Lesson Four: Mormonism

Overview

Mormonism is also known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Mormon church membership is over 11 million with an average of over 300,000 converts per year. Mormons embark on a 2 year mission after graduating high school. There are approximately 50,000 missionaries in 200 countries. Mormons consider themselves to be Orthodox Christians and on the outside they may appear this way. Unfortunately, the Mormon church is a cult and they are eventually unorthodox in every belief.


History

The founder of the Mormon church was Joseph Smith. He was born in 1805. One day in the spring of 1820, Smith was praying in the woods near his home when he received his vision in which two "personages"- The Father and the Son - appeared to him. The personages told him that all of the churches and their beliefs were wrong. A new church was started and Joseph Smith was the one start and lead it. ( Note that Smith was only 15 years old). Smith got really involved in treasure hunting, "seer" stones (peep stones) which was considered occultic and it was illegal. "Peep Stone Gazing" is a practice in which a person would place a stone into a hat and then put his face completely in the hat, shutting out the light. The magic rock(s) would then shine to reveal the location of buried treasure. On September 21, 1823, Smith claimed to have another vision this time from the angel Moroni. Note Smith was now 18. This angel told Smith where a book was inscribed in gold plates containing the information about the former inhabitants of America along with the true gospel which had been given to these ancient inhabitants by the "Savior". It was not until three years after this that Moroni told Smith where the gold plates were buried. By 1830, Smith had published these golden plates and called them the Book of Mormon and founded the Mormon Church. Interestingly enough, The angel Moroni took the golden plates back to heaven with him after the translation. They can not be viewed for inspection. As the church grew so did opposition. The opposition came from Smith's "inspired scriptures" and the practice of polygamy. Smith died in 1844 when a mob stormed a jail where Smith was being held. Brigham Young then took over as leader and lead the group to what is now known as Salt Lake City, Utah. This city was established a "The New Zion (Jerusalem)". Polygamy flourished but ended in 1890 when the 4th president of the Mormon Church, Wilford Woodruff, had a new revelation from God that they should give up the practice. Not coincidentally, the U.S. government had threatened to confiscate the churches property, temples and deny Utah the opportunity for Statehood.


Mormon Scriptures

Mormons believe in four "standard works" of scripture. They do believe that the original manuscripts of the Bible are accurate but they believe that it has been corrupted along the way. They also believe God continues to give revelations.

• The Book of Mormon - Smith once called this "the most correct book on earth." Smith claimed to have translated this from the writings of ancient civilizations (golden plates). The evidence shows that Smith copied thousands of words and even some whole chapters directly from the King James Bible.
• Doctrines and Covenants - He not only called the Book of Mormon the most correct book but he also called it the most "complete." However, The Book of Mormon was followed up three years later with the Book of Commandments and two years after that revised it and called it Doctrines and Covenants.
• Pearl of Great Price - This sacred Mormon book also "translated" by Joseph Smith. This contains Smith's own "correct" translation of the Book of Moses, the Gospel of Matthew and the Articles of Faith. Non-Mormon scholars have determined that the artifacts Smith used for his translation were remnants of a common Egyptian funeral text.
• The "Inspired" Version of the Bible - Smith did his own translation because he believed and taught that every other translation was corrupt. However, Smith could not read Greek or Hebrew. Basically, he made thousands of changes to the King James Bible. The Mormon Bible even has a passage in Genesis 50 predicting the coming of Joseph Smith.

Basic Beliefs

The Nature of God (Two Important Beliefs)

• Eternal Progression - God is not eternal, self-existent, all-powerful God of the universe. God is nothing more than a man who became a god. Each "god" was created by another "god". The current "Father God" was once a mortal man but he progressed to become "god". This belief that god was once a man leads to the belief system that God still has a physical body.
• Polytheism - This is probably the most basic difference between Mormonism and Orthodox Christianity. Mormons not only believe that the present Father God is descended from an eternal progression of other gods, but they believe that any Mormon can become a god too.

The Person of Jesus

According to Mormon Theology, after the current Father God was created, he grew up as a man on another planet and then became God. He then had sex with Mother God and had "millions" of spirit children. The first-born of these children was Jesus, and the second-born was Lucifer. The Father God then came up with a plan for the rest of his spirit children to populate and live on earth, be tested, only to return to him after death. Mormons sometimes refer to Jesus as elder brother. Jesus was chosen as Savior and it made Lucifer mad so he rebelled. The Father God had physical relations with Mary and this is how Jesus was born. They believe Jesus got married and had several children. He died on a cross, was resurrected with a new body, returned to heaven, where he is waiting to take the place of the current Father God, who will progress to even greater realms.

