While Muslims in the USA have felt increasingly isolated from mainstream America since 9/11, they have found one group, the Mormons, who have reached out with understanding and friendship according to a recent LA Times article.

According to Maher Hathout, a senior advisor to the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles:

"We are very aware of the history of Mormons as a group that was chastised in America. They can be a good model for any group that feels alienated."

Muslims and Mormons seem to have a growing relationship on a number of different levels, often they are co-hosts of a number of educational and social programs.

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Here’s a great article by William Lane Craig, professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California.

He looks at the facts concerning the resurrection of Jesus–a timely pursuit for the Easter season:

"To answer the question of Jesus’ resurrection from a historical standpoint, we must first determine what facts concerning the fate of Jesus of Nazareth can be credibly established on the basis of the evidence and second consider what the best explanation of those facts is. At least four facts about the fate of the historical Jesus are widely accepted by New Testament historians today."

<Read the Whole Article>            *Top

This is the 3nd post evaluating the  FOXNews.com list of 21 questions submitted to the LDS and the answers received back from the church. In this article, we’ll look at Question number 7:

Q: Does the Mormon Church believe that God and Mary had physical sex to conceive Jesus?

A: The Church does not claim to know how Jesus was conceived but believes the Bible and Book of Mormon references to Jesus being born of the Virgin Mary.

Response: There are many references in the Bible and numerous references in the Book of Mormon also which refer to Mary as a ‘Virgin’. This would not be the case if Jesus was conceived in the ‘natural’ way. The whole issue is problematic for the Mormon Church:

1. Some of their early Prophets and leaders (including: Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, Heber C. Kimball and others) made statements in the 19th century, printed in official church literature, which indicated that Jesus was conceived in a natural/physical way. This is why so many ‘anti-Mormon’ and Christian apologetic websites make the claim that the Mormons believe that Mary and God the Father had sexual relations.

2. The current leaders of the LDS Church now realize that those early 19th century teachings contradict clear teaching in the Bible and their own Book of Mormon. They now refer to those early teachings as ’speculation’.

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This is one of the strangest stories of all time! Clean cut ‘boys next door’ Mormon Missionaries cast as religious radicals making fun of another religion and apparently vandalizing a Catholic shrine–Is nothing in this world sacred anymore?   

The LDS themselves have many times been on the receiving end of persecution and vandalism. It will be interesting to see how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responds to this situation. After all, the ‘missionaries’ were officially representing their church at the time. I am tempted to call this: "The Case of the Latter-day Saints vs. the Catholic Saints".   <Read my full response on my main blog>            *Top

  Here is a quiz written by Christianity Today that I found on the Revival Blog.  Are you a ‘Progressive’, a ‘Moderate’, or a ‘Conservative’ in your approach to Biblical authority and interpretation?

Take The Hermeneutics Quiz and find out!

I scored a 46 which is ‘Conservative’ -guess that liberal main-line seminary I went to didn’t ruin me after all!             *Top

According to a recent 2008 report of the National Council of Churches’, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) are the fastest growing churches among the top 25 denominations in the U.S. and Canada. Both groups have a number of controversial doctrines which deviate from the basic doctrines of historical Christianity.

Over the years, I have had several Mormon friends who said that the fast growth of the LDS was proof of God’s favor on their church. I wonder what they would say about the ‘Witnesses’ who are growing even faster?

For sure, the growth rate of these churches does prove that their members are dedicated; but really says nothing in regard to the truth or falsity of these very different movements.            *Top

This is the 2nd post evaluating the  FOXNews.com list of 21 questions submitted to the LDS and the answers received back from the church.

Questions 5 & 6 revolve around the significance of the planet ‘Kolob’ in Mormon theology:

      Q: If so, does the Church believe that God lives on a planet named Kolob?

      Q: Where is the planet Kolob? What significance does the planet have to Mormons?

A: ‘Kolob’ is a term found in ancient records translated by Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith did not provide a full description or explanation of Kolob nor did he assign the idea particular significance in relation to the Church’s core doctrines.

