Mormonism and Christianity
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) used to teach with some vehemence that Christians were doomed to hell. More recently, though, they have tried to insist that they, too, are Christians. Given their numbers, they claim that they are one of the “mainline” Christian denominations. The Central Intelligence Agency represents Mormonism as one of the four major branches of Christianity [along with Catholic, Ortodox and Protestant], though the Agency acknowledges that "Mormonism is not characterized as a form of Protestant Christianity ... Mormonism believes earlier Christian traditions, such as the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant reform faiths, are apostasies..."
Gordon B. Hinckley, prior President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1995-2008), said: "We are Christians in a very real sense and that is coming to be more and more widely recognized. Once upon a time people everywhere said we are not Christians. They have come to recognize that we are, and that we have a very vital and dynamic religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. ... The Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ ..."
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints claim to be Christians, but many Christians think that the Mormons have deviated fundamentally from orthodox Christianity. In December 2007 a Pew Research Center survey found that "White evangelicals stand out for their view that the Mormon religion is not Christian: a 45% plurality says that Mormonism is not Christian, while 40% say it is. Among white evangelicals who attend services at least weekly, 52% believe that the Mormon religion is not Christian. By contrast, large majorities of white mainline Protestants (62%) and white non-Hispanic Catholics (59%) say that Mormons are Christians." These results suggest that Christians may have a low level of knowledge of Mormon beliefs, and also reflect low levels of knowledge of Christian doctrine [a fact substantiated in other polling]
Heterodoxy is not heresy (embracing beliefs opposed to orthodox doctrine), and peculiar beliefs and practices do not make a cult. Odd perhaps, but not heretics. But in many respects the differences beteen Mormon teachings and those of orthodox Christians are so great that one cannot even consider that Mormon doctrine is a heresy which emerged out of a false understanding of the Christian doctrine. The teaching of the Mormons has a completely different matrix.
The Announcement of the Universal Apostasy was a most startling announcement with which the Prophet Joseph Smith began his message to the world. Concerning the question, he asked God — "Which of all the sects is right, and which shall I join?" he says: "I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong, and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight: that those professors were all corrupt; that they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrines the commandments of men: haring a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof."
This is a tremendous arraignment of all Christendom. It charges a condition of universal apostasy from God. Nothing less than a complete apostasy from the Christian religion would warrant the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Of sects there were already enough in existence. Division and subdivision had already created of confusion more than enough, and there was no possible excuse for the introduction of a new Christian sect. But if men through apostasy had corrupted the Christian religion and lost divine authority to administer the ordinances of the Gospel, it was of the utmost importance that a new dispensation of the true Christian religion should be given to the world.
Other Christians were prepared to return the compliment. One late 19th Century cleric of the Church of Christ (Disciples) argued : "I. That in the New Testament, God perfected and completed his work of revelation in a system of universal and eternal truths, a law of universally applicable principles in the Gospel of Christ. That man needs no additional revelations, and never will need any, for he cannot outgrow the universal and eternally applicable principles of the Gospel. II. That all of the pretended revelations of Joe Smith are base frauds and puerile fabrications. III. That Joe Smith was an infamous and villainous deceiver and scoundrel. ... Joseph Smith was a wicked, contemptible impostor, and that all who have pretended to speak by inspiration, in this age are either hypocritical impostors or self deluded visionaries."
The Baptist divine Edgar E. Folk, D.D. wrote in 1900 that "The religious system of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young is not only a stupendous humbug which ought to be patent to the most stupid, but it is a moral and spiritual enormity — a vicious departure from the true type of the Christian religion—an abnormal development and horrible deformity — which, though disguised in the very terms and titles of the gospel, ought to be abhorrent to the most wicked. It is ostentatiously paraded as the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," established under a fraudulent revelation; and in the habiliments of pompous titles and pretentious sanctity it incarnates every unclean beast of lust, guile, falsehood, murder, despotism and spiritual wickedness in high places. It is polytheistic in theology, polygamistic in life and polypragmatic in zeal and activity... "
Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA [aka the National Council Churches] has been the leading force for ecumenical cooperation among Christians in the United States. The NCC's member faith groups — from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches — include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation. The membership eligibility requirements set forth in the NCC General Assembly Constitution’s Preamble include an understanding of God as Trinity, under which the Mormons would not be eligible for membership. This fact is not dispositive, since many other churches that are surely Chritian [Catholic, Souther Baptist, etc] are also not members, and the NCC membership encompasses only a quarter of the 160 millions Americans who profess church membership.
