Are Mormon's Christian?

            Webster’s dictionary lists a “Christian” as a “one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ.” So, “Are Mormons Christian?” According to Webster’s, yes. Do Mormon’s strive to become and be more like Christ in every aspect of their lives?  Mormons would contend that, yes, they do.  But, intentions don’t prove that Mormons are Christian.  Looking at the Mormons as a church, then, instead of just as a faith (because looking at their faith would allow any Mormon to use their intention as a faith, and therefore, Mormons must conclusively be Christians!).
            Whether or not Mormons, as a church, though, aside from the Mormon faith, is a Christian church, can also easily be decided by evaluating the church itself.  Is Jesus Christ the head or leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?  The church bears His name.  Also, in the Book of Mormon, third book of Nephi, chapter 27, verse 8, we can read:

And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel.

The “Mormon church” is the name that can be and is a name that refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The church bears the name of Jesus Christ and it’s also, “of Latter-day Saints” to distinguish it from the church that Christ established during the meridian of time.
            The core doctrine of the entire Mormon faith as well as the Mormon church informs us that: All of us—all the people that have ever lived or will ever live on this Earth—need to be saved by Jesus Christ and His atonement. All people, at some time in their lives, do something or act in a way that isn't how God would have wanted them or us to act (we may break a commandment or just act in a way that Jesus wouldn't have wanted us to act).  This is what is called a sin.  Sin is what separates us from our God.  No unclean thing can dwell in the presence of a perfect being and our God (3 Nephi 27:19 & Alma 11:37 & Moses 6:57 & Ezekiel 22:26 & D&C 109:20 & Ephesians 5:5).
            Jesus Christ was the only perfect person to live as one of God's children or to have lived without sin. In other words, He always acted the way that God, His Father, would have wanted him to act.  If we, his brothers and sisters, will accept Him as our savior and follow His words and commandments, then, He has promised us that He will be our advocate with the Father and we shall enter with Him into the Kingdom of Heaven.
            Jesus Christ performed that atonement in Gethsemane and later at Golgotha. He suffered for our sins. He felt our every sadness, weakness, frailty, pain, shame, and mistake.  Christ's atonement is how God will let us be forgiven of our sins, if we will only follow Christ’s words and repent for our sins. We can return to live with God, just like Jesus returned to be with His Father, along with His only perfect son and the only child of God that has the right to enter into God’s kingdom (as He is the only sinless child): Jesus Christ.
            Jesus Christ is our older and elder brother and He chose to come down to this Earth, to teach His Gospel, to suffer, and to bleed and die so that all of us, His brothers and sisters, could repent for the sins that we've committed and be forgiven by our Heavenly Father. Because of His sacrifice, we can be forgiven, and we can live together with Him, Our Heavenly Father, and with our families in heaven. Repenting is the only way that we can return to live with God and is the most merciful thing that God has let his children do repent--and all thanks to Jesus Christ and His sacrifice!
            In answer to the question, “Are Mormon’s Christian?”  The church answers, along with the Mormon faith, with a resounding, “YES!  We are most assuredly and most emphatically are Christians!”

JPS

Regrets

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, of the LDS first presidency, has told us that:

"The more we devote ourselves to the pursuit of holiness and happiness, the less likely we will be on the path to regrets."

Does that mean that we will never do anything that we're ashamed of or wish we wouldn't have done?

No.

I think that what he was saying was that when we are trying our best to do the things that will lead us to  the things that God would have us do, lead us to clean living and to the things that will make us truly happy, we will be very unlikely to be choosing things that we might later be ashamed of of wish we didn't do.

That is not to say, though, that we will live a perfect life with no mistakes.  We will not be Aristotle's phronimos and led by the scriptures.  We will definitely make the wrong choice sometimes.  However, what President Uchtdorf is saying, I believe, is that we will have no reason to do anything we regret when we are making choices guided by our decision to be happy and holy.

So, why do we have regrets?  What is it about our past that can create feelings within us that makes us not like the way we've acted?  Shouldn't we feel good about anything that we've chosen to do?  I mean, it was our own choice and we're not ashamed of who we are, are we?

The only answer that will satisfy all of these questions is a universal fact: we all sin!

Because we all sin, that means that we sometimes make choices that we know we shouldn't have.

Why would we make choices that we know won't make us happy or holy?

In one word: self-betrayal.  Ok, another word: self-deception.

We deceive ourselves about whatever it is that we are doing in a way to make it seem like we are doing what we want, but at the end of it all, we are left with regrets because we've not only not done the thing that we should have done but instead have done something that we'll regret having done (maybe it's simply and only because we did not do the thing that we should've done...).

Voila!  Regret...  What do I mean by self-deception and self-betrayal?  Ask Terry Warner.  Or, better yet, read his book, "Bonds that Make Us Free."

JPS