Do you want to know how to talk to your Mormon friends about your faith? I believe the Good News should be shared with both compassion and conviction, instead of arrogance and ignorance. My recent visit with Mormon missionaries inspired this post, as well as yesterday’s post what I admire about Mormons.
I love and admire Mormons, yet I reject their false doctrine as incompatible with Scripture. Since Mormons purposefully use Christian vocabulary (gospel, atonement, God, Jesus), these incompatibilities are difficult to see at first.
Founder – The Mormon religion was founded by a young New Yorker named Joseph Smith 190 years ago. Joseph claimed that he found golden tablets written in Egyptian, which he miraculously translated. These tablets (Book of Mormon) told of Egyptian-speaking Hebrews who migrated to North America in 600 B.C. The angel took these tablets back to heaven before anyone else besides Smith saw them.
Bible – Mormons believe that the Book of Mormon has “the fullness of the gospel” and is one of four authoritative books. The KJV Bible is one of those books, although they believe it has been corrupted and thus is only partially true.
The Bible explicitly warns against adding to or detracting from its teaching (see Rev. 22:18-19; Deut. 4:2).
Jesus – Mormons often refer to Jesus Christ as “the Son of God” as well as their “personal savior” which is confusing to evangelical Christians. It is important to understand that their Jesus is much different than the Jesus of the Bible. The Mormon Jesus is the first of many sons of God. Jesus’ heavenly Father and mother also had celestial parents, who also had parents and so on.
God – Mormons believe that God the Father is the god of this universe who was previously a man like us. God earned his godhood by keeping the requirements of Mormonism. He and Mary conceived various offspring like Jesus, the angels, and other humans. Flip the script and you will find that not only was God once a man, but man can progress and become a god if he is a good enough Mormon. They do not believe in the Trinity, which is a monotheistic doctrine (one God).
I usually just point out the Bible’s distaste for multiple gods, starting with the first two commandments. The fact that the “everlasting God” of the Bible once had parents like us is almost too bizarre to address.
Heaven/Hell – There is no hell in Mormonism, only three levels of heaven that are based on a system of works.
Gospel – I was surprised how much the missionaries mentioned “the gospel.” To accept the Mormon gospel, one must reject the biblical gospel, as did Joseph Smith. Smith claimed that his newer revelation fixed what apostates had broken in the original Bible. “But if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than what we have preached to you, a curse be on him!” (Gal. 1:8).
Guard your heart and tongue from pride at this point. Respect their right to believe whatever they want, while making it clear that our religions are very different and incompatible (Joseph Smith would agree).
Feelings – A huge component of the Mormon faith and presentation is that any theological inconsistency can be fixed by a feeling attributed to the Holy Spirit. They believe that Mormonism is confirmed by “a burning in their bosom,” which is so subjective that it is hardly worth discussing.
Church – They believe the Church went into apostasy after the apostles died, until Joseph Smith restored it as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The Mormon church (LDS) claims to be the only true church, although in the 1980s they began to deceptively market themselves as “Mormon Christians.” There are about six million Mormons in the U.S. and seven million more outside the U.S.
Salvation – The Mormon plan of salvation is built on the idea that all people have eternal life, but only the most faithful Mormons have godhood or enter the celestial kingdom. Biblical salvation is a gift to be received, not a merit to be earned. Show your Mormon friends where the Bible teaches that salvation is provided through the cross of Christ alone (John 3:16; Rom. 10:4,10-13; Eph. 2:8-9). Prepare your hearts and minds; so as not be thrown off “by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speak the truth in love” (Eph. 4:14,15).
More helpful content can be found at www.4truth.net/Mormons
