I've been trying to figure out why most people think members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or "Mormons" as they are often called) are not Christians. It hurts to hear people say that. I feel like I try in so many ways to shout out "Jesus Christ is my Redeemer," but I just can't be heard. As a Christian, I want to be a missionary and share this good news, but it seems like the title "Mormon" gets in the way. I feel that people are just misinformed, but recently I've listened to talks (or audiobooks) from prominent Christian figures who are very well educated and seemingly open-minded who also view Mormonism as separate from Christianity. Why?
After doing a quick internet search, I feel like most people who say Mormons are not Christian say so because Mormon beliefs are different from Christian beliefs. I find this answer quite unsatisfying and rather confusing. It implies that there is a set of ideas that all Christians accept as true. But Christendom (by which I mean the body of people that includes all Christians and excludes all non-Christians) consists of several individuals and groups who have differing viewpoints, including different ideas about religion. So, I should rephrase my question like this, "Is there as set of ideas that ALL 'true' Christians accept and that Mormons have either not accepted or only partially accepted?"
As I strive to answer this question, I should point out that Jehovah's Witnesses seem generally to fall in the same category. By that, I mean that when people list religions, they list the Jehovah's Witness movement separate from Christianity. I'm not an expert on the Jehovah's Witnesses' religion, and I won't try to speak for them. I do know that Wikipedia lists the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Christian religions. I don't mean to cite Wikipedia as any sort of proof that they are Christian religions, only to prove that there is some controversy over whether or not they are Christian. That being said, I'm going to ignore the controversy of the Jehovah's Witnesses and over any other group of people who are at times misrepresented in terms of their Christian-ness. Though my purpose is to show that Mormons are actually Christians, I hope the discussion will at least convince everyone to be a little more charitable when picking labels to categorize groups of people.
Now, let's get back to the question. Is there as set of ideas that ALL 'true' Christians accept and that Mormons have either not accepted or have only partially accepted? I'm going to start off by listing a few ideas that I think might be used as criteria and then discuss how they match with Mormon beliefs.
0) People should not worship Joseph Smith. Mormons completely agree. I numbered this idea "idea 0", because it's so obvious to me that I often overlook it. In fact, I did overlook it while writing the rest of the blog and had to go back an insert this point. Mormons do not believe that their salvation depends on Joseph Smith in any degree. They rely completely on Jesus Christ for salvation (see bullet 2) and they pray only to one God (see bullet 3).
1) The Bible is the word of God. Apparently, accepting this first idea doesn't mean that you have to require women to always hide their hair (1 Corinthians 11:6) or to stay silent in church (1 Corinthians 14:34). It doesn't seem to mean that you need to literally hate your family and yourself (Luke 14:26). It does seem to imply that Christians should view the Bible as more important than other books. The Bible should be considered a source of wisdom that far surpasses anything man could invent.
Whether or not believing that the Bible is the word of God is a criterion for determining Christian-ness, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does teach that the Bible is the word of God. In the earliest history of the church, Joseph Smith was inspired by a verse in James (James 1:5-6) to ask God for the wisdom that he could not get from merely reading the Bible. That event established an essential precedent by which ALL wisdom should be received. From the most seasoned of priests and scholars to the most recent investigator of the church, EVERYONE must seek wisdom by reading the scriptures (including the Bible) and asking God (through prayer) to reveal the correct interpretation. Mormons believe that the Bible is the word of God.
2) Jesus Christ has saved mankind by His amazing grace. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that the children of God are saved by grace and not by their own works (Ephesians 2:8). The fact that we don't need to do anything to be blessed by the grace of God is evidence of His amazing love (John 3:16-17). I don't know if there are Christians who believe otherwise, but if there are, I would like a chance to converse with them.
Mormons certainly don't dispute this. Unfortunately, they at times struggle with semantics. They tend to jump the gun because they're so excited to skip the question about who is saved by grace so they can tell you how grace can change you (see this talk by Brad Wilcox; hopefully you can get the video because I can seem to get a link to the text to work. Here's part of it). Though Mormons usually use different words to describe it, they do believe that salvation comes only by the Grace of God.
3) Jesus Christ and God the Father are one. I understand that there is some controversy over what the 10 commandments were that God gave to Moses. The enumeration seems to change according to who is reading them, but it seems pretty common to accept the first commandment as the one that requires the Israelites to worship only one god (Exodus 20:3). The belief in only one god has become one of the most important and interesting earmarks of the Abrahamic faiths.
Jesus was considered a blasphemer for making himself God (John 10:33), but in reality He and His Father were one (John 10:30). Worshipers of Jesus Christ do not violate the first commandment because He is the only way to get to the Father (John 14:6). Jesus even taught that anyone who saw Him had already seen the Father (John 14:9). Although the exact phrase is never found in the bible, these ideas lead many Christians to say that "Jesus Christ is God."
