Rambo wrote:
Like how am I able to make it to heaven without your Jesus? Don't I need to except him?
How do other people make it to heaven without excepting Jesus?
There are lots of ways to approach this question. One that is reasonably easy to understand and also pretty approachable for Mormons is the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIXs5wOSVk4There are also various approaches that fall under the rubric of Christian Inclusivism (try a Google search). Some approach this as Christian exclusivists, they just see various forms of "crypto-Christians" in other traditions. Calvinists can point out the the elect were foreordained from before creation, and who is saved is in a very real sense a mystery. Plus there are versions of Christian universalism. Karl Barth seemed to hold to a version of this idea.
Rambo wrote:
Isn't your doctrine that you must except Jesus to make it to heaven?
No, the doctrine is that salvation comes through Jesus. Saying you much accept Jesus is simply one way of putting that idea into practical terms, and one that my tradition (Methodists) doesn't emphasize much.
I think one thing that Mormons may tend to miss is that having a much different view of God and mankind makes Christians see this problem differently and give different answers.
Rambo wrote:
How come you don't believe in a global flood when it says it in the bible?
Evidence, both internal to the text and external to it, leads me to conclude there was no global flood. I simply don't think that Genesis 1-11 is meant to be history or science in the way we use those terms. You are asking a historical and scientific question, and I don't think those chapters of Genesis are addressing those concerns.
Rambo wrote:
Why don't you believe in humans being around for 6000 years when according to the bible the first humans Adam and Eve were born/created 6000 years ago?
Again, for both internal and external reasons. For two good books on how best to make sense of Genesis 1-2 I recommend John Walton's
The Lost World of Genesis One and Peter Enns'
The Evolution of Adam.
Rambo wrote:
These are all surprising answers to me.
I don't doubt it. I think one thing most Mormons need to realize is that lived Mormonism is a brand of Fundamentalism. Unfortunately, many conclude that all religion is Fundamentalism. There is a very large world out there of people who are both faithful believers and don't feel a need to chuck history and science out the window.