Mormonism And Mainstream Christian Belief

Posted on 18. Oct, 2011 by Alex Sharp in Analysis, History

The Salt Lake Temple

In the vast community of Christian churches and ministries, a tremendous range of beliefs and doctrines somehow manage to co-exist. Perhaps one of the strangest variants is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In recent years the LDS Church has widely expanded its proselytizing initiative, sending scores of missionaries around the world to conduct aid missions and spread the word of their faith. A number of influential figures, including high-ranking senators and presidential hopefuls, have come out of this sect of Christianity, yet understanding of the origin and beliefs of this group is largely lacking in modern Americans, leading to a belief that Mormonism is not Christian.

Mormonism, which grew up in the United States in the 1800s, is just one of the several Christian movements to come out of the Second Great Awakening, a period of great expansion and revivalism of Christianity in the United States. The Second Great Awakening lasted from roughly 1820 to 1870 and marked the appearance of a new form of Christianity, one largely separate from Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant variants. It showed itself as different from previous iterations of Christianity by asserting itself as restorationism, or Christian primitivism. This version of Christianity wished to return the faith to the most basic state possible by emulating the early church of the 1st century.

Restorationism stressed that other denominations had lost the pure Christian model and that the only way to attain such a state again was to throw away all the derisive elements that had caused the endless schisms and splits that plague Christian thought. Restorationist leaders believed that these endless schisms were counterproductive and that at the core Christianity there were some beliefs that all denominations could agree upon. The Church of Latter Day Saints might have had one of the more unique ideas on how exactly this could take place.

Up until the 1820s it was largely accepted that revelation of God’s will through the Bible (which had been a closed canon for centuries) and agencies like prophets was done. The founder of The Latter Day Saints, Joseph Smith Jr., claimed that this was not the case. Smith alleged that he had received new revelations from God and his messengers, including new writings detailing lost biblical truths and the risen Christ’s time among the Native Americans (The Book of Mormon), had given him the knowledge to return the Church to its lost state of grace. Upon the orders of God, Smith, and his early compatriots, began their movement to return Christianity to its earliest origins, complete with new revelations.

It becomes clear quickly that these early Mormons also believed that direct authority from God the Father (later to be identified as Elohim) was necessary to return Christianity to proper form. This authority was represented in special priestly classes of Mormons and an Apostolic Succession. In this way the early LDS Church borrowed some integral elements from their Catholic and Orthodox brothers. The LDS twist on the concept of priesthood is that there are two levels of priesthood, Aaronic (the lower) and Melchizedek (the higher).

While early Mormons may have been looking to eliminate schisms, it turned out that they were just as subject to them as mainstream Christianity. Through the early days of the Mormon faith there were several schisms of the LDS flock. The largest sect, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which is directly descended from the teachings of Joseph Smith Jr., is the one currently headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Towards the end of Smith’s life, he added several unique beliefs to LDS cosmology. Up until this time the LDS Church bore a great resemblance to Protestantism, but eventually that initial rejection of non-primitive Christian movements (most of which suffered from “The Great Apostasy” according to Smith) became much more pronounced. Smith taught that the Holy Trinity did not adhere to the precepts of the Nicene Creed (a belief held by almost all Christians, save some Orthodox groups which have a slightly modified version). Mormons do espouse the Oneness of the Trinity, but see it as composed of distinctly separate, fungible and non-infinite beings bound by common purpose and will.

This is, in my opinion, the most shocking divergence from other modern Christian communities, because it is the basis upon which Mormon cosmology really goes off on its own. This shift in the perception of God and Godhead totally alters humanity’s relationship with God. It is also the origin of the belief that Mormons may become Gods themselves and rule over other planets, a belief that has brought endless derision and scorn from other Christian denominations.

Smith ultimately espoused that the difference between beings like Elohim, Jehovah (Jesus), the Holy Spirit and regular humans is really just a matter of enlightenment, because all of humanity has eternally co-existed with the Trinity. Through the following of Jesus’ teachings, participation in the sacraments and good works, a Mormon may become an exalted being. The LDS teaches that even Elohim was once a flesh and blood man and to this day has a glorified physical body, much like Jesus.

While several of the other controversial beliefs of the LDS Church, like the Adam-God Doctrine, Blood Atonement and plural marriage were eventually scrapped by later generations of Church leaders, this exotic take on the nature of God’s relationship with humanity has remained largely intact. This differing on the belief of the structure of the Trinity is not without precedence, however. There has been a long and vigorous debate about the nature of the Trinity throughout much of history, and while it has been at a bit of standstill for the last few hundred years, I think it is hardly strange that some Christian groups would still be up for re-evaluating the concept.

Is the Mormon’s Social Trinitarianism it any stranger than the traditional belief in the Trinity, or other Christian concepts like Transubstantiation or Unconditional Election? In my opinion, not particularly; but it appears my thoughts on this subject do not echo those of many Christians.

Because this prejudice against different views of the Trinity continues to survive, the modern LDS Church has gone a long way to burying their differences with mainstream Christianity. The LDS Church has made repeated efforts to show the compatibility of their beliefs with the rest of Christians while minimizing (at least publically) the differences. There is a renewed attention and emphasis on the Bible and Jesus Christ as savior and redeemer of humanity. the best example I have found of the teachings of modern Mormonism as largely congruent to mainstream Christinaity is in an article written by Gordon Hinckley, who served as the 15th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Please read it, as he does an excellent job of outlining his Church’s position.

Hinckley’s message shows that modern Mormons have strongly emphasized the common beliefs they have with mainstream Christian thought. Some take this as a thinly disguised ploy to grow the power of the LDS Church, while others see it as an attempt to heal wounds created by intolerance. Either way there will always remain some insurmountable differences between Mormon, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant theologies, and fighting wars over them seems to be par for the course. Maybe it would be refreshing to take in the similarities between these different sects and celebrate the heart of what Christian primitivism espoused.

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Tags: Brigham Young, christianity, Church of Latter Day Saints, Community of Christ, Godhead, Gordon Hinckley, Great Apostasy, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith Jr., Latter Day Saint movement, LDS Church, mormon, Mormon cosmology, Mormonism, religion, Restorationism, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints