Posted on 03/11/2012 2:20:23 PM PDT by NYer
Mormons like Glenn Beck and Senator Orrin Hatch have long given a high profile to this American-grown faith. And with Mitt Romney in the running for the Republican nomination, the question of exactly how to categorize Mormonism has become news. An Evangelical pastor who supports Rick Perry told reporters he thought Mormonism is “a cult”, prompting a denial of the opinion by the Perry campagn, and a characterization of it as “bigotry” by former member of the Reagan cabinet, Bill Bennett, speaking in support of Romney. Mormons, meanwhile, very openly express the hope that having a Mormon running in the presidential race will help people to see their religion as “mainstream.”
Mormons have been publicly asking to be accepted as “Christians” and have their church, “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints”, viewed as just another Christian denomination for decades now. But their own history makes this problematic. Their founder, Joseph Smith, claimed to have been told in a vision regarding the Christian churches that God “forbade me to join with any of them” and “all their creeds were an abomination in his sight.” It is hence Mormons (not Christians) who established, from the beginning of their group, an antagonistic relationship with those Christian groups already in existence, although in recent years Mormons have sought to downplay this antagonism. Still, even while they seem to be natural political and social allies with Evangelicals, many Evangelicals continue to refer to the Mormon faith as a “cult.” (To make it more confusing for a Catholic, some of these same Evangelicals might call the Catholic Church “a cult.”) Meanwhile, when Mormons are not trying to make common cause with Evangelicals, they will boldly challenge Catholics with their assertion that the Mormon church is the only true church.
In one sense, clearly, Mormonism is Christian. If you were going to categorize Mormonism according to world-religion criteria, you would have to say they are Christians. World religions are the major belief systems found around the world that frame a tradition of enough cultural richness to support a civilization. The major world religions are Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism and Islam. Clearly Mormonism fits into the broad “Christian” category. And so would many other groups whose relationship with the wider Christian world is antagonistic: Jehovah’s Witnesses, Oneness Pentecostals, etc.
Also, we have to remember that individual Mormons may be Christians in spite of being Mormons. Some Mormon converts were baptized as Christians at some point before becoming Mormons. So when we talk about whether Mormons are Christians, we really are talking about whether Mormonism as a belief system is Christian, not judging the faith claim of an individual.
America’s Lost Tribe
It may be that in the not-too-distant future, we will have to categorize Mormonism as a separate world religion. It is the fifth-largest religious group now in the US, having passed the Lutherans, and the LDS are experiencing rapid expansion in other countries. In many ways its development parallels that of Islam. Both religions were founded by prophets who claimed to have been visited by an angel. They borrow heavily from Judaism and Christianity, yet reject their central tenets. Both rely upon strange revisions of history. The Koran identifies Mary, the mother of Jesus, with Miriam the sister of Moses, who lived over fourteen centuries earlier. The Book of Mormon makes numerous claims regarding the peoples of the Americas (including the idea that the American Indians descended from a lost tribe of ancient Israelites) that have been refuted by history, archeology, and anthropology. Both Islam and Mormonism claim that where their sacred writings contradict the Bible, the Christian and Jewish scriptures have been corrupted.
It might be argued that Mormons have the right to say that they are “Christians” and no one should deny what they say about themselves. It is possible, however, for us to respect their right to call themselves whatever they wish without feeling compelled to validate that claim ourselves. This is complicated by the fact that to many Catholics, Mormonism seems no more strange than the Baptist faith, or that of any other Protestant denomination. In part this is because Mormons themselves generally use the language and terminology common to (especially Protestant) Christians. In their initial approach to you, they will do all they can to hide or gloss over the distinctive beliefs of their church. Statements of Mormon belief sound so much like statements of the Christian faith that many Catholics and Protestants are quite willing to recognize Mormons as “Christians,” not merely in the world-religion sense, but in the sense in which we Catholics recognize Protestant Christians as our “separated brethren.” This is a serious error with two major consequences.
First, Christians (including Catholics) are misled into the Mormon church where they are indoctrinated in a religion which rejects the central doctrines of the Christian faith, resulting in them bringing their children up as non-Christians. Second, Christians embrace Mormons as fellow Christians instead of evangelizing them.
In order to protect Christians from this deception and to help Mormons learn the truth, we must understand how Mormon doctrine differs from the historic Christian faith that we share with Protestants. To do this, we will examine first what Mormons say, then how they define the terms they are using and how that differs from the Christian faith. Finally we provide a biblical, Christian response and suggestions for how to discuss these things with a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The Central Question: Who is God?
What Mormons will say they believe about God:
Why the Mormon God the Father is not the Christian God the Father:
Christian answer:
Jesus: Brother of Lucifer?
Why the Mormon Jesus is not the Christian Jesus:
Christian answer:
Why the Mormon doctrine of man is not the Christian doctrine of man:
Christian answer:
What is Salvation?
What Mormons will say they believe about salvation:
Why Mormon salvation is not Christian salvation:
Christian answer:
Why the Mormon hope is not the Christian hope:
Christian answer:
When Talking to a Mormon
Remember that the Mormon is trained to hide the difference between his beliefs and yours and to present himself as a Christian. However, his belief that he is a Christian is sincere, and his efforts to hide the distinctive of the Mormon religion are pursued in his desire to get you to accept Mormon teachings.
Do not allow glib, surface responses to go unchallenged; press the Mormon to define the Christian-sounding words he is using.
Define your own terms also. Draw the contrast for the Mormon. Calmly and clearly insist that what you and he believe about the nature of God, the identity of Jesus, the nature of man, salvation and eternal life are different. To pretend otherwise is dishonest.
