Dear Theophilus

What do you think about Paul Rudnick's depiction of the creation accont: Day No. 1: And the Lord God said, “Let there be light,” and lo, there was light. But then the Lord God said, “Wait, what if I make it a sort of rosy, sunset-at-the-beach, filtered half-light, so that everything else I design will look younger?” “I’m loving that,” said Buddha. “It’s new.” “You should design a restaurant,” added Allah.  You should read the rest of the days !

I have to make myself clear at the front. I am a Christian. I have some very close Mormon friends, closer than family. And I am not fighting for who is "right," I am merely trying to explore the truth claim that Christianity and Mormonism are the same. It is my contention that they are different in hugely significant ways that make it untenable to say that they are one in the same. Jesus is another significant source of contention between Christians and Mormons. First, the term 'Christian' seems to be a source of contention here. Christian is derived from the greek and means 'little Christs.' People have been called Christian since the book of Acts, (ch. 11). These are people who both (1) claim that the Christ has come and (2) imitate and follow his teaching. For Christians, the Christ has come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth; hence Jesus Christ. So, in one sense, Mormons are Christians. Their sacred writing depict a Christ coming to both I...

There is a rumor going around that people think Mormons and Christians are the same. This could not be further from reality. I have heard this many times and it usually comes from Mormons and people who overvalue tolerance at the expense of truly understanding. President Hinckley of the Mormon church personally taught this to all of the Mormon church and is it found on their official site . Let's get a few things straight at the start. I love my Mormon friends. I consider some closer than family. I think they are mistaken about some things, but love certainly triumphs over differences here. Second, this post is completely unpolitical. I could care less if a Mormon is president. I could really care less about politics at all in this point in my life. Ok... that being said, there are some huge differences between Orthodox Christianity and Mormonism. Differences that cause each group to be outside of the others tent - if that makes sense.   The biggest and most...