C&SW.224.VIKING BOER – CULTS WATCH – The Mormon Veneer

[VIKING BOER]

C&SW.224.VIKING BOER – CULTS WATCH – The Mormon Veneer
Having spent many hours of conversation with those in Mormon
leadership, Don Closson considers some of the theological
assumptions behind today’s evangelical-sounding Mormon
proponents.
The Need for Precision
Recent events have helped to pull Mormonism from the fringe of
American culture to a place much closer to mainstream thinking
about religion and family. Mitt and Ann Romney’s campaign for
the presidency is only one factor among many contributing to a
changing perception of Mormons and their beliefs. For
instance, in March of 2011 a musical called The Book of Mormon
opened on Broadway depicting Mormon missionaries in Uganda. It
went on to win multiple awards including nine Tonys and a
Grammy. We have also seen the production of popular cable TV
programs depicting both real and fictional polygamous families
in ways that make them much less controversial. The result is
that modern and historical Mormonism seems a little less
foreign or isolated from our everyday experiences.
A 2012 Pew Research Center poll found that while
eight in ten Americans said they learned little or
nothing about the beliefs of Mormons or about the
church itself during the past presidential
election, it found that Americans are now more
likely to describe Mormons as “good people,” “dedicated,” and
“hardworking.”{1} This adds to the evidence that Mormonism has
gained a favorable mainstream standing among typical
Americans. This growing acceptance of individual Mormons adds
to the perception that Mormonism itself is less controversial
and perhaps different from other self-labeled Christian groups
in only a denominational sense. Some, even in our Bible
Churches, feel that we have been too harsh on Mormons and
should seek to find common ground rather than point out
distinctive theological differences that keep us apart.
While finding common ground is an important part of sharing
our faith in any setting, it is essential that when talking
with Mormons we clearly distinguish between Mormon and
traditional Christian beliefs. This is because both traditions
place Jesus Christ at the center of worship and theology,
creating an appearance of commonality when, in fact, little
exists. The rest of this article will make these differences
explicit.
Our society’s heavy emphasis on tolerance places pressure on
Christians to be more accepting of other belief systems, to
focus more on loving people and less on insisting that our
beliefs are in some sense universally true. However, it is
possible to express love for people without sacrificing the
truth that the gospel of Jesus Christ stands on. In the end,
it is neither loving nor honest to sacrifice the good news
found in the New Testament in the name of a redefined
tolerance that refuses to admit that real differences divide
orthodox Christianity from Mormon beliefs.
The Person of Christ
Mormons are highly offended when others question whether or
not they are Christian. They point out that in 1830 Joseph
Smith initially named their religious movement the Church of
Christ and that Christ is at the center of every Latter-day
Saints Sacrament service. So let me begin by acknowledging
that Mormons do place a Jesus Christ at the center of their
theological system and that I do not doubt for a minute the
sincere faith of my Mormon friends in the Jesus taught by the
Mormon Church. However, this leaves us with the problem of
defining who this Mormon Jesus is. After all, it is the object
of our faith that saves us, not faith itself.
The Mormon view of Jesus is dramatically different from the
traditional view held by Christians for the last two thousand
years. Although we use the same names to identify him—Jesus,
the Christ, the Messiah, and the Word—and we agree on many of
His sayings and actions, we differ widely on what kind of
being He is. This is important if we are to place our
salvation in His hands.
Mormons believe that all conscious entities—God the Father,
Jesus the Son, angels, and humanity—are the same kind of
beings. As Mormon Apostle John Widtsoe has written, “God and
man are of the same race, differing only in their degrees of
advancement.”{2} They also believe that everyone on earth has
e x i s t e d f r o m e t e r n i t y p a s t , f i r s t a s d i s e m b o d i e d
intelligences, then as spirit beings born of God the Father
and an unnamed Goddess, and finally incarnated into bodies of
flesh and bone. It is interesting to note that, although Jesus
is God the Father’s firstborn son, Satan and all of humanity
are His spiritual brothers and sisters.
