Mitt Romney and Mormonism

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:  preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,  and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Timothy 4:1-4)

“And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.” (Matthew 24:11)

“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.  And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.  So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

The infusion of progressivism over the last decades including the election of our current President has significantly damaged the state of the union, but it has also given conservatives a great opportunity to take back our country.  To educate people on the fallacies of the progressive ideology and the positive impact the conservative policies can have.  The current Republican primary presents Christians with a similar opportunity; one I have been thinking about for the last few days.  It provides a window to discuss Mormonism and it’s relation to Christianity.  While I am still pulling for Rick Santorum to edge out Romney for the bid, there is a real possibility that a man of Mormon faith could win the race and the presidency.

So what does this mean for the country if he does win?  Is Mormonism a denomination of Christianity as they claim (or rather the true Christian Church)? If the three verses I started the post with were not a dead giveaway, the Mormon religion (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is not Christian.  That does not mean that voting for Romney will be the end of our great nation or the end of Christian influence on government, nor does it mean that a Christian should not vote for him just because of his faith, but I do think it is important to state the facts up front so no one is misled.  Like I said before, God has given us a great opportunity to separate Truth from myth.  Entire books are written on this so I just tried to pick out what I feel are the more obvious issues to illustrate why this false religion (created in 1830 by Joseph Smith) is in fact just that, false.  I will take a quick look at Scripture, views on God, and Salvation to clear the mud.

Scripture

Christians believe that the Bible is the holy word of God and there are no other books that hold the authority of the Bible. In 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul says that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness”.  The Greek term that is used for scripture is one that was used by the apostles to describe the Old Testament.  But in 2 Peter 3:16, Peter classifies Paul’s writing as scripture as well.  Christians also believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, meaning that the Bible is completely true and without error. (2 Sam 7:28, Heb 6:18, John 17:17).  The Mormon Church does not believe in these things.  The Mormon Church has 4 books they consider scripture: Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.  Mormons do not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible.  They believe it has errors and that the Book of Mormon as revealed to Joseph Smith corrects these errors.

God

Christians believe in one God (Deut 4:35), that he is a spirit (John 4:24), that he is eternal (Ps 90:2), and that he is immutable (Ps 102:25-27).  Mormons hold the opposite views on all of these issues.  The Mormon Church teaches that God was once a man and then progressed to Godhood by following the laws and statutes of his God on his original planet.  Obviously then they teach that God is flesh and bone, which goes against Biblical teaching.  They teach that you and I can also progress to Godhood just as God did.  While Christians believe in one God consisting of the Trinity (three persons in one), Mormons believe in Polytheism.  They believe that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are three distinct gods and that there are a multitude of other gods as well.  The Mormon teaching on Jesus is also not Biblical.  The Bible teaches that Jesus is the only begotten son of God and that he has the same divine nature of the Father (eternal John 1:1, immutable Heb 1:10-12, etc).  Mormons teach that Jesus was one of many spirit children of a heavenly father and a heavenly mother and then progressed to a deity in the spirit world.  He was later physically conceived in Mary’s womb by God.

Salvation

This is obviously the key.  The Bible teaches that we are saved and go to heaven through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  The Bible teaches that we are saved by Grace alone, and not works.  As Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  Any deviation from this is false teaching and the Mormon Church does indeed deviate.

I believe this quote from Spencer W. Kimball’s book, Miracle of Forgiveness says it all “”One of the most fallacious doctrines originated by Satan and propounded by man is that man is saved alone by the grace of God; that belief in Jesus Christ alone is all that is needed for salvation,”

The Mormon Church does teach salvation by Grace, but that term means something different to the Mormon Church than it does to the Christian Church.  The Mormon Church teaches that God gives virtually everyone a general salvation in one of three heavenly kingdoms.  (Of course the Bible teaches one Heaven and one Hell).  You do not necessarily have to believe in Jesus or even God to receive this gift of grace.  Faith in Jesus Christ is only necessary to obtain entry into the highest kingdom, but even then faith in Jesus Christ alone is not sufficient.  Other prerequisites of works of various types are also required to obtain this status.

Hopefully you found this ever so brief explanation of the differences between Christianity and Mormonism interesting and hopefully helpful in some way.  Perhaps it will prevent you or someone you know from falling for the false prophets warned about in the Bible.  I have only known a few Mormons personally, and while it is just a small sample, they have all been generally good people.  Unfortunately, being a good person will not bring you salvation.

Just as some side notes…I leaned heavy on my study Bible for my references.  I wish I could say that I could spout off all of those verses from memory, but I did have to look them up.  I also found the following site very helpful if you are interesting in learning more about the Mormon faith and their additional teachings that contradict the Bible.  (Which is of course why they had to come up with their own holy books in the first place)

Here is the general CARM site on Mormonism.

A site giving Mormon references to the beliefs they hold (also CARM site)

And finally a comparison of some definitions of words as defined by the Bible and the LDS.

All good references.

If you go to the Mormon Church Site you will not find these beliefs opening displayed.   They believe they are Christian and only selectively quote the Bible to support that notion. You have to read their scriptures and attend their temples to get to the crux of what they believe.  I have also been told that in a very cultish style, these things are not revealed to people until you gain higher standing within the Church.  Luckily there are sites like CARM that take various religions and compare their beliefs to the Bible so we can more easily discern the truth from myth.

Considering our current political situation, there is still the question on what this means to the country if Mitt Romney were to be elected.  While you won’t find much information on their true doctrine on their site, you will find a lot about their moral and ethical beliefs.  These appear to be borrowed from Christian teachings in the Bible.  They believe in strong families, that marriage should be between one man and one woman, that homosexuality is sinful, and they believe in self reliance. (based upon their site)  So while they are not Christian by faith, their ethics are based on Christian principles.  I will continue to support Rick Santorum in the primary, but if Romney were to win, I do believe he would be a better alternative to the current President who is actively trying to remove Christianity and our Christian principles from the public sphere.