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Mars Hill Pastor Mark Driscoll: Mormonism is a cult
Seattle Times ^ | Oct. 18, 2011 | Posted by Jim Brunner

Posted on 10/19/2011 5:25:28 AM PDT by Colofornian

With Mitt Romney campaigning...his Mormon religion is coming under increasing scrutiny.

SNIP

Now Mark Driscoll, pastor of the high-profile Seattle-based Mars Hill Church, has added his voice to the fray -- agreeing that Christians should consider Mormons as members of a "cult" and not "brothers and sisters in a common faith."

Writing on his website Tuesday, Driscoll goes on at length about the various definitions of a cult. He is careful to say that Mormonism has "outgrown" the popular culture and sociological definitions of a cult because of its enormous growth and general acceptance in the nation.

But, Driscoll writes, Mormonism "is most certainly a cult theologically speaking because it deviates substantially from historic Orthodox Christian belief about essential issues related to God, humanity, and salvation." And it's not just that it differs, he says, but also that "it claims Christianity while subtly subverting it in both practice and theology."

"Because it claims to be Christian, uses Christian language, but is antithetical Christianity, it must be labeled a cult theologically," Driscoll writes.

He concludes:

"So what do we make of all this? Simply said, by the theological definition, Mormonism is a cult."

"As the presidential race heats up and the prospect of a practicing Mormon as a viable Republican candidate becomes more a reality, there will be continued effort to bring Mormonism into the center of Christian orthodoxy..."

"...we cannot go so far as to call them brothers and sisters in a common faith. To do so is to not only confuse real Christians, but to also diminish the importance of lovingly speaking with Mormons about the errors of their belief in hopes of seeing them come to know the real God of the Bible and avoiding eternal damnation for worshiping a false god."

(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...


TOPICS: Current Events; Other Christian; Religion & Politics; Theology
KEYWORDS: acts29; antiamericanism; antimormonjihad; bitterformermormon; cult; driscoll; geeihatemormons; hatethemormons; hemanmormonhater; inman; lds; markdriscoll; marshill; mormoaner; mormon; mormophobia; mormophobic; religiousbigotry; resurgence; themormonquestion; whinemormonwhine; whinymormons; zealotry
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To: Turtlepower
Points one and two are valid. Point three, “sharing” is debatable depending on context.

Nevertheless, I shall pray that your heart be opened and that you return to One True Church.

41 posted on 10/19/2011 8:34:02 AM PDT by starlifter (Pullum sapit)
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To: starlifter

I never left the One True Church. Where do you get off making such assumptions?

Why is sharing the Truth debatable? When would sharing the Truth of Jesus Christ ever be improper?


42 posted on 10/19/2011 8:43:49 AM PDT by Turtlepower
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To: Colofornian

Great post!


43 posted on 10/19/2011 8:43:58 AM PDT by dragonblustar (Allah Ain't So Akbar!)
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To: Elsie
A selective bigot: I like that in a person.

LMAO!

44 posted on 10/19/2011 8:49:03 AM PDT by dragonblustar (Allah Ain't So Akbar!)
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To: Turtlepower
Sorry, did not realize you were a Catholic. Apologies.

Sharing the Truth would be debatable, for example, if the context was you stood over your neighbors fence with a bullhorn.

45 posted on 10/19/2011 8:52:10 AM PDT by starlifter (Pullum sapit)
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To: starlifter

Your assumption that the Catholic church is the One True Church is false and is off-target from this thread.

I’ve never known anyone to stand over their neighbor’s fence and use their bullhorn, so your extreme example seems pointless. I already stated in post 35 to point out false teachings in a loving manner, so it seems you have decided to start an arguement with me for no reason. Congrats!


46 posted on 10/19/2011 9:02:21 AM PDT by Turtlepower
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To: starlifter
And if they really think you are wrong and don't want to listen to you?

You mean like the people whose property is trespassed on by the 52,000 mormon missionaries out there calling Christian faiths bogus?

Why they can just ignore our threads and posts altogether.

You mormons plan to "flood the earth with the BOM" yet you whine about a handful of Christians posting on one internet forum.

Crybabies! Here's your "Victim Card"..similar to a race card....oh wait....

