The differences between Mormonism and Christianity

Published on April 17, 2008 By erathoniel In Religion

Mormonism and Christianity vary in many ways. It would not be too big a leap to say they're different religions.

Mormonism teaches that God achieved godhood by living a perfect life. Christianity (and Judaism) preaches that God is an infinite being, and always has been. "As Psalms 90:2 and 93:2 state, God has been God 'from eternity to eternity.'"
Mormonism teaches that God is made of flesh and bones. Christianity (and Judaism) preach that God is an infinite, formless (in that he can take any shape or form, and needs not physically exist) being.
Mormonism teaches there are many gods "There are many Gods. Brigham Young-Journal of Discourses 7:333 "How many Gods there are, I do not know. But there never was a time when there were not Gods." This is directly in contradiction to Judaism and Christianity's teachings that there is only one God, who is, and was, and always will be. "There is only one God. (Dt 6:4; 33:26-27; Isa 43:10; 45:5; 46:9; 1Ti 2:5)"
Mormonism teaches that God takes a wife. "'Implicit in the Christian verity that all men are the spirit children of an Eternal Father is the usually unspoken truth that they are also the offspring of an Eternal Mother. An exalted and glorified Man of Holiness (Moses 6:57) could not be a Father unless a Woman of like glory, perfection, and holiness was associated with him as a Mother' (Mormon Doctrine, 1977 ed., p. 516)" This is never mentioned in the scripture. "The Godhead determined to make man in their image, not to procreate spirit children (Ge 1:26). Nowhere does Scripture even hint at the existence of an Eternal Mother."
Mormonism believes the following: "God would stop being God if intelligences stopped supporting him as God.", where as Christianity teaches that God is infinite. "God is not God unless He is all-powerful, all knowing, absolutely in charge. If God exists only as God because of support given from other intelligent forms, He is not God at all (Isa 44:6; Ro 3:4; Rev 1:8; 21:6; 22:13) God is unchangingly omnipotent, and no purpose of His can be thwarted. He is not overruled by anyone (Ge 17:1; Job 36:22-23; 42:2; Isa 14:26-27; 40:13-14; Jer 32:27; Mt 19:26; Lk 1:37; Ac 17:24-25; Rev 19:6)".
Mormonism believes that "Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be" (D&C 93:29)" I don't need a reference (Try the first page of Genesis) to disprove this.

There you go. Big font. Follow the Article Link for more. Yes, I did take most everything from there, but as a fellow brother in Christ, with attribution to them, I believe that it is a good, rather than a wrong to spread infomation to save the lost sheep in the world.

Comments (Page 2)

Jythier

on Apr 18, 2008

No, friend, I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about all those who say they are Christians, but their actions are so far away from anything that Christ taught.

Oh, so you mean like me then?

I'm working on it...

ParaTed2k

on Apr 18, 2008

Jythier:

Now this is a good article/comments. Interesting discussion, and now I know why I shouldn't bother with the Book of Mormon. I always wondered what could possibly be different from reading the same book, but wow.

Like I said to erathoniel, if you disagree with LDS doctrine, that's fine. But make sure what you disagree with is actual LDS doctrine and not people who misrepresent it (and sometimes outright lie).

erathoniel:

The Godhead, three-in-one, consists of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are joined and independent.

So where is Christ's body now? When He appeared to the Apostles he said that "a Spirit hath not a body, as ye see me have".

I do know some of the beliefs of the LDS through first-hand experience, and what I have gleaned from my relatives complies perfectly to this stereotype.

I demonstrated where the people who run the website you link misrepresented Luke 24 and outright lied about D&C 23, Abraham 3 and the book "Mormon Doctrine". I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on their dishonesty.

Jythier

on Apr 18, 2008

Like I said to erathoniel, if you disagree with LDS doctrine, that's fine. But make sure what you disagree with is actual LDS doctrine and not people who misrepresent it (and sometimes outright lie).

Well, I made sure not to make up my mind. I figured, if your comments indicated he had certain things correct, I would then be able to disagree with true Mormon doctrine.

I always thought we had the same starting point and just a few differences from the BoM and the prophets the Mormon church recognized, but there's a lot of difference there.

I don't know whether the differences will keep you out of heaven. See, you stil believe in a savior who died for your sins. That's the really important part. The rest of it is not as important. I figure, as long as you're reading your Bible and asking God to reveal Himself to you through it, you're going to get to know God.

It just seems odd that because the Bible doesn't say God the Father wasn't a man, you would jump to it that he was a man at some point, and lived a life. I mean, He lived through Jesus Christ, but that's God the son. Same God there. It never said God wasn't a butterfly, either. Maybe He lived a life as a butterfly.

Many gods. Genesis refers to God in the plural a few times. Now, some explain that as the "royal we", which I'll admit, is a fair explanation, however when you match that with the Old Testament references to Elohim, which is also plural. Our explanation works just as well.

This, at least, makes sense.

"Mother in Heaven". Out of all the words that God could choose to describe His relationship to us, He uses the word "Father" (ab, in the ancient Hebrew of the original writings). Other terms are used to describe His divinity and power, but no other word is used describe the relationship.
True, there is no known Biblical reference to the Mother of us all, but then again the word "rapture" is never mentioned in the Bible either. If any ancient references existed, they are lost to antiquity. So I understand why people who don't recognize modern day prophets or prophecy wouldn't know of Her or even believe She exists.
There is speculation among us LDS folk about why Mother in Heaven isn't mentioned in scripture, but no official explanation has ever been given. To me (and this is just opinion on my part so there's no need to argue the point. Besides, you already said what you believe about it.), it goes back to worshipping only 1 God. To worship anyone other than Our Heavenly Father would be going against His commandments, even if it means His son, or His wife.

This is interesting. Catholics seem to have given Mary the role of 'Mother in Heaven' so it's not quite as out there as one might think.

The reason I can't follow this to where you take it with God having a wife is that the words used to describe God encompass both sexes parental roles. He's the disciplinarian, and He's the comforter. He is all encompassing, and beyond gender roles. Because He is both, he has no need for a wife to be our Mother. He can do it all.

The Trinity is really, really weird. I don't really even understand it when I really try to think about it. I'm working on it, okay? But God said, "Have no other Gods before me." So you're right, worshipping someone besides Him would be against His commandments. So the protestant Christian came up with the concept of God being in three parts, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. I don't know where this comes from in scripture. But it basically says, the Son is the same God, so we can worship both Him and we're still worshipping God. (wouldn't this mean we could worship the Spirit too?) I'm looking at it, and it doesn't make perfect sense from here.

Anyway, there are some out there things and some other things, like how can a spirit return to God when it never was with God? Maybe he created it and sent it right away...

ParaTed2k

on Apr 18, 2008

Jythier:

I don't know whether the differences will keep you out of heaven. See, you stil believe in a savior who died for your sins. That's the really important part. The rest of it is not as important. I figure, as long as you're reading your Bible and asking God to reveal Himself to you through it, you're going to get to know God.

That's the point isn't it. That is why I'm glad it's not my job to decide who is Christian and who isn't.

It just seems odd that because the Bible doesn't say God the Father wasn't a man, you would jump to it that he was a man at some point, and lived a life. I mean, He lived through Jesus Christ, but that's God the son. Same God there. It never said God wasn't a butterfly, either. Maybe He lived a life as a butterfly.

If that was the only reason we believe that, then yeah, it wouldn't work for me either. Our Doctrine & Covenance and Pearl of Great Price are the scriptures that explain this doctine. So the basic question here is, are those books the word of God or aren't they. Only reading and prayer can answer that for you... or anyone.

Anyway, there are some out there things and some other things, like how can a spirit return to God when it never was with God? Maybe he created it and sent it right away...

That's a decent interpretation too. That one and ours work equally well if all we had was our own reasoning to go by.

Jythier

on Apr 18, 2008

Sometimes I wish I could just get a peak at heaven and see who's there, and what kind of people are there, because I seriously want to be with God when I go.

Maybe if I acted that way more often, it would sound better coming out.

erathoniel

on Apr 18, 2008

I'm not pointing fingers here (index or middle), but I'm merely pointing out that some of the fundamental differences render the two sects incompatible.

Jythier

on Apr 18, 2008

Era, you proud of me for staying on topic on this one?

Jythier

on Apr 18, 2008

Oh no, I ruined it!

erathoniel

on Apr 18, 2008

On topic is relative.

ParaTed2k

on Apr 18, 2008

Jythier:

Don't we all! I'm just glad God did allow a few people a peek at heaven and told them to write about it. I'm also glad He blessed us with prayer so we can verify things we learn with God.

Jythier:

I'm not pointing fingers here (index or middle), but I'm merely pointing out that some of the fundamental differences render the two sects incompatible.

Fair enough, in your understanding, you believe they are incompatible.

I don't have any problem with anyone telling me why they don't believe the LDS church's doctrines. I do take issue with people who misrepresent us though. Differences in interpretation of scripture is fine, but the least they could do is make sure the references they site are accurate. If they feel secure in their opinion of our doctrine, they should have no problem being honest about it.

I understand very much why people would disagree with some of our doctrines, if all our doctrines and claims were the same as every other Christian teachings, there would have been no reason for the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith or the Restoration.

The bottom line is, truth is truth no matter who accepts or rejects it. While it is interesting and informative to share our beliefs with each other, the only opinion that matters is God's. So we can point out scripture all we want, but unless we take our questions to God himself, we'll never get correct answers.

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

We also know who it is that tempts us to not pray.

lulapilgrim

on Apr 18, 2008

When I hear somebody say "Mormonism is Christianity!", my response is "No, it's not!"
Lula posts:

Good for you....for telling the truth.

Leauki posts: #12

Telling a truth is easy.
There are so many.

Actually there is only one truth regarding Christianity...that is God's truth which is found in Sacred Scripture.

We say taht Mormonism is not Christianity....so rephrasing... The Mormon faith is not the Christian faith as outlined in Sacred Scripture.

The truth is in possession.

erathoniel

on Apr 18, 2008

One of the Apostles said that scripture ended with Revelations. All the books contained in the Book of Mormon were written in the Colonial Era or later.

SanChonino

on Apr 18, 2008

One of the Apostles said that scripture ended with Revelations.

No, he didn't. Show me where you think this is and I'll show you why it's wrong.

Jythier

on Apr 18, 2008

We also know who it is that tempts us to not pray.

Jonathon Creek.

Cedarbird

on Apr 18, 2008

All the books contained in the Book of Mormon were written in the Colonial Era or later.

Nope. That's when they were translated. They were written between, let me pull out my copy really quick...600 B.C. and 421 A.D.

One of the Apostles said that scripture ended with Revelations.

Surely you're not talking about one of the LDS apostles? Because I, too, would need documentation for that one right there...

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