While each post should make sense alone, if you want to read part 1, here it is: http://www.jasonquey.com/truth-is-exclusive/
Having established that there must be a certain level of absolute truth (otherwise no statement made could be considered true at all, including the assertion that there is no truth), we will now examine the philosophy of the skeptic and a common religious statement that cannot be true if there is absolute truth.
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The glass is (or perhaps is not?) something…
Disclaimer – As I mentioned last time, it can be hard to exactly portray any belief system fully and sometimes even completely accurately as there can be conflicting statements surrounding a given school of philosophy or religion. While I do strive to do my best at accurately portraying anything, if you believe any of these are inaccurate or disagree with my statements, feel free to have a discussion in the comments below. I am open for opposing dialogue, however I will not tolerate slanderous remarks.
Skepticism - The philosophic school of skepticism is where we get our term for someone who constantly sees the worst in things; a “glass half empty” kind of person. The primary school of thought of the philosophical sketic is traced back to Pyrrho of Elis. Pyrrho, along with Alexander the Great, traveled East and began to study under the Gymnosophists of India and the Magi in Persia.
The Gymnosophists were Indian philosophers who pursued asceticism to the point of regarding food and clothing as detrimental to purity of thought (hence the name gymnosophists, or literally “naked philosophers”). The Magi are known to be followers of Zoroaster (the founder of Zoroastrianism). While for now we will put the religion of Zoroastrian on the back burner, one important thing to note was that the Magi were collectively known as practitioners of magic (which is where this term originated). This included areas of astrology, alchemy, and any other form of esoteric knowledge and connected to other tricksters and conjurers.
These two schools of thought led Pyrrho to a life of solitude and eventually to develop the philosophical skeptic. He began to be troubled by the various disputes within the different schools of philosophical thought. Eventually he became overwhelmed by his inability to determine what was correct and soon was said to have achieved a sense of inner peace by ignoring the truth altogether.
Ultimately, this led to a belief in the appearance of experience – it seems that we are feeling hot or cold; it seems we are angry or excited. They lived in a world of subjective reality (or “This is how the world appears to you, but perhaps not to me”) and would question even intuitive notions that we have about reality. Additionally, they added that consensus of the truth indicates neither truth nor the likelihood that it is true. Thus, the Pyrrhonists/skeptics could live without an understanding of what really was true or false, right or wrong.
Pure Pyrhonists outright reject there is any kind of true knowledge. Some adhere that knowledge is possible, at least in theory. Still others would neither affirm or reject the possibility of knowledge. As I’m sure you could imagine, arguing with such a person (of either three schools of thought) would be maddening as they throw out the very laws of logic. In essence, though, we know this school of though cannot be true; for if “no truth is knowable,” than it is not possible to affirm this position.
This also puts two other religious beliefs at odds if we are to deny philosophical skepticism: Buddhism and Jainism. In short, Buddhists try to attain enlightenment by striving to experience neither desire or pain, but this requires a desire to be desire-less (which is a logical inconsistency). Jainism holds to a form of relative pluralism called “Anekāntavāda.” According to this principle, an object can never be fully known or understood, but has multiple modes of existence and qualities and are perceived differently from different points of view. Jainism has a major empirical inconsistency (i.e. when the evidence does not match to reality) with their renunciation of sexual desire. Taken to its logical end, if everyone were to become Jainists, our world could not exist.
Mormons are Christians - According to a Pew Research poll, 52% of those polled believed that Mormons are Christians; and those numbers do not diverge much from the “Protestant” camp, whether “White Evangelical” (40%), “White Mainline” (62%), or “Black Protestant” (43%). Of course, that number is very close to those who reported to know little or nothing about Mormonism to begin with (51%).