The only difference between you, me, and Jesus is that He has
advanced further along the path of spiritual progression to
Godhood than we have. According to Latter-day Saints
teachings, Jesus is a god today because of His obedience to
our heavenly Father and Mother, and to a set of eternal
spiritual guidelines. What makes Mormonism dramatically
different from traditional Christian belief is that it teaches
that we, too, can become Gods just as Jesus has. In fact, it
is the Father’s, or Elohim’s, desire that we all become gods
and have our own spirit children just as He has.
Are we the same kind of being as God the Father and Jesus
Christ? Since Mormons accept the Bible as revelation from God,
is this what the Bible teaches? We need to grasp that Jesus is
different from every other living thing in the universe, and
very different from the way He is represented by the Later-day
Saints.
The Latter-day Saints teach that all of humanity is
essentially the same kind of being as Jesus, just not as
spiritually advanced. Rather than saying that Jesus is God in
the flesh, they would emphasize that He is a man of flesh who
has become a god. Mormons also reject the doctrine of the
Trinity, the idea that there is one God, one being, revealed
in three Persons. Instead, they teach that there are three
separate beings united in purpose in the Godhead—Father, Son
and Holy Spirit—who cooperate together in order to accomplish
the Mormon plan of salvation.
As a result of this thinking, Mormons teach that Elohim in the
Old Testament refers to the Father, while Jehovah or Yahweh
refers to Jesus. But is this supported by the Bible? The OT
uses Jehovah and Elohim as interchangeable titles for the
Godhead, of which both the Father and Jesus are part.
Deuteronomy 6:4 is a good example of this. It reads, “Hear, O
Israel: The LORD [Jehovah] our God [Elohim] is one LORD
[Jehovah].” It would be difficult to make this verse fit the
Mormon view. Using their ideas it would have to be translated
“Hear, O Israel: Jesus our Father is one Jesus.” This doesn’t
make sense, especially if Jesus and the Father are two
discrete beings.
The Mormon view runs into more difficulty in the New
Testament. I asked a Mormon Bishop to confirm that Mormons
believe that all sentient beings existed from eternity past,
which he agreed to. Then I asked him to read Colossians
1:16-17 which states that Jesus created all things visible and
invisible, that He existed before all things, and that all
things are held together in Him. At this point I asked him to
tell me which idea about Jesus he believed, that we have all
lived in eternity past with Jesus or that Jesus made all
things and was before all things. He thought for a moment and
then replied that both statements are true. At which point I
suggested that these are mutually exclusive ideas; we cannot
have lived in eternity past with Jesus while at the same time
Jesus was before us and made us. He finally admitted that when
faced with logical contradictions like this he has to trust in
what his prophet Joseph Smith taught.
This is a pretty important idea. Either Jesus is eternally God
who, with the Father and Spirit, brought into existence all
things and holds all things together moment by moment as the
Bible teaches, or He is merely a human being who happens to be
more spiritually advanced than we are.
The Atonement of Christ
If you ask a Mormon what he is trusting in for salvation, he
will most likely say that it is the atoning suffering and
death of Jesus Christ in the garden called Gethsemane and on
the cross. They also believe that there is no other hope by
which we can be saved. Although this sounds pretty good to an
evangelical’s ears, these words mean something quite different
than what traditional Christianity teaches.
According to the Latter-day Saints, Christ’s death and
suffering made it possible to be saved from sin, if we do our
part.{3} What this means becomes clearer when we read a
parable given to explain what Christ’s death accomplished in a
chapter on the atonement in the Mormon book Gospel Principles.
The parable tells of a foolish man who ignored warnings about
going too far into debt. Although he made payments along the
way, he could not pay the debt in full when it came due. The
creditor (God the Father) appeared and threatened to repossess
all that the man owned and throw him into prison. The man
begged for mercy, but the Father was only concerned about
justice and the law. The parable weaves a picture of two
eternal ideals, mercy and justice, in conflict.
