Core Beliefs and Doctrines Part 2

Viewpoint on Mormonism, the program that examines the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from a biblical perspective. Viewpoint on Mormonism is sponsored by Mormonism Research Ministry. Since 1979, Mormonism Research Ministry has been dedicated to equipping the body of Christ with answers regarding the Christian faith in a manner that expresses gentleness and respect. And now, your host for today's Viewpoint on Mormonism. Welcome to this edition of Viewpoint on Mormonism. I'm your host, Bill McKeever, founder and director of Mormonism Research Ministry, and with me today is Eric Johnson, my colleague at MRM, the Core Beliefs and Doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We began in yesterday's program going through a PDF article that you can find on the official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That's ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

It's very easy to get to. Simply type in their search box, Core Beliefs and Doctrines. And the reason why we wanted to discuss this is we gave a hypothetical yesterday. Let's say you've talked to some Mormon missionaries about their faith, or let's say your neighbor who is LDS decided to share what they believe with you, and you sound a little bit intrigued. So by their suggestion, you go to the official website run by their church, and you want to know, well, what do they really believe? So you type in, let's say basic beliefs or core beliefs in their search box.

This article would be one of the links that pops up. There are other articles as well, but one thing that we find, many of these articles that talk about the core beliefs of the LDS church are very brief, and they're very vague. It's not that you can't find deeper things about what the church wants its people to believe, so how would you know where to look? You wouldn't, so most people would just put in the search box basic beliefs or beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In yesterday's show, as we've said, this PDF would be one of the links that pops up. But as we demonstrated in yesterday's program, the first paragraph that deals with the nature of God says some things that could be very confusing, and I would even say, Eric, misleading when it comes to what the church actually teaches, especially the portion as we discussed yesterday where it talks about God the Father, his son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost constitute the Godhead or Trinity for Mormons. A person who doesn't know anything about the LDS church wouldn't know that that word Mormons is not supposed to be a word used by Latter-day Saints any longer, but this PDF was produced in 2016. In fact, if you were to print it out on the back, it would say for more information about the worldwide church, visit MormonNewsroom.org. Well that link has been changed because as we mentioned yesterday, when Russell M. Nelson became the president of the church in 2018, he told members that they were no longer supposed to use the word Mormon when referring to members. They were not supposed to use the letters LDS to describe the church, and they were not to call the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the Mormon Church. He went so far as to say that that upsets Jesus when you do that, and it actually gives Satan a victory when you refer to the church in such a manner.

This PDF was put together before Nelson said that. So apparently it was okay before 2018, but hey, now it upsets Jesus and it gives Satan a victory when you use the term Mormon Church after 2018. One of the things, Bill, that you had mentioned off air is that there are many places throughout the entire ChurchofJesusChrist.org website that include the word Mormon, and I'm not going to think they're going to get that out of there in the next few years.

This could take decades for them to find all of these places, including this PDF article we're covering right now. That would be a great question to ask a Latter-day Saint. If those terms really upset Jesus and they really give Satan a victory, is the LDS Church still doing that? Because all those expressions are still found on its official website.

I mean, let's be serious. How many times have we kind of chided Latter-day Saints who go onto their official website still using the old URL, LDS.org? I know I do. Does that mean I'm ticking off Jesus every time I do that? Am I giving Satan a victory because I type in LDS.org? I'd like to know how many Latter-day Saints listening to this show still do that.

I would venture to say most of them do. Well, let's continue with what we were discussing yesterday, Eric, about the word Trinity, because this is misleading. And as I mentioned, there's another article on newsroom.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, another official website of the LDS Church that says under the title Trinity, among the most important differences with other Christian churches are those concerning the nature of God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Together these form what is commonly referred to as the Holy Trinity in many churches and as the Godhead by Latter-day Saints. So here, it looks like a distinction is being made between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and all other churches who use that word Trinity.

But they use the word many. And I would say that whether you're a Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or Protestant Christian, all of us are going to be very adamant about the importance of the Trinity. So I would say in all churches calling themselves Christian, the Holy Trinity is a vital doctrine. As we were showing yesterday, there have been statements made by some Mormon leaders of the past that use the word Trinity, but they do not define it in the historical manner. Historically, the Trinity has been understood as one God eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Instead, they are described as being three separate gods. That's not a teaching of the Christian church. So this is why I say using the word Trinity in this paper, Core Beliefs and Doctrines, the way it's used could be very confusing to someone who was interested in wanting to know what their LDS neighbor really believes. Let me give you a quote from former BYU professor Robert Millet in a book that he wrote called A Different Jesus, The Church of the Latter-day Saints. Page 171, he said, if an acceptance of the doctrine of the Trinity makes one a Christian, then of course, Latter-day Saints are not Christians for they believe the doctrine of the Trinity is expressed in modern Protestant and Catholic theology is the product of the reconciliation of Christian theology with Greek philosophy.

