{"id":434,"date":"2011-05-01T09:13:05","date_gmt":"2011-05-01T14:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rogereolson.com\/?p=434"},"modified":"2011-08-18T19:27:34","modified_gmt":"2011-08-18T19:27:34","slug":"are-mormons-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2011\/05\/are-mormons-christians\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Mormons Christians?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019ve been reading a new book by my LDS acquaintance Robert (Bob) Millet who teaches religion at Brigham Young University.\u00a0 Because I know he prefers to be called a Latter Day Saint (LDS) that\u2019s what I\u2019ll call him here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The book is Modern Mormonism: Myths and Realities (Greg Kofford Books).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, you\u2019ll have to know a little of my own background and Bob\u2019s to understand why I have to be open to his argument that LDSers are Christians.<\/p>\n

Bob begins the book with autobiographical reflections on his childhood and youth in Louisiana where his life at school was made a living hell by Baptists and Catholics becuase of his LDS religion.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t experience that (school a living hell) until we moved from Iowa to South Dakota.\u00a0 You\u2019d think those two states would be very much alike, but they are very different in terms of religious ecology.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t recall anyone ever making fun of my religion in Iowa.\u00a0 When I entered school in South Dakota in 6th grade, however, things changed.\u00a0 The Catholics and Lutherans ridiculed me for being a \u201choly roller\u201d (we were Pentecostals of a very, very mild sort).\u00a0 That went on through high school even though I got used to it and learned to laugh at myself along with them.<\/p>\n

I remember picking up a book at a used book store years ago by a Lutheran theologian named Casper Nervig.\u00a0 The title was \u201cChristian Truth and Religious Delusion\u201d and, it turns out, only the Evangelical Lutheran Church (now the ALC or ELCA) was the \u201cChurch of Truth.\u201d\u00a0 Pentecostals were completely misrepresented and labeled a religious movement of \u201csome truth, much error.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a time when, in spite of most Pentecostal denominations belonging to the National Association of Evangelicals, even many evangelicals considered Pentecostals less-than-fully Christian.\u00a0 Of course, we returned the favor.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until I got involved in Youth for Christ in high school that I realized non-Pentecostals could be fully and completely Christian.<\/p>\n

So, I want to be fair and open-minded with anyone of a minority religious group who claims to be Christian.\u00a0 I have learned from hard experiences that in spite of studying non-traditional groups (I taught a course for 17 years called \u201cAmerica\u2019s Cults and New Religions\u201d) I sometimes turn out to be wrong about what they really believe and why.<\/p>\n

Bob is the self-appointed LDS missionary to mainstream Christians, attempting to explain LDS belief as truly Christian and not cultic or heretical.\u00a0 In this book, he deals with 11 common myths (as he sees them) about the LDS Church<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The first one is \u201cA Finite God\u201d and the last one is \u201cNo Eternal Security.\u201d\u00a0 It is an eye-opening book.\u00a0 Everyone who has any interest in LDS religion should read it, if for no other reason, to get what LDSers really believe (or at least Bob\u2019s version of it!).<\/p>\n

I am not particularly concerned about the details of \u201cMormon underwear\u201d and \u201cTemple work,\u201d etc.\u00a0 I go right to the heart of the matter (and did when I was at BYU twice for ecumenical dialogue events).\u00a0 Is Jesus God and Savior?\u00a0 To me, this is the crucial issue when trying to decide whether a person or group is authentically Christian.\u00a0 All kinds of religions and non-religious philosophies accept Jesus Christ as a prophet, a sage, a cynic, a magician, even the \u201cSon of God\u201d (as Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses admit).<\/p>\n

The World Council of Churches requires candidate denominations to confess that Jesus Christ is God and Savior.\u00a0 I agree.<\/p>\n

So what does Bob say about Jesus Christ?\u00a0 Well, Jesus appears on almost every page of the book and he goes to great lengths to express LDS high regard for Jesus.\u00a0 He talks often about Jesus\u2019 \u201cgodhood\u201d and \u201cdivinity\u201d and \u201cdivine powers,\u201d etc.\u00a0 But what I\u2019m looking for is a clear, unequivocal affirmation that Jesus Christ was uniquely God incarnate, eternally equal in essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On page 15 Bob says \u201cwhile Jesus was fully human, He was also fully God.\u00a0 That means\u2013and this is vital\u2013that we (LDSers) worship the Son of God as God the Son, as do all other Christians. \u2026 How He became the infinite and eternal God is, from my perspective, immaterial, if in fact it does not in any way detract from my love and unbounded adoration of Him.\u201d<\/p>\n

My response is: Hmmmmm\u2026..\u00a0 I like the first part of that confession and scratch my head vigorously and wince tightly over the last part of it.\u00a0 How does an infinite being \u201cbecome God?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once I asked Bob face-to-face if he believes Jesus is God and he said yes.\u00a0 Then I asked him if he believes Jesus was always God and he said yes.\u00a0 Why now, in this book, does he imply that Jesus \u201cbecame\u201d God?\u00a0 Does that even make sense?\u00a0 And can an informed, authentic Christian believe Jesus \u201cbecame God?\u201d<\/p>\n

I have come to the conclusion that many LDSers are, from my perspective, anyway, very confused about theology.\u00a0 IF Bob believes Jesus always was and is and always will be God equal with the Father and the Son, then I have no problem being open to accepting him as a Christian.\u00a0 (I would have to know that the LDS Church as a whole believes that before accepting it as a Christian denomination.)<\/p>\n

Of course, yes, there are other issues, but they pale in comparison with this one.<\/p>\n

I would like to see more LDS-Christian dialogues.\u00a0 And one thing I would like to challenge LDSers about is the eternal divinity of Jesus Christ and his unique\u00a0incarnation\u00a0on which everything about being a Christian depends.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been reading a new book by my LDS acquaintance Robert (Bob) Millet who teaches religion at Brigham Young University.\u00a0 Because I know he prefers to be called a Latter Day Saint (LDS) that\u2019s what I\u2019ll call him here.\u00a0 The book is Modern Mormonism: Myths and Realities (Greg Kofford Books).\u00a0 Now, you\u2019ll have to know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAre Mormons Christians?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I've been reading a new book by my LDS acquaintance Robert (Bob) Millet who teaches religion at Brigham Young University.\u00a0 Because I know he prefers to be\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are Mormons Christians?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I've been reading a new book by my LDS acquaintance Robert (Bob) Millet who teaches religion at Brigham Young University.\u00a0 Because I know he prefers to be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2011\/05\/are-mormons-christians\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Roger E. 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