On Fri, Jun 20, 2003 at 08:36:03AM -0500, Kevin S. Van Horn wrote:
Tim May wrote:
Sorry, wrong again. Hatch is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, LDS, aka Mormon. Not an actual Christian church. Details available with Google. Basically, Jesus is no more a divine figure in LDS than in Islam. In fact, LDS and Islam share a number of things in common with regard to the role of the various prophets and seers.
Sorry, but you've got your facts completely wrong here. Mormons very much consider themselves a Christian church; in fact, they consider their church to be the restoration of the church Christ originally established. Jesus is a divine figure in the LDS church. He's considered the literal son of God the Father; he's also considered the creator of the Earth, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, and a god in his own right.
No, Tim is right. The Mormons might consider themselves to be "christian", but are not recognized as such by any other denomination. In fact, they are billed as a "dangerous cult" just like the Moonies, etc. by most christians. If you really take a close look at Mormon, you'll also note that Lucifer is considered the brother of Jesus and of equal, or even more important standing. And even more interesting are their rites for initiation into the Temple (most Mormons never go thru this, only the elect) where the member, both male and female, is completely disrobed, their body washed (every square inch) by other people, then anointed, again, every inch, and painted with occultic symbols, and they are then dressed in a sacred undergarment which they must wear the rest of their lives. Even when bathing, at least one arm or leg has to stay in the sacred underwear. They swear alligence to Lucifer during the ceremony, among other things. Tim is also right about the similarities to Islam. Joseph Smith was a con artist who went to prison for scamming people with his "peep stone" which he put in his hat, stuck his face into the hat, and was then able to read instructions from the stone. Originally he was using it to "find" buried treasure, and this scam got him busted, later he used the same "peep stone" trick to "find" the "sacred writings", etc. Like Muhammed, he soon realized the necessity to have mulitiple wives. He also, and some of the leaders after him, got the holy word from god that told them that all the worldy goods of their non-mormon neighbors belonged to them, and they went out raiding farms and towns, which got them run out of New England, then run out of IL. which is how they ended up in Utah. Bizarre group. Read their history -- fascinating stuff. So is the history of Islam. A poor man, Muhammed married a rich widow old enough to be his mother, got visited by angels, started Islam, decided men needed multiple wives, etc. 8-) -- Harmon Seaver CyberShamanix http://www.cybershamanix.com