The actual Gospel of Christ....

[_Drifting]

Here it is

1. Love your family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, neighbours etc
2. Obey the law of the land
3. Stay healthy


Why do religions feel the need to project other stipulations onto us and pretend they are God given?

What other stipulations do you think the human race needs in order to live a Christ like life?

[_keithb]

Well, you left a few parts out, like where Jesus comes back and kills everyone during the "Second Coming".

But, you have a good start.

[_subgenius]

Here it is

1. Love your family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, neighbours etc
2. Obey the law of the land
3. Stay healthy


Why do religions feel the need to project other stipulations onto us and pretend they are God given?

What other stipulations do you think the human race needs in order to live a Christ like life?

That is the "actual"...how do you figure? (this is your "claim", correct?)
Weird how the "actual" scriptures tell a slightly different version than your post does. Your distillation is rather dramatic and borders on being guilty of the same thing which you seemingly are condemning with your question.

A times, I like to read Matthew 22:
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
(emphasis mine)
we see these 2 commandments being reflective of the 10 commandments, whereas the first 3 are about loving God and the remaining 7 about loving another.

so, i would guess the answer to your question lies somewhere around verse 40.

But do not forget that the Gospel also requires us to Repent, be Baptized, to follow Him, to Rejoice, Teach, Hear, and to do "works" as we read in
Matthew 5:16
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
and He also commands us to be Perfect (matthew 5:48), etc...

[_Hades]

and He also commands us to be Perfect (matthew 5:48), etc...

Finally, someone brings a little reality into the discussion.

[_bcspace]

And if one loves God, one will believe His Church and the doctrines it teaches,

[_Drifting]

And if one loves God, one will believe His Church and the doctrines it teaches,

Bcspace, do you have a view on the two questions I pose in the Op?

[_Zelder]

And if one loves God, one will believe His Church and the doctrines it teaches,

Maybe. The church does not have a monopoly on good people or people who love God. There is also the problem of doctrine and what we need to believe. Prophets make mistakes and so of the doctrines of yesteryear are embarrassing today. I'm beginning to wonder which doctrines of today will be embarrassing in the years to come.

[_bcspace]

And if one loves God, one will believe His Church and the doctrines it teaches,

Bcspace, do you have a view on the two questions I pose in the Op?

Yes. Your view of the Gospel of Christ is incomplete and therefore your questions are unanswerable.

Maybe. The church does not have a monopoly on good people or people who love God.

However, it does have a monopoly on people with access to all the spiritual information and blessings needed to commune with God as openly and directly as possible. A logical consequence of our doctrine.

There is also the problem of doctrine and what we need to believe.

There is no such problem. The Church has spelled out what is and is not doctrine.

Prophets make mistakes

They do. Fortunately, nothing major or critical ever seems to make it to doctrinal status.

and so of the doctrines of yesteryear are embarrassing today.

I've never known any to be.

I'm beginning to wonder which doctrines of today will be embarrassing in the years to come.

Probably none, especially seeing as how the doctrines today remain essentially unchanged from the doctrines of yesterday.

[_Kevin Graham]

I've never heard of a single student of the Bible becoming a Bible scholar and then subsequently "realizing" that Mormonism has the actual Gospel spoken of therein.

The only people who keep trying to insist Mormonism's gospel is synonymous with the New Testament are Mormons themselves. Big surprise.

But if it were true, then you'd have a larger proportion of non-Mormons agreeing with this proposition.

Now that I've taken off the Mormon blinders, I can clearly understand why so many other Christians get pissed off when Mormons claim to be Christ's true Church. But as a Mormon apologist I was genuinely confused about this because I bought into all the bad apologetic arguments trying to link unique Mormon beliefs with some out of context scripture.

[_ajax18]

However, it does have a monopoly on people with access to all the spiritual information and blessings needed to commune with God as openly and directly as possible. A logical consequence of our doctrine.

What knowledge is it exactly that Mormonism posseses that mainstream Christianity doesn't? I can understand the argument of authority and right to perform necessary ordinances, but new information? I don't see much. And if it were just information, why couldn't a nonMormon read it and know it just as much as an endowed tithe paying member? You go through an ordinance that others aren't allowed to participate in. That's it. You don't know much more than anyone else.

After reading the Christmas story with my family and realizing the setting and all the contention between the Jews and the gentiles (Romans), I have a hard time believing that the Christian religion and most recently the Mormon religion is about following the law of the land.

The most current issue I can think of in which the Mormon Church does not strongly position itself with following the land is illegal immigration. In times past it was polygamy.

A more fair view of the commandment would be, "Follow the laws of the land that we agree with as revealed through the Lord's prophet."