Photobucket

47 posted on 10/19/2011 9:09:26 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (Mittbots on FR swarm just like the nasty crazy, hairy ants.)
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To: Turtlepower; Molon Labbie
Mormonism is small potatoes compared to Islam. If we must rail against something, lets rail against the “cult” that intend to enslave or slaughter us all. [Molon Labbie]

If you want to rail against Islam then go ahead. Others have been called to warn about the false teachings of Mormonism. You seemed focused on getting along with your neighbors, when others are correctly concerned about the spiritual welfare of their Mormon neighbors. [Turtlepower]

Well, thankfully, the "Silent Generation" taught us a lot of lessons.

One of them was how to fight vs. multiple enemies on multiple fronts. IOW, they knew how to multi-task -- unlike so many today.

In one sense, neither Mormon nor Muslim is our "enemy." The apostle Paul says we fight not vs. flesh & blood (Ephesians 6). There is a spiritual "general" behind these false religions whom do we fight against.

In that sense, we don't oppose the pawns being manipulated by him. They are merely his victims. But make no mistake. If we do not oppose the "isms" he produces, we have no claim to the truth nor are we good stewards of it.

(Nor should you or anybody else who fails who lift their voice "complain" if a Mormon guy converts your daughter, and you're locked out of viewing their wedding because you're not a Mormon with a hierarchy-issued temple recommend)

48 posted on 10/19/2011 9:16:26 AM PDT by Colofornian (Anyone who can be duped by Joseph Smith can be duped by anyone.)
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To: Siena Dreaming
Question is...would it hurt the US to elect the first non-Orthodox Christian ever to the Oval Office?

You're 200 years too late for that. Thomas Jefferson was never any thing like an "orthodox Christian". Whether he was a Christian at all is at best debatable.

49 posted on 10/19/2011 10:20:51 AM PDT by Campion ("Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies when they become fashions." -- GKC)
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To: Campion
The deists did have their issues with Christ, but for the most part they continued to attend orthodox churches.

As far as I know, Jefferson retained his membership in the Church of England.

50 posted on 10/19/2011 10:43:35 AM PDT by Siena Dreaming
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To: ForAmerica
Even less that that if you are a black Mormon

Isn't that some kind of logic disorder symptom?





"You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind.

The first man that committed the odious crime of killing one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings.

This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race--that they should be the 'servant of servants', and they will be, until that curse is removed."

Brigham Young-President and second 'Prophet' of the Mormon Church, 1844-1877- Extract from Journal of Discourses.



Here are two examples from their 'other testament', the Book of Mormon.

2 Nephi 5: 21 'And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people, the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.'

Alma 3: 6 'And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their brethren, who consisted of Nephi, Jacob and Joseph, and Sam, who were just and holy men.'



August 27, 1954 in an address at Brigham Young University (BYU), Mormon Elder, Mark E Peterson, in speaking to a convention of teachers of religion at the college level, said:

"The discussion on civil rights, especially over the last 20 years, has drawn some very sharp lines. It has blinded the thinking of some of our own people, I believe. They have allowed their political affiliations to color their thinking to some extent.I think I have read enough to give you an idea of what the Negro is after."

"He is not just seeking the opportunity of sitting down in a cafe where white people eat. He isn't just trying to ride on the same streetcar or the same Pullman car with white people. It isn't that he just desires to go to the same theater as the white people. From this, and other interviews I have read, it appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage."

"That is his objective and we must face it. We must not allow our feelings to carry us away, nor must we feel so sorry for Negroes that we will open our arms and embrace them with everything we have. Remember the little statement that we used to say about sin, 'First we pity, then endure, then embrace'...."

(Rosa Parks would have probably told Petersen under which wheel of the bus he should go sit.)



1967, (then) Mormon President Ezra Taft Benson said,

"The Communist program for revolution in America has been in progress for many years and is far advanced. First of all, we must not place the blame upon Negroes. They are merely the unfortunate group that has been selected by professional Communist agitators to be used as the primary source of cannon fodder."



We are told that on June 8, 1978, it was 'revealed' to the then president, Spencer Kimball, that people of color could now gain entry into the priesthood.

According to the church, Kimball spent many long hours petitioning God, begging him to give worthy black people the priesthood. God finally relented.



Sometime before the 'revelation' came to chief 'Prophet' Spencer Kimball in June 1978, General Authority, Bruce R McConkie had said:

"The Blacks are denied the Priesthood; under no circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty.

The Negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain blessings are concerned, particularly the priesthood and the temple blessings that flow there from, but this inequality is not of man's origin, it is the Lord's doings."

(Mormon Doctrine, pp. 526-527).



When Mormon 'Apostle' Mark E Petersen spoke on 'Race Problems- As they affect the Church' at the BYU campus in 1954, the following was also said:

"...if the negro accepts the gospel with real, sincere faith, and is really converted, to give him the blessings of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get celestial glory."



When Mormon 'Prophet' and second President of the Church, Brigham Young, spoke in 1863 the following was also said:

"Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God is death on the spot. This will always be so."

(Journal of Discourses, Vo. 10, p. 110)





Yeah; Native Americans are althroughout the Book of MORMON; too.

 

“I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today ... they are fast becoming a white and delightsome people.... For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised.... The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.

At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter were present, the little member girl-sixteen-sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents—on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather.... These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness.

One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated.

 

(Improvement Era, December 1960, pp.922-23). (p. 209)

 



 

51 posted on 10/19/2011 10:47:52 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going)
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To: Psycho_Bunny
...I’m no Mormon and have been welcomed in several temples.

Perhaps you mean their OTHER buildings that they meet in.

Temples are VERY special and used only for certain rituals.

52 posted on 10/19/2011 10:49:52 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going)
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To: starlifter
And if they really think you are wrong and don't want to listen to you?

Like SO many on FR?

We keep posting the TRUTH; and they make their own decisions.

53 posted on 10/19/2011 10:51:51 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going)
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To: Molon Labbie

If this were a post about islam your point would be brilliant but its not so its not.


54 posted on 10/19/2011 11:12:32 AM PDT by svcw (Those who are easily shocked... should be shocked more often. - Mae West)
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To: wintertime

JW doesn’t claim to be a Christian.


55 posted on 10/19/2011 11:13:24 AM PDT by svcw (Those who are easily shocked... should be shocked more often. - Mae West)
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To: Psycho_Bunny

There is no way you were invited into the temple, other than the visitors area. Only temple worthy mormons are allowed and only about 15% of them are considered worthy to enter.


56 posted on 10/19/2011 11:16:10 AM PDT by svcw (Those who are easily shocked... should be shocked more often. - Mae West)
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To: xzins

Then you know little of mormonISM.
And yes islam and mormonISM are very similar, even J Smith said he would be the next mohammad.


57 posted on 10/19/2011 11:18:25 AM PDT by svcw (Those who are easily shocked... should be shocked more often. - Mae West)
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To: Elsie; Psycho_Bunny
...I’m no Mormon and have been welcomed in several temples.

Some temples have visitor centers, so this could be what is being referred to - am I correct psycho? Anyway - that is NOT the temple which only temple recommend mormons can enter - PERIOD.

58 posted on 10/19/2011 11:40:01 AM PDT by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: Colofornian; All

I personally don’t care what this Mark Driscoll says or what the Mormon doctrine is.

I asked some Mormon missionaries if they believed in Jesus and they answered “yes”. I asked if they believed he was born of the Virgin Mary and they said “yes”.

That is good enough for me.

If you all want to be like the pharisees and sadducees and argue law then fine. It just makes you bitter in my opinion. There is more to life and religion than arguing like pharisees and sadducees. There is the faith of the person. That is what God sees in the end, as should we all. So instead of asking Mormons all this doctrine, just ask if they believe in Jesus? If that one person says “yes” be content with that.


59 posted on 10/19/2011 1:32:03 PM PDT by Morgana ("Since using your shampoo my hair has come alive!" ----Medusa)
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To: Morgana
That is good enough for me.

So you really do not care about any EXTRA little things they may believe in?


Here is MORMONism's own creed:
 
 

Articles of Faith

The Articles of Faith outline 13 basic points of belief of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Prophet Joseph Smith first wrote them in a letter to John Wentworth, a newspaper editor,
in response to Mr. Wentworth's request to know what members of the Church believed.
They were subsequently published in Church periodicals.
They are now regarded as scripture and included in the Pearl of Great Price.

 
THE ARTICLES OF FAITH
OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
History of the Church, Vol. 4, pp. 535—541
 
 

  1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
  2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.
  3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
  4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
  5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
  6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
  7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.
  8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
  9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
  10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
  11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
  12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
  13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Joseph Smith


 

60 posted on 10/19/2011 2:31:40 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going)
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