Denominations?

[AnthonyB]

Maxel,

Thanks for your post, I'll try to digest it.

I visited a LDS chapel about a month ago, (trying to get a copy of BoM). One of my initial impressions was how american it felt. (I have also often got the same impressions from some pentecostal churches I have visited.) The pictures were very reverent but I doubt a Pro Hart would feel right placed on the walls and the place very spotless but the colour scheme felt like a US mall. I can't help feel that you "one true church" might just be a tad monocultural for me to feel really at home.

(Time to break out into..."Give me a home among the gum trees....")

The NT does a very interesting but little noted thing....The first books of Paul's letters are actually ordered so as to address the major ethnic groups that inhabited large parts of the world he was reaching out to.

Romans, Corinthians (Greek), Galatians (Celts)

Now I'm sure that then as today there was quite some mixing of people but I can't help seeing it God honouring the varying cultures.

Do I think it would be good for all Christians to give up their creeds and non biblical pratices and return to NT Christianity, most certainly. However I'd rather praise God for the good I see then spend my days cursing men for our collective failings. Seek unity in the essentials of the Christian faith, leave room for diversity on the unessentials and hopefully love everyone regardless.

[Islander]

Originally Posted by AnthonyB

Maxel,

Thanks for your post, I'll try to digest it.

I visited a LDS chapel about a month ago, (trying to get a copy of BoM). One of my initial impressions was how american it felt. (I have also often got the same impressions from some pentecostal churches I have visited.) The pictures were very reverent but I doubt a Pro Hart would feel right placed on the walls and the place very spotless but the colour scheme felt like a US mall. I can't help feel that you "one true church" might just be a tad monocultural for me to feel really at home..

You went to ONE LDS chapel and from that single experience you arrived at the ground-breaking and generalized opinion that it is a very "mono-cultural" church?

I got your bias. I suggest some travel beyond your borders but I suspect you made up your mind long ago.

I would like to point to the fact that your assumption about Paul's letters being first is because he is "speaking" to the world or the outside boundaries of the church is not accurate. Paul wrote 13 out of 21 books in the NT. They are ordered according to length and Hebrews at the end of his epistles since the early Christians could not agree on authorship. Nothing to do with the potential audience.

If ALL you have to say about the church relates to the aesthetics of the building and your inability to feel "at home" in a specific building, it rather points to your possible spiritual homelessness. Just a thought.

[Maxel]

Originally Posted by AnthonyB

Maxel,

Thanks for your post, I'll try to digest it.

Again, my apologies for the length, but... it feels wrong to cut it. I'm usually able to cut a good chunk out of long posts like that, but not this time.

Originally Posted by AnthonyB

I visited a LDS chapel about a month ago, (trying to get a copy of BoM). One of my initial impressions was how american it felt. (I have also often got the same impressions from some pentecostal churches I have visited.) The pictures were very reverent but I doubt a Pro Hart would feel right placed on the walls and the place very spotless but the colour scheme felt like a US mall. I can't help feel that you "one true church" might just be a tad monocultural for me to feel really at home.

Were you visiting a chapel in America? Might that be the source of its... American-ness?

There are chapels all throughout the world, most of them are built among the same architectural guidelines, when possible. The decorations and inside designs are probably a bit different.

Originally Posted by AnthonyB

The NT does a very interesting but little noted thing....The first books of Paul's letters are actually ordered so as to address the major ethnic groups that inhabited large parts of the world he was reaching out to.

The Pauline epistles are arranged by length first and foremost (except for Hebrews, which was placed last due to disputes about it actually being written by Paul).

Originally Posted by AnthonyB

Do I think it would be good for all Christians to give up their creeds and non biblical pratices and return to NT Christianity, most certainly. However I'd rather praise God for the good I see then spend my days cursing men for our collective failings. Seek unity in the essentials of the Christian faith, leave room for diversity on the unessentials and hopefully love everyone regardless.

Have you considered this condition: seeking to find the NT Christianity, and yet not cursing others' religions and beliefs because they differ from one's own? That is the stance of the LDS church: there is much good and truth found in the other religions of the world, but the LDS church has the fullness of Christ's Gospel and the most truth of them all.

It might seem that stance is denigrating to other religions, but there is no way to more charitably state the case of the church- unless we are to start saying it does not hold the fullness of truth, which we believe it does.

[LittleNipper]

Are there not several different groups of Mormons? Are they any more united then most Christian denominations? I would like to say that I've had several very indepth conversations with christians of other denominations. They never ended up in a fist fight...

[Maxel]

Originally Posted by LittleNipper

Are there not several different groups of Mormons? Are they any more united then most Christian denominations? I would like to say that I've had several very indepth conversations with christians of other denominations. They never ended up in a fist fight...

There are different groups calling themselves Mormons; often the different branches of the original church founded by Joseph Smith are called 'Restorationist' churches. I've talked to a few of them, and was good friends with a member of the RLDS church (now the Community of Christ), and our differences never led to a fist fight either.

[LittleNipper]

Originally Posted by Maxel

There are different groups calling themselves Mormons; often the different branches of the original church founded by Joseph Smith are called 'Restorationist' churches. I've talked to a few of them, and was good friends with a member of the RLDS church (now the Community of Christ), and our differences never led to a fist fight either.

So see there are differences even in Mormonism.

[Maxel]

Originally Posted by LittleNipper

So see there are differences even in Mormonism.

Too true. What's the main thrust of your statements?

[LittleNipper]

Originally Posted by Maxel

Too true. What's the main thrust of your statements?

Only that cannot hide behind a belief that his/her faith must be true because there is no dissention, deviation, nor conflict within the group; when the opposite is plan for anyone to note.

My own faith is not based on which denomination I side with. My faith rests on GOD's Holy Word.

[Rico]

I can see where AnthonyB is coming from when he says that the church seems very mono-cultural. It is. I have no doubt in my mind that there is but one culture in the church. It's called the Gospel Culture.

I go to church in the Philippines. I am an American, but I have never been inside a Chapel in the US(ok, not ture, once when I was 2 but I can't remember it). That said, LDS chapels don't look like any other church here. How so? The buildings are in good repair, the grounds are kept up nicely. Inside the chapel, things are kept clean. On Sunday, people are dressed up modestly, in their best clothes.

In fact, it does start to look pretty standardized. The men wear short sleeve white shirts, tie, shoes, and long slacks. It looks and feels like a house of order.

On a side note, it's always nice to see how people progress as they join the church and grow in the church. They might come to church first wearing t shirt, shorts and flip-flops. Soon, they wear long pants, tshirt and flip-flops. Next they progress to shoes, long pants and tshirt and then they reach long pants, dress shirt, tie and shoes.

[Islander]

I have been in LDS chapels all over Mexico and South America. And in deed, it is part of the Gospel culture to dress modestly on our Sunday's best. The Priesthood has its own standards and expectations and it shows all over the world.

Just like a high level meeting has its own protocols (they are international norms, by the way) we answer to the Highest Authority and demonstrate our reverence and love by how we maintain the houses of worship and how we carry ourselves.