Mormons Are Christians

I have heard that Mormons accept the Bible as the word of God, "as far as it is translated correctly. " The problem is, in all my discussions in person with Mormon missionaries, I have never been able to get one to point out any verse in the Bible was has been mistranslated in such a way as to require a revision in the Book of Mormon, an alleged, later gospel of Jesus. Now, no theologian worth his weight in gold-pressed latinum will disagree with the assertion that there are contradictions and inaccuracies in the Bible as we have it today. But the Christian contention is that the Bible, in its original texts, are infallible. After all, God directly inspired the Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16). But any alleged contradiction or inaccuracy results from either not reading the verse in its context, or a number was written down incorrectly. No inaccuracy in the Bible changes a particular theological doctrine from Christianity. As an example, 2 Kings 8:26 gives the age of King Ahaziah as twenty-two, whereas 2 Chronicles 22:2 says forty-two. The later number cannot be correct, or he would have been older than his father. This is obviously a copyist error, but it does not alter the inerrancy of the original. That being said, my argument largely consists of two parts: Mormons do not accept necessary beliefs held by all orthodox denominations, and there is no reason to put faith in the Book of Mormon. Mormons reject core Christian doctrinesThe doctrine of the Trinity is one that immediately springs to mind. It is near impossible to really claim that Jesus was not God. First, we are told all over the Bible that there is only one God (e. g. Isaiah 43:10). If there is only one God, then Jesus could not have been another god. As C. S. Lewis has famously postulated, Jesus was either a lunatic, on par with a man who believed himself to be a poached egg, He was the Devil of Hell, or He was who He said He was. [1] Jesus did not claim to be another God; He claimed to be the real deal, the one, true God (John 8:58, cf Exodus 3:14). Even the Jews knew He was claiming to be God, because they picked up rocks to stone Him for blasphemy (John 8:59). He even forgave men their sins, and the Jews questioned "who can forgive sins, but God alone? " (Mark 2:7). The Holy Spirit like wise is God, even being called God in the Scriptures (Acts 5:3-4). If you believe there is only one God, yet Jesus was God and the Holy Spirit was God, either you must conclude that there are multiple gods, in which case the Bible is unreliable because it lies when it says there is only one God, or you must conclude that God exists as a Trinity, not three separate gods but three persons who exists as one God, a Trinity. C. S. Lewis compared it to a cube, which exists as a cube but as six individual squares. [2] Of course, no natural object can be a perfect analogy for the Trinity because it simply doesn't exist in nature. But here's the deal: It doesn't matter whether the doctrine of the Trinity is true or not, if you don't accept it, you are not in the realm of orthodox Christianity. While the word "Trinity" does not appear in the Scriptures, the concept of it does. Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God. There is only one God so they are not separate, but one Being. If we look at the Nicene Creed, which was adopted in 325, revised in 381, we see here that Christians believed in a Trinity and have all throughout history. [3] The fact of the matter is, if you reject this doctrine, whether you're right or wrong, you are not a Christian. There is no reason to put faith in the Book of Mormon. I touched on this in my introduction. The Bible is reliable, whereas the Book of Mormon is not. While there have been error in translations, they have never been so bad as to completely change Christian theology. For example: If you received the following letter, would you assume you could collect some money? : #OU HAVE WON $10 MILLION. Let's say you receive another letter that says, Y#U HAVE WON $10 MILLION. Would you not be even more sure with the second letter? This is what the errors in translation amount to. The entire message still comes through. [4]We have more manuscript evidence, and more reliable manuscript evidence, for the Old and New Testaments than any ancient work, more than 14,000 copies of the New Testament (plus we have the writings of early church fathers to substantiate the texts), and over 10,000 for the Old. [5]How convenient, then, that the angel Moroni would ask Joseph Smith to give them to him to keep them safe in Heaven since Smith was apparently to be persecuted (this seems even odder, considering that God allowed the Old and New Testaments to remain on Earth, even though Jesus told the Jews there would be much persecution ahead) (Joseph Smith -- History 1:60). We have absolutely no way to verify the Book of Mormon. Yet there is overwhelming evidence that the Old and New Testaments have, in fact, not changed ever since they were first delivered to us by God through His prophets and apostles. I look forward to Pro's response on the matter. [1] Lewis, Clive Staples, Mere Christianity, HarperCollins Books, p. 52[2] ibid, pp. 161-162 [3] . http://en.wikipedia.org...[4] Geisler, Norman L. , The Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, Baker Books, p. 79. [5] ibid, pp. 531-532, 548-549