Are Mormons Christian? The Big Debate

The present debate due to the upcoming USA presidential election now encircles around the theological beliefs of the Mormonism and Christianity, since both the presidential candidates are from the opposite poles of religion, there is more curiosity existing in everyone’s mind. Generally, the Mormons believe themselves to be Christians with more conservative practices and beliefs, however denouncing the doctrines of the Catholic and the Protestant Church as wrong and erroneous. On the other hand, the Catholics and the Protestants do not consider Mormonism as part of Christian beliefs and practices because even though there are little differences in their core beliefs the Mormons believe themselves to be superior from others.

The Mormons are different from the Christians because they have different beliefs about the God, the Holy Trinity and the Holy Book. Instead of being under a major Church, they have their own church which is known as “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter – Day Saints”. Being more disciplined and conservative, the Mormons avoid addictive substances such as tea, coffee, beer, cigarettes etc. Beginning thousands of years after Christianity in 1820 by Joseph Smith, the Mormons believed in the restoration movement from other churches whose creeds they believed were wrong and corrupted.

To some extent the Mormon beliefs matches with the Christian beliefs, for example, they believe that Jesus Christ died, was buried and resurrected on the third day. They also believe Jesus will return to this world and will judge the people based on their good deeds which could open their path to salvation. For this reason, the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church regards Mormonism to be distinct from the traditional practices of Christianity. The Mormon belief of the Holy Trinity is also different from that of Christianity as they believe the Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, for them Holy Spirit is a different spiritual essence which is contradictory to the Bible. Also, they believe that the Holy Father is not a spirit but a human of flesh and bones whose son is Jesus.

Whether you a Mormon or Christian, you should not mix the beliefs, practices and ideas between the two. Even though the Mormons actively assert their Christian identity, they have a different set of theological faith and practices. Besides, they also deny some of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity such as the existence of one true God, the forgiveness of sins through salvation of Christ, the Holy Bible as the only holy book and the resurrection of Jesus physically.

The God, Jesus and the Holy Trinity described by the Mormonism is different from that of Christianity, so that Mormons are not really Christians. The Mormonism considers salvation to be both forgiveness of sins and universal resurrection, but the Christians believe salvation to be only the forgiveness of sins. Moreover, Mormonism questions the reliability and authority of the Holy Bible and for this reason the Bible contradicts Mormonism. In order to think Mormons as Christians for once, you should at least examine their doctrines about God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible honestly, this will give you the answer.

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All About Different Christian Name Meanings

Every child born and raised in a Christian family is bound to have a Christian name along with their surnames. Earlier in the middle ages and the 17th and 18th centuries, this was used as the male and female first name given to them. At present, Christian name is given to children at the churches all over the world including United States, Asia, Europe and Australia etc. Almost all of the Christian names are derived from the saints, biblical characters, disciples of Jesus Christ and other early Christian followers found in the biblical narration of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Some of the Christian names given to males and females have distinct meanings. For example, the male names such as Alexander means defending men, Abrahem means the father of a mighty nation, Alian means tall and Abigail means father in rejoicing, Aaron means a teacher etc. On the other hand, the female names such as Anahera or Anahira means angel or archangel, Amy means loved etc. People who have longer Christian names tend to use them in shortened forms sometimes such as Alexander as Alex, Christopher as Chris, Mathew as Matt, Thomas as Tom, Cassandra as Cassie, Joseph as Joe, Cecelia as Cece and Jessica as Jess etc.

Before giving the Christian name to a child every parents tries to find names that are derived from biblical names and words. You can even choose Christian names from the bible for your child if you are a Christian parent awaiting the birth of your child. The Christian name is considered to be a blessing for the baby who will be born with the Christian faith. If you are interested to choose a Christian name for your child that is different and has a diverse meaning and origin in the Bible, you can look into different Christian name directories that will help you perfect Christian name for your child.

There are even many website who offers thousands of Christian baby names for your child that are selected from the Bible with illustrated meanings, origin and even description if the name is of a biblical character. You can find Christian names from the Holy Bible that are the names of the people, English, Hebrew and Greek words as used in the book, name of animals, plants, gemstones etc. Since, every parent wants something different to give a Christian name for their child, you might want to be like it and look for famous people with Christian names. If you want to find Christian names of famous people, you can look for writers, artists and celebrities.

You can even search for Christian names in websites by popularity ranking and the ones mostly preferred by parents because every year this ranking changes based on the names given to the number of babies each year. Reflecting the Christian faith and heritage, the Christian name for your child can also be the expression of the culture and beliefs in which you want your child to grow up.

What are the Different Branches of Christianity?

