10 Reasons why We Cannot Fellowship with the Mormon Church Part 2

Answering Mormons Questions by Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson deals with 36 commonly asked questions by your LDS friends and neighbors. It's a great resource for Christians who want to share their faith with friends and loved ones.

Be sure to pick up your copy today at your favorite Christian bookstore. 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 Aaron Shafawaloff, my colleague at MRM. Yesterday, we introduced Aaron's research into missions work in the state of Utah. And wouldn't you say, Aaron, that probably many Christians look at evangelism in the state of Utah as probably something that's more recent rather than what goes back to the founding of the state of Utah, even before when it was a territory of the United States? I think the person that people have on the radar, that's sort of chapter one in their thinking about the history of engaging Mormonism is Sandra Tanner, maybe Walter Martin.

But before that, it's like, huh, I don't know. Well, I know my mentors were Art and Edna Bedvarsen, who started the Utah Christian Track Society back in the 1950s. They had produced a lot of these blue ink, white stapled tracks. Those tracks went all over the place, and Art was a very prolific researcher and writer and covered a number of subjects. Now, many of those tracks are outdated now because the church has done some course corrections and changing the pages and some of the things, but still, he put out a lot of good material and was a huge influence in my life.

They helped me immensely when it came to my study of Mormonism. But we're talking this week about a statement, and I think we need to be careful how we describe it. We chose to go with the word statement because it was no doubt printed in a booklet form or pamphlet form, but it was a statement that was agreed upon by a number of the Christians in the state of Utah just prior to the turn of the 20th century.

And so this statement was no doubt reprinted in many formats. And as we mentioned yesterday, it was even reprinted in the Deseret News, which was owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints back then, as it is now. And it was reprinted in the Deseret News of Salt Lake City on July 8, 1921. And there was a response by the church through B.H. Roberts, Brigham Henry Roberts, who was kind of like the go-to apologist, you might say, at that time. So he responds to it in a sermon in the tabernacle, and that was on July 10, 1921. So we're talking about two days later, they're responding already. Now, for this statement, to get the attention of the church and get a response that quickly, I think they felt like they were stung by this statement.

What's your opinion on that? I think Roberts was confused about why we were bringing this 20-something-year-old document, why we were resurfacing this, where we could give it public visibility. There were some things that the LDS church, I think, wanted to wane from the consciousness of the people, and this was bringing them back.

And I want to go back to a statement that I read yesterday, because I think this is very important. When you talk about fellowship as opposed to friendship, there's a big difference between the two folks. I want to restate what it says in this Ten Reasons statement. It is not that Christians entertain ill will toward Mormons as neighbors and citizens, nor are they averse to cooperating with them in the work of moral and social reform and in the promotion of temperance. On the contrary, Christians of every name most earnestly desire to unite with the Mormon people in all feasible plans that have as their end the social, political, and moral advancement of our commonwealth. In other words, this is purely a disagreement when it comes to theological issues, and that's what they're going to stick to. Now, as we mentioned yesterday, some of these theological issues are no longer relevant. For instance, the plural marriage issue is not really relevant.

Although the Church has really not abandoned plural marriage in its entirety, in principle, they do have a doctrine that's known as eternal polygamy, and they believe that plural marriage will go on in the next life, but it is not something that the Church will tolerate if you have two living wives at the same time. We need to make that very clear. We're not saying, don't be friends with your LDS neighbor. That's silly. Of course, you should be friends with your LDS neighbor.

They're great people. They just need to be challenged on some of the doctrines that we find very troublesome and as a part of their theology. Let's look at the ten reasons.

Let's start with the first reason. The first statement has to do with unchurching. Now, that's kind of an interesting word, unchurching, but this is how it's explained. The Mormon Church unchurches all Christians.

It recognizes itself alone as the Church. From its beginning to the present, it has insisted from press and platform that all Christian churches of whatever name, nation, or century, since apostolic times, are not only apostate from the truth, but propagators of error and false doctrine without authority to teach, preach, or administer the sacraments. That salvation and exaltation are found alone in the Church, organized by Joseph Smith.

Now, Aaron, as I read that, I don't find anything that's incorrect in that statement. It seems to describe the Latter-day Saint faith completely accurately. They have listed with the statement some proofs, as they call it.

