Rob Bowman opened a can of worms with a very, very, very, very, very long post this morning entitled “Whaddya Mean, Mormons Are Not Christians? Shedding Light on a Hot Topic” – If you have an extra day or two to kill I suggest giving it a read 
(someones gotta tell these P & P guys to keep it short and sweet, sheesh!) — But as always, the comments the post drew are where the meat and potatoes are. It even drew responses from Mormon apologist Darryl Barksdale who is a man I had the great displeasure of speaking with in an AOL chat room quite some time ago — he was most unpleasant and whined a little more than any man should in my opinion.
In comment #14 Darryl complains:
Mormonism is not a “sound, authentic form of Christianity” to WHOM? Who gave Evangelical Christians the authority to determine what is, and isn’t, a “sound, authentic form of Christianity”?
OK, fair enough. Mormons want to define themselves as Christians even though they deviate from the general beliefs that the three major branches of Christianity (Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism) share in common. That’s fine. Call yourselves Christians if you must, it’s not that big a deal. I want to declare today Sunday and describe Vanilla ice cream in terms that most people associate with grape jelly. I certainly have that right.
What annoys me to no end though is this babyish ‘who gave you the authority’ argument. If we want to take that route then can’t I as a non-Mormon complain and ask who gave Mormons the authority to call themselves Christians? Don’t such arguments ultimately dissolve into nothingness? We can play the ‘what gives you the right’ or ‘who gave you the authority’ game until we’re blue in the face. In the end where will it get us?
One wonders why Mormons want to cling to a title that historically describes groups that they do not resemble. Is it for credibility? Is it for kicks and giggles? Is it just to annoy the hell out of Christians (I use the term here to exclude Mormons as much as I use it to exclude Muslims)? I don’t know… what do you think?
B”H
Posted in Cults