Historically, with the emergence of Christianity, several branches or denominations have developed varied traditions and difference in understandings. Even though there are several branches of Christianity existing all over the world, they follow the same beliefs and fundamentals such as the Trinity, the teachings of the Creed and the Bible etc. However, following almost the same beliefs, each of the branches thinks that their belief is superior and the other groups are not actually Christians. It is because of the acceptance and the mutual respect which causes the differences between the denominations and branches of Christianity. The three major branches of Christianity are considered to be the Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthox Christianity and Protestantism simply known as the Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants.

The Roman Catholicism is composed of Roman and twenty three other churches which are in unification with the Roman Church who are the traditionalists and the reformists. The Orthodox Church has differences in the Eastern and Oriental beliefs where the values can be different from that of a Turkish church with an American church. They have particular spiritual, liturgical or theological nature that frequently identifies their doctrinal perspectives. Even though the faith of a Turkish Orthodox church may be different from an American Orthodox church in terms of the difference in language and culture, the fundamental faith and confirmation remains the same. The Protestant churches usually follow the fundamentals of Presbyterianism which includes the Baptist, Church of Christ, Mormonism, Evangelical, Lutheranism, Anglican, Methodism, Skankism etc. Some people consider the Anglican Church to be the fourth branch of Christianity, but it is actually under the Protestantism.

Even though Christianity developed in the first century based of the life of Jesus Christ, his teachings, death and resurrection, it has slowly spread around the world and has been transformed and broken down into different branches. Among the other denominations with varied practices and beliefs which have emerged throughout the centuries, the major denominations are the Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism with several subcategories that exist within each of these branches. Even though Christianity remained widespread in the West in the earliest period, it gradually spread during the latter half of the twentieth century in other parts of the world.

There may be hundreds of division and thousands of subdivision among these three main branches or denominations of Christianity at present. The Catholic Church which emerged during the first century was split and the Orthodox Church emerged during the year 1054. Later, Protestantism denounced the Catholic beliefs and broke away from the Roman Catholic to form their own denomination at beginning of the 16th century. Despite the division, the three major religious denominations believe in the God, the Trinity, the sacred text of the Holy Book including both the Old Testaments and the New Testament and the Salvation. They also emphasizes on the faith in Christ as the major component of religion and the worship and fellowship among the Christian beliefs and practices. The major or minor differences of theological beliefs and practices are what separate each from the other.

The Debate on Mormonism vs. Christianity

One of the recent debates that have always been controversial is the beliefs and notions of Mormonism and Christianity; in fact, there are some differences which make both the religions distinct from each other. Even though people may mingle both the religions and believe it to be the same, they are actually different. Both endowed as the Abrahamic religions historically, the Mormonism and Christianity were related to each other. The Protestants and the Catholics do not consider the Mormons as Christians, whereas, the Mormons consider themselves as pure Christians with more conservative views and values. It is because the fundamental doctrines and beliefs of the Mormons largely differ from that of the Christians.

If we look from the historical perspective, Christianity birthed long before the birth of Jesus from the period of Abraham, on the other hand, the Mormonism was developed in 1820 by Joseph Smith who believed that all the doctrines of the churches were simple erroneous and he introduced Mormonism on basis of restoration of the church from the earliest beliefs. Whereas, the Christians believe in the Old and New Testament of the Holy Bible which is their holy book, the Mormons have their own holy book known as the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine and Covenants which are quite distinct from the Christian Theology. They also believe in the Holy Bible, but they give more importance to the other three holy books.

The Mormons believe that there are three Gods – The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, which are believed to be one form of the God by the Christians. They also believe that the God has a human body made of flesh and bones which the Christians believe as a God with only spirit and no body. The Mormons believe themselves to be the true Christians through they acknowledge the doctrines of Catholicism and Protestantism as corrupted and incorrect. While the Christians believe that Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary with the power of the Holy Spirit, the Mormons believe the birth of Jesus to be natural. The Mormonism also differs from Christianity on the beliefs of the Holy Spirit who they believe to be the God’s spiritual presence, whereas they believe the Holy Ghost to be the third person of the Trinity. Differing from the Mormons, the Christians on the other hand, believe the Holy Spirit to be the third person of the Holy Trinity along with the Father and the Son.

The views about salvation are also different between the Mormons and the Christians. The Mormons think that salvation will come through individual salvation and universal resurrection which will be judged by repentance and commandments. On the other hand, the Christian belief emphasizes on forgiveness of sins and salvation has been made possible by the death of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. Being more conservative than Christians, the Mormons lead a much disciplined life as they are in opposition to addictive matters. The Christianity dominates all over the world in all the six continents, whereas the Mormonism is observed mostly in Canada, United States, Central and South America.