Appeal to his honesty and sense of fairness. You might say, “Look, we are not going to get anywhere unless we are honest with each other. Without making any statement about which one of us is right, can’t we just acknowledge that we do not worship the same God?” or “Can’t we just acknowledge that we do not have the same hope for the future?”
Help the Mormon to consider the logical and philosophical problems with the Plan of Eternal Progression: If God had a Father and He had a Father and so on then who was the first God? Mormons say it is an “infinite regression.” But since there is no way to cross an infinite distance or pass an infinite amount of time, there would be no way to get to “now” and to “us” from an infinite past. Time has to have had a beginning and it did. It began with the creation “of all things seen and unseen” by God. Mormons say that God is omnipotent (almighty, all-powerful), yet they say there are many gods. There cannot be more than one omnipotent being, so the Mormon conception of God is shrunken and distorted.
A big selling point of the Mormon hope for the future is the idea that families will be together eternally. But if Mormons become Gods of planets and then their children become Gods of other planets how do the children and parents get together? Can a God leave his planet unattended while he goes to a celestial family reunion? This Mormon selling point would be diminished if we Christians were more vocal about our hope for the “new heavens and new earth” in which we know one another in the all the relationships of our present lives, only in glory (2 Pt 3:13; Rv 21:1).
Welcome the participation of Mormons in causes which we share for the common good: strengthening family life, fighting pornography and abortion, fostering the virtue of patriotism, and defending the Constitution. We honor each Mormon as a person who desires what is genuinely good for himself, his family and his society – and when we share the truths of the Christian faith with him.
[For more on the political implications of Mormonism see here.]
Mormons are not Christians, they preach a different Jesus, a different and a different Spirit! 2 Cor. 11:4! The “gospel” of Joseph not withstanding.
The main difference is Mormonism was created in an environment where Christianity and a civilized adherence to law were solidly established, so he enjoyed only very limited success and his followers escaped to the desert instead of conquering the land. Mohammed started in a lawless tribal desert where his promise of booty and conquest could persuade the illiterate locals, who till then were worshipping Jinn and other spirits (the small Arabian communities of Christians and Jews were massacred or forced to convert), to "Submit" and join the fun. And that "fun", aka "Jihad", has continued with little interruption for just short of 1400 years. Mormonism has more than 1,200 years to go to prove it can last that long.
Was this an actual ad or was it Photoshopped? It looks like it could have been a commercial from the 70’s or 80’s.
Fruit of the Loom packages haven’t looked like that for a while.
I'd say Mormon theology is completely incompatible with Christianity.
That said, I think there are many Mormons who actually want to be Christians and are sincerely deluded because they just want to be Evangelicals and be accepted as such.
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In my experience, Mormons HATE Evangelicals in particular. When I was LDS we used to jokingly call them “reborns” or “gracers” and laughingly repeat statements like “yeah they can sin all they want and just get saved again on Sunday! How stupid they are!”
Also, until the late 1980’s most Mormons avoided the term “Christian” putting them in a separate category. Among some of the older LDS, you will still see this with statements like “I’m not a Christian, I’m a Mormon!”
However, I do agree that many of them not only believe they are followers of Christ, but that they are the only TRUE followers. It isn’t that they want to be considered ‘just another Christian church’. It is that they want all other Christian churches to disappear and recognize that they (the Mormons) are the ONLY true Christian church.
“Why is Mormonism different?”
The author makes the point that they may, in the future, qualify as a separate World Religion from Christianity, but they just aren’t at that point yet, so they are lumped in with Christianity along with other cults that are not theologically Christian. I think the defining factor is that Mormons have not given birth to or sustained a civillization as of yet, apart from Christianity.
INDEED.
Yes, that’s a better comparison. Christianity and Judaism are related, and have oftentimes been antagonistic, but Christians acknowledge the author of Judaism as their own God, and the basis of their religion as a valid worship instituted by God. You can’t say the same for how Mormons view Christianity.
Was Jesus a christian?.... or a Jew?..
Is the dead dunked jesus now a Mormon ???
[ Is the dead dunked jesus now a Mormon ??? ]
Is Jesus dead?..
Interesting. That is a little unusual among the younger generations. Usually, they will say “yes”, and when pressed say “I”m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints”.
When confronted with a statement that Mormons are not Christians, the pat answer is “Of course we are Christians. The NAME of our Church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Why would we have the name Jesus Christ in the name of our church if we weren’t Christians!?”
Which proves they just don’t get what being a Christian really is.
[ Is the dead dunked jesus now a Mormon ??? ]
Is Jesus dead?..
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Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
thats a good Q
Well he was dead dunked a few times..
and “temple married” to a few women...
so I guess the Mormons might think hes dead..
but its not necessary ...
there have been cases
On a somewhat related string, is black liberation “theology” Christian? What does BTL tech about the inherently fallen nature of man and God’s saving remedy as personified in the Living Christ and His work of atonement? And is Barack Obama Christian?
asked if he was a Christian. He said “No, I’m Mormon.”
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at least he was honest...
What?
On a somewhat related string, is black liberation theology Christian?
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No they are not. Their Christology is that Christ came to deliver them from their oppressors (the whites) and true salvation is when they (BLT) overthrow those oppressors.
Easy comparison is the teachings of the “Zealots” in the Early Church that sought a political messiah rather than a spiritual one.
(and I can’t believe I just had to add ‘Christology’ to my dictionary...sigh).
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