The teachings of the Book of Mormon completely agree with this idea. You don’t have to go beyond the title page of the Book of Mormon to see that Mormons do believe that "Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God" (see also 2 Nephi 26:12). They believe that God himself was born in Bethlehem so He could redeem His people (Mosiah 15:1).
4) Man cannot add to or take away from the word of God. This idea seems to first show up in the fifth of the five books of Moses (Deuteronomy 4:2). It would be silly to suggest everything written after the fifth book of Moses is contrary to the will of God just because of that verse, and I don't think anyone has tried to make that claim. Likewise, when the idea is repeated by John (Revelation 22:18-19), no one seems to claim that verses 20 and 21 are invalid because they come after the verse about not adding anything more. No one that I know of even tries to have the Gospel of John or the Epistles of John removed from the scriptures because they were written after warning about adding to the word of God. So, what do those verses mean?
It seems that there is some idea about consistency in the word of God. If someone starts teaching that God hates the world, then it must be a false teaching because God is love (1 John 4:8). Does that mean that the commandments of God will never change? Well, it seems the commandments can change otherwise the Lord would not have commandment Peter to eat unclean meat (Acts 10:14-15). It at least means that we must accept the word of God in its pure form and not as it's been corrupted by people. To see what Mormons believe about this, review bullet 1.
5) God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit. When the apostles first saw the resurrected Savior, they were afraid (Luke 24:37). Quite honestly, I don't really understand why (please, explain if you can). I suppose it's because they knew that anyone who saw God would die (Exodus 33:20). The apostles often forgot to rely on the Savior for protection and guidance, and this seems to be another example. Whatever caused them to be scared, Jesus comforted them by letting them touch His physical body (Luke 24:39).
Jesus Christ tried to help the apostles as they struggle with the weakness of the flesh (Matthew 26:41). He warned Nicodemus that anyone who would not be born of the Spirit could not enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5-6). Jesus Christ was an example of how that was to be done. He was born with a corruptible body of flesh, but he overcame the flesh, was born of the Spirit, and received an incorruptible spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). Since we must be perfect as God is perfect (Matthew 5:48), we must learn to overcome the flesh and worship in the spirit (John 4:24).
Mormons may like to describe spiritual bodies perhaps more than most other Christians, but believing they know what spiritual bodies are like is way different than believing that they don't exist. I guess the biggest problem here again is semantics. Mormons won't usually use the phrase "spiritual bodies" to describe the celestial bodies mentioned in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 15:40), but that is what they are.
6) God is eternal. The Jews thought it was blasphemous to claim that a boy whom they had watched grow in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:52) could be God. Since God was without beginning of days (Hebrews 7:3), how could it have been possible for the Jews to know God in His infancy? And yet it was so. It was somehow both true that God was before all things (Colossians 1:17) and yet was once born to Mary in a manger (Luke 2). Christians do not believe that the mortal ministry of Jesus Christ implies that God is not infinite. He was born as all men are born and died as all men will die. But we know that Christ was more than a mere mortal because in him all will be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22).
Mormons do not believe that God is less than eternal. Review bullet 3 for further discussion on this point.
What am I forgetting? What teachings of Jesus Christ must a person embrace to be a true Christian? I will present one more that I believe trumps all the rest.
7) Children of God should love their neighbor. Isn't that the ultimate test? As a matter of fact, Christ Himself (at least as far as we can find) gave only one criterion to show who are the believers and who are not: love one another (John 13:35). Simply put, if you love as Christ loved, then you are a Christian. Otherwise, you're not a Christian. So, who passes? Well the Bible, I think, answers that question pretty clearly. No one (Romans 3:23). Yet, through the grace of Christ, some of us still think we can be called Christians. Some of us still hope to imagine that on the judgment day God will say "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:23). How can that be possible? Again, the Bible says we need only to forgive and we will be forgiven (Matthew 6:14-15).
Mormon doctrine is no different. Mormons believe that by forgiving others they will be forgiven. So why will they tell you that you need to be baptized in their church to live with God? That may be difficult to answer, but it certainly makes sense that coming together in a single unified church would be a powerfully effective way to show our lover for (and forgiveness for) one another. It would be a symbol of our unity in the faith (Ephesians 4:13). It would be a natural consequence of the fulfillment of Jesus Christ's prayer that we all be one as He and the Father are one (John 17:21).
In one respect, I failed to prove that Mormons are 'true' Christians because they do not love their neighbors as Jesus Christ does. On the other hand, if we're honest with ourselves, we have to admit that none of us are 'true' Christians because we all fail to love as Jesus Christ does, at least from time to time. Regardless of how successful I may or may not have been at proving that Mormons are Christian, I hope that all readers will at least take time to consider my core belief, that nothing is more important than trying to help each other out. Whether or not you're trying to be Christian, I hope you will seriously consider where you rank loving your neighbor in terms of importance. Then, I would hope you would think about what you're doing to serve your neighbor. If you think I can do something to better learn love for my neighbor, let me know what it is. I want to hear it, because I want to be a true Christian.
No comments:
Post a Comment