Rev. Tom Goodhue, Executive Director Long Island Council of Churches (LICC) wrote that "Most Christian theologians and most sociologists of religion see the LDS as a movement that grew out of Christianity but departed from orthodox doctrine, in much the same way that Christian Science and Rev. Sun Myung Moon's church evolved into something different from Christianity and the way Christianity grew out of Judaism into something new and distinct. ... Asking whether Mormons are Christians may offend them, but it is nonetheless a fair question... " Goodhue notes that "Drawing boundaries and limits is distasteful to many people, but as my Dad often reminds me that, "The problem with being too open-minded is that all your brains may fall out." It does not advance either Christian unity or interfaith understanding to pretend we have no disagreements. Most Christian theologians and most sociologists of religion see the LDS as a movement that grew out of Christianity but departed from orthodox doctrine, in much the same way that Christian Science and Rev. Sun Myung Moon's church evolved into something different from Christianity and the way Christianity grew out of Judaism into something new and distinct."
Chad Owen Brand, Associate Professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, notes that "Mormon theology seems like such a strange thing to evangelicals who look closely at it. Mormon people, on the other hand, appear normal by contrast; in fact, as for appearance, they seem quite attractive, moral, family oriented, and committed to their faith. But it is the faith beliefs and churchly practices, not the lifestyle, of the Mormons that are so off-putting. Odd doctrines, like the eternity of creation, multiple gods, the preexistence of the soul, the deification of men, and virtual universalism all seem quite bizarre. Odd practices, such as secret temple proceedings, baptisms for the dead, sacred undergarments, and deep secrecy as to the leadership structure at the top of this oligarchical (episcopal?) organization are only a few of the things that have caused orthodox Christianity generally to consider the LDS “church” a cult."
The word "cult" has many meanings, most of which are not useful in describing Mormonism. Most broadly, cult is the ritual worship of the Godhead, a person or a good which includes religious acts regarding to something that enjoys extraordinary worship. In this sense, all religious practice is cult. One definition listed for ‘cult’ in Webster’s Dictionary is “a religion regarded as unorthodox.” Since the roots of Mormonism are not a break off from the Catholic or Protestant churches, it is seen by some as “unorthodox.” More restrictive and derogatory senses of the term start from the premise that a cult is someone else's religious group that does not agree with mine. A cult is a group that deviates doctrinally from a “parent” or “host” religion; that is, cults grow out of and deviate from a previously established religion. In this sense Mormonism might be considered a cult.
But for most people, "cult" is a highly derogatory term for a group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (eg, isolation from friends and family, From this perspective, a cult is a religious or semi-religious sect whose followers are controlled by strong leadership in virtually every dimension of their lives. Followers generally display a displaced loyalty for the guru, and membership in the cult is usually thought of as involving a very high level of commitment of time to the group. Mormonism is not a cult in this sense, and so the use of the term "cult" is not helpful in describing Mormonism.
The Mormon doctrine of God is probably the doctrine that has garnered the greatest amount of criticism from traditional Christians. Brigham Henry Roberts gave what has been considered by many LDS scholars to be the finest exposition of this doctrine. "I take it that we may classify under three heads the complaints here made against us with reference to the doctrine of Deity. First, we believe that God is a being with a body in form like man's; that he possesses body, parts and passions; that in a word, God is an exalted, perfected man. Second, we believe in a plurality of Gods. Third, we believe that somewhere and some time in the ages to come, through development, through enlargement, through purification until perfection is attained, man at last, may become like God — a God."
Chad Owen Brand, Associate Professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, notes that "... as anyone who has studied the Nicene Council will recognize, therein lies the rub. Arius thought of himself as trinitarian in some sense, and believed that what he was doing was defending a genuine understanding over against what he perceived to be the modalism of Alexander and Athanasius. This was why the Creed made the kind of fine distinctions that it did — to indicate the boundaries that could not be crossed."
In the 20th century, the Catholic Church became more aware of the Trinitarian errors which the teaching proposed by Smith contained, though he used the traditional terms. Mormon theology distorts Christian doctrine on most major issues; Mormons have become rather reticent in their new stance towards Christianity about their teaching that “men (sic) can become gods”. In fact, though, they have maintained deification rites. This has sparked off a renewed interest in the writings of the Church Fathers on theosis (e.g. Saint Irenaeus’ dictum in the Preface to Book V of Adversus Haereses: “… Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself”). Theosis happens through participation in the sacramental life of the Church. Theosis inevitably involves an awareness of incompleteness or sinfulness.
