Is Mormonism Christian?
POSTED BY: Succatash
UPDATED: Sunday, April 5, 2026 17:31
VIEWED: 8721
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While we prepare to discuss the validity or importance of ‘recognizing’ religions, let’s begin to answer your question.
Let’s start with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Here are people who believe that Jesus was a separate creation, independent of God. They believe that their religion represents the true form of Christianity, and no other religion is Christian. Jesus is believed to be God’s first creation, and is thus considered to be an independent entity from God. They believe Jesus was used to create all of Gods other creations. The Holy Spirit is not a person, to them, but God’s active force.
Then we have Catholics, who believe in a divided God. (Trinity.) In their belief, God IS at once the Father, the Son, and the ambiguous Holy Spirit. One entity with three aspects, so to speak.
The Mormons believe in a Godhead, which is similar to the Trinity, but they believe that the Trinity is separate entities who share a single purpose. Thus Jesus is an independent entity. They also believe that prophets came after Jesus, one such prophet founding their religion.
There’s more. So much more. There really are a lot of flavors of Christianity. Even within one group like the Mormons there are subsets with widely differing beliefs.
--Anthony
"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner
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Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Hello,
Some Christians believe that Jesus was a prophet.
This is the one I couldn't get. Thought it was Jews and Muslims that recognized Jesus as prophet but not son of god.
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Succatash
I believed in the Roman Latin Church that existed during the first Crusade
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Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
There’s more. So much more.
Seriously, Jehova's Witnessess is the best example you have?
"Gott kann dich nicht vor mir beschuetzen, weil ich nicht boese bin."
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Kirkules
"This is the one I couldn't get. Thought it was Jews and Muslims that recognized Jesus as prophet but not son of god."
Weirdly, we agree. Though I might possibly add the Jews as well. Let me go check the temperature of hell. Just a sec ....
***************************************************************
"Global warming - it's not just a fact, it's a choice."
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There’s definitely a wide spectrum of religious beliefs within the Christian religion. It’s difficult to find a comprehensive definition on philosophical grounds that is very specific. Perhaps the only thing that all Christian religions have in common is the Bible, which they all interpret differently, but they all accept it as the religious text. This means that of all varied opinions within Christianity, Mormonism is the most extreme and distant, because it is the only one that doesn't rely solely on the Bible as the religious text.
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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Quote:
Originally posted by Succatash:Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
There’s more. So much more.
Seriously, Jehova's Witnessess is the best example you have?
"Gott kann dich nicht vor mir beschuetzen, weil ich nicht boese bin."
I'm sorry, Succatash. What sorts of examples are you looking for?
--Anthony
"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner
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Quote:
Originally posted by Kirkules:Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Hello,
Some Christians believe that Jesus was a prophet.
This is the one I couldn't get. Thought it was Jews and Muslims that recognized Jesus as prophet but not son of god.
Hello,
This one's a bit dated, I'm afraid. The Ebionites believed that Jesus was a prophet and not divine, but clove closely to his teachings. This differs from common Jewish people, who vaguely recognize Jesus as a prophet, but don't really include any of his teachings into their religion. (More of a P.R. recognition than anything, really.)
--Anthony
"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner
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I'm gonna throw my 2 cents in. As someone who was baptized and raised Lutheran (6 years of parochial school) and then became a Methodist, Christians believe that Jesus was fully man and fully God. He was the Son of God and was God Himself. Here's some links that explain it better:
http://www.creeds.net/
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/history/creed.church.txt
The Nicene (381 A.D.) creed sums it up:
We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
Catholics, Protestants, Baptists, and Evangelicals (I'm sure I'm leaving someone out) all subscribe to this belief. Mormons do not believe in the Trinity and Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in the divinity of Christ. Furthermore, both churches subscribe to teachings that were not included in the Bible. The Mormons also "added" to the Bible when they wrote "The Book of Mormon", which, as *I* was taught in parochial school, is a big "no-no". John stated in Revelation 22: 18-19: "...For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life..."
