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.]
You learn something new every day. Catholic ping.
But as far as bothersome religions go, they rank pretty low. Koranimals, radical evangelistic atheists, environuts, and those who worship themselves are far more disturbing than Mormons could ever be.
Choose your friends wisely, and choose your enemies wisely too.
Mormonism has NOTHING in common with Christianity, except the name Jesus Christ, but the mean someone entirely different than Christians do.
It is simply a false cult.
Excellent article. I will take one exception though. As a former Mormon, I know that it is NOT POSSIBLE for an individual to be a faithful believing Mormon and a Christian. The theology just won’t let them.
Many Ex-mormons who have become Christians will say the same thing. If you truly accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you cannot stand to sit through Mormon services or read the Book of Mormon.
They are further away from Christianity than Islam is.
Yet, I prefer the former over the latter.
No....next question.
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.
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This is excellent advice. Mormons redefine every term they use to make it sound Christian.
Good summary of what Mormons believe.
But since the author lays it all out, why does he argue that Mormons belong to the Christian “world religion”?
“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.”
Well, they believe in God the Father, but evidently he is just the God of this planet, and there are many other gods. And good Mormons will become gods, too. That’s pantheist, not theist, let alone Christian.
Muslims adopted some Jewish and Christian ideas, too. But the author recognizes that they belong to a different “world religion.” Why is Mormonism different? The God of Mormonism is not the same as the God of Christianity, nor do they believe that Jesus is a Person in the Trinity.
I’m only raising these points because the Mormons seem to be foisting Romney on us, and I think we need to understand what that means.
Exactly. It's a syncretist cult, like many that came out of the 19th century US, made up of magic and spiritualism (ouija boards and table rapping and looking for gold through a crystal in your hat, as Joseph Smith did), a few notions from camp-meeting Christianity in the area Joseph Smith grew up in (the "burned over district" of Upstate NY, so called because all its many revivals had left it with nobody else to convert), and a few things that were considered exotic...such as Islam. Joseph Smith said he was a modern-day Mohammed.
Don't forget that even Islam was the offshoot of an heretical version of Christianity, Arianism. This was very extended in the Middle East, and regarded Jesus as simply a very special prophet. Mohammed, who was from a pagan tribe, mixed it with local pagan beliefs (such as the black rock worshipped by lunar deity followers) and touches of Jewish law.
But even though a syncretist cult may include touches of some Christian belief or scripture, that doesn't mean it can legitimately claim that it is Christian. Mormonism is not a Christian religion.
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. They can't be and someday they are going to have to make a decision.
Romney is not one of them, because he's really Mr. Mormon and thinks he's the fulfillment of one of their wacky prophecies.
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However, they’re a cult, and I don’t want one of them leading this nation.
The founders of Mormonism railed against Christianity and were at pains to separate themselves. History does not support the contention that Mormons are Christian any more than an exposition of core doctrines and beliefs supports it.
Mormons are not Christian. There has been far more political disadvantage than advantage to perpetuating such a claim. Devout Christians who know the profound differences between the two won't allow it. Given the aforementioned, strongly worded statements of Joseph Smith as well as other founders of Mormonism, I have to marvel at the specter of devout Mormons supporting such a claim, let alone allowing it to continue.
The LDS is not Christian, though there may be some in it, but that is also true that other “churches” which operate out of “sola ecclesia,” holding the church magisterium to be effectively superior over Scripture, and presuming their teaching has the same level of authority, and which places both the souls as well often the bodies of men in danger.
Most people do not even realize the danger of having a member of a cult as President. Nor do they realize the political agenda of the Mormon Church to rule America and then the world as a Mormon Theocracy. They underestimate the level of obedience to the LDS heirarchy required by a Bishop.
This is as nuts as electing a radical muslim and adopting Sharia Law.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Mormons are about as Christian, as Christians are Jewish.
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Then you need to change your mouth...,
Mormons are about as Christian, as Moslems are...
Mormonism is to Christianity
as Islam is to Christianity...
Mormonism is closer to Islam
and was founded by the same type of demons...
The problem with Mormanism is the same as that of Islam. Each is founded on the imaginings of a seriously disturbed individual who did not fit into society in his day and would not fit into society today.
To the headline: hell no!!!!
If the American public could actually see what was driving Bishop Romney, it would scare the living daylights out of them.
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