Defending the Truth

Ok, I decided to start a whole new thread for this... This should be good...

So what do you think? Are Mormons a religion or a cult? I personally think they clearly constitute a religion, whereas others obviously believe they are a cult. What do you think?

The dictionary defines a cult as the following...

Dictionary definitions of "cult"
The Merriam-Webster online dictionary lists five different meanings of the word "cult".

1)Formal religious veneration

2)A system of religious beliefs and ritual; also: its body of adherents;

3)A religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also: its body of adherents;

4)A system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator;

5)Great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book).

The Random House Unabridged Dictionary definitions are:

1)A particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies;

2)An instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers; The object of such devotion;

3)A group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc;

4)Group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols;

5)A religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader; The members of such a religion or sect;

6)Any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific.

So in other words, are Mormons a Cult? Yes. But so are Catholics, and every other form of Christianity, and every other religion for that matter. Further more, cult is the root word of culture.

So all you Christian Cult followers out there... Judge not lest ye be judged yourself...

You've answered your own question.

I did? I now somehow know what YOU think? My question was what do YOU think?

Or are you saying you agree with me? Somehow I doubt that...

Okay, I address one point at a time so please be patient. Let's take this sentence you wrote: "Are Mormons a religion or a cult? I personally think they clearly constitute a religion".

A religion can be a cult or cannot be a cult so your question is confusing. In my opinion, mormonism is a "Christian cult". It has a lot of Christian doctrine, but then adds another book and another prophet that is not biblical. The bible is the final book of scripture for mainstream Christians. That is why Mormonism is considered a cult by the Mainstream Christian world. Mainstream Christians believe the entire book of Mormon is a fairy tale and not the truth. It was supposedly written by Joseph Smith with some special glasses to read some tablets he said he found in Upstate New York. These became the book of Mormon. Supposedly, Jesus appeared to the Indians in America at the same time he appeared in Israel 2000 years ago. Mainstream Christians do not believe this and therefore the Mormon religion is considered a cult by mainstream Christians because to be a Mormon, to believe in Jesus is not enough. You also have to believe in the writings of Joseph Smith.

You posted some dictionary definitions, then summed it up with this: In other words, you answered your own question. Any cult can be considered a religion.


Now... Is Mormonism a religion? Yes. Is it a cult? That's debatable because cults are usually a weird off-shoot that follows some extremely questionable teachings of a charismatic leader. So in that regard, yes, Mormonism WAS a cult that followed the (in all honesty, very very weird) teachings of Joseph Smith - a man who was considered nothing short of a huckster by his contemporaries.

Should the Mormons be following the Book of Mormon instead of the Bible? NO.
Should the Catholic Church be following the Pope instead of the Bible? NO.

Here is a link to a Christian apologetics site that is very well presented. This is one of the better sites that explain traditional Christianity and cults and other religions. Lots of information that I think is pretty right on.

http://tinyurl.com/ruvsp

Mormonism teaches there are many gods and their god (father) is but one of many of other gods with their own planets and children. Christianity teaches there is one God.

Now that strikes me as a very well thought out, clearly written and lucid explaination of your thoughts on the subject. That's all I wanted.

I do think (I am not sure, I don'e know much more than you about LDS), that you have some of your facts a bit mixed up. I am gonna try to get my Master Sergeant to join the site, if only for this thread, so maybe he can clear up some misconceptions.

Unfortuneately he's really busy (as we all are), and likely won't have the time to join. When we do have free time, he usually chooses to spend it other ways.

I have had an unusual streak of free time this week, and I have opted to dedicate it almost solely to DtT (I love you guys). Unfortuneately I am sure our optempo will pick up any day soon, and it'll be abck to the suck for me...

And that is why Mormons do NOT follow the book of Mormon instead of the Bible, and Catholics do NOT follow the Pope instead of the Bible.

Ok... I was reading the site, and whereas I did not totally agree with it, I definately understood the point it was making until I came to this paragraph...

The last line is the part that bothers me. Obviously? How is it fucking obvious? All that last statement does is to proove the bias of the entire article. I mean seriously, it's clearly NOT obvious seeing as so many other religions exist, including Mormons.

To think that ONLY the bible can be correct excludes the possibility of correctness in works such as the Talmud, the Torah, the Koran, all of the Sutras, and yes, the book of Morman. Very simply, it is an exceptionally narrow-minded point of view.

If we don't open our mind to new possibilities and experiences we will never grow as people, or as a society. Very simply, the Article (in my opinion) is wrong.

You have to remember when reading this site, the writer is speaking as a Christian. This is a Christian teaching site. For Christians, faith in Jesus alone is enough for salvation. Not works, not belief in anything or anyone else. That is not true of mormonism. Ask your fellow soldier who is mormon if believing in Jesus alone is enough for salvation. He will not agree with that. Christians believe it is and Jesus said it is. The Mormons say yes belief in Jesus AND.......... Nope. Jesus is all Christians need to believe in according to the bible and that is the only book Christians believe in. Mormons believe in 2 books and they believe the book of Mormon supercedes the bible.

And remember, this belief is what Christians believe so it only applies to Christians. Not other religions of the world.