LD$,Inc. has been on a "Jesus" kick recently and have distanced themselves from their own distinct "Mormon" identity as a means of obfuscation and also a bid for political power. There is a famous scene in the series "Big Love" where polygamist leader Roman Grant (Harry Dean Stanton) tells MIB-looking envoys from Salt Lake City that unlike them, he's trying to maintain their religion in it's "pure" (i.e. original) form.

Far-right white Evangelicals with a big "E" also claim to be (the only) "christians" -- even though most of what they preach and do is antithetical to the actual teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

Christianity is the religion that defined the Western world. Unlike China with a continuous five thousand years of civilization, the West as we know it grew out of the ruins of the Roman Empire and purged the ancient past so thoroughly that it was almost completely forgotten.

But are christians themselvers actually "christian?" Why did Christians take over ancient Rome? Was it just an end times cult or a new "mystery" religion from the East that was open to commoners and slaves? It took several hundred years before the religion coalesced into a dominant form, and we only have the words of the victors.

What is clear is that today the term "christian" is a label that has meaning far beyond the basic theological definition -- dominance, authority, correctness, etc. and the divine "right" to rule -- and compassion, comfort, and forgiveness.


Perhaps the real battle between good and evil is the battle between what a religion is or is not.


#########

Mary Beard -- "Why Did The Roman Empire Collapse?"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-j7vMwREKKg

PBS Frontline -- "From Jesus To Christ: The First Christians"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JN8FM1NCOSk

It's difficult to guess at Rusty's motives for mainstreaming. Is he simply trying to make the Mormon church a part of the club? Is he trying to appeal to Evangelicals and other Christians as potential converts? It's difficult to say.

summer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's difficult to guess at Rusty's motives for
> mainstreaming. Is he simply trying to make the
> Mormon church a part of the club? Is he trying to
> appeal to Evangelicals and other Christians as
> potential converts? It's difficult to say.

He is signed up to the same credit program as the other major churches. It's self-defeating as it's the weirdness that makes Mormonism.

Likely you've seen that bumper sticker:
Forget the War on Christmas - put Christ back in Christian

The correct answer is "Yes and no."

It all depends on your definition of "Christian"

See my discussion at http://packham.n4m.org/lds-xian.htm

"Evangelical" is a term which is fairly meaningless. Traditional Lutherans call themselves "evangelical' but I doubt you mean that.

By the way, just a question I've been asking about you recently "anybody". Do you support the right to private property?

Do you?

I'm confident Anybody wouldn't share your enthusiasm for mid-20th century political philosophers that opposed property rights in the Third World.

It can also apply to the ELCA Lutherans, the most liberal of the Lutheran groups. But nowadays, when you say the word, "evangelical," most people associate it with Christian fundamentalism.

summer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It can also apply to the ELCA Lutherans, the most
> liberal of the Lutheran groups. But nowadays, when
> you say the word, "evangelical," most people
> associate it with Christian fundamentalism.

And actually, though most people won't admit it, evangelicanism nowadays refers to white Christian fundamentalists. Black Christian evangelicals, who believe in both civil rights and affirmative action, need not apply.

Sadly the term evangelical has evolved into a political, social, and cultural term with even numbers of non Christian groups defi ing themselves as evangelical. I have read that about 8% of Jews in a recent poll defined themselves that way, In actual theology there is little difference between protestant churches no matter their emphasis.

Evangelicals have traditionally placed great emphasis on bringing converts to a point of decision. In the true sense all Christian churches are required by the Great Commission directive to be evanglical.

I believe, too, that the current perspective on the term is largely an American phenomenon.

> I believe, too, that the current perspective on
> the term is largely an American phenomenon.

True. But Christian nationalism is also "largely an American phenomenon."

That's the point.

Taxation with representation used to be "largely an American phenomenon"!!

Now taxation without representation is the Norm at Cheers.

"Evangelical Christianity has been hijacked by people who would give Jesus himself the boot if he knocked on their door."

-- Jimmy Carter



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2023 08:37PM by anybody.