Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Mormons Are True Fundamentalists

When we use the word "fundamentalist" in religion, we usually are referring to those who get back to the original teachings of Jesus Christ. As I have thought about this, I have come to feel that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints could be viewed in this sense. Here are LDS beliefs that I use to support this idea:

--We believe in the same organization that Jesus, Himself set up. We have apostles and prophets to guide us, with Jesus Christ being the head of the church.

--The Bible speaks of prophets, and in Amos 3:7 we read, "7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." From my understanding, ours is the only Christian church with living prophets.

--Christ chose twelve apostles to lead the church after his death. Our church today has twelve apostles. From my understanding, ours is the only Christian church with twelve living apostles. It is the same organization that Jesus set in place.

--In Bible times, men wrote scripture as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost. Today in our church, prophets also write scripture as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost. According to my understanding, ours is the only Christian church with modern day scripture.

--In Ezekiel 37: 16-19 we read,
"16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 ¶ And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
The Book of Mormon is the "stick of Joseph" spoken of. It is the record of the descendants of Joseph. They lived in the Americas. They also saw and bore record of the resurrected Christ. The Book of Mormon stands as a second witness that Jesus is the Christ, and that He lives. Ours is the only Christian church that has the "stick of Joseph" spoken of in this scripture.

--We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. We do not believe that it is only symbolic. We believe that what it records is true. Moses did, in fact, part the Red Sea. God did, in fact, create the Earth. The trend today among many is to believe that the Bible is only symbolic, not a factual account. We, however, believe the Bible.

--In ancient Israel, the people built a temple, and performed sacred ordinances there. We today, in our church also have temples and perform these same important saving ordinances.

--1 Corinthians 15:29 says, " 29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" Clearly, baptism for the dead was performed in ancient times. Baptism for the dead is one of the sacred ordinances that we perform in our temples today.

--We believe in baptism by immersion, just as Jesus himself was baptized.

I think I could write much more to make my case, but I think from the above points, you can see why I feel that Mormons should be considered among the truest of fundamentalists.

1 comment:

Grace said...

Hi, I just want to say that I am here again. :)
Oh, I love that boy in the picture. He is so cute. :)