Mormonism - Just Another Christian Sect?
To be blunt, I think not. But let me back up for a few minutes. With Mitt Romney running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, Mormonism has come fully into the public eye. Yet many outside conservative religious circles know very little about this mysterious American-born religion. Even within Evangelical Christian communities, there has been recent discussions about whether there are enough similarities between Christianity and Mormonism to consider Mormonism to be just another group of Christians. Educated theologians ought to know better. But it seems many have forgotten the "faith once and for all delivered to the saints." So, once again, let me say it clearly for all to see - MORMONISM IS NOT CHRISTIANITY. I hope that is clear enough.
The heart of Mormon theology is the eventual ascension of man into godhood. One of their chief sayings is "As man is God once was: as God is man may be." The pathway to godhood in Mormonism involves obedience to the "Word of Wisdom" - a set of 1000 commandments. When every one is obeyed perfectly, a man will achieve godhood. He will appear before a Council of Gods on the Planet Kolob and be assigned a planet over which he will be God. He will then call his goddess wives to himself to engage in sex which will create the spirits of those who will be born into earthly bodies (called "tabernacles") and will be the people this new God will rule over.
Mormons teach that God became Adam to have sex with one of his goddess wives, Eve. Together they made the first earthly human bodies which were inhabited by the spirits of the children they had created in their heaven and so ... here we are.
Mormons believe that even the dead can have chances to become gods and so they make great efforts at genealogical research so that they can have all their dead relatives baptized by proxy (another person standing in for the dead person during the baptism ceremony) and so that dead relative can begin the journey towards godhood.
From this very small introduction to Mormon doctrine it is easy to see that Mormons are polytheists, believing in many gods. They believe in a salvation of works by which they work their way, not to heaven, but to godhood.
Mormons teach that Jesus and Lucifer were brothers and each offered Elohim (the name of the god of our earth) a plan of salvation. Elohim approved the plan of Jesus. Lucifer led a rebellion against Jesus and wanted to force men to accept their destinies as gods. Elohim and Jesus defeated Lucifer and he was banned from ever inhabiting a human body and so he was deprived of achieving godhood. People who sided with Elohim were rewarded with being born into white skinned bodies. People who sided with Lucifer joined him in being denied bodies. People who remained neutral were punished by being born into black skinned bodies.
Friends, I am not making this stuff up. All I have written is easily documented from public resources available by the Mormon church itself.
As the Presidential race comes closer you will hear more and more talk about Mormonism. There are many people who would really like to see Christian churches accept Mormons as a Christian sect, like the Baptists or the Presbyterians. But, I hope you can see from the very few examples I have given, they are not a Christian group. In fact, there are no points of common ground theologically between Mormonism and Christianity. No, not one. If being a Christian means taking a stand for the truth, then this is a truth that was begging to be said out loud.
To be blunt, I think not. But let me back up for a few minutes. With Mitt Romney running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, Mormonism has come fully into the public eye. Yet many outside conservative religious circles know very little about this mysterious American-born religion. Even within Evangelical Christian communities, there has been recent discussions about whether there are enough similarities between Christianity and Mormonism to consider Mormonism to be just another group of Christians. Educated theologians ought to know better. But it seems many have forgotten the "faith once and for all delivered to the saints." So, once again, let me say it clearly for all to see - MORMONISM IS NOT CHRISTIANITY. I hope that is clear enough.
The heart of Mormon theology is the eventual ascension of man into godhood. One of their chief sayings is "As man is God once was: as God is man may be." The pathway to godhood in Mormonism involves obedience to the "Word of Wisdom" - a set of 1000 commandments. When every one is obeyed perfectly, a man will achieve godhood. He will appear before a Council of Gods on the Planet Kolob and be assigned a planet over which he will be God. He will then call his goddess wives to himself to engage in sex which will create the spirits of those who will be born into earthly bodies (called "tabernacles") and will be the people this new God will rule over.
Mormons teach that God became Adam to have sex with one of his goddess wives, Eve. Together they made the first earthly human bodies which were inhabited by the spirits of the children they had created in their heaven and so ... here we are.
Mormons believe that even the dead can have chances to become gods and so they make great efforts at genealogical research so that they can have all their dead relatives baptized by proxy (another person standing in for the dead person during the baptism ceremony) and so that dead relative can begin the journey towards godhood.
From this very small introduction to Mormon doctrine it is easy to see that Mormons are polytheists, believing in many gods. They believe in a salvation of works by which they work their way, not to heaven, but to godhood.
Mormons teach that Jesus and Lucifer were brothers and each offered Elohim (the name of the god of our earth) a plan of salvation. Elohim approved the plan of Jesus. Lucifer led a rebellion against Jesus and wanted to force men to accept their destinies as gods. Elohim and Jesus defeated Lucifer and he was banned from ever inhabiting a human body and so he was deprived of achieving godhood. People who sided with Elohim were rewarded with being born into white skinned bodies. People who sided with Lucifer joined him in being denied bodies. People who remained neutral were punished by being born into black skinned bodies.
Friends, I am not making this stuff up. All I have written is easily documented from public resources available by the Mormon church itself.
As the Presidential race comes closer you will hear more and more talk about Mormonism. There are many people who would really like to see Christian churches accept Mormons as a Christian sect, like the Baptists or the Presbyterians. But, I hope you can see from the very few examples I have given, they are not a Christian group. In fact, there are no points of common ground theologically between Mormonism and Christianity. No, not one. If being a Christian means taking a stand for the truth, then this is a truth that was begging to be said out loud.
posted by John | Monday, June 11, 2007
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home