Christian?


 

       Is it enough merely to confess that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is God? Even the 'devils' know and say as much as illustrated in the events as recorded by Luke (Luke 8:28 (27-28)). Certainly to be truely Christian takes more than mere lip service and confession. James continues on with the concept that such faith or belief as the 'devils' have is such faith without works, which is dead (James 2:15-24). True Christians are active Christians, doing the will of God, keeping the commandments and busy in the doing of good works. There in lies the true test of true Christianity.

Obviously I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yet despite the obvious declaration stated in the name of our church some will not only asked whether we are Christians, but will go so far as to declare of their own limited subjective perspectives that we are not Christians. Faithful members of the LDS faith are in fact very active Christians. A most objective approach to obtain that answer is to investigate the church beginning with a visit to the Official LDS Church Web Site and explore. A visit there likely goes further than what I could say, but, yep, that's not going to stop me from saying something.

First of all, YES, we are Christians. Jesus of the New Testament and Jehovah of the Old Testament are the same being and the God we are given to worship, praying to our Heavenly Father in Jesus' name as taught by Jesus in the scriptures (Matthew 6:5-15 [The Lord's Prayer] & John 14:12-14). Some traditional Christians will state that we are not Christian because we do not accept the 'Nicene Creed' as such in its detailed and stipulated interpretations placed in and upon it. 'We do believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.' (Articles of Faith - #1, Pearl of Great Price) In my own opinion 'we believe more in the original "inaugural formula" presented by Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea as he so presented it to be at the Nicaea Council of 325 A.D., than in the evolved creed that has consequently been inovated and variously interpreted over the next hundreds of years of its development and 'refinements'.

And still such religious heads speak differently regarding the detailed understanding of it, generally leaving it in many case as being one of the mysteries of God in its ultimate final details that must be accepted by 'faith' rather than by fully understanding the matter. As I just stated, I believe that the original statement of Bishop Eusebius is correct as he understood it and can representatively found in such study of his writings. But even then various men even represent and understand that differently and accroding to thier own skewed perspectives. And thus I think it well that the LDS Church does not just openly adopt such a creed which can be defined differently by many of the various other Christian positions.

Others state that we further are not Christian because we do not even follow the Apotles' Creed. Again there is not only religious debate over such as well as scholarly secular debate as to just when that was first established and finalized. Many place it to be before the Nicene Creed and other after. In our LDS faith we may well ask to what purpose when at the leadership head of the LDS Faith we have a living Prophet of God and living Apostles. And again one may go to the LDS site to see, listen, read and hear those living Apostles and Prophets speaking today. The ancient Apostles Creed was formed by and through the hands of men over such a similar period and evolution as the Nicene Creed. Is there any wonder why we do not feel bound by such ancient evolutionary documents when we have the living word given to us directly today?

Those ancient discussion and debates of development frequently ended in Christian killing Christian and Christian excommunicating Christian from the very first dates of those document's conceptions and development on down to the persecutions, tortures, burnings and murders of many Christians by Christians in the days of inquisition and even of such founding protestant leaders and Christians. Such persecutions and murders seem hardly Christian at all.

Jesus taught that the second commandment was to love our neighbor as ourselves, to love our enemy and pray for them, to do good to all men (Matthew 5:43-48). Even those who point their fingers at us of the LDS faith seem to hardly rise to the ultimate Christian challenge as give by our Savior and Redeemer as a part of his sermon on being Christian which he delived to the people during his own life time. Thus when another slanders me and my religion for not being Christian, I can only think in my mind, look who is talking. In so doing they themselves are not even following the admonitions of Christ.

Yes we are Christians. We believe in God the Eternal Father. We believe in His Son Jesus Christ, whom we understand to be the same as Jehovah and who being empowered by his Father, so created the heavens and the earth, he being the same as the God, Jehovah of the Old Testament acting for and in behalf of the Father in all things. That only in and through him does one come unto God. He is our Advocate, our Intercessor and our Mediator who stand between God and man, that is our Father in Heaven. And Jesus is that One True God given to us by the Father that we must so worship and come unto him through. There is no other means or way provided for the redemption of man. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. And he, Jesus/Jehovah has now taken his place at the right hand or God as told in the Old Testament and New Testament and as seen by the Apostles as he ascended into heaven and so they so testify, and as seen by Stephen in vision, for which he was stone by the Jews to death for says such as that Jesus was the very Son of God; and also so seen by a latter-day called prophet of God, Joseph Smith, who at the age of 14, in his 15th year, did see also in vision both God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

Christian? YES, we are Christians.



See Also:

Jesus Christ, The Son of God

We Believe

LDS Page

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E-mail: hunterscastle@gmail.com

rev. 15-4-2012