How Biblically Literate are Mormons as a Whole?

[MG 2.0]

This ironically is an example of a Biblically illiterate view.

Did the earliest oral traditions proclaim Jesus as the Messiah and Savior and testify that he was resurrected from the dead? Was this message at the core of the early Christian faith and evangelistic mission of the early apostles?

Regards,
MG

I'm interested in the thoughts of other Bible scholars also.

Regards,
MG

[PseudoPaul]

This ironically is an example of a Biblically illiterate view.

Did the earliest oral traditions proclaim Jesus as the Messiah and Savior and testify that he was resurrected from the dead? Was this message at the core of the early Christian faith and evangelistic mission of the early apostles?

Regards,
MG

You said: "For me, the Bible is the authoritative voice for Jesus and his early followers. I'm so glad we have it and that it is there for us to study and gain a testimony of Christ." The problem with that is most of the Bible doesn't mention Jesus, and the texts that do have different views of who Jesus was and what he did. The Bible itself contains many conflicting doctrinal and theological views.

As far as the earliest traditions about Jesus go, we can probably safely say that Jesus was considered to be the messiah, and believed to have been raised from the dead. There was wide disagreement about what Jesus' death meant and what Jesus' relationship to God was. In the earliest Jewish forms of Christianity, Jesus was not born of a virgin and his divine status was more limited and only achieved after his death.

As far as the early apostles go, there was wide disagreement among them and their followers as well.

[MG 2.0]

As far as the earliest traditions about Jesus go, we can probably safely say that Jesus was considered to be the messiah, and believed to have been raised from the dead.

Thank you for that.

This is the core of LDS belief.

Regards,
MG

[PseudoPaul]

As far as the earliest traditions about Jesus go, we can probably safely say that Jesus was considered to be the messiah, and believed to have been raised from the dead.

Thank you for that.

This is the core of LDS belief.

Regards,
MG

Yes, but they had a lot of beliefs not held by LDS or mainstream Christians.

[MG 2.0]

Thank you for that.

This is the core of LDS belief.

Regards,
MG

Yes, but they had a lot of beliefs not held by LDS or mainstream Christians.

Did the earliest oral traditions include any significant beliefs now rejected by LDS or mainstream Christians?

In the first texts is it true that these teachings were foundational:

Jesus was the Messiah and Son of God.

He died for humanity’s sins, was buried, and rose from the dead.

He appeared to his followers after his resurrection.

Salvation was available through faith in Jesus.

Is it your belief that any additional teachings found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints would have been found/recorded in the original traditions recorded immediately after the crucifixion or during the life of Christ?

If so, why?

Regards,
MG

[PseudoPaul]

Did the earliest oral traditions include any significant beliefs now rejected by LDS or mainstream Christians?

In the first texts is it true that these teachings were foundational:

Jesus was the Messiah and Son of God.

He died for humanity’s sins, was buried, and rose from the dead.

He appeared to his followers after his resurrection.

Salvation was available through faith in Jesus.

Is it your belief that any additional teachings found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints would have been found/recorded in the original traditions recorded immediately after the crucifixion or during the life of Christ?

If so, why?

Regards,
MG

"Jesus was the Messiah and Son of God."

They believed this but these terms meant different things to different people. Minimally "son of God" can just mean God's chosen human representative. Others believed him to be a quasi divine being, either made divine at his resurrection, his baptism, or his birth.

"He died for humanity’s sins, was buried, and rose from the dead."

Some early Christians believed that, others believed he died to inspire men to repent, because Jesus, while innocent, was made to suffer and die. So we, being guilty, should have cause to repent. Still others believed that it was Jesus' teachings that saved, not his death/resurrection. Jesus himself did not teach salvation based on his atonement.

"Salvation was available through faith in Jesus."

This was not Jesus' teaching, but some version of this was taught by some early followers.

"Is it your belief that any additional teachings found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints would have been found/recorded in the original traditions recorded immediately after the crucifixion or during the life of Christ?"

In those days it was really a Jewish faith, not a Christian one. The similarities would mostly have been around certain universal ethical teachings (do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not lust). But even there there were stark differences. For example, Jesus taught marriage was inferior to being single, and taught that marriage was for life only. He also taught that remarrying a second person after a divorce constituted adultery.

The idea of a pre-existence of souls is not found in Jesus' teachings. He also taught that the punishment for the wicked was destruction the of the self. Neither is the idea of priesthood authority in the way that LDS people teach it.

[Doctor Steuss]

"Jesus was the Messiah and Son of God."

They believed this but these terms meant different things to different people. Minimally "son of God" can just mean God's chosen human representative. Others believed him to be a quasi divine being, either made divine at his resurrection, his baptism, or his birth.

Your knowledge is well beyond mine, so I may be wrong here, but I would also adjust it from "the" Messiah to "a" Messiah. There was nothing about a singular Messiah, and there were messianic figures that predated Jesus.

Ironically, rather than freeing them from Roman rule, it was a short time later that the Temple was destroyed by Rome, and the fiscus Judaicus was implemented. Naturally this required some modifications to the established Messiah mythoi. Then, when Christianity and Rome became essentially synonymous, the Christian emperors persecuted the Jews within the empire.

Kind of a Messianic belly flop, overall.

[MG 2.0]

In those days it was really a Jewish faith, not a Christian one.

It seems as though this would have been the ONE time in the Ministry of Jesus that it was truly a Christian faith...before it morphed into something else.

I'm not sure that I would equate indulgences and other corruptions of original teachings as being the Christian faith in its truest/purest form.

I suppose some would say that about Restoration Doctrines and practices. The key difference, however, being that the restoration makes the claim of receiving those doctrines and practices directly from God and Jesus rather than as an evolution of thought within the early days after Jesus and the Apostles were gone. It's difficult to get a handle on how much of what ended up happening was a result of the 'mind of man' vs. the 'mind of God'...or some mix of the two.

As it is, the original teachings that we seem to basically agree on were morphed into something that was called the Catholic Church and thereafter the Christian Church...but it didn't/doesn't seem to resemble the earliest beliefs of the original disciples of Jesus.

It seems to be kind of hit and miss. Grace vs. works and all that and other things.

I suppose, if you believe Jesus was God, that it comes down to where did the direct connection with God and man end? At Jesus's death? 200 years after? The connection never lapsed?

Or something else?

Regards,
MG

[Moksha]

This is the core of LDS belief.

Regards,
MG

Wasn't polygamy for Joseph Smith once considered their Principal belief?

[I Have Questions]

In those days it was really a Jewish faith, not a Christian one.

I believe some historians refer to it as “Jewish Christianity” which is an interesting description.

The similarities would mostly have been around certain universal ethical teachings (do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not lust). But even there there were stark differences. For example, Jesus taught marriage was inferior to being single, and taught that marriage was for life only. He also taught that remarrying a second person after a divorce constituted adultery.

Wait, what? Really? I’m not saying you aren’t correct, but please can you point me in the direction of where those teachings by Jesus can be found?