Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Are You Saying that Mormons are Evil?!

I received a comment on a post yesterday that I felt needed to be addressed with more than a responding comment. It needs a post of its own. So this is that post.

The comment was “So are you saying that Mormons are evil?”

To find the answer to that question, I beg you to try to read this entire post and save your reactions to the end. I would like you to hear the entire story.

On this blog, there is a huge series of posts (see the table of contents in the drop down menu on the header) regarding the LDS Church (aka the Mormons). These posts address the teachings and further the deceptions of this faith that so many people stand by. These posts were inspired by a friend who was being drawn into the faith and his newfound friends who were the missionaries he was discussing the church with. In love to my friend and concern for my (later acquired) new LDS friends, I wanted to publicly address this faith.

It is one that is strong. It is full of incredible people—some of the most good-hearted people I have ever met. It has an incredible family-oriented image. It paints a beautiful picture of God’s love from those looking in from the outside. However, there are many beliefs and tenets of that faith that are just not biblical. Sure, the missionaries that may have come to your door seem well versed in scripture from your very Bible. They are. To an extent. They are also very good at leading you slowly step by step into their faith. They believe these teachings with all that they are and want you to as well, as they feel they are leading you to the true path to salvation. However, if they were to shock and awe you into all of the teaching of their faith you would be shaken and realize immediately just how different their faith is from yours.

That is what these posts are all about.

The question as to whether I think Mormons are evil stemmed from this post where I strongly urged those who embarked on reading the full study to surround themselves with a prayer of protection every time they started reading about this faith.

Trust me. I totally get the comment. I totally understand the horror with which its author probably wrote it.

Religion and politics are two very volatile topics. Two topics that will immediately incite riots. They are passionate topics and those which people will vehemently defend. I really would not expect anything but a defense of one’s faith. I would do the same thing regarding my faith. I hope you would too.

However, I would like to explain myself and that call to prayer.

If you, whether you are a member of the LDS church, a member of a traditional Christian faith, or a non believer, will read more into the study, you will find that there are many, many differences between traditional biblical Christianity and the beliefs of the Mormon faith. The differences are addressed in a manner that I intended to be respectful, yet thorough and mildly confrontational. I look into these beliefs using the LDS canon and compare it to the words from the KJV version of the Bible (which is the only version of the Bible that the LDS church recognizes). I examine various teaching and proclamations of the Elders and Prophet of the LDS church and compare those to both Biblical scripture and the other books of the LDS canon. I basically compare notes and see what fits and what does not.

I personally, after finding all of this information out for myself through both discussions with LDS friends and study, feel that the Mormon faith is not biblical. In other words, it is not Christian.

Does this make LDS members evil? Yes and no.

KEEP READING.

Inherently, yes. LDS members are evil. But no more than me. And no more than you.

You see, the Bible clearly states that in our natural state, we are evil. We are born into sin with a sin nature. We are not inherently good. A (not so) few examples—all from KJV to follow suit with the study:

  • There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men (Ecclesiastes 6:1)
  • This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. (Ecclesiastes 9:3)
  • But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. (Matthew 6:23)
  • If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:11)
  • And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. (Mark 7:20-23)
  • For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:14-24)
  • But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3:8)


So you can see, we are all evil on our own. The only way to overcome that evil is to live in Christ. Christ is the one who overcomes it, not us. We just have to humbly accept His gift and allow Him to live through us. Without Him, we are all evil.

So are LDS members evil? Yes. In the above sense.

Are they more evil than I am? No.

But the LDS church does not teach the right path to salvation.

Does that mean no member of the LDS church is saved and will make it into Heaven?

Well, that’s really not my call to make. You see, a relationship with God is a very personal thing. And I can look at your works and your life and make an estimate about what your standing is in the Kingdom of God, but in all honestly, not only is it just an estimate, but it is not my place to make that call.

Only God knows your heart. Only He knows where you stand with Him. You can have that assurance through Him, but I cannot tell you whether you have that assurance or not.

Are the teachings of the LDS church evil? I believe the teaching of the LDS church to be controlled by the most frightening of evils.

You see, the members and even leaders of that church wholeheartedly believe that they are right. They are trying to persuade others into what they believe to be the truth. However, most of the members of the church do not even realize the full picture of their faith compared to the Bible. They have been taught out of so many other books that they consider scripture alongside the Bible that they do not really know what the Bible itself says when it stands alone…because they do not believe it can stand alone.

They are not trying to get you to join a faith that will mislead you. Not intentionally.

However, they have been misled. By others who have been misled.

They are misleading and do not even realize it.

And why is this evil? They fully believe themselves to be Christian. They convince others they are Christian. They believe many things that are similar to the Chrsitian faith. However, many other things are so anti-Christian that I really do not see how they can be called Christian. I will not go into those differences now (that’s what the study is for), but they have a completely different definition of who God is, who Jesus is, who the Holy Spirit is, who man is, the plan of salvation, the definition and description of both Heaven and Hell, as well as many others. With just an ounce of the Truth included, they feel that the entire teachings of their church are Truth.

And it is very, very sad to me that one cannot trust his/her own church.

They are told (and will encourage the same of you) to search their hearts for the Truth. However, that too is unbiblical. For the Bible states:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9).

So do you find Truth in your heart? Do you find it in your church? Do you find it in the scriptures? Have you personally read and studied your scriptures well enough to know the Truth if you saw it?

I challenge you, that if this post has either piqued your interest or even just angered you, please, read the study. You can start either with who I am and why I am writing this, you can start with the background of the church to gain some perspective, or you can dive straight into the core information. You can argue with me. You can debate me. I welcome both (although if they are not done is the same respectful manner that I attempt to address this entire topic, they will not be posted or responded to). However, I ask you to seriously search for the Truth—in my words, in your teachings, but most importantly in the Word of God. If you find anything in your canon that seems to be out of sync from what can truly be found in the Bible (not in what you are told is there, but in what you find there for yourself), it is certainly worth further investigation in my opinion.

Godspeed.

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