For Catholics there is in fact a fundamental doctrinal disagreement. There is not a true invocation of the Trinity because the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, according to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are not the three persons in which subsists the one Godhead, but three gods who form one divinity. One is different from the other, even though they exist in perfect harmony (Joseph F. Smith, ed., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith [TPJSI, Salt Lake City: Desert Book, 1976, p. 372). The very word divinity has only a functional, not a substantial content, because the divinity originates when the three gods decided to unite and form the divinity to bring about human salvation (Encyclopaedia of Mormonism [EM], New York: Macmillan, 1992, cf. Vol. 2, p. 552). This divinity and man share the same nature and they are substantially equal.
Catholics would easily see that the similarity of titles does not correspond in any way a doctrinal content which can lead to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. The words Father, Son and Holy Spirit, have for the Mormons a meaning totally different from the Christian meaning. The differences are so great that one cannot even consider that this doctrine is a heresy which emerged out of a false understanding of the Christian doctrine. The teaching of the Mormons has a completely different matrix.
The Baptism of the Catholic Church and that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints differ essentially, both for what concerns faith in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in whose name Baptism is conferred, and for what concerns the relationship to Christ who instituted it. As a result of all this, it is understood that the Catholic Church has to consider invalid, that is to say, cannot consider true Baptism, the rite given that name by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
According to the Catholic Church, Baptism cancels not only personal sins but also original sin, and therefore even infants are baptized for the remission of sins (cf. the essential texts of the Council of Trent, DH 1513-1515). This remission of original sin is not accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which denies the existence of this sin and therefore baptizes only persons who have the use of reason and are at least eight years old, excluding the mentally handicapped (cf. AF, pp. 113-116). In fact, the practice of the Catholic Church in conferring Baptism on infants is one of the main reasons for which the Mormons say that the Catholic Church apostatized in the first centuries, so that the sacraments celebrated by it are all invalid.
In the Mormon understanding Baptism was not instituted by Christ but by God and began with Adam (cf. Book of Moses 6:64). Christ simply commanded the practice of this rite; but this was not an innovation. It is clear that the intention of the Church in conferring Baptism is certainly to follow the mandate of Christ (cf. Mt 28,19) but at the same time to confer the sacrament that Christ had instituted. According to the New Testament, there is an essential difference between the Baptism of John and Christian Baptism. The Baptism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which originated not in Christ but already at the beginning of creation (James E. Talmage, Articles of Faith [AF], Salt Lake City: Desert Book, 1990, cf. pp. 110-111), is not Christian Baptism; indeed, it denies its newness. The Mormon minister, who must necessarily be the "priest" (cf. D&C 20:38-58.107:13.14.20), therefore radically formed in their own doctrine, cannot have any other intention than that of doing what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does, which is quite different in respect to what the Catholic Church intends to do when it baptizes, that is, the conferral of the sacrament of Baptism instituted by Christ, which means participation in his death and resurrection (cf. Rom 6,3-11; Col 2,12-13).
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated that in the marriage of a Catholic with a Mormon the norms that govern marriages which are impeded because of the impediment of disparity of cult as mentioned in canon 1086 §1 should be applied: "A marriage between two persons, one of whom has been baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it and has not defected from it by a formal act and the other of whom is not baptized, is invalid" (§1). The Mormons are to be considered as unbaptized and so the marriage of one of them with a Catholic without the dispensation from the impediment granted by the competent authority — the ordinary of the place — is invalid, not just illicit.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has given a negative response to the doubt whether Baptism conferred in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to be considered valid. The decision of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is a response to a particular question regarding the Baptism of Mormons and obviously does not indicate a judgment on those who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Furthermore, Catholics and Mormons often find themselves working together on a range of problems regarding the common good of the entire human race. It can be hoped therefore that through further studies, dialogue and good will, there can be progress in reciprocal understanding and mutual respect.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith noted that "although the Mormons can perhaps be considered Christians socially, in the ecclesiastical forum they are to be considered non baptized and therefore for the dispensation from the canonical form there must be applied the criteria that the Bishops' Conference has established for the dispensation from the form in marriages between a Catholic and an non baptized person... "
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith noted that "A simple pagan in fact usually is ignorant of errors rooted in religious matters, especially in regard to Christianity; a Mormon, on the other hand, has a collection of errors, generally very deep, expressed for the most part in terms taken from Revelation and Christian theology."
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