Tom Smith

Politically liberal, culturally conservative.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Lord0fValinor @LDS_Dems @tom_barmadillo But I speak in third person because it would be incorrect for me to say “I believe” in these debates. But I still feel at least a cultural identity towards the faith and am not opposed to identifying as an inactive Mormon.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Lord0fValinor @LDS_Dems @tom_barmadillo Well, I do kind of hope to return in the future (but I’m not for sure), and I do think a case can be made for it being the most intellectually defensible religion if you take a bit of a heterodox view in some things, and so maybe I can embrace it in a pascalian type wager sense.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Lord0fValinor @LDS_Dems @tom_barmadillo I don’t actively attend nor am I really a believer anymore. But I grew up Mormon. So yes and no depending how you define it.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Lord0fValinor @LDS_Dems @tom_barmadillo Yes, you can put your blinders on and ignore the historical evidence of biblical scholarship, and then you’re no different than Mormons who do the same about the historical issues with the claims of their religion.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@tom_barmadillo @Lord0fValinor @LDS_Dems But, Mormons have a diversity of views on how to interpret the divine eternal nature of Jesus and the Father described in scripture, so that same caveat with the different interpretive lenses would apply to the Athanasian creed.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@tom_barmadillo @Lord0fValinor @LDS_Dems If “catholic” were to mean the LDS Church, and on the persons/essence language, it would be “our scripture doesn’t use that language and it’s not entirely clear what it actually means, but it doesn’t outright contradict”

Then otherwise it is consistent with LDS scripture.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Lord0fValinor @LDS_Dems @tom_barmadillo If you ask a scholar/historian, they’re going to argue that no Christian tradition comports entirely to the Bible.

But sure, Mormonism does not comport to traditional Christianity. I don’t think anyone argues against that.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@tom_barmadillo @Lord0fValinor @LDS_Dems If we defined “God” to be a divine person, then the Trinitarian view would definitionally be 3 Gods. It’s the same belief and the same referent, but a different terminology to describe it.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Lord0fValinor @LDS_Dems @tom_barmadillo But to summarize, a Mormon could adopt a strict Trinitarian 1 being in 3 persons view and nothing about LDS doctrine substantively changes or becomes a contradiction. The Mormon rejection of the Trinity I think is a historical artifact of misunderstanding the Trinity for Modalism

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Lord0fValinor @LDS_Dems @tom_barmadillo The eternal aspect, there is a diversity of views and some hold they are three eternally divine persons (as all of Mormon scripture teaches).

But on the 3 being vs 3 persons being the same, the discussion won’t fit well into X replies as it gets into a lot of philosophy.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Lord0fValinor @LDS_Dems @tom_barmadillo But you’ve only said what a Christian is not, but what is the definition for what a Christian is?

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Lord0fValinor @LDS_Dems @tom_barmadillo I think the idea that Mormons reject the Trinity is mostly a difference in terminology. When Trinitarians say “person” it’s basically the same as Mormons saying “being”.

And the other two are contested doctrines where Mormons have a range of views.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Lord0fValinor @LDS_Dems @tom_barmadillo I think under most reasonable definitions Mormons are Christian.

But what definition do you use where they’re not? And on what basis do you derive that definition?

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Lord0fValinor @LDS_Dems @tom_barmadillo Under most interpretations, Jesus is not created in Mormonism, but an eternal being. Though some Mormons believe his divinity is not eternal and was provided by the Father, while others believe he has eternally been a divine being united with the Father in the Godhead.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@waldenpod The term is used in the Book of Mormon so Latter-day Saints wont abandon it as an identity.

But otherwise I agree with you.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@jesse_k_fox Whereas for Latter-day Saints, it’s a term used in the Book of Mormon, so they won’t stop identifying as such because doing so would mean rejecting their own scriptures.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@jesse_k_fox What core religious conviction do you have that prevents you from considering Mormons as heretical Christian rather than non-Christian? Even the “you’re going to hell” type of heretic? The term Christian is never defined in the Bible.

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Derek_Rumpler @maklelan If you’re interested in a traditional representation of RLDS views (former name of the Community of Christ), there have been many that left the RLDS as it became liberal. One church that formed is the Remenant LDS Church.

https://t.co/edVtyOVuLJ

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Derek_Rumpler @maklelan I’ve wondered why those who leave the LDS church due to liberal social views don’t attend the Community of Christ. It’d help the Church as it’s struggling membership-wise and financially (even despite a $192 million sell of historical sites and artifacts to the LDS church)

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Derek_Rumpler @maklelan I found this article whose title I think sums it up “Community of Christ: An American Progressive Christianity, with Mormonism as an Option”

https://t.co/CTHBoSSlV6

[Tom Smith @TomSmith996]

@Derek_Rumpler @maklelan Yes, they went down the same path as mainline liberal Protestants. And their connection to the restoration has diminished over time.

I’ve never attended, but I’d suspect Church services are more like typical mainline churches and have little semblance of Mormonism.