Response: There is little or no significance in Mormon theology to the planet Kolob. Why FOXNews wasted all of our valuable time with this question is beyond me. Who came up with this one anyway? I think that the one who formed the question was attempting to show that the Mormons believe in a God who is physical and actually lives on a distant planet named ‘Kolob’. However, that is not exactly correct.

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As reported earlier, FOXNews.com compiled a list of 21 questions about Mormonism and submitted them to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for an official response.

I found the whole exercise to be disappointing at best.

First of all, the FoxNews questions themselves were substantially lacking. On the most part they didn’t really deal with important doctrinal issues that separate Mormonism from orthodox Christianity. In some cases, they actually seem to be merely trying to embarrass the LDS –or at least make them look somewhat weird or strange.  One wonders where they got some of the questions in the first place.

In fact, the LDS Church officials objected to some of them claiming that they misrepresent the basic tenets of the Mormon religion:

"Many of these questions are typically found on anti-Mormon blogs or Web sites which aim to misrepresent or distort Mormon doctrines. Several of these questions do not represent … any serious attempt to depict the core values and beliefs of its members."

Secondly, the responses of the LDS Church to the questions were incomplete at best. It is a shame that the LDS didn’t take this opportunity to clarify their understanding of the issues addressed, but instead responded halfheartedly in some cases and really not at all in others.

Rather than treating the questions seriously and answering each one, in some cases they merely repeated the same trite formula answer for several of the more important questions. It really doesn’t reflect well upon the Church and it probably would have been better if they had not participated at all since they came across as rather ’smart aleck’ rather than forthright.

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Here is an excellent series of articles on the Muslim understanding of Jesus, known as “Isa-Almasih” in the Quran, compared with Christian teaching about Jesus Christ.  

It was written by Ekaputra Tupamahu and posted on his blog. Ekaputra currently teaches theology at Satyabhakti Advanced School of Theology (STT Satyabhakti), Indonesia.

He concludes and identifies a number of points of contact between the Muslim understanding of Isa and the Biblical Jesus. These intersecting areas can form the basis for dialogue between Christians and Muslims and potentially provide opportunities for evangelism. 

Ekaputra notes that at the Second Coming, Jesus fulfills all the Biblical provisions of a Messiah that both the Christian and Jewish religions are looking for, and also could complete the Muslim expectations of a coming ‘Mahdi’.

Here are links to the 6 articles:

Isa Almasih and Jesus Christ - Part 1 -Isa as an Islamic Version of Christology

Isa Almasih and Jesus Christ - Part 2 -Historical Consideration

Isa Almasih and Jesus Christ - Part 3 -Isa as Almasih or Messiah in the Quran

Isa Almasih and Jesus Christ - Part 4 -Messianic Idea Among Muslim People Today

Isa Almasih and Jesus Christ - Part 5 -Islam (Isa Almasih) and Christianity (Jesus Christ): Some Point of Contacts

Isa Almasih and Jesus Christ - Part 6 -Some Implications

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A panel of scholars and researchers met in Jerusalem this week to view the evidence and to present there own research on the ‘Jesus Tomb’ claims made in a documentary by James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici last year. Most rejected the claims as being rather doubtful.

The original scholars who analyzed the Greek inscription on one of the ossuaries from the tomb read it as "Mariamene e Mara," meaning "Mary the teacher" or "Mary the master." This lead to the speculation that the ‘Mariamene e Mara’ reference was actually Mary Magdalene and then they sensationalized her possible presence in the tomb as ‘proof’ that ‘Jesus son of Joseph’ married her and that they had a son also buried in the site.

The scholars point out a number of problems with this scenario. First of all, Jesus was never referred to as ‘Son of Joseph’ in the Christian community as far as anyone knows. Second, why would a poor itinerant preacher from Galilee end up buried along with his family in a upper middle class tomb in Jerusalem?

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