Thursday Poll - Should members of your church be required to believe in the absolute sinlessness of God the Father’s eternal past?
Should people in your church be required to believe that God the Father absolutely never sinned (in any past mortal probation whatsoever) in order to join and continue in formal membership?
- Yes; I am an evangelical (52%, 12 Votes)
- No; I am a Mormon (26%, 6 Votes)
- Neither; I am an evangelical and I don't believe in formal church membership that requires agreeing to a statement of faith (13%, 3 Votes)
- No; I am an evangelical (9%, 2 Votes)
- Yes; I am an Mormon (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 23
Loading ...Read the question carefully. Hopefully we can deal with the spirit of the question instead of appealing to rhetorical loopholes?
Update (8:43am): This is not an anonymous poll (I can see the logs). Be prepared to explain your position!
2nd Update (10:50am): To clear up some apparent confusion, let me clarify. The question assumes that you believe that some kind of formal church membership should be practiced which at least requires agreeing to a basic set of beliefs. Also, not being formal “member” doesn’t mean you can’t attend a church and benefit from its preaching, teaching, etc.
See also: GodNeverSinned.com
Free Speech and the Julie Bird Case
Julie Bird had a diaper bag over her shoulder, her child in one arm, and a stack of tracts in the other arm. On a public sidewalk in front of an abortion clinic, she had a peaceful, gentle, pleading conversation with a woman passing by. So how did this result in her being charged with assault (even though there was no physical contact or threatening gestures) and then ultimately convicted of disorderly conduct a year and a half later? Are laws that define “disorderly conduct” as that which is an “inconvenience” or “annoyance” vulnerable to the abuse of agenda-driven judges?
Bill and I talk to Julie’s husband, Andy Bird.
An introspective question for my evangelical Christian brothers: Are we willing to die to defend the right of others—including non-Christians we vehemently disagree with—to participate in legitimate, peaceful, and non-violent expressions of free speech, even if the content of the speech makes us uncomfortable?
Clarence Thomas on Interpreting the Constitution
Clarence Thomas on Interpreting the Constitution
A few teachings from the October 1900 LDS General Conference
Filed under: Authority and Doctrine, General Conference
The LDS General Conference in October 1900 focused a lot on the law of tithing. The repetition on that topic was due to the feeling among Church leadership that the second coming of Christ was near and the Saints needed to be prepared. “We should see to it that nothing is left undone by us, no commandment unfulfilled, no counsel or instruction disregarded” taught President George Q. Cannon. He said,
“Many who are now within the sound of my voice have been promised that they shall live, if they have faith, to behold the second coming of the Lord. The Lord has also promised that certain events shall take place while men that are standing in the generation in which these promises were made will Yet [sic] be alive.” (Conference Report, 64)
Introduction to Mormonism Research Ministry
The audio podcast is finally back up and running (RSS and iTunes), and we are slowly releasing a few MP3s. Here we introduce the ministry.
The Powers That Be
An interesting conversation is going on at the Mormon blog By Common Consent. On Monday poster John C. asked readers to cast their votes in a poll asking, “What is more powerful? Eternal Law [or] God?” As I write this, with 282 votes logged, 60% of the respondents believe Eternal Law is more powerful than God.
I suppose all of terms used in this poll really need to be unpacked in order to understand what Mormons mean when they say Eternal Law is more powerful than God. Does “God” mean Heavenly Father? Jesus Christ? The Holy Spirit? What, exactly, is “Eternal Law”? And what is meant by the word “powerful”?
While I admit that I don’t really know the specifics of what the poll is asking, I still see this as another area in which the Mormon faith differs widely from the Christian faith.