Humankind

Mormonism believes that every person born once existed as a spirit in heaven. A person can also progress to be a god. Once you have become a god, you can have spirit children of your own and they will eventually come to earth and repeat the cycle.

• Sin and Salvation - People are born in an innocent state. Sin is not a condition of rebellion against God but more like having poor judgement or making a mistake. Mormons believe that salvation is how we get right with God. That means you will be resurrected and have a body. Mormons believe that because Jesus was resurrected then everyone will be. They do not believe that you are saved by believing in and accepting Jesus. All people are eventually saved, and you are saved by doing good works and by obeying "the laws of the Gospel" (Meaning people who follow the beliefs of the LDS church).
• The afterlife - Mormons believe that all people will enter one of three heavens when they die: the celestial, the terrestrial or the telestial. Only faithful Mormons would enter the celestial heaven. The not so good Mormons and the really good non-Mormons enter the terrestrial heaven. The third heaven includes most people because they have been mostly bad.

Mormonism and Christianity

Scripture

The Book of Mormon

• Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon from the writings of ancient prophets engraved on gold plates he found buried near his home.
• The translation involved a "seer" stone, which Smith claimed to gave him the power of God.
• The Book of Mormon contains thousands of words, even entire chapters, copied from the King James Bible.
• There is no decisive archaeological evidence for any of the ancient civilizations described by the Book of Mormon.
• Despite Mormon claims, the Book of Mormon is not prophesied in the Bible.

The Bible

• God used the Holy Spirit to inspire 40 different human writers over a period of 1600 years. (2 Peter 1:20-21)
• Several different individual church councils discovered which writings were Scripture by recognizing the writings that spoke with the authority of God.
• The Bible has been carefully transmitted and translated from the original manuscripts and languages to the current day.
• Archaeologists have uncovered more copies of the ancient Bible manuscripts than any other document in antiquity.
• There is abundant corroborating evidence to confirm the claims of the Bible. Not every person, place, date, or fact about the Bible has been verified through outside sources but many have and not one has been shown to be false.

The Nature of God

Mormons

• God the father is an exalted man from another planet.
• He came from another species of gods, who existed before him in an infinite series of gods, who were also men.
• God is ever evolving.
• God has a physical body.
• God the father had physical relations with the Mother God resulting in millions of spirit babies.
• Although matter is eternal, God is not.

Christians

• God is God, not an exalted man (Hosea 11:9)
• There is only one God (Isaiah 45:5)
• God is a spirit (John 4:24) and does not have flesh and bones (Luke 24:39).
• God is eternal (Isaiah 40:28)
• God does not change (Malachi 3:6)
• There has never been a time when God was not completely God (Psalm 90:2)

Jesus

Mormons

• He was a created being and the brother of Lucifer.
• He was born of Mary having sex with God.
• Jesus had to earn his own salvation, just like the rest of the created beings.
• Jesus is a greater being than other spirit children on the earth, but he has the same nature.
• Jesus was a polygamist.
• The atonement of Jesus took place in the garden of Gethsemane and was for Adam's sin only.
• Our salvation begins with atonement but is made complete by our good works.

Christians

• Jesus is fully God and one with God the Father (John 10:30).
• Jesus was born of a virgin through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-20)
• Because He is God, Jesus didn't need to be saved (1 John 5:20)
• There is no evidence that Jesus ever married once, let alone several times.
• The atonement of Jesus took place on the cross, and it was effective for all humanity (Romans 5:18)
• There is no other way to be saved except by faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; Ephesians 2:8-9)

Bickel, Bruce and Stan Jantz. World Religions and Cults 101. (Harvest House Publishers: Eugene, 2002), 91-108.

Discussion

1. You have all seen the commercials put out by the Mormon church. You have probably seen the missionaries on bikes in your neighborhood. The Mormon Church is very marketable and aggressive. What can we as Christians learn from them in this area???
2. Except for me, everyone in this class are females. The Mormon woman celestial heaven is to be Mother God over a planet with Father God. Mother God is to have millions of spirit babies. Does this sound like heaven to you???
3. It is my opinion that the Mormon Church is the #1 threat in America to Christianity. An average of 300,000 converts a year and the majority of those were evangelical Christians. However; no one within the church is really "beating the drum" about Mormonism. Maybe its because they are good people...wealthy... or they really don't understand Mormonism. What can we do to get the true word out about Mormonism?