The discussion in the comments of Muscleheads recent anti Mormon blog led me to an important conclusion. We are playing Calvin ball. Calvin Ball is a game from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. The players make up the rules and objectives as they play in whatever way best served each player. By defining what qualifies a religion as Christian, certain Bible thumpers have set up the inevitable result of the game. Basically they are saying we define what beliefs a religion must have to call itself Christian. I think that is a very presumptuous move. What gives them the authority to define who gets to use the word Christian. The primary distinction that Protestants rely on to distinguish Mormons from other Christians is the acceptance of the Nicene Creed. Mormons reject the Nicene Creed. The Creed was a resolution reached several hundred years after Christ  that concluded that God is a schizophrenic deity who appears in different forms and talks to himself. These are the same protestants who say that the Bible is the exclusive word of God.

Since this is Calvin Ball I am changing the rule. In order to be called Christian your religion must accept the divinity of Christ. The new rule would not allow many Protestants to continue their claim to Christianity. After all many Protestant churches have rejected the divine sonship of Jesus. Others continue their affiliation with Christianity solely out of tradition.(Go to Germany for a couple of years you will see) I hardly think it is fair to include churches that do not believe in Christ within Christianity while rejecting Mormons because they do not accept a questioable politically motivated compromise reached without any divine authority.

I happen to like the word Christian. It refers to the head of my church and I think it only fair that I get to use an appropriate term to refer to myself as a follower of Christ. It is very misleading to say that Mormons are not Christian since it implies that Mormons do not follow Christ's teaching.  I think I could take the Calvin Ball rules a little farther just to illustrate the deceptiveness of this anti-mormon technique. Since I believe that my church teaches the truth regarding Christ, no one that belongs to another church may call themselves Christian. Thus protestants are not Christian. I win. Lets not play Calvin Ball.