H e b r e w T r e e

Continued from "Why do you think Mormons are not Christians?" My friend had sent me an email from a co-worker, which I thought was just my friend, and there has been some correspondence between the three of us. I'd love to hear your comments...



From: XXXX
Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 3:53 PM
To: Heather
Subject: RE:

Its not so much the dying on the cross that’s the issue. It’s the fact that the believe it wasn’t enough. There is still more they have to do. Tithe, be good, serve, go on a mission , go to the temple. There is a verse in the Book of Mo that says something about being save “after all you can do.” Implying that there is more that needs to be done by us. When Jesus died on the cross he said, “It is finished.” Meaning is over and there is nothing more that we can do. He did it. End of story. So in my eyes, they do not believe that Jesus died and took the penalty for their sins. He just did part of it. That isn’t Biblical. That to me is the difference.

I hate to argue over the word Christian because its all dependent on what your definition of the word is. Their definition makes them Christians (believing IN Jesus Christ). My definition is believing that Jesus death on the cross and resurrection was enough to pay the penalty for my sins and there is nothing else that I can do to earn it or be good enough or deserve it. Its all about the definition.

So, you aren’t necessarily wrong, there are just some main differences that really separate Mo from Christianity

I asked Nicole and this is her response. Let me know yours.

Mormons are not Christians because they don’t believe that Jesus is the son of Man and the only way to get to heaven. They think he is just a prophet and was a really good man. What makes someone a Christian is believing that Jesus Christ is all Father, Son AND Holy Spirit, that atonement happened when he DIED on the cross and that believing in Him and who He said he was (which is truth, life, eternal salvation...) and that he is the ONLY way to Heaven and no one can get to the Father except through Jesus and knowing Him, personally and that he rose again because His resurrection proved that he was the Son of God (biblical-Paul affirmed that Christ is “declared to be the Son of God with power . . . by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). Also, it gives us the assurance that we are forgiven-if Jesus was raised, sins will be forgiven when we obey the gospel (Acts 2:38; 22:16), Jesus’ resurrection proves that physical death is not the termination of human existence, it is assurance that we too, as Christians will be raised to be with our living King (which is another big deal about Jesus raising from the dead: the kingdom of God is ruled by a living sovereign). And ultimate victory of Christianity over all its enemies. When Christ raised, He defeated the world, Satan and all of sin. When we put our trust in Jesus, we are saved from eternal separation in Hell. Nothing else. We do not have to do ANYTHING else. But, I think there are “Mormons” who are Christian, they are just still trying to earn their salvation. Which is really sad. The reason why we celebrate the cross is because it represents freedom. Christ died to set us free from worldly, spiritual and “fill in the blank” bondage.

Mine is the reason above though.. I’m still learning and looking into the reasons she has said..






From: Heather
Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 4:24 PM
To: XXXX
Subject: RE:

I'm obviously not an expert on this....BUT, we do believe that Christ did pay for our sins not on the cross but in the garden of Gesemany when he bled from every pour in his body. This is when that took place, and it allowed for us to always be able to repent for our sins. It doesn't mean to us that everything is taken care of, and we have a sure ride into heaven because he died on the cross. We do believe he bore that pain, and did take upon himself all of our sins. And that's why we are able to repent of our sins today. We do believe we have to continue to work for it, and repent of our sins and go through that repentance process. Which Christ made it possible for us to do this, when he repented and suffered. I think the mission stuff, is more of a bonus, some people go the extra mile if you will. ha. But yes, we do think we need to continue to strive and repent of our sins, pay tithe, get married in the temple, etc. to become closer to him and work towards that goal of being with him someday. We believe he is the son of our heavenly father.

So you believe that any sin you make now, is completely taken care of? We believe that because he suffered for us, he made it possible for us to repent of our sins here on earth and to return to him someday. For ex: If I went out and started robbing and stealing things....and then realized what I've done. We don't think it's taken care of just because Christ suffered for us. Because he suffered for us, we believe that he's made it possible for us to fully repent and be remorseful of our sins. That process would be to repent in prayer, and truly feel remorseful and sorrowful for what I had done.

Our church name is "The Church of Jesus Christ". We believe IN Jesus Christ who is the son of God. Your friend said we don't believe Jesus is the son of man? Yes we do! He is the son of God, that's exactly what we believe. We do believe that he rose again, and was resurrected and is the Son of God. We do believe: Jesus’ resurrection proves that physical death is not the termination of human existence. We do believe: Also, it gives us the assurance that we are forgiven-if Jesus was raised, sins will be forgiven when we obey the gospel. But, we still have to repent of our sins we make. We also believe: as Christians will be raised to be with our living King. We call him our Heavenly Father/God, Jesus Christ is the son of god. We believe: When Christ raised, He defeated the world, Satan and all of sin. This is why we are able to repent of our sins, because he suffered and died for us. We believe that when we put our faith in Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father we will be blessed, and we do believe that we can't just sit back and have a free ride to Heaven. We believe we have to continually strive to be closer to him, repent of our sins, and worship him. Which can include the whole tithe thing, and going on a mission. That's very similar to your mission things like your Haiti mission and such. It's doing those things to continually become closer to him, which does make that relationship stronger. I wouldn't say, we believe you HAVE to do these things to even have a chance to be with him again...it's more of the fact that these things help us strive to become closer to him by sacrifice. Like paying tithing of 10%, that's a huge sacrifice to make. Or going on a mission, that's a sacrifice of giving up years of our life to serve him. Which by doing these things, only makes us closer to him and to strive to be with him.