I believe that's why Catholics and Protestants do not recognize Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons as being part of "Christ's Church". Like Christianity has roots in Judaism, so the Mormon church and Jehovah Witnesses have roots in Christianity. But Christianity is a separate religion from Judaism. I think the same can be said for Christianity and Mormonism.
At any rate, personally I tip my hat to the Latter-Day Saints. Any church that could reform my cheating, abusive grandfather has to be doing something right.
"Can you, for a moment, imagine how depressing it is to teach one thousand years of masculine ineptitude? Why do you think there are so few women historians? I'll tell you why. Because history is not such a frolic for women as it is for men... History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. History is women following behind with a bucket and a mop." - Alan Bennett, "The History Boys"
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Thought this was interesting.
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/history/creed.church.txt
Quote:
THE NICENE CREED ON THE CHURCH
* We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
[J.S. Bach, a devout Lutheran, wrote a musical setting for the
Liturgy known as the B-minor Mass. In his setting for the words
printed above, there are two melody lines. One is a traditional
Latin plainchant melody, and the other is a traditional Lutheran
chorale melody. They are played and sung simultaneously, and they
interweave and harmonize perfectly.]
The Creed speaks of (1) the Unity of the Church, (2) the Sanctity of
the Church, (3) the Catholicity of the Church, and (4) the
Apostolicity of the Church.
[NOTE: Some versions of the Creed omit the word "holy" in describing
the Church. When the traditional translation of the Creed into
English was made in the 1500's, the oldest available Greek
manuscript of the Creed omitted the word "holy", and therefore the
translators mistakenly supposed that it was a later addition. In
fact it is part of the original Creed, and almost every recent
printing of the Creed includes it.]
(1) The Church is One, and the bonds of Unity are Faith and
Love. Heresy violates the former, and schism the latter. Heretics
violate the unity of the Church by holding to beliefs or practices
that are incompatible with the Gospel that the Church has been
commissioned to proclaim, so that the Church cannot include them in
her fellowship without compromising, diluting, or denying the Gospel
message. Schismatics violate the unity of the Church by requiring
from others, as a condition of fellowship, assent to doctrines or
practices that are not an essential part of the Gospel (though they
may be compatible with it). We ought therefore to ask ourselves:
"Have I sinned against faith by denying or failing to uphold
doctrines essential to the message of the Gospel? Have I sinned
against love by requiring as a condition of Christian fellowship
agreement with me on matters where Christians may differ and still
remain Christians?"
(2) The Church is Holy. Some persons understand this to mean
that individual church members are virtuous -- that you can tell
which group most truly embodies the church by noting which group has
the fewest members who are or ought to be in trouble with the
police. This understanding implies that holiness is something that
we confer upon the Church -- that by working hard to improve our own
personal scores on the Virtue chart we boost the team average. But
the older idea is that Holiness is something that the Church confers
upon us -- that Our Lord Jesus Christ is Holy, and that He has
called us to holiness in Him, and that He brings us into fellowship
with Him through the community of believers, by the Sacraments, by
the preaching of the Gospel message, by the mutual love and
fellowship of the community, by experience of praying and being
prayed for, of learning and teaching, of forgiving and being
forgiven. We ought therefore to ask ourselves: "Am I opening myself
to God's grace as He makes it available to me through the Chrisian
community? Instead of concentrating on my dissatisfaction with those
persons in the Church who appear to be unsatisfactory channels of
grace, am I looking for, and taking advantage of, whatever spiritual
nourishment is available? Am I, in my turn, being open to being used
by God as a channel of grace to others? Am I making it easier for
them to grow in Christian faith and love? Am I ready to forgive, and
ready fo seek forgiveness of others?
(3) The Church is Catholic. The Greek word KATHOLIKOS comes
from KATA (a preposition with various meanings depending on the
context, often meaning "down" or "negative" as in "catabolic" or
"catastrophe" or "cathode," but also often meaning "according to")
and HOLOS (meaning "whole" as in "holistic medicine," which claims
to treat the whole patient and not just the particular ailment
complained of), and thus means, literally, "according toNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME