Intro to Mormonism - special underwear, marketing, and how they relate to Christianity

Mormonism. Or, more “correctly” put, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or LDS. It is one of the fastest growing religious groups in the world, and is it any wonder? Who among us hasn’t had a missionary stop by to tell us the gospel of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith? Who hasn’t teared up during an LDS commercial featuring a sweet family and a touching situation?

I would have to say, of all the religions I’ve studied and continue to study, that the LDS church has, by far, the most advanced and pervasive marketing team I’ve ever seen in a religion! Heck, they even have a website, http://www.mormon.org/, where you can search for people just like you (by age, gender, ethnicity, previous religion, and continent) who are Mormon. You can read their stories and look at videos. Fascinating.

While I was doing research on Mormonism, I read a few books and I (of course) searched the internet to find out what was out there. I googled “Mormonism” and got a list of links that go to show how controversial this religion still is today:

1.       Wikipedia. Okay, Wikipedia is everywhere.

2.       Mormonism, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is not Christian. It is a false religion. Find out why…

3.       Recovery from Mormonism – the Mormon church. A site for former members and those questioning Mormon beliefs.

4.       About Mormonism – information about Mormonism and the Mormon church worldwide.

5.       Mormonism – Christian or Cult?

So, from a Christian perspective, let’s examine whether or not they fall into the parameters of Christian belief. According to Billy Graham (arguably the foremost representative of Christian evangelism in my lifetime) the following things are necessary to become a Christian:

Step 1 - Realizing God’s plan of peace and life. Understanding that God loves you and wants you to experience peace and life – abundant and eternal. (Romans 5:1, John 3:16, John 10:10)

Step 2 - Acknowledging Man’s separation from God by sin. Although God made man in his image, man was separated from God by sin (Romans 3:23: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God").

Step 3 - Recognizing that the only way to compensate for the distance created between man and God is the cross, and Jesus’ death on the cross.

Step 4 - Receive Christ as atonement for sin by:

1.       Admitting your need – “I am a sinner”

2.       Being willing to turn from your sins – repentance

3.       Believing that Jesus Christ died for you on the Cross

4.       Through prayer, inviting Jesus to come in and control your life – receiving him as Savior and Lord.

So, bare bones, that’s what you have to do to become a Christian.

The problem I have with saying that Mormons are NOT Christians, as many people allege, is that they do these four things. So either those four things are not all that is required to be a Christian, or the Mormons just do it wrong.

I grew up Non-Denominational, and my parents are from a Baptist background, so I’m used to this “right” and “wrong” way to do things. For instance, the Methodists generally did it wrong, because they were so liturgical and because they believed in infant baptism, and because (later) they allowed women to become pastors. The Pentecostals did it wrong because they were just way on out there with all the jumping around and hype. The Catholics… well, it’s OBVIOUS they did it wrong because they had dead Jesus hanging all over the place (clearly, he isn’t still dead), and they prayed to saints (who clearly, aren’t God).  I learned at a young age that, pretty much anyone with a belief system that varied even in the slightest from me was either mostly wrong, or just plain wrong – a cult, a false religion, a LIE FROM THE DEVIL.

What puzzled me was when I met my first Mormon friend, Hillary Johnson, in 9^th grade. Her parents were married – happily, it seemed. Her brothers and sisters were fun to be around. Her family, though large, was crazy and loud and loving. Her clothes were modest. She went to church even more than I did ((and my dad was in the ministry – hers’ wasn’t)) and she ENJOYED church a LOT more than I did! We both prayed to Jesus. I asked her if she prayed to Joseph Smith and she laughed at me.

“Why in the world would I pray to Joseph Smith?” she asked me incredulously, “He’s not GOD!”

So I was confused. As far as I could tell, she met all of the requirements I had heard of to be a Christian, yet, in my Christian circles, Mormonism was a cult, just like that cult in Jonestown where people drank kool-aid laced with cyanide and died, or the Branch Davidians in Waco.

...But from what I could tell, the Mormons were… well… pretty normal. They did all the things "good Christians" were supposed to do: they witnessed about their faith. They acted kindly to people. They helped with people in need. They trained their youth to fulfill the Great Commission: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.” They had families that were large and thriving, and they prioritized them. It was obvious that they LOVED each other.

I brought it up to a pastor one day, saying, “You know… I’m a little confused. The Mormons I know are actually better Christians than I am in a lot of ways… why aren’t they going to heaven?”

He gave me an answer that was long and complicated, but it boiled down to this:

“The Mormons are wrong. They believe Joseph Smith was a prophet, when in reality, he was delusional. They believe that they are all going to get a planet in the afterlife. They think it’s ok to have a bunch of wives. Do YOU think that’s ok, Joni?”

Well, I couldn’t say that I did think it was ok, but so far as I could tell, Hillary and Lindsey, my other Mormon friend, only had the one mom each, and I didn’t see their dads’ resemblance in a bunch of my other classmate’s faces to imply they were hiding other wives somewhere.

Turns out, there are a lot of preconceptions people have of the LDS Church. And there’s a reason for those preconceptions.

1.       Some of it is true. Regardless of how many people tell you that Mormonism is about marriage between one man and one woman, one of the most foundational principles Joseph Smith pronounced in forming his religion was plural marriage. I asked a Mormon missionary about this one time and he gave me this explanation (much to the chagrin of his older counterparts):

     “Well, the thing about plural marriage is this: remember in the Old Testament, when Moses went up on the mountain to get the Ten Commandments, and he came down and the children of Israel were worshipping a golden calf? So he chucks the commandments down the mountain because he’s so mad at them, and they break into a million pieces. Later, he goes back up for a reprint – only, what if it wasn’t a reprint? The Bible never says what was on the first set of commandments. Maybe the people weren’t ready for those, and so God had to go back a few paces and give them something more basic, something more elementary – like do not kill. Do not worship other gods. Maybe the first set was really a higher law than that. That’s how we look at polygamy: God gave that principle to Joseph Smith, and, in an ideal world, we would be able to follow that principle. But we weren’t ready for it, so he took it back and gave us what we could deal with.”

Me: So you think Polygamy is really God’s plan, but we’re not evolved enough to handle it? Or you think Joseph Smith was wrong about it?

Him: Well….. I don’t think Joseph Smith was wrong…

His Older Counter Part: He wasn’t wrong, our prophet was just telling us the Word of God that was revealed to him. But we must also follow the laws of the land.

Me: So in an ideal world, polygamy would be ok and you guys would follow it?

Him: See, we get questions about Polygamy a lot, and that’s not really the point. The point is that Jesus Christ came here to save you and wants you to accept him… (tactful redirection).

2.       Mormonism is THE NEWEST religion on my top 6 religions (unless it rightfully falls under Christianity). The reason this is important is because this sect of Christianity, this LDS church, was founded in relatively recent history. Like after there were newspapers and written words. This gave Joseph Smith a severe disadvantage over his predecessors because, while their character was really remolded and changed to a likeness of perfection over years of oral tradition and layers of history, Joseph Smith was subjected to public scrutiny in records that were maintained well and kept intact over the past 150 years or so since he was here on this earth. Including his … humanness.

3.       Another big reason the LDS Church is subject to misconceptions is simply their secrecy. I’m not saying it’s not rightfully so that they are secret – I mean, if I were persecuted, driven out of town, publically humiliated, and killed like early Mormons were in this country simply for their religious beliefs, I probably would be rather distrustful and secretive myself. They have special membership cards to get into the Temple (which is different than their normal church buildings). They have secret rituals of baptism and marriage. They wear special underwear. All of this rouses our ((the collective public's)) curiosity about what they are hiding in the mountains of Utah and what secret messages are being transported between those giant angels on their temples.

Hopefully, as I write more about what Mormons believe, some of you will understand it better. And as you read the stories of Mormon women, I think you will identify, foundationally, with their hearts. Because, when you strip everything away – we are all the same: humans in need of a relationship with someone bigger and more than ourselves.