When I was in the
band Scarlet Onyx in high school, so far as I knew, I was the only
non-Roman Catholic in the bunch. I had kind of gotten used to that as I
had lived in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood. Different
denominations occur because of differences in doctrinal concerns and
theology within the church universal (all the denominations) One
misconception my mom had about Catholics came to the fore when I asked
quite innocently, "Why can't we be Catholic?"
I had seen that the Catholic kids went to early mass (some skipped it) and were back home and playing way before I could come home, get out of my suit, eat Sunday Dinner and begin my play. Mom's response was, "Oh Honey, we could NEVER do THAT! The worship statues!" Mom only knew what she'd heard. Later I found some Catholics to love the Lord just as much and some more deeply than the biggest charismatics, Baptists, and other so called "protestants."
We had a drummer leave the band and inherited the drummer for a group called the Rokz named Rusty Fuerst. Rusty was immediately made fun of by the others mainly because he didn't drink booze, didn't smoke and stayed away from cafeine, in obersvance of his Mormon faith. Rusty impressed me with how he tried to behave himself in the moral arena. He had what was a clear opportunity to be sexually active and told me he did not give in to temptation and that, "the Lord was with me!" That impressed me, because my goal, like a salmon swimming upstream, was to be a virgin until marriage. The Catholic members of the band thought Rusty was screwy, but I admired him.
So, I went to my Dad and asked him, "What is it that's off
(theologically) about the Mormons. Dad wasn't clear at that time and
later, I did my own study on it. Meanwhile, what Rusty told me was that
this guy Joseph Smith had an angel (of the Lord) tell him that all the
Christian denominations were WRONG and set him straight about it and in
short, that's how the Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints) came into being.
The basic difference between Mormonism and faith in Jesus of Nazareth is that Evangelical Bible-based Christians believe in God's grace alone to be saved (from Hell), that Heaven is a free gift, bought by Jesus when He died on the Cross. There's nothing one can do to be saved except receive the free gift God gives through Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, also described as the LAMB of God, slain from the foundation of the world. Grace plus NOTHING. Some denominations stray from that and try to add good works, but Christians believe good works (doing good things) is just what happens when someone comes to know Jesus personally as Savior and Lord.
If someone were to make it to Heaven by being good---doing good deeds
(works) it would surely be the Mormons, because they do a lot of good
deeds. As humans with a do-it-yourself mentality, we tend to think we
have to do something and find it difficult to think Heaven is just
free.The Mormon understanding of Jesus is different also. In fact, the
"Jesus" of Mormon belief is quite different from the Biblical Jesus.
Christians do not believe that God was once a man and grew to "god"
status as Mormons do, and do not believe Jesus was created, but is the
Creator of all that is and ever will be. Mormons believe that Jesus and
Lucifer are brothers---good brother and bad brother (Good cop, bad cop)
Those are the distinctions I've come to know.
That being said, Howard Hughes trusted Mormons to run his estate because of their moral standards and the FBI recruits Mormons routinely for their ranks because of their good behavior. I mean, who's more wholesome than Donnie and Marie, after all, as much as people make fun of them?
So to see a man like Mitt Romney, whom I disagree with theologically, but trust as a very moral, upstanding gentleman accused of some of the stuff he's been accused of, only makes the accusers look small by comparison, especially when they tell outright LIES about him.
So, when I voted yesterday, I did so believing a good, moral man was running for office. Yeah, in MY view, his theology is off, but that's about it. Forget the false accusations. Would I rather have someone who more agrees with my theology at the helm? Absolutely. I voted for Alan Keyes every time he ran, who is a good, Catholic believer and truly a man of God.
The man occupying the White House currently has been proven to me to be not only a Socialist, but a Marxist as well. SOME believe him to be a Muslim which is difficult to prove or DISprove as lying to us (the "infidels") is part of their game plan. Lying. We've heard a lot of that from DC lately. So, it came down to Mormon or Marxist. I'll take Mormon every time!
I had seen that the Catholic kids went to early mass (some skipped it) and were back home and playing way before I could come home, get out of my suit, eat Sunday Dinner and begin my play. Mom's response was, "Oh Honey, we could NEVER do THAT! The worship statues!" Mom only knew what she'd heard. Later I found some Catholics to love the Lord just as much and some more deeply than the biggest charismatics, Baptists, and other so called "protestants."
We had a drummer leave the band and inherited the drummer for a group called the Rokz named Rusty Fuerst. Rusty was immediately made fun of by the others mainly because he didn't drink booze, didn't smoke and stayed away from cafeine, in obersvance of his Mormon faith. Rusty impressed me with how he tried to behave himself in the moral arena. He had what was a clear opportunity to be sexually active and told me he did not give in to temptation and that, "the Lord was with me!" That impressed me, because my goal, like a salmon swimming upstream, was to be a virgin until marriage. The Catholic members of the band thought Rusty was screwy, but I admired him.
The basic difference between Mormonism and faith in Jesus of Nazareth is that Evangelical Bible-based Christians believe in God's grace alone to be saved (from Hell), that Heaven is a free gift, bought by Jesus when He died on the Cross. There's nothing one can do to be saved except receive the free gift God gives through Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, also described as the LAMB of God, slain from the foundation of the world. Grace plus NOTHING. Some denominations stray from that and try to add good works, but Christians believe good works (doing good things) is just what happens when someone comes to know Jesus personally as Savior and Lord.
That being said, Howard Hughes trusted Mormons to run his estate because of their moral standards and the FBI recruits Mormons routinely for their ranks because of their good behavior. I mean, who's more wholesome than Donnie and Marie, after all, as much as people make fun of them?
So to see a man like Mitt Romney, whom I disagree with theologically, but trust as a very moral, upstanding gentleman accused of some of the stuff he's been accused of, only makes the accusers look small by comparison, especially when they tell outright LIES about him.
So, when I voted yesterday, I did so believing a good, moral man was running for office. Yeah, in MY view, his theology is off, but that's about it. Forget the false accusations. Would I rather have someone who more agrees with my theology at the helm? Absolutely. I voted for Alan Keyes every time he ran, who is a good, Catholic believer and truly a man of God.
The man occupying the White House currently has been proven to me to be not only a Socialist, but a Marxist as well. SOME believe him to be a Muslim which is difficult to prove or DISprove as lying to us (the "infidels") is part of their game plan. Lying. We've heard a lot of that from DC lately. So, it came down to Mormon or Marxist. I'll take Mormon every time!
No comments:
Post a Comment