Comparative Religion (Belief)

[coolrok7]

Each of the various religious groups represented here makes the following statements:

Because some are judging us unfairly, please let us tell you what we believe (The Unification Church, aka the Moonies)

Unless he be a schizophrenic no one can believe in the future return of Christ (as a Christian) and at the same time believe (as a Baha'i) that Christ has returned in the person of Baha'u'llah. . . .The Baha'i Faith gives a particular challenge to orthodox Christians who cannot see its existence as other than a threat to their long-held and cherished beliefs. Many, unable to examine the claim of Baha'u'llah objectively because they are not sufficiently unbiased and detached from their old-fashioned traditional doctrines, nevertheless pass judgment on the Cause of God. (The Light Shineth in Darkness, Udo Schaefer, p.44, 55)

Can you explain the Scriptural basis for the modern-day organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses? Are you well grounded in Bible doctrine? One Christian sister found it difficult to defend her beliefs when discussing the Trinity with a certain woman. Later, the woman gave our sister literature that slandered Jehovah’s organization. (The Watchtower, July 15, 1985, p.16)

Some opposers claim that Jehovah’s Witnesses are false prophets. These opponents say that dates have been set, but nothing has happened. Again we ask, What is the motive of these critics? (The Watchtower, March 15, 1986, p.19)

Accuracy of statement. Jehovah’s Witnesses are an organization of truth. We should want to speak the truth and be absolutely accurate in every detail at all times. This should be so not only as regards doctrine but also in our quotations, what we say about others or how we represent them, also in matters involving scientific data or news events. (Theocratic Ministry School Guidebook, 1971, p.110)

Even as Christians were opposed in the first century C. E., so there are present-day opposers who try to close the ears of interested people to the Scriptural truths Jehovah’s Witnesses are teaching. Friends, relatives, and religious leaders often try desperately to discourage interested ones from studying the Bible with the Witnesses. Without Scriptural proof, the opposers contradict what is taught and make false accusations. (The Watchtower, March 15, 1987, p.30)

Similar comments are made by Mormons:

as always, there are self-appointed spokesman who scoff at what we believe and misrepresent what we teach. (The Ensign, Elder Boyd K. Packer, Nov.1984, p.66)

But at the LDS Church’s General Conference in October 1983, Elder Gordon B. Hinckley of the church’s ruling First Presidency lashed out at those “who have taken upon themselves as their mission to belittle and demean and destroy the faith of the weak, with a badly flawed argument that we are not Christians.” (Newsweek, March 4, 1985, p.65)

I was handed a tract the other day. It was written by a critic, an enemy of the Church whose desire is to undermine the faith of the weak and the unknowing. It repeats fallacies that have been parroted for a century and more. It purports to set forth what you and I, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, believe. (The Ensign, President Gordon B. Hinckley, Nov.1986, p.49)

It didn’t take long to perceive the rancor and distortion evident in the books. It was obvious that the authors had used the “pick and choose” method of selecting statements out of context to back-up their faulty premise. (Mormons are Christian Too!, Don & Brennan Kingsland, 1986, p.69)

MISNOMER I’d like to thank Dial and Linda Sanders for the lovely article on Shirley Verrett and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (“That Great Big Motab Sound,” December). However, I’d like to point out that the correct name of our church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When “of Jesus Christ” is omitted, misunderstandings about our doctrine occur. (Dial, February 1987, p.4, Letters section, Kaye R. Wessman Ridgecrest, California)

Wouldn’t a proper response be to clean up these misrepresentations (or at least make the attempt) by everyone involved that do so, especially when the same as I’ve observed is done by each group’s leaders and individual members when it comes to Biblical Christianity?

[thesometimesaint]

We have some 40,000 missionaries that try to do that every day.

[coolrok7]

We have some 40,000 missionaries that try to do that every day.

Not in my experience as they tend to repeat what they're taught at the mission home. When I have asked about specific things they always tried to not answer or sidestep giving an answer (the things I would point out in their own literature either brought by them or picked up at the local chapels after having been invited). The same goes for these other groups mentioned.

They don't seem to want to correct wrong things their leaders have said about others. It makes it hard for me to accept their seemingly disengenuousness in their lack of a proper response to the issues raised (my perspective).

You need to pick a topic that can be debated using something other than your negative opinions.