From an initial standpoint, there are some similarities between the two: both consider the Bible as Scripture*, both often use the same terminology, both believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and about Jesus’s second coming. However, there are also many (and consequently theologically significant) differences between the views of Christians and Mormons and as you will see, there is a major difference even when they use the same terms:
| The Church: Mormons believe the Latter Day Saints (LDS) is the only true church (Doctrine and Covenants 1.30) and all other churches are “wrong…their creeds an abomination…(and) professors all corrupt.” (Joseph Smith – History 1.19, Pearl of Great Price). Specifically, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists are named as in error (JS – History 1.9, PoGP). Joseph Smith also affirmed that everyone that does not repent will be damned (History of the Church 3.28). | Jesus: Christians believe that Jesus is an uncreated, second person of the trinity, (John 1.1, 14; 8.58; 10.30, 33), conceived by the Holy Spirit by a virgin birth through Mary (Matt. 1.18-20), eternally sinless and perfect (Heb. 4.15), and never required salvation from sin.Mormons believe that Jesus (and God the Father) have a tangible body of flesh and bones (D&C 130.22). They believe that Jesus and Lucifer (Satan) are spirit brothers, is our elder brother in the pre-earth life, and both are sons of God (Moses 4.1-4; see also The Pearl of Great Price Student Manual/The Book of Moses 1:12-22 (2000)). |
| * The Bible: Mormons view on the Bible is that it is only accurate where translated correctly (PoGP, Articles of Faith 1.8; 1 Nephi 13:23-42; see also Introduction in the Book of Mormon) and likewise hold the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God (PoGP, AoF 1.8). From what I’ve been told, the Joseph Smith’s Translation is quite a bit different than the Christian’s King James Version, which they often use.Christians believe that the Bible is complete and that no new added books were needed. First, we see the Bible starts with the beginning of creation in Genesis and ends with the prediction of the last time in Revelation. 2 Timothy 3.16-17 also states that everything within Scripture equips the believer for every good work. Although some scholars believe this warning only applies to the book of Revelation, there is a warning given to anyone who adds anything to this book (Rev. 22.18-20). Either way, there are also other similar warnings found in the Bible (Dt. 4.2; 12.32; Pr 30.6; Jer 26.2). | God and gods: While Christians hold that there is only one God who rules over all existence (Deut. 4.39), Mormons believe that there are many gods for other worlds that they created (PoGP, Abraham 4.1). They likewise believe that humans and God(s) are of the same nature and as such, were all originally humans that became gods (D&C 76.23-24; PoGP, Abraham 3.18-28).Additionally, Mormons who do enough good works (which they believe is necessary for salvation: 1 Nephi 3.7 and 2 Nephi 25.23, which contradicts Eph. 2.8-9) can become gods to create these other worlds. They will be the exclusive god or become part of a team of gods, as we see like the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are for this world (D&C 132.15-37, especially 19 and 20; D&C 76.50-95, esp. 50-58). |
| The Race of Man: Although they may have “recanted” from this position, there is still strong evidence that Mormons believe dark skin people as those cursed from the seed of Cain. There are many instances in the Book of Mormon that relates the color of someone’s skin to either be a curse or blessing (Alma 3.6-9; 2 Nephi 5.21-24; Jacob 3.8; 3 Nephi 2.14-16; Moses 7.8ff). Christians believe that the mark on Cain was for his protection and not a curse (Gen. 4.15). There is no distinction of race, as that is not the main issue if we are one in Christ (Gal. 3.28). The book of Acts likewise states that God is not a respecter of persons, but accepts all who believe (Acts 10:34-35). And, even if a Mormon were to argue that salvation was allowed for everyone alike, the prophet Jeremiah even points out that one’s skin color does not change at salvation (Jer. 13.23). |
Testing a prophet: In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses declares what the sign of a true prophet would be (Deut. 18.21-22). There were also severe consequences if someone made a prophecy and it did not come true…namely death (Deut. 13.1-5; cf. Jer. 28.15-17; 29.30-32).Joseph Smith tried to make future prophecies, however many of these failed. He predicted the destruction of New York, Albany, and Boston if they rejected the gospel (D&C 84.114-115). Another prophecy that did not come to pass is found in D&C 87. The South was supposed to call on other nations, even Great Britain, for aid, and as a result, “war would be poured out upon all nations.” As a result, “with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God”.While the South did revolt in 1861, the slaves did not rise up against their masters, war was not poured out upon all of the nations, there was no worldwide famine, plague, earthquake, or any other chastening from the hand of God; and there was no resulting “end of all nations.” |
For more contradictions, see MormonInfo.org
I could go on, but I hope this is sufficient evidence to show that the statement that “Mormons are Christians” is a contradiction.
There could be multiple reasons why the thought that Mormons are Christians has become more prominent: political for Mormons to draw support from Christians, a desire to not be connected with polygamy/bigamy (in the above poll, out of 1461 respondents, this was the #1 one-word response about Mormons), a desire not to be considered a cult (#3 response), or perhaps any other desire to “fit in” with society at large. Whatever the case, while at this point we have yet to either affirm or deny either of these two beliefs, logically the statement that “Mormons are Christians” is a contradiction of terms.
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The Exclusivity of Truth is a post from: Looking Toward The Future