MaxVeritas, I pray that the Lord will continue to give you and your family his grace during this time….

Av, if you read the first sentence of my last post I referenced official Mormon doctrine that contradicts God’s Word; so, I ask again, can man atone for his own sins? Does God have a wife that produces spirit children? Re-read John 21:25 again; it says, “And there are also many other things which Jesus DID…” not other things which Jesus ‘taught’…The language used here is a hyperbo...more

Av, if you read the first sentence of my last post I referenced official Mormon doctrine that contradicts God’s Word; so, I ask again, can man atone for his own sins? Does God have a wife that produces spirit children?

Re-read John 21:25 again; it says, “And there are also many other things which Jesus DID…” not other things which Jesus ‘taught’…The language used here is a hyperbole, a figure of speech not intended to be taken literally; for example, someone has said, “If the entire heaven were a parchment and all the trees writing reeds, and the entire sea ink, that would not be sufficient to write down the wisdom I have learned from my teachers.”

Regarding other denominations; if you honestly examine the core teachings of let’s say the major Protestant Churches you’ll find that they all hold to the essentials of the Christian faith. They all believe and teach that salvation is in Christ alone, through faith alone, by God’s grace alone, and that truth is revealed in God’s Word alone. So, there is a unity on the essentials; besides, I can also ask the same question of you. Why are there various groups within Mormonism? You have LDS, Reorganized LDS, Temple Lot Mormons, Aaronic Order, Apostolic United Brethren, etc? Why is that?

Also, notice a few major differences between Christianity and Mormonism; Christianity does not teach that Jesus Christ is the sprit brother of Lucifer, Christianity does not teach that Jesus “was not” begotten by the Holy Ghost [he was], Christianity does not teach that the atonement took place in Gethsemane [it was on the cross of Calvary], Christianity does not teach that the atonement is accepted by works but by faith, and Christianity does not teach that we are save by grace “after” all we can do, etc.less

Xiaopangzi, you passed over official Mormon doctrine that I referenced; can man atone for his own sins? Does God have a wife that produces spirit children? Not according to the Word of God; again, we see Mormon doctrine that contradicts Holy Scripture. You stated, “As for the specific passages in the NT about the physical body of the Father, there aren’t any.” I know there aren’t any a...more

Xiaopangzi, you passed over official Mormon doctrine that I referenced; can man atone for his own sins? Does God have a wife that produces spirit children? Not according to the Word of God; again, we see Mormon doctrine that contradicts Holy Scripture.

You stated, “As for the specific passages in the NT about the physical body of the Father, there aren’t any.” I know there aren’t any and your following statement “there certainly aren’t any passages that say He doesn’t” is incorrect.

“God is a Spirit…” [John 4:24] and Jesus said, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath NOT flesh and bones, as ye see me have” [Luke 24:39]. Why does Mormonism believe that it can add to the inspired Word of God?less

ICTHUS, you are correct that the Gothic version was done by Ulphilas [about A.D. 385] but you are mistaken about him supporting Arius… “Of the influence of the [corrupt] Vulgate there is no trace whatever” in the Gothic Bible. “We are certain of this, that so far as the translation of Ulphilas has been recovered, there is not a trace of Arianism to be found [the heresy that Jesus was a cr...more

ICTHUS, you are correct that the Gothic version was done by Ulphilas [about A.D. 385] but you are mistaken about him supporting Arius… “Of the influence of the [corrupt] Vulgate there is no trace whatever” in the Gothic Bible. “We are certain of this, that so far as the translation of Ulphilas has been recovered, there is not a trace of Arianism to be found [the heresy that Jesus was a created being]. On the contrary, in passages clearly unfavorable to the doctrine of Arius, Ulphilas has honestly and plainly given the literal meaning of the Greek” [Freiderichsen, Gospels, p. 162; Bosworth, p. IV].