Proof number one, the Mormon Church is, quote, the only true and living Church upon the face of the whole earth. Reference, Doctrine and Covenants, section 1, verse 30. That stands today, if you were to look at a modern copy of the Doctrine and Covenants, that's what it says. Second proof, behold I, the Lord, that is, say unto you that all old covenants, say, Christian churches, have I cause to be done away in this thing, and this is a new and an everlasting covenant. That's from Doctrine and Covenants, section 22, verse 1. Would you have any problems with that statement? Seems like a fair reading of the text. Number three says it, speaking of Mormonism, quote, is entirely unlike all plans or systems ever invented by human authority.

It has no alliance, connection, or fellowship with any of them. It speaks with divine authority, and all nations without an exception are required to obey. He that receives the message and endures to the end will be saved. He that rejects it will be damned. And in that statement, they are citing the works of Orson Pratt, who was a Mormon apostle. In the next one, we have a quote by B.H. Roberts himself, which says, these claims in behalf of Mormonism presupposes the destruction of the primitive Christian Church, a complete apostasy from the Christian religion. And that is from his work, The New Witness for God.

It's in the preface on page one. And then also we have a statement from the Pearl of Great Price. I was answered that I must join none of them. This is Joseph Smith speaking in the First Vision account, where he is told by the two personages that appeared to him when he was confused as to which church he should join. These personages tell him that he should join none of the churches, for they were all wrong. Now, they don't include the whole statement, they just include the part that says, for they were all wrong. Actually, the complete accusation was that they were all wrong, their creeds are an abomination, and their professors are corrupt.

So they're actually being kind, I would probably say, in that statement by not quoting it in its entirety. Now, we go on to point number two, and that has to do with Scripture. And that is an issue that we find a lot of times with Latter-day Saints. Well, you think that we're not a true church because we just have added Scripture, such as the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants.

Well, this is brought up in point number two, having to do with Scripture. The Mormon Church places the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants on a par with the Bible, and requires subscription to the inspiration and authority of those books as a condition of acceptance with God, and a fellowship with his people. Their so-called revelations of the present are put on the same level with the Bible. I think they're being generous in that statement, and the reason I say that is because they say officially that we believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. Now, we know that scholars say that that word translated is not really being accurate. It really means that it was not transmitted accurately down through the centuries. But when it says that these books, the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, are on a par with the Bible— In practice, they treat their added Scriptures as more authoritative than the Bible. I think you're right. If many Latter-day Saints were challenged between a statement that's found in the Bible and a statement that may contradict it by one of their living prophets, they would run to the prophet every time.

I find that to be the case whenever I bring up some of these kind of issues as well. Some of the proofs that they had to support that accusation made against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Proof number one, has God given many revelations to men?

Answer, yes, a great number. Where have we any account of his doing so? Answer, in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and other publications of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And they're citing from a catechism, chapter 111, question one and two. The next quote we have is from Doctrine and Covenants, section 84, verse 57. And they, that is, the children of Zion, shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon, and the former commandments which I have given them. Which is incredible because it's saying that this whole body of people can't become legitimately in God's favor under the new covenant until they receive the Book of Mormon as of God. The next one is a statement by Joseph Smith. It's found in the history of Joseph Smith.

That was in the Millennial Star, volume 18, page 790. I spent the day in council with the twelve apostles. I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book. Now, there's no doubt that Joseph Smith said that, but I don't even think most modern Latter-day Saints would agree with that. And I've challenged Latter-day Saints on that very statement. It's not that they don't think that the Book of Mormon is a correct book, maybe even the most correct of any book on earth, but is the Book of Mormon really the keystone of the Mormon religion? When I ask that question, I mean it in the context of, are the doctrines found in the Book of Mormon first and foremost in the life of a Latter-day Saint? I would challenge that, because when Smith brings forth the Book of Mormon, it's very early on in the history of his movement, and we know that he's going to go through a huge evolution, theologically, to where by the time he dies in 1844, a lot of the things that he is teaching at that time tend to contradict, or at least ignore, a lot of what is stated in the Book of Mormon. So when he says that a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, the Book of Mormon precepts, than by any other book, I think that's an erroneous statement, at least as it was by the time Joseph Smith died, certainly today. The last reference we have is from John Taylor, who said, Wilford Woodruff is the prophet and seer of this church. Joseph Smith was a prophet, Brigham Young was a prophet, Wilford Woodruff is a prophet, and I know that he has a great many prophets around him, and he can make scriptures as good as those in the Bible. Tomorrow we're going to continue looking at the 10 reasons why Christians cannot fellowship the Mormon Church, and we're going to begin with a criticism regarding Joseph Smith himself. Today we look at another viewpoint on Mormonism.