There you go again! We believe that ALL Christians will have the "opportunity for Celestial glory. In fact we believe all mankind will. You should know that."
Unequivocally? WHAT "opportunity"? Confessing Christ as Savior and baptized Christian??? No need to be baptized and confirmed mormon? No need for temple rituals...ever....before or after death?
WHAT definition of "celestial glory" are you using here? THIS one?
"This should be your goal: to inherit celestial glory and to help others receive that great blessing as well. In other words, temple marriage is a requirement for obtaining the highest degree of celestial glory."
Did you leave anything out of your claim that That includes folks in China that have never even heard of Jesus Christ, let alone had the opportunity to accept him as their Savior. That's the mercy of the Lord.
Anything?
Ultimately, all will have the occasion to hear the truth & to accept it of reject it. Those that accept & live it whether here of afterward will receive Celestial glory. Not difficult. Very much along the lines of most Christians who believe that every Muslim, Hindu, etc. will ultimately have to accept Christ as their Savior in order to be saved. We all believe in a God, even the Muslims, but Christians believe that only those that accept Christ will be saved. In other words, the truth.
It's along the same lines for us, only those that accept Christ & all His gospel will receive Celestial glory. Period. Now I'm sure you'll ask me the very same things in the near future & ask me to repeat this all over again as you folks are apt to do. Perhaps I'll just do a cut & paste from here on in.
Exactly, GF. You almost have to be a lawyer to see how a word with a specific definition behind it is used in one context, and then see how they'll use the same exact word with other loaded meanings tacked on within their own circles.
Repentance literally is doing a u-turn. But Mormon repentance means never committing the same sin again for what you repented. (Latter definition courtesy of Spencer Kimball)
Grace literally means a gift, as in a free gift from God. Mormon grace is what kicks in from God eventually...but only after men have done everything they could do.
Priesthood Biblically is man's representative before God. Mormons turn that around and define it as God's representative to man.
True spiritual authority is what originates from the ultimate true God of the universe. LDS authority is what Joe Smith had. When you ask LDS where he got his authority from, they say Elohim & Jesus Christ. When you ask them where Elohim got his authority from, the honest Mormon will tell you Elohim's god (boy what a strange phrase to even utter).
When you ask them where that god got his authority from, they won't answer you -- if you've even gotten this far in the discussion. The reason they won't answer you, is 'cause they know where you're going with it. There is no ultimate authority in the Mormon church, because there's no original ultimate god. (They don't the god who passed the buck to begin with).
I think Elsie's best post on this thread is #738 where he compares historic Christianity's definition of common terms and joey-come-lately Mormon redefinitions...see particularly sin, repentance, grace, gospel, and hell.