Christ is depicted as a friend of the debtor who knew him to
be foolish but loved him anyway. As mediator, Jesus stands
before the Father and says “I will pay the debt if you will
free my friend from his commitment so he may keep his
possessions and not go to prison.” Sounds good so far, but
then Jesus turns to the debtor and says, “If I pay your debt,
will you accept me as your creditor?” And then he adds, “You
will pay the debt to me and I will set the terms. It will not
be easy, but it will be possible.”
Although mercy is offered in the Mormon view, the word grace
is nowhere to be found. This isn’t a parable that teaches
grace and forgiveness; it’s a description of a loan being
refinanced. Mormons believe that trusting in Jesus’ atonement
creates a path to salvation in that it provides for our
resurrection and the forgiveness of past sins. However, to
reach exaltation or complete salvation, in their view, one
must earn it through celestial marriage, tithing, attending
sacrament meetings, and sustaining the current Prophet, among
other responsibilities.
Rather than earning our salvation, Paul teaches grace in
Galatians 2:16, writing, “And we have come to believe in
Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness
of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the
works of the law no one will be justified.”
The Priesthood
We come now to what Mormons believe to be at the heart of
their theological system, the priesthood. They argue that
along with the birth of their church in 1830 came a
restoration of a priesthood that had been lost since the end
of the apostolic period around A.D. 100. According to the
Mormon Church, one cannot receive the Holy Spirit, be baptized
or be married for time and eternity without proper priestly
authority.
Mormons teach that priesthood power literally created heaven
and earth; it is the power and authority of God himself.
Mormon men can tap into this power, eventually obtaining to
two levels of priesthood. At the age of twelve, most Mormon
boys are ordained as deacons of the Aaronic priesthood. By the
time they are finished with secondary school, most have become
elders within the priesthood order of Melchizedek. Throughout
these years Mormon young men receive training, usually prior
to the beginning of each school day, for various offices or
positions within the two priesthood levels.
Mormons believe that every miracle in the Bible is an example
of priesthood power. This is problematic for evangelicals.
First, we don’t associate miracles with priests. In the Old
Testament it was usually prophets who performed miracles, not
priests. In the New Testament, miracles are performed by Jesus
and his disciples without mention of a specific priesthood. In
fact, Peter says that all believers as priests{4} and their
function, according to Paul, is to proclaim the gospel of
God.{5}
The book of Hebrews teaches that the Mosaic covenant along
with the Aaronic or Levitical priesthood was passing away
because it was useless for making us righteous or holy. The
author tells us of a better covenant and a better priest
entering the picture as a result of Christ’s ministry. We now
have a new covenant in Christ’s blood and Jesus is our
permanent, perfect, and eternal high priest, replacing the
limited imperfect priests of the Mosaic covenant.{6} Nowhere
are the followers of Christ told to train for or to seek entry
into a priesthood. And Jesus is the only person given the
title of priest according to the order of Melchizedek in the
New Testament.
Although Mormons and Christians use similar language to
describe their faith, they represent two very different belief
systems. Mormons see themselves as eternal creatures working
their way towards becoming gods and populating a planet with
their offspring in the future. Traditional Christians draw a
clear line between the creator and creation. We are not gods
and will never become one.
Notes
1 .
http://www.pewforum.org/Christian/Mormon/attitudes-toward-mormon-fait
h.aspx accessed on 12/21/12.
2. Apostle John Widtsoe (Milton R. Hunter, The Gospel through
the Ages, SLC: Stevens and Wallis, 1945, p. 107).
3. Gospel Principles, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, SLC, Utah, 1997, p. 75.
4. 1 Peter 2:9-10.
5. Romans 15:16.
6. Hebrews 8:6-7.
© 2013 Probe Ministries
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