Comments on: Splitting Hairs A Little Too Finely

By: pdale

pdale — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:22:02 +0000

Interesting points from all. I live across the street from a great Catholic family, and next door to a Hindu family, and we all get along great. But as I understand it there isn’t much room for error in the Catholic view that certain sacraments, from baptism to last rites, better happen…or else. Protestants seem to be a little more flexible on some of those things, except that my good Hindu friends are still in serious eternal trouble.

As already mentioned, in our LDS understanding, everyone will have the opportunity, in this life or the next, to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to accept it and be saved,….or not. The billions who never even heard of Jesus the Christ in this life certainly will in the next. The bigger, eternal picture, is what helps us see everyone as brothers and sisters, most of whom simply haven’t heard the Gospel yet.

As John said, we need to be able to live with people if we’re going to convert them. No better example of that than the way the Savior lived.

By: coltakashi

coltakashi — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:40:57 +0000

Before Islam, there was Judaism and Christianity. How did Peter, John, James (the brother of Jesus) and Paul view Judaism, which did not embrace the Gospel of Christ? They were still able to go to the Temple in Jerusalem and participate in at least some of the worship activities there. Because Judaism did not embrace Jesus as the Messiah, was Judaism therefore regarded as an enemy religion?

My understanding of the Gospels, the Acts, and the Epistles is that Christ and his apostles saw Judaism as containing much truth, including the heritage of all the prophets, but that it was incomplete. They were not afraid to excoriate the particular leaders of the Jews in their day, but it was particular Jews they opposed, not Judaism per se. Even as they received revelation about taking the Gospel to gentiles, they made a point of teaching the Old Testament as a foundation for understanding God’s love for mankind and His expectations of us. It seems to me that the early apostles expected that gentile converts would actively seek opportunities to hear the Old Testament in its Greek-language Septuagint form at the synagogues in their cities so they could better understand the message of Christ.

The attitude of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders has been similar: That not only Christianity in its modern multiple manifestations, but also Judaism and Islam, are incomplete patterns for knowing and worshipping God, but contain much that is good and even true. People who are faithful to those good and true elements of their faiths are honorable men and women who deserve respect. In Mormon belief, every person born on earth has an influence we call “the light of Christ” which guides us toward what is good and true, and we are all, even in our ignorance of the fulness of the Gospel, subject to God’s judgment based on how well we followed that light. Those people who are ethical and moral can be “saved” by Christ through the power of his atonement, even in their ignorance of the fulness of the Gospel, with an eternal reward that is every bit as blessed and wonderful as most people imagine.

And of course, Mormons believe that every person born on earth will eventually have an opportunity, before the Resurrection, to hear the fulness of Christ’s Gospel, from people working under the leadership of Peter himself, who wrote so eloquently about Christ offering salvation to the dead. So even though we put a lot of our personal resources into missionary work, we also do not believe that people who don’t accept our message are bound for hell, per se. We are not so intent as others on insisting on dividing our neighbors between the saved and the damned at the earliest opportunity.

So Mormons do not view Islam as an “enemy faith” any more than they view Judaism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy or various forms of Protestantism in that way.

I know that the tendency to make up a theological “enemies list” in some denominations has classified Mormons alongside Muslims in the eyes of some people. But I don’t think the example of Jesus himself and the early Christians requires that kind of relationship (or lack of it). We can acknowledge the good in others’ religious beliefs without abandoning our own belief that we have something they need, in both the present world and in the eternities.

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:06:28 +0000

In my humble opinion, I believe that a very fundamental change needs to occur in the doctrinal view of many faiths, and particularly in the mainstream Christian and Muslim faiths, in order to completely solve the problem of religious bigotry. That change would consist of the following:
Instead of viewing the members of other faiths (or even of no religious faith at all) as being “condemned to hell”, when they die, by failing to accept your beliefs and faith while alive, consider and be willing to accept the very real possibility that God should be the judge, not us, and that each person will be judged on their own merits, what they did with what they have. Many billions of people have died and will die without ever having the chance to hear fully about your particular faith. A merciful God would not condemn anyone without the chance to hear and accept all of the truth He has to offer, whether in this life or in the hereafter. It is good to “bear witness” of your own faith and reason for believing what you do, but it should be done in a respectful manner, without condemning or belittling the other person or their particular faith or religion. Even if they don’t accept it, we cannot judge their reasons, and we cannot judge them, since only God can change people from within, which is where true change occurs in a person.
Unfortunately, too many in both the Christian and Muslim faiths don’t follow this humble advice. They seem to believe that members of the other faith(s) are condemned to an everlasting hell if they don’t accept their faith, and they tend to have an “all or nothing” attitude towards other faiths: either they go to heaven if they are of their faith, or they go to hell if they are not. I believe that this kind of attitude tends to invite extremist, non-tactful, non-tolerant, and uncooperative actions towards those of other faiths.
The LDS position towards other faiths, is a good one to follow, in my opinion. That position is that all decent religions and good belief systems have different truths and different strengths, and should be respected for them. Of course, we believe that our religion has the most truth and strength (but that is necessary for a strong believer in any particular religion, otherwise that person wouldn’t be in that religion!). It is good to respect other religions for the good teachings they do have and for the help and strength they provide for their followers, both past and present. We can attribute any errors that we perceive in a particular religion as a failing of man, not God. For example, the current version of radical Islam, which invites terrorist actions, as a doctrine of man (and of Satan) and not of God. This is an extreme example of the above attitude failures I have outlined. I am also convinced that the much milder version of this attitude, such as that expressed by Al Mohler, of treating other faiths as the “enemy”, is also of man (and Satan) and not of God. It is also the same attitude which caused severe persecutions in past history, against those who believed differently than those of the group in power.
We see this same attitude problem on the part of many atheists nowadays with regards to those who believe in God. In the same manner, too many of them treat us as the enemy, and treat us with lack of respect, bigotry, and in a belittling manner.
We also see this same attitude of treating those who don’t believe like us as the “enemy”, to a huge degree in the political world. We can go a long ways towards getting along better with the opposite party by treating them with respect. We don’t have to sacrifice or compromise our basic strongly held opinions, but we can try to appreciate them for the strengths they do have and try to build on common ground. I also believe that athiests would treat both Christians and Moslems better if we begin to treat them also with more respect and understanding. Just like those of other religions, we should not try to judge them, but let God be the judge. We should not be afraid to express to them our heartfelt beliefs, but should do so in a respectful, non-judgemental, and uplifting manner.