Mormonism: A Jesus-Centred Faith?

The LDS Church recently came out with a new ad campaign called the “Introduction to Mormons” series (link here: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-introduction-videos). Specifically, I'm looking at the video titled "What Mormons Believe." In the series, the people in front of the camera say things very similar to what I said when I was a believing Mormon speaking to non-believers. What interests me about this campaign is that it appears to be a campaign largely targeted at Christians. Some of the wording caused me to raise an eyebrow or two, especially the claim that for Mormons, “Jesus Christ is the centre of our faith.” Having been involved in both Mormonism and born again Christianity, I feel the need to highlight a few differences between what the LDS Church calls a Jesus-centred faith, and what we in the evangelical stream would call a Jesus-centred faith.

“We worship Christ”

I do not remember ever “worshipping” Jesus as an LDS person. I do not remember ever calling our services “worship” services (even though the church markets them as such to non-members) – we called them “sacrament meeting,” “priesthood meeting,” etc. I do not remember a tone of “worship” of Jesus. You will never hear a Mormon say “Praise God!” or “Hallelujah!” However, you will hear LDS hymns like “Praise to the Man” (referring to Joseph Smith). Sure, I have been to many LDS meetings where Jesus is referred to with gratitude and honour, but you will find a near equal measure of gratitude and honour for the church president, other leaders, and for Joseph Smith.

LDS friends and family, next time you’re in a testimony meeting you should try the following exercise. Make a chart kind of like the one below, and keep a tally of how many times someone expresses “worship,” gratitude, etc., for one of these things.

“I am so grateful for…”
Joseph Smith, for restoring the gospel	8
Latter-day prophets	7
The Book of Mormon	3
A particular church program (missionary work, welfare, young men’s, etc.)	4
A church standard (word of wisdom, food storage, etc.)	4
The pioneers	1
JESUS, for saving me from my sins and granting me eternal life by his grace and mercy!	?

The numbers on the side are just for example, but let me know what your results are! Then tell me whether you think that constitutes worshipping Jesus, because let me tell you – it is a completely different story in the evangelical churches I have attended. We cut out all that other stuff and focus completely on our Lord and our God, Jesus Christ. You may not care for contemporary style of evangelical worship services, but you must admit that the focus of our “worship” is completely different from what you find in a typical LDS church meeting.

“He is our Saviour”

Again, this statement begs for contrast with a Bible-believing born again congregation, because it means completely different things to each group.

For the LDS, every mortal person is “saved” by Jesus in that they will be resurrected to one of three kingdoms in the next life. But not everyone will live with God in the next life – in order to reach that degree of glory you must earn it through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the LDS church.

For the born again Christian, saying that Jesus is our saviour is a completely different thing. When I say that Jesus “saved” me, I mean that he paid it all so that I can live eternally with him in the next life. “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). He didn’t just save me a little bit so that I could try really hard to do the rest – he saved me all the way. Jesus paid it all.

Closing thoughts

LDS friends, I hope you get the chance to see what a Jesus-centred faith looks like to us Christians. We use many of the same words, but with very different meanings attached. Remember, it’s not the name on the building that matters, nor the whiteness of your button-up shirts, but whether or not you have been born again by the grace of Jesus. God bless you!

Born Again

Back at the keyboard! A month has gone by since my last blog post – I’ve been busy with a move, travelling, and a subsequent lack of internet connection. If all goes well, I hope to resume the habit of posting once a week. So stay tuned.

What does it mean to be “born again”?

2,000 years ago, a man named Nicodemus came to Jesus in the middle of the night. He was a part of the Jewish religious group called the Pharisees, who had a public dislike for Jesus; but Nicodemus had become convinced that there was more to Jesus than he had previously thought. So in the middle of the night he approached Jesus in secret. It was then that Jesus told him what he had to do: “Ye must be born again.” When asked to clarify, Jesus goes on to say, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6-7)

How is someone “born of the Spirit”? Nicodemus had the same question, to which Jesus responded by pointing to himself! Read on in John 3 and you will find the now best-known Bible verse: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) We are born again when we look to Jesus solely and wholly for our salvation, and are regenerated by his Spirit.

Do I have to be perfect to come to Jesus?

No. That’s the point – Jesus saves you because you can’t save yourself. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” (Titus 3:5). It’s purely an act of his grace that we can be saved, not by anything that we can do.

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Too many people have the false impression that Christianity means joining a holy club and doing everything just right in order to please God. The fact is that each person has fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but the good news (the “gospel”) is that Jesus did all the work that ever needed to be done, and he offers the results to us as a gift (Romans 6:23).

What happens after someone is born again?

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Being saved by God’s grace doesn’t mean you say a prayer one day and just go about business as usual. It means a life-changing decision to follow Jesus, listening to his voice, and allowing him to shape you from the inside out.

Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

Everything changes. Where the world says love your friends and hate your enemies, Jesus says, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you” (Matthew 5:44). Where the world values material possessions and wealth, Jesus says, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Jesus calls us to a radical transformation where sin dies, love reigns, and priorities are realigned to God’s purposes.

Closing thoughts

You must be born again. If the concept is foreign to you, I hope this serves as a basic introduction. Check back to this blog later for further discussion on the Christian life! In the meantime, pick up a Bible (if you don’t have one, you can read for free online at websites such as biblegateway.org) and see what Jesus is all about! If you have very little experience with the Bible, I recommend you start with the Gospel of John.