Historically, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) has not wanted to be called Christians. Their founder, Joseph Smith, said that Christians were ‘all wrong’ – their creeds were an abomination and that they were all corrupt.’ (Pearl of Great Price).
The Mormon church is now spending millions of dollars on a public relations campaign aimed at moving into mainstream Christianity and trying to overcome the stigma of being a cult. The political and economic benefits are obvious. Further, if they are accepted as traditional Christians their proselytising of Christian denominations will also be easier
If you can’t accept what the leader of your church has stated, how can you accept your church. I don’t make this stuff up I simply question it.
February 27th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
It all depends on how a person views the designation of Christian.
Also that was God who said that they draw near Him with their lips but their hearts are far from Him. You’re drawing an incorrect conclusion that the words of God calling the LDS church the true and living church makes it embarrassing to be called Christians. That was never stated like that and isn’t true.
Our religion isn’t critical officially of any other religion as it’s not about saying that they’re wrong and so by default we’d be right; it’s about carrying the message of additional truths.
I think this is one of the hard things about spreading the word. I served a mission in Italy and have great respect for the Catholic church and have seen the good they do. I’d never try to destroy an other’s faith; what I have done and still try to do is to offer more information to build their faith, not destroy it.
Every church that exists aside from the LDS and Catholic exist with the thought that another church was wrong – we exist out of revelation and restoration which makes us the least accusatory church there is rather than a branch from another religion who we refer to as wrong.
So if Christianity is a network of churches that are either orthodox or protestant, than we don’t fit in either of those categories – however that’s commonly defined as traditional Christian churches.
If Christian means what it meant to the early Christian saints, then we are Christians.
EDIT: But you didn’t write what our leaders wrote. If you did it would be quoting what Elder Holland has spent his last 2 conference talks on; both making the point that we are Christians.
It would be wildly contradictory to say that Joseph Smith isn’t a Christian based on his account of the First Vision – a vision in which he received instruction from Jesus Christ. The nature of the vision alone qualifies him as a Christian as the vision of Jesus Christ did so for Paul in the New Testament.
If Christian means “one who believes in Christ” then it’s beyond dispute that we are Christians. You may disagree with the rest of our doctrine, which is your right, but our church obviously believes in Christ.
February 28th, 2010 at 3:23 am
Joseph Smith started the “Mormons” so he could make up the rules and sleep with the young girls and the other members wives….
Christians regardless of what they “title” themselves must show that they are being Christ like in their actions. Words or titles mean nothing.
February 28th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Because they will get more money (sorry, I mean converts) if they succeed.
The Christ they believe in is really nothing like the one Protestants believe in. For instance, he’s Satan’s brother. Of course, both sides are wrong and God doesn’t exist, so……
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:36 am
Christian means something different now than it did then.
At that time, Christian was a different word for protestant.
Now, Christian is any church that believes in Jesus as the Christ- which we do.
We want people to understand that we are Followers of Christ. We also want people to understand we are not exactly protestant- we are Restorationists. We didnt try to fix the church- we had it restored.
March 5th, 2010 at 10:39 am
truth seeker, you already know the answer to this one. We don’t want to be considered christians as the same belief as them but we also want to be considered christians because we actively believe and worship Christ. Its pretty simple to understand.
Its amazing to see how people will do everything in their power to not accept it. Sounds like you don’t accept the truth.
Your not thinking with your brain. Its pretty simple to figure out.
Your doing a disservice to yourself and others for not understanding this simple fact.
March 7th, 2010 at 11:00 am
You are mistaken. He was never ashamed to be called Christian. It was the Lord who was ashamed at all of the Christians who had replaced his gospel with false creeds.
I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.
” 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, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.’ ” (Joseph Smith History)
March 8th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Simple. They, want to be able to fit into “Christianity”.They most likely never will, because the Internet is chalk full of embarrassing information about the history and doctrines of the LDS Church. I will say that most new generation Mormons don’t know their true history or doctrines so that implies that the LDS is doing a great job at covering it up.
March 11th, 2010 at 3:43 am
Ah..
I love how people try to stir up contention.. :p
(I guess that’s just further proof that this truly is The Lord’s true church..)
March 11th, 2010 at 5:31 am
When I grew up in the LDS church some decades ago, we were instructed that all people who were not Mormon were Gentiles (yes, including Jews)
I don’t know if they teach that anymore.
The LDS church is founded on the great apostacy. They teach that all other churches are wrong and only they are right.
Here is a brand new study that finds most people think any religion is sufficient to get you to heaven. The big exceptions are Mormons and JWs. The clearly said in this survey that they think they are the only correct church. The rest of you are going to hell.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
You seek the truth maybe, but don’t listen to it when it’s presented. Please listen to these gentlemen that have answered you already. They are correct.
