Are Mormons Christian ?

From : http://goo.gl/Y5nLr 

Recently I came across material that concisely conveys the core philosophical differences between mainstream Christianity and the Faith of Latter Day Saints... have a look by clicking "read more" if you are interested......



My interests in this subject predate this posting by more than two decades. I first learned about the LDS faith when I was in elementary school. Many of my friends are Latter-Day Saints. At one point in high school I became very close to a young woman of this faith as well and started investigating it more deeply as an alternative to Catholicism (my faith growing up). The focus on faith, family and friendship within the Mormon faith community truly fascinated me. Admittedly I was very apprehensive to invest too much energy into learning about the faith of Latter Day Saints. At various points throughout my childhood I heard media coverage stories describing the LDS church as a cult. These harsh media description of LDS did not match up with my observations of my LDS friends. I could never see any features of a cult expressed openly in an LDS church/ or the people of LDS faith that I interacted with. They spend a lot of time, money and energy on faith family and friendship.... how could this be wrong? Lets examine a brief point by point comparison to see where the differences exist between mainstream Christianity and the LDS faith. 



1. Christianity: God The Father: God is eternal, the personal, infinite creator of the universe who desires to have a relationship with us. He is the only God. 

1. LDS: God The Faither : God is an exalted man. He is not the creator of the universe, but one of the many gods who has become deified. 


2. Christianity: Jesus, God the Son : Jesus is God's only virgin-born son, the incarnation of God. 


2. LSD: Jesus, God the Son : Jesus was the first son (of many) to be born to God. 




3. Christianity: Problem of Humanity : Man has rebelled against God, and is sinful by nature and choice. 


3. LDS: Problem of Humanity : Man chose to disobey God and lost immortality, but this event was necessary for mankind to advance to a greater state. 




4. Christianity: Solution to the Problem : Christ died for man's sins, saving all who choose to come to him. 


4. LSD: Solution to the Problem : Christ's atonement provides immortality for all people, but godhood is available only to Mormons. 




5. Christianity: Right and Wrong : Gad's laws decide ethics, and the Bible is the final guide for doctrine and practice. God alone is the arbiter of right and wrong.  


5. LSD: Right and Wrong : All the ethics are based upon the teaches of the LDS Four Standard Works, the rulings of the Elders and the mandates of the earthly governments. 




6. Christianity: Holy Scripture : The Bible is entirety of God's Word. 

6. LSD: Holy Scripture : The LDS Four Standard Standard Works. (The King James Version of the Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price.) 


One way or the other I will continue to love on my friends, regardless of their faith; Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Atheist or Otherwise : I believe we can peacefully coexist by having mutual respect for our different faiths. 


My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ asked me to go forth and love on other people: all people, especially the sick, broken, poor, weary and misguided. Through setting an example of love we bring healing words and actions to other people who derive inspiration from our outwardly expressed love. 

It is the extremists within a given religion that give rise to religious bigotry, hatred, war and persecution. Throughout history people have been harming and killing one another over philosophical and cultural differences. I believe that all of these harmful actions done in the name of religion are misguided and dishonoring to God. We can peacefully agree to disagree with one another about culture and religion.

This posting was based on an article originally published by William G. Wells in the spring of 2000 on page 53 of a faith based magazine that my partner Meg saved. In an effort to clear out old stuff I decided to post the material to my blog so that I can recycle the paper it is printed on. I have only the single page from the magazine, so it is not clear which publication this article came from.