Board index ‹ Mormonism; Latter Day Saints

[Kiwi]

Whats the difference between Mormons and Christians? I'm a Christian working with some Mormon kids, and they dont know the difference, but everything they do know seems to follow what I've grown up learning as a Christian so?

[jimwalton]

VAST differences. Here is a list of just some of them.

Mormon Theology of God:

1. He is not a spirit, but is of material substance. He has flesh, blood, and bones, not just as we do, but more like Jesus’ resurrection body.
2. God is not and cannot be physically present in more than one place at a time, but spiritually he can be.
God Himself was once as we are now and is an exalted man. “As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may become.” ‑ Joseph Smith
3. There are many gods; men will be gods. All life existed first in heaven. Elohim (the one Jesus called Father) is literally the father of all the Spirit Children that ever have and ever will come into the human bodies that inhabit this earth. Human beings spend their earthly lives improving themselves so they can one day be gods. It is the idea of “eternal improvement.”
4. God is married. There is a mother in heaven also. She is called the Heavenly Mother.
5. Our Father in heaven had a Father, who is also God, and...each Father had a Father, who is also God. But they do not consider themselves to be polytheistic. Though God the Father is perfect, his Father is God over him, and his Father over him. But there is only one God. When asked how that is possible, the answer is: “These are mysteries beyond our comprehension.” When asked is there a beginning to all of this, one God who is before all and over all, the answer is: “No one knows. We cannot fathom eternity.”

Mormon theology of Jesus:

1. Jesus is a son of God: one of many.
2. He was sexually born of God the Father (Elohim) and a heavenly mother, as was his brother, Satan (also a spirit child as the rest of us were), who went astray. Therefore, he was a spirit child of God just like the rest of us, but was chosen in the primeval council of the gods and foreordained to perform his earthly ministry.
3. Christ worked out his own salvation by worshiping the Father. He was ranked as a god, even in his preexistent state.
4. He is not deity, but is a spirit‑child of God as all human beings are supposed to have been prior to their birth. He is not to be worshiped as Elohim God, but is to be worshiped as a savior (Jehovah God). He is part of the godhead, but he is not our father.
Alma 7.10, in the book of Mormon) says he was born at Jerusalem of the virgin Mary, but that means, according to the Mormons, in the land of Jerusalem, the region of Jerusalem.
5. Jehovah is the name for the pre‑incarnate Jesus Christ.

Mormon theology of salvation:

1. All men (except a very corrupt few) will be saved, because of Christ’s atonement. All are redeemed by the Savior’s self‑sacrifice from the individual consequences of the Fall.
2. Salvation is available because of the atoning blood of Christ. Christ’s death on the cross was partially effective in saving the sinner. Good works are also necessary. It is received only on condition of faith, repentance, baptism, and enduring to the end in keeping the commandments of God.
3. Baptism by Mormon officials is necessary for salvation (Doctrines and Covenants 112.29)
4. The dead can be baptized by proxy (1 Cor 15.29)
5. Our atonement is made possible by Christ’s death (Alma 21.9), but only possible. We must do the rest.
6. Christ’s death is not the basis of forgiveness; Salvation from sin is obtainable only through obedience. Christ’s work opens the door: Man’s work must do the rest.
7. To reach the Celestial place (the highest glory of heaven where God resides), one must be married.