Also, you missed the point; the Gothic and the King James are not based on the minority text but is based on the underlying Byzantine, Antiochian, Syrian, Received and Traditional Greek Text…The Byzantine type differs little from the fully developed Textus Receptus of the later period…

Correction; the Old Latin [Itala] matches Erasmus’ Greek New Testament and the King James Bible…Even Augustine in his writing, De doctrina Christiana, admitted that there were many Latin [pre-Jerome] Bibles available saying, “Now among the translations themselves the Italian [Itala] is to be preferred to the others, for it keeps closer to the words without prejudice…” [Metzger, Early Versions, p. 291].

Jerome corrupted the Itala Bible in the fourth century; he says, “You [Pope Damasus] urge me to revise the Old Latin, and, as it were, to sit in judgment on the copies of Scriptures which are now scattered throughout the world…Is there not a man, learned or unlearned, who will not, when he takes the volume in hand…call me a forger and a profane person for having had the audacity to add anything to the ancient books, or to make changes…” [See Wordsworth and White, Novum Testamentum…Latine, vol. 1 pp. 1-4 or any critical edition of the corrupt Latin Vulgate].

All this brings us right back to the true testimony of the Holy Scriptures; ““But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to “ALL” nations for the obedience of faith” [Romans 16:26]?less

I’m not an Osteen fan but I am glad that he gave the correct biblical response concerning homosexuality…

Xiaopangzi, referring back to the book Doctrine of Salvation, vol. 1 pp. 135 – 136, it goes on to say, “If these offenses are committed, then the blood of Christ will not cleanse them from their sins even though they repent. Therefore, their only hope is to have their blood shed to atone, as far as possible, in their behalf…” It is blasphemous to say that sinful man can atone for his ow...more

Xiaopangzi, referring back to the book Doctrine of Salvation, vol. 1 pp. 135 – 136, it goes on to say, “If these offenses are committed, then the blood of Christ will not cleanse them from their sins even though they repent. Therefore, their only hope is to have their blood shed to atone, as far as possible, in their behalf…”

It is blasphemous to say that sinful man can atone for his own sins…Where do we read that in the New Testament? Also, to say that the Mormon Church is the body of Christ here on earth and that there is no salvation outside of it is a gross fallacy. Where do we find in the New Testament that God the Father has flesh and bones, that he has a wife and they produces spirit children, where does it say that God the Father was once an exalted man?

It is no surprise the most Christians see Mormonism as a cult due to its many false teachings; the apostle Paul stated, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” [Galatians 1:8]. What does any other gospel mean? They incessantly use Christian terminology to mislead unsuspecting souls but when we diligently compare the Bible with Mormonism’s teachings we can easily see their many errors…less

Av, “HIS” Gospel is recorded in the Holy Scriptures…That is, in the Old and New Testament. To say that we do not have a perfect understanding of the Gospel is simply untrue; and I would ask what common beliefs do we share? For instance, Mormonism’s description of God is totally different from what the Bible teaches; so, which beliefs do we share?

Np, what aspect of the Gospel hasn’t been tainted by Mormon theology? Here is a couple of examples…The Word of God explicitly teaches that through his blood [the blood of Jesus] we have forgiveness of sins [Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14] but Mormonism teaches that some have “…placed themselves beyond the redeeming power of the blood of Christ” [Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, pp. 135-13...more

Np, what aspect of the Gospel hasn’t been tainted by Mormon theology? Here is a couple of examples…The Word of God explicitly teaches that through his blood [the blood of Jesus] we have forgiveness of sins [Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14] but Mormonism teaches that some have “…placed themselves beyond the redeeming power of the blood of Christ” [Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, pp. 135-136].

The Word of God teaches that salvation is through Jesus Christ alone [2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:9] but Mormonism teaches “There is no salvation outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” [Mormon Doctrine, pp. 669-670].

This is just the tip of the iceberg; Mormonism has a completely different view of the nature of God, of Jesus, of Salvation, of the Priesthood, of the Atonement, etc….To hint that Mormonism and Biblical Christianity are similar is a gross misrepresentation of the facts…less

"Jesus didn’t scream and hold signs at the Samaritan well," said Charles Hill, pastor of One Community Church in South Jordan, Utah, in a statement. "We are called to love each other." It is true that Jesus did not scream and hold signs but he did chide the religious leaders of his day for teaching false doctrines. Although, I do not condone hurling insults and dragging the Book of Mormon on ...more

"Jesus didn’t scream and hold signs at the Samaritan well," said Charles Hill, pastor of One Community Church in South Jordan, Utah, in a statement. "We are called to love each other."

