Are Mormons Christian
"Are Mormons Christian?" is a question often asked by non-members of the Church. Members of the Mormon Church will emphatically reply "Yes!"
In fact the official name of the Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
contains the name of Jesus Christ. The Mormons refer to themselves as
Latter-day Saints to differentiate themselves from the original Saints
from the New Testament. No one will deny that those original followers
of Christ in New Testament times were Christians. And Mormons take upon
themselves the same beliefs and responsibilities as those ancient
Christian Saints, with Christ as the "chief cornerstone" (Ephesians
2:20) of their Church.
Gordon B. Hinckley,
President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said, "As
has been indicated, there are a few who have taken it upon themselves
as their mission to belittle and demean and destroy the faith of the
weak, with a badly flawed argument that we are not Christians. To all
of these we have a twofold answer, quietly spoken.
The first is this: Would a true follower of Christ, a follower of
him who was the epitome of love and mercy and consideration, so seek to
injure another?
The second: We ask only that we be judged by our fruits. Said the
Master: "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of
thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth
good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree
cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth
good fruit… Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (Matt.
7:16-18, 20.) By that standard we are willing to be judged." (October
1983 General Conference)
On another occasion President Hinckley said, "We are a part of the
great community of Christians, and yet we are a peculiar people, in
some respects difficult for you to understand and write about… We are
somewhat peculiar in our doctrine.
Are [Mormons] Christians? Of course we are! No one can honestly deny
that. We may be somewhat different from the traditional pattern of
Christianity. But no one believes more literally in the redemption
wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ. No one believes more fundamentally
that He was the Son of God, that He died for the sins of mankind, that
He rose from the grave and that He is the living resurrected Son of the
living Father.
All of our doctrine, all of our religious practice stems from that
one basic doctrinal position, "We believe in God the Eternal Father,
and in His Son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.'' This is the first
article of our faith, and all else flows there from." (Interview with
Religion Newswriters Association, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Sept 14,
1997)
Many nonmembers ask are Mormons
Christian because the Church does not use the symbol of the cross. A
Protestant Minister once asked President Hinckley after going through a
Mormon temple,
“I’ve been all through this building, this temple which carries on its
face the name of Jesus Christ, but nowhere have I seen any
representation of the cross, the symbol of Christianity… Why is this
when you say you believe in Jesus Christ?”
President Hinckley explains, " I do not wish to give offense to any
of my Christian colleagues who use the cross on the steeples of their
cathedrals and at the altars of their chapels, who wear it on their
vestments, and imprint it on their books and other literature. But for
us, the cross is the symbol of the dying Christ, while our message is a
declaration of the Living Christ.”
The minister then asked, “If you do not use the cross, what is the symbol of your religion?”
President Hinckley replied, " that the lives of our people must
become the most meaningful _expression of our faith and, in fact,
therefore, the symbol of our worship." (Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Symbol
of Our Faith,” Ensign, Apr. 2005, 3)
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