Mike Lee's complaint only works if everyone agrees to ignore what Mormonism actually teaches.
He wants the public to focus on the label while averting its eyes from the contents.
But theology is not judged by branding.
If it were, every cult in America could become orthodox by hiring a better marketing department.
Mike Lee belongs to a religion that teaches God the Father was once a man who progressed to godhood, that human beings may follow the same path, that Jesus and Lucifer share the same heavenly parentage, and that the highest aspiration of the faithful is not merely to worship God forever but to become gods themselves.
These are not minor disagreements within Christianity. These are different answers to the most basic questions Christianity asks.
Mike Lee knows this.
He was raised in Mormon royalty, educated in Mormon institutions, and formed by Mormon theology. His objection is not that the Pentagon misunderstood Mormonism. His objection is that the Pentagon accidentally described it accurately.
What makes the spectacle particularly amusing is that Mormon leaders spent generations insisting they were not what Mike Lee now demands to be called.
-Joseph Smith launched his movement by declaring every existing church on earth an abomination.
-Brigham Young mocked the God of Christianity as a being who "never did exist."
-John Taylor described Christianity as "a perfect pack of nonsense."
-Bruce McConkie warned that the doctrines of Christendom would damn men's souls.
-Gordon Hinckley openly admitted that the Christ worshiped by Mormons was not the Christ worshiped by traditional Christians.
For nearly two centuries Mormon leaders built a theological wall between themselves and Christianity brick by brick, sermon by sermon, book by book. Now Mike Lee appears before that same wall demanding to know who built it. The answer is simple: his own prophets did.
The deeper problem for Senator Lee is that Mormonism's truth claims are so spectacularly strange that they force a choice. Either they are true, in which case historic Christianity has been wrong for nearly two thousand years and Joseph Smith really did restore the gospel through golden plates, angelic visitations, sacred underwear, proxy baptisms for the dead, and a seer stone in a hat. Or they are false, in which case Mormonism is one of the most successful religious inventions in American history.
What it cannot be is ordinary Christianity.
The faith that emerged from Nicaea and Chalcedon has many internal disputes, but none of them involve exalted men becoming gods, planets populated by spirit children, or a deity residing near a star called Kolob.
Mike Lee is free to believe every one of those things.
What he is not free to do is pretend they are the same religion that produced the Apostles' Creed.
Now you are telling @netanyahu “bombs away?”
President Trump told Bibi NO.
Now you have violated The Logan Act @RepFine and shall be fined or imprisoned under 18 USC 953.
So much for trying to pretend you’re loyal to the United States.
An old video, but an important reminder.
Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, now 100 years old, making his entrance at a Satmar anti-Zionist gathering before a massive crowd.
A reminder of a reality rarely shown by mainstream media:
Hundreds of thousands of Jews around the world oppose Zionism and reject the claim that the State of Israel represents Jews.
Judaism and Zionism are opposites
Source @authenttorahjew@TorahJudaism
Israel: *ignites regional war*
Israel: *never abides by ceasefire agreements*
Israel: *bombs southern Lebanon every day*
Israel: *openly sabotages US negotiations with Iran*
Israel: *begins bombing Beirut*
Iran: *bombs Israel*
Zionists: They attack us because of our religion 😢
As Governor, I’ll ban data centers in all 67 counties by preventing county commissions from approving them in the first place.
It’s called “statewide pre-emption,” and I’ll get it done to protect our land, water supply, and electric bills from the threat of data centers.
@sojourner1958@MAGA_X_Times@k The long pause before she said “invisible disabilities” made me feel like there’s actually nothing wrong with her. If her goal was to hold Frontier accountable for discriminating against a disabled person she would have clearly stated her disabilities.
@LionJudean@swilkinsonbc Did you know that the IDF command center is located underneath a hospital in Tel Aviv? Does that count as hiding amongst civilians?
I don't know why any of you haters are surprised I'm the one actually engaging here.
You're the ones who've obsessively pored over the 10,000 photos, the 30,000 text messages, and the 128,000 emails from my hacked iCloud and stolen devices.
If I am anything, I am prolific.
You know what you won't find? Any of the most heinous, hateful things you keep posting about me.
What you'll find from me here is the same thing you found there.
Total transparency. Finally on my terms. Not yours.
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
Romans 8:32-33
GM, praise God