when the pastor started praying for us he put his hand on our foreheads and we both fell backwards to the floor. I can’t say why we fell or how, it just happened so fast and once we were on the ground we were kind of in shock so we stayed and continued to be prayed over. I felt touched by the Holy Spirit and have many times since then.
A long answer to your one question but yes, I’ve been baptised once :).
woof!
LOL
I once (well many times) went to this church where the laughing thing was going on.
Okaaaaay…I thought.
Never happened to me. Hope it doesn’t either.
Actually, to be technical, I was baptized 3 times, two years ago I was baptized in the LDS church (which has much warmer water than Pentecostal churches.
It’s a SDMB term used to describe those who rant…er, preach at others but fail to follow all of the Ten Commandments at the time they’re spouting at others. Usually, the Commandment not followed by such an individual is “Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness.” Thus, instead of being part of the Church of the Ten Commandments, they’re part of the Church of Nine Commandments.
Lower, much lower. But your question made me smile.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose *
Now I’m curious. Such as?
And–how would these “teachings” affect whether or not they’re Christians?
Be specific; use both sides of the paper if you wish. We are all here to learn, to educate, to Fight Ignorance, not to flame, so you may speak freely without fear of retribution.
I’m sure that it’s possible for true Christians to be part of the Mormon church. I don’t have an exhaustive list of all their beliefs of course but I do know a few of them. I have a book written by a woman who was raised in the Mormon religion so she knows what they believe as that’s what she was taught. She is no longer a Mormon but a Christian now (don’t know how else to say that) . She may no longer be alive as she looks like an older woman in her picture on the book. Anyway, she has a few of their beliefs listed on the back jacket of the book such as:
Jesus was a polygamist
Men and women can become gods and goddesses
God the Father was the first man, Adam, and the husband of Mary
The Holy Spirit is a man.
Jesus and Lucifer were blood brothers.
She also has photocopies of several Morman documents throughout the book to prove the Mormons teach what she says. Also she says that some doctrines they used to teach openly are now considered to be secret doctrines such as the fact that they believe it took a man and a woman to create Adam. In fact, she states in one of the prefaces to the book that she has withheld some of mormonism’s teachings because they range from the blasphemous to the ludicrous.
This is just a small sampling of Mormon teachings, some of which are evidently secret today. This isn’t a book by some Christian who knows nothing of the teaching of mormonism. She was raised in it. Although I can’t agree with these beliefs it is possible that some of them are true Christians who maybe don’t realize all the doctrines of mormonism. The woman who wrote this book was a mormon from childhood up and evidently she finally came to realize that it was wrong and she left it.
Here’s a few more of their beliefs:
God is an exalted man with a physical body, parts, and passions.
Men may become gods. (Sounds a lot like Lucifer to me, he wanted to be God)
Jesus is merely on of God’s billions of sexually begotten-in-heaven sons and the only one sexually begotten by Him on earth.
Satan is a full spirit brother of Jesus. He could have been the Saviour if his plan of salvation had surpassed that of Jesus.
Adam’s “sin” was a blessing and not a curse.
It was just as necessary for Adam to sin as it was for Christ to be crucified.
She states from early childhood these teachings were an important part of her.
I just can’t accept these teachings, to me they’re blasphemous. Perhaps there are Mormons today who will deny these teachings but if this woman was raised in these teachings and she has photocopies of documents that prove they believe these things, how can they be denied? There are probably Mormons who perhaps don’t even realize all the teachings of mormonism
Remember you said no retribution. I don’t want to be attacked by all the Mormons on this board. They have a right to believe as they want, for myself I just don’t share some of these beliefs.