In a fascinating interview with Time Magazine , the Anglican Bishop of Durham, N.T. “Tom” Wright, who is the fourth most senior cleric in the Church of England, says that most Christians misunderstand the Biblical teaching of the the afterlife. The view he advocates bears a striking similarity to the Mormon teachings of Joseph Smith.
Here are excerpts:
Our culture is very interested in life after death, but the New Testament is much more interested in what I’ve called the life after life after death — in the ultimate resurrection into the new heavens and the new Earth. Jesus’ resurrection marks the beginning of a restoration that he will complete upon his return. Part of this will be the resurrection of all the dead, who will “awake,” be embodied and participate in the renewal.
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There is Luke 23, where Jesus says to the good thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” But in Luke, we know first of all that Christ himself will not be resurrected for three days, so “paradise” cannot be a resurrection. It has to be an intermediate state.
Recently, Brother Micheal Otterson, who is the media relations director for the LDS Church, wrote a wonderful essay on whether or not Mormons are Christians.
I recognize that Creedal Christians have a specialized definition of “Christian,” and Later-day Saints are not “Christians” by that definition.
Latter-day Saints, they say, are not Christians because they reject the Trinitarian doctrine of the Nicaean Creed, and instead believe in a Godhead of three separate beings (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) who are one in purpose.
Aside from the question of how Protestants square Creedal Cristianity with their doctrine of Sola Scriptura, we should examine whether they apply their creedal definition consistently?
I remember the first time that I read John Milton’s Paradise Lost discovering that Milton presented God the Father and Jesus as two distinct beings. In particular this passage where the Father asks the equivalent of the famous Whom shall I send? query in LDS scripture:
Even though I admire how much they have grown and I laud their innovative open development platform from a technology standpoint, I have avoided becoming a Facebook user for some time. It just seems so trendy.
However, I recently succumbed when a good friend, who now lives quite far away, invited me to join a Facebook group for former residents of BYU’s Foreign Language Student Resident program. The next thing I knew I was getting Facebook friend requests from all kinds of people I hadn’t heard from in years, many of whom I had met in the FLSR.
As I was setting up my Facebook profile, I noticed that one of the profile options is for “Religious Views.” As I started typing in my religious affiliation, Facebook began to suggest matching religious groups. The suggested match was “Christian – Latter-day Saints.” So I selected the suggested affiliation and saved my profile without thinking too much about it.
However, with all of the recent media attention, in relation to the presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney, to the question of whether or not Latter-day Saints qualify as Christians, it occurred to me that the ongoing debate between Latter-day Saints and other Christian groups on the subject may ultimately be decided not by sophisticated theological arguments, but by Facebook.
In June, the Barna Group published a new study examining the numbers, lifestyles and self-perceptions of American atheists and agnostics in contrast to those who actively participate in the Christian faith. The “No-Faith” segment was defined as anyone who openly identified themselves as an atheist, an agnostic, or who specifically said they have “no faith.” “Active Faith” was defined as simply having gone to church, read the Bible and prayed during the week preceding the survey. The study says:
- 9% of Americans self identify in the “No Faith” group (1/11 adults, or 20 million).
- Only about five million adults, however, unequivocally use the label “atheist” and staunchly reject the existence of God.
- “No-Faith” individuals are younger, likely male, unmarried, college graduates, and earn more.
- The proportion of atheists and agnostics increases from 6% of Elders (ages 61+) and 9% of Boomers (ages 42-60), to 14% of Busters (23-41) and 19% of adult Mosaics (18-22).
Many of you may have seen the well done, now-famous PC vs Apple computer commercials where the two computers are symbolized by two people: The Apple Computer, who is “cool” and likable, and the PC Computer, who is “nerdy” and uptight. If you haven’t, you can view them online at the Apple website.
Well, the Community Christian Church has produced some parody commercials using the same format, but to compare and contrast what they call “Christians” with what they call “Christ Followers.”
