Quote:
Originally Posted by spot
There's a fourth Abrahamic religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the Mormons). I know they sound Christian-like but they're not, they're way out on their own. They have their own scriptures in addition to the Bible, they aim to become gods and goddesses in their own right after death and they claim divine revelation through continued prophesy. From all their art I've ever seen they think Jesus was (or, possibly, is) a white American, too.
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I was married to a Mormon and lived among them for 15 years. I didn't study Mormonism but I asked a lot of questions and observed my in-laws, friends, working associates, etc.. I attended different functions at their stake houses, such as weddings, baptisms and funerals. I was president of Rotary in our small town and owned a real estate company so I maintained both a personal relationship as well as a business one in a town that was predominately LDS. In my opinion they have good points and bad, as do all the religions of which I've gained knowledge.
Your statement about Mormon's art depicting Jesus as a white American leaves me stumped. They depict him as white, as do most religions and historic art, but I don't think they thought he was American. He is mentioned in the Bible, after all, which they use. The latter-day saints and scriptures were supposedly revealed to Joseph Smith on the Golden Plates at a later date, revealing more saints (hence the name.)
My mother-in-law had a scroll that was approximately 60 ft. long which traced her ancestry back to the 1st century. It was fascinating. The LDS Church in Salt Lake has a marvelous genealogy search system and in our town there was a group of people who searched these records on a regular basis.