It is true that Jesus did not scream and hold signs but he did chide the religious leaders of his day for teaching false doctrines. Although, I do not condone hurling insults and dragging the Book of Mormon on the ground I nevertheless agree that Mormonism preaches a false gospel. Pastor Hill should know that truly loving someone also means that we make a clear distinction between truth and error…

“Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” [Mark 7:7].less

Another promotion for the false teachings of Futurism; yes, keep pointing way into the future for the Antichrist so that believers will not recognize him sitting right under their noses…

Msn, try doing a little more research on this subject; about 95% of manuscripts agree with the Received Text. That is, the Byzantine, Antiochian, Syrian, Text not the corrupt Alexandrian Text [the Minority Text]. As IHS stated, the Latin Vulgate was not produced until the 4th century; so, prior to this what did the Church use? Was not the superscription over Christ in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew...more

Msn, try doing a little more research on this subject; about 95% of manuscripts agree with the Received Text. That is, the Byzantine, Antiochian, Syrian, Text not the corrupt Alexandrian Text [the Minority Text]. As IHS stated, the Latin Vulgate was not produced until the 4th century; so, prior to this what did the Church use?

Was not the superscription over Christ in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew? Did not the apostle Paul say, “But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to “ALL” nations for the obedience of faith” [Romans 16:26]?

What about the Gothic Bibles; which is basically a Syrian/Antiochian form of text? “Every word of the Greek text, excepting the definite article, is normally represented in the Gothic...” “The Gothic translator had followed the principle of verbum de verbo [word for word]…” [Fredrichsen, Gospels, pp. 15-23]. This text [the Gothic] by the way matches the KJV and its underlying Greek Textus Receptus text…less

This American pastor obviously made a very extremely poor decision to announce his burning of the Quran but those Muslim extremists didn’t really need an excuse to kill. This is something to be expected; that is, according to their beliefs they are more than justified by taking the lives of non-believers….

Yes, there is vast difference between the Majority Text and the Minority Text…Read more: http://www.ecclesia.org/truth/m-m.html

Interestingly, I just received as a gift the Visual History of the King James Bible…http://www.christianbook.com/visual-history-dramatic-worlds-known-translation/donald-brake/9780801013478/pd/013478 The photos are great and collector Donald L. Brake gives a great summation of the history of this beloved translation. A fine tribute to this translation’s 400th anniversary…

Hi Smunge, I respectfully disagree; the concept and imagery of hell is clearly seen throughout the Old Testament; here a few passages - they will “burn up” [Malachi 4:1], they will “consume away” [Psalm 37:20], and “fire shall devour them” [Psalm 21:9]…Though the nature of hell has been debated throughout history there is no doubt that both Old & New Testament believers taught it…

SB, the burden of proof rests on the one “first” making the claim; you said, “I received Jesus for a number of years, but the relationship didn't go anywhere…” So, some of us are wondering if this relationship was real or imagined; which was it?

SB, the same credentials that every true believer has… “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” [1 John 4:1]. The relevance is that you claim to have had a relationship with Jesus and now you say it was all “nonsense”…If that is your present position I think it’s only fair to ask if your ...more

SB, the same credentials that every true believer has… “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” [1 John 4:1]. The relevance is that you claim to have had a relationship with Jesus and now you say it was all “nonsense”…If that is your present position I think it’s only fair to ask if your conversion was real or imagined…less

SB, impossible; how is then that you "claim" to have had a relationship with Jesus? Was your relationship real or imagined?

SB, respectfully; if you cannot explain your conversion and what it entailed how do you know if it was genuine? Besides, as good as Bible Studies and prayers are that does not necessarily prove that one has a relationship with Jesus…

SB, on the contrary; “We love him, because he first loved us” [1 John 4:19].