March 14th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Josh, the contradiction that many of us see is that you LDS want to be *included* among the existing fellowship of Christians but what your history teaches is that you are the *only* true Christians. You have to understand that that makes people react in a way that you LDS don’t like. It can’t be both, but you all are asking that it be both.
ROTFLMAO has it right… Mormons LOVE to say no one else knows about their religion but them, and if you want to know about it go directly to the church propaganda websites, but the truth is that it is the LDS themselves who know very little about their own history and doctrine. But today it is VERY easy for the rest of us – and them if they really wanted to know – to find the truth about the LDS church.
March 17th, 2010 at 5:06 am
I accept everything the leaders of my church say. I disagree with idiots that mis-quote them.
“So simple, a child can understand.” Who said that?
March 17th, 2010 at 10:08 am
Here’s my take as an LDS convert and my opinion:
From what I’ve seen we’re the only denomination that believes the bible and not an interpretation of it….which if the bible is true, would mean we’re followers of christ, which means we’re christian, but not in the secular sense…
We’re not a cult – all efforts to prove we are not are aimed at correcting public misperception – of course, there are those who won’t be convinced no matter what but there are millions of others who don’t know us but who already believe as we do but don’t know it or who are looking for what we offer but are kept from it by misperceptions and misrepresentations.
I’ve sat in churches personally and first hand that railed against me and against us and misrepresented us openly and tried to keep people in fear of us and that immediately passed the plate to collect money for it…..I’ve seen it myself.
Joseph did not teach that christianity was corrupt in that quote – it’s important to attribute that to who it really belongs… that was God’s declaration….which if you read the new testament is very much in line with Jesus’ contempt for those who ********* the word of God back then….even John the Baptist held the same contempt…..especially for those who misrepresented the teachings of God or twisted words or tried to trick people (A generation of vipers…)
I take it you believe we’re a cult, are misguided or are wrong…am I wrong? Well if you do….I don’t know of any cults that spend so much time and money and energy and resources on humanitarian, good will, service, education, responsibility, virtue, charity, purity, kindness and service…..if I’m correct these are all things that Jesus taught….things that are in the bible….and repentance and baptism and the receiving the Holy Ghost….are they not?
I don’t see a crime being comitted anywhere in all this or being covered up….I’m a horrible liar so if all this was a sham to cover up for something I’d be the first to blab about it and go on TV wearing my missionary name tag to tell the world about it….so…what gives? Where does the discrepancy come from?
It comes from the churches that I sat in that lied about us and called it christianity….so in that sense, no we’re not christian, but in the sense that we believe in Christ and that through him and of him and by him we are saved…we are christian….so now we have to spend millions of dollars to correct a willful misrepresentation that is global in scope….
Now who is the father of lies? Where do lies come from? And who disguises lies as misunderstandings and passes them off as truth?
It’s not God!
March 19th, 2010 at 6:31 am
Do you know that the quote you are using is taken from Joseph’s first vision of JESUS CHRIST? That Christ himself told Joseph Smith that the churches of his day were corrupt? Does that make sense that he wouldn’t want to be considered a follower of Jesus Christ, if he was telling people that Jesus Christ appeared to him and gave him direction? Joseph Smith did say that the Christian CHURCHES were all corrupt, but he never said Christianity was wrong.
Just to clarify, a christian is a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus was personally telling Joseph Smith what to do. Therefore, Joseph Smith was a christian. It’s very simple. If you disagree with my definition of a Christian, you’re making it harder than it really is.
EDIT: The idea that Mormons aren’t Christian is just semantics and fear-mongering from christian leaders who are trying to scare their congregation into never listening to what Mormons say. The name of the church has always been The church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saints. At least since 1838, that has been the name of the church. We are just a different sect of christianity.
March 20th, 2010 at 10:43 am
You miss quote and twist what was said. Not new, not clever.
Joseph Smith asked which church to join…and was told none of them, for though they had some of the truth, none had all the truth (said in my own words, not a quote) He NEVER EVER said he was not a Christian or that we were not Christians.
We’ve always been Christian. We always will be Christian.
We don’t have a stigma to over come. You thinking it, does not make it so.
If you are going to have a go, at least get your facts right! sheeeeeesh!
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints………um the hint is in the name. lol
March 20th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Well, if this makes sense, we are Christian but we aren’t “Christians”… we believe in Christ. That makes us Christian. We don’t believe the exact same as main stream Christianity, so we aren’t “Christians”, we are Latter-Day Saints. Make sense?
I think the church leaders just want others to know that we DO believe in Christ.
March 23rd, 2010 at 9:33 pm
There is no use of the word “christian” in the Pearl of Great Price, nor the Doctrine and Covenants.
In the Book of Mormon there are four verses that include the term “christian”: Alma 46: 13, 15-16, and Alma 48:10. In these verses the people of the Book of Mormon clearly identified themselves as Christians, or those who took upon them the name of Christ. (Which, by the way, is more than you will find in the KJV of the New Testament.)