I have heard it stated, primarily by Protestant critics of the Church, that “Mormons aren’t Christian.” I’ve heard it so many times that I’ve come to expect it in the comment sections of any faithful social media post.
What do these critics mean? Surely, they can’t be so blind as to not even read the name of the Church? Actually, this is usually the response that the critics get in said comment sections. “We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! He is our Savior.” Something like that.
I think, though, that each of these statements miss each other’s points. Critics are not calling Mormons “non-Christians” because they believe that we have no belief in Christ at all. Most critics are aware of the name of the Church. Most are aware of our beliefs. It is our beliefs that drive the claim! It is not that we do not believe in Christ—it is that we believe in a different Christ than the One in which the Protestant or Catholic Christians believe.
We are not Christians, at least not in the traditional sense. Just as Lutherans were no longer Catholics when Martin hung up his sign, so were Mormons no longer Christians when Joseph began writing. We believe in a different Christ.
Allow me to explain.
There is the Christ of the Bible. He is mostly the same as the Christ of the Book of Mormon, though perhaps a little less well-travelled. We will refer to this Christ as the Biblical Christ (with full respect to His Book of Mormon-self as the characters are nearly identical.)
Then, there is the Latter-day Christ. He is not the same as the Biblical Christ, nor does He compare to his Book of Mormon counterpart. We will refer to Him as the Latter-day Christ.
The Biblical Christ, if we were to condense His characteristics into a single paragraph, would be, first, kind. He is loving. He is merciful. He is compassionate. Slow to anger. Non-judging. Peaceful. Forgiving.
That is the Christ of the Bible. [1] It is the Christ of the Book of Mormon. It is the Christ of Christianity.
It is not the Christ of the Latter-day Church.
In no other religion is Christ so passionately pushed away from His followers. Imagine you are a sinner. You’ve committed some serious sin and you must repent. A protestant would probably tell you to turn to Christ. Give Him your sin. Take His body and his blood. Repent. Change. That is all you must do. Now, imagine you are a Latter-day Saint sinner. You’ve committed the very same serious sin, and you must repent. You pray. You ask forgiveness. You give Him your sin. You take the sacrament. You change. That is not enough.
If you are a Latter-day sinner, you must confess your sin to a bishop, at least. The bishop, then, (if the sin is serious enough,) takes away the sacrament. He forbids you from partaking in the symbol of Christ’s sacrifice. He takes away your permission to be with the Lord in His house.
The Church of Jesus Christ is one of the only churches which takes Christ’s sacrifice away from the sinner.
A protestant has little need to discuss his or her sin with anyone but the Lord. Their repentance is between them and their Savior. It is just the two of them. They are forgiven when the Lord decides He has forgiven them. A Mormon is pushed away from the Savior. He is not forgiven until the bishop decides he is forgiven. Then, once repentance has already taken place, he is allowed to partake in Christ again.
This is not Christianity.
Christ spent nearly all of his life among the sinners. He ministered to the adulteress. He healed sinners. He blessed sinners. He preached to sinners. He died for sinners.
His sacrifice was not for the people committing half-serious sins alone. It was for all. He did not die so that some other man could stand in His way of forgiving His friend.
The modern Church will often take this withdrawal of Christ from a sinner even further. They may excommunicate the sinner. This step is taken in many circumstances. In the modern Church, Christ is not the only judge. Bishops and Stake Presidents are judges also, and can withdraw the atonement from the sinner.
An excommunicated member cannot partake in the sacrament. They cannot enter the temple. The Holy Ghost is taken from them. This action is decided, not by Christ, but by men. In the Mormon Church, if you are a sinner, you have no right to Christ’s sacrifice. Christ’s sacrifice is for the righteous only.
According to Mormon doctrine, a Latter-day Saint who has been excommunicated will not enter the Celestial Kingdom.
“Thus saith the Lord concerning all those who know my power, and have been made partakers thereof, and suffered themselves through the power of the devil to be overcome, and to deny the truth and defy my power—They are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it had been better for them never to have been born; For they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels in eternity.” [2]
The Latter-day Christ has relinquished his final judging power to his bishops and stake presidents. They, not He, have the final say in a soul’s salvation. The entire act of excommunication is non-Christian. (See subsection “Excommunication”)
The Latter-day Christ is not kind. He is not slow to anger. He is wrathful and angry and just.
He shows us this directly.
In 1843, Emma Smith was upset with her husband. She discovered he was married to several other women, a fact which Joseph had kept hidden from her. I cannot fathom her pain at this discovery. I imagine she felt betrayed; cast aside; forgotten.
What words of comfort does our Lord and Savior have for His beloved daughter?
Let us read his words from his own mouth.
Doctrine and Covenants 132 (the section of the Doctrine and Covenants which enforced polygamy as law, which revelation was given at Emma Smith’s request.)
“And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure, and have said they were pure, shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God.”
“And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else. But if she will not abide this commandment she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her if she abide not in my law.” [3]
In other words, “forgive your husband, love your husband, accept his wives, or I will destroy you.”
He died on the cross. He bore our sorrows. He suffered in the garden.
“I will destroy her if she abide not in my law.”
He raised the dead. He wept. He healed. He comforted those who stood in need of comfort.
“I am the Lord thy God, and [I] will destroy her.”
He protected the adulteress. He forgave her sins. He preached and ministered to the lepers, the homeless, the cast-outs, and the down-trodden.
He is not the same as the Latter-day Christ. He is a different God, whether a truly changed one, or a fabrication from a wicked, adulterating husband, we may not know. We can be sure, though, that the Christ who was crucified did not rise again in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He stayed dead. His tomb stayed shut. His wounds never healed. He is gone from the Church. He’s not welcome. He is honest, kind, merciful, and loving. And the Church of Jesus Christ is no place for a God like that.
[1] Specifically, the New Testament, as Christ is never named in the Old Testament, or alluded to using any other known name.
