Now let me address a number of your specific concerns.

1) “If Jesus is the father, the son and the Holy Ghost, did he mislead the people at his baptism …”

Neither the New Testament nor the creeds teach that Jesus is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches that God is one God but three persons. Jesus is one in substance with the Father, but he is not the same person. So Jesus is not the Father or the Holy Spirit. Rather, he is the Son – a separate person within the God-head.

2) “What did Stephan see when he reported seeing Jesus standing at the right-hand side of god?”

He saw Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, in his post-resurrection body at the right-hand side of God the Father. We also see this in the book of Revelation. Jesus rose from the dead in his human body, ascended to heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God – the place of highest honor and majesty.

3) “If god has no body, parts or passions, why did Jesus resurrect his body? Why did he later ascend bodily into heaven after the resurrection? What did he do with his resurrected body?”

You are correct that the Bible teaches that God is a spirit and therefore has no body. However, the Bible also teaches that God the Son took on flesh and became an actual human being. (John 1:14) Jesus came in a body to live a perfect life and then died in that body as a sacrifice for our sins. He rose in that body to show his victory over sin and death and to prepare the way for our resurrection.

4) “while Mormons believe Jesus had, and still has, a divinely resurrected body and evangelicals believe that he has somehow become something else which is hard to define, that difference is not ground to say one is Christian while the other is not.”

Actually, evangelicals do believe that Jesus had and still has a divinely resurrected body. As far as whether Mormons are Christian or not, Mormons themselves distinguish their teachings from what Christians have historically believed. If a certain group does not believe Christian doctrine, should that group call themselves Christian? Or should we change the definition of Christian? But then what would we call people who do believe Christian doctrine?

5) “why is it bad if Mormons do good works because they believe they will be judged, for good or for bad, to some extent, by their works?”

The Bible teaches that God will judge our works, but that salvation is by grace. So, yes it does matter how we live, and yes there are consequences for good and bad acts, but if we are trusting our good works to save us, then we are no longer trusting God’s grace through Jesus Christ. Once again the Bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

6) “I also notice that you did not describe any doctrinal basis for declaring Jehovah Witnesses to also be non-Christian. Could the motive for this whole exercise of “defining which organization is not a real Christian church” really be something other than worrying about the salvation of those who you define as non-Christians?”

Christians have traditionally used the word “cult” to describe “a group that claims to be Christian but denies orthodox doctrine.” This would apply to Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science and a number of other groups that claim to be Christian but do not hold to Christian beliefs. The original purpose of this post was to question whether Christians should continue to use the word “cult” in this way, especially where the word has different meanings to people. The reason Mormonism was highlighted is because Mitt Romney was running for president at the time and so Mormonism was in the spotlight.

Whew! I hope that answers some of your questions. If not, feel free to ask again or ask some more. Either way, thanks for stopping by and commenting!

As Orson Scott Card, the representative for Mormonism in the debate, said comparing Mormon doctrine with historic Christian doctrine:

“I am also happy to agree with him [Mohler] that when one compares our understanding of the nature of God and Christ, we categorically disagree with almost every statement in the ‘historic creeds and doctrinal affirmations’ he refers to.”

At the bottom line historic Christianity is Trinitarian. Christians believe that God has revealed himself in Scripture as one God in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is part of what Christians mean when we say we believe that “Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who was born as a true human being.”

If you explore that statement carefully, you will find that Christianity means something radically different by it than what Mormonism teaches. Christianity teaches that through the incarnation, Jesus who was fully divine also became fully man without ceasing at the same time to be God. Jesus existed with God in the beginning, he shares God’s attributes, and he receives worship as God. He did not become God at some point in time but has always been divine. He is the one, unique, eternal Son of God. Most Mormons would disagree with these statements. And yet these are some of the very defining teachings of Christianity.

So although there is surface agreement on many doctrinal statements between Christianity and Mormonism, they really are two very different belief systems at heart. I would encourage you, as I would encourage all Christians and Mormons, to search the Scriptures to see what God has said about these matters in his Word.

Thanks once again for your dialogue. I appreciate the respectful tone you bring to this discussion.

I admire people, such as yourself, that have this kind of dedication to know Jesus Christ through study (and naturally I assume prayer). Your talent is motivating for me, for sure — I get busy as a CPA/auditor with a public accounting firm, but I want to keep learning so the scriptures continue to increasingly act as the guidebook for my thoughts and actions. Takes a lifetime…or more maybe.

Great description of a Christian (quoted below). As I read through it, I was waiting for the controversial, “I guess a Mormon can’t be a Christian” moment. Yet, I (as a Mormon) whole-heartedly agree with each and every one of these points; these are all doctrinal within the LDS church as well.

I guess this is what I mean when I say that my Jesus and your Jesus aren’t that different. I don’t mean to say that there aren’t some differences, but I think you’ve enumerated many of the key things that define Christ and His mission, and the reality of His exaltation. Indeed, these are the essentials.

———————————————————————
Your post:

But on the other hand, we should not make Christian faith so inclusive that anyone who claims faith in Jesus, no matter what they believe about Jesus, is automatically considered a Christian.

There are certain core beliefs about Jesus which historic Christianity considers crucial to salvation: that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who was born as a true human being, that he lived a perfect and sinless life, that he died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin, that he rose bodily from the grave and ascended to heaven, that he lives forevermore exalted to the right hand of God the Father in heaven. If someone says they believe in Jesus, but they don’t believe these essential truths, it would not be accurate to call them a Christian.

You make a good point about the majority of Christians who are good sincere people trying to please the Lord in their daily lives through service and piety even if their Christian instiutions are imperfect or even corrupt.

Of course the same may be said about sincere and faithful Mormons and JWs. I think Christians, that is, those who try to follow the ways of YESHUA MESSIAH, what ever their interpretation of his teachings; they share more in common than they do with the materialist carnal individuals in any faith–including Christians.

Thank you for mentioning that, its an important and hopeful thing to keep in mind.

I agree we need to be careful not judge a person over the smallest theological errors (see four comments up where I talk about avoiding extremes). But the Bible itself says to watch out for false teachers. Paul even told Timothy to “command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer.” (1 Timothy 1:3) So there is some theological error serious enough to warrant censure.

We should not have a judgmental heart towards other people, but we must test all things by God’s word, especially teachings about God and Christ and salvation. “Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22)

I am sorry that much of the Christianity you have seen seems to be corrupted by money and politics. That is not the Christianity with which I am most familiar. Most of the Christians I know live simple lives. They love God and sincerely try to follow Christ and his ways.

I think of the woman from my church who came with me to the nursing home today on her day off just to minister to the elderly people there. She didn’t have to come. I am sure she had plenty of chores and errands to run, but she gave of her time freely because of her love for Christ.

Anyways, thank you for stopping by the blog and sharing your thoughts. I can tell you feel deeply about these matters.