Well, a Mormon might say, well, that's Robert Millet. He was just a BYU professor. He doesn't really speak for the church. And BYU professors don't speak for the church. But then you have Jeffrey R. Holland. Jeffrey R. Holland, as an apostle, gave a talk titled The One True God in Jesus Christ Whom He Has Sent. This was in a conference message that he gave in October.

It can be found in the November 2007 edition of Ensign on page 40. When speaking of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as they describe him, Holland says, they are one in every significant and eternal aspect imaginable except believing them to be three persons combined in one substance, a Trinitarian notion never set forth in the scriptures because it is not true. Now, you would think if Jeffrey Holland really believes that statement, and I'm sure he does, that most Latter-day Saints would be very guarded in using the word Trinity because it does have a historical definition that certainly would not fit the way Mormons today understand, as they say, the Godhead. So why do they use it like this?

I don't know. To me, that sounds confusing. Bill, I think there probably are some listeners who are saying, okay, so what is the Trinity?

Well, this is a short series. We don't have time to get into that topic, and we have covered it before. But if you want to go to our website, we have a series of 14 articles on different aspects of the Trinity called the Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity found at mrm.org slash Trinity hyphen index. We also have what's called Crash Course Mormonism.

And if you go to mrm.org slash Trinity hyphen doctrine, we have a whole article on that that in a brief way explains what we as Christians believe about the Trinity. In this PDF, Core Beliefs and Doctrines, found on the official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it goes on to have a subheading Christian. And it says, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a Christian church, but is neither Catholic nor Protestant. Now, I want to take that a little bit further because Gordon B. Hinckley, in a book that he wrote in 1947, Gordon B. Hinckley, of course, was the 15th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that before he became president, he writes this book. And in this book, in the first chapter, he has a subheading Protestants or Catholics. And this is what Gordon B. Hinckley said, They are generally classed as Protestants since they are not Catholics.

Now, who are the they? Well, if you go to the paragraph preceding the one that I'm reading, he says, For the Mormons regard themselves as saints only in the sense that they are believers in Jesus Christ and members of his church. Again, we have Gordon B. Hinckley using the word Mormons because this was prior to 2018 when that word became forbidden, according to the dictates of 17th president Russell M. Nelson.

But let me go on. Hinckley says they are generally classed as Protestants since they are not Catholics. Actually, they are no closer to Protestantism than they are to Catholicism, neither historically nor on the basis of modern association, theology or practice can they be grouped with either. I would almost think since Gordon B. Hinckley was very good at making that statement so concise, that probably should have been quoted in this paper, Core Beliefs and Doctrines.

Why didn't they go into that kind of depth to make it very clear to the reader that neither historically nor on the basis of modern association, theology or practice can they be grouped with either? Clearly, Gordon B. Hinckley is making a distinction between what the LDS Church believes and what Protestants or Catholics would believe in this regard. The section goes on, Bill, to say, rather, it is a restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ as originally established by the Savior of the New Testament of the Bible. Latter Day Saints believe God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save all mankind from death and their individual sins. Jesus Christ is central to the lives of Church members. They seek to follow His example by being baptized, praying in His holy name, partaking of the sacrament, doing good to others, and bearing witness of Him through both word and deed. The only way to salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ.

There are so many things that can be discussed in that paragraph alone, but let's try to dissect this. Notice when it says, rather, it is a restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ as originally established by the Savior in the New Testament of the Bible. This word restoration is also used under the heading, Modern Prophets and Continuing Revelation, where it says members believe the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a restoration of the Church originally established by Jesus Christ during His mortal lifetime.

But the question I would ask is if it's indeed a restoration, as this paper implies, why is it we do not find, in Christian history, early Christians believing the things that modern Latter Day Saints believe today, even when it comes to the nature of God? We have LDS leaders admitting there's a difference. Did early Christians believe what Mormons believe today regarding what they call the Godhead? Did they believe that there's three separate gods within the Godhead? I challenge you as a Latter Day Saint to defend that. Do they believe that men can become gods as Mormons believe today? Did they believe that if they were faithful in their Christianity that they would eventually inherit a world or earth that they could become a god over and start this process all over again? Did they really practice baptism for the dead as Mormons practice it today? Did they believe that you would be married in heaven? I challenge you, Latter Day Saint, if you're going to tell us that your church is a restoration, then you have to show us where the early Christian church believes such things, and I've just given you a very short list. Thank you for listening. If you would like more information regarding Mormonism Research Ministry, we encourage you to visit our website at www.mrm.org where you can request our free newsletter, Mormonism Researched. We hope you will join us again as we look at another viewpoint on Mormonism.