2 Responses to “Do Mormons believe that other churches are “abominations,” o…”
Felipe Santana
2008-01-14 01:33:03
Hi friend. As the Mormon culture has "grown up," it has become less confrontational. It should come as no surprise to you that Mormons do believe in their religion; we do believe we have the truth, and where other religions differ from us theologically, we believe they are in error. Catholics would say the same thing, as would Protestants, Buddhists, and Muslims. The reason any person belongs to a religion is because they think that religion is the "truest."
That having been said, Mormons shy away from describing other religions as "abominations." While always asserting our claims to theological truth, we now tend to place more emphasis on that which is true in other religions, as opposed to that which is in error. While we believe most religions on earth have been mixed with human philosophies over the centuries, we nevertheless believe there is much truth in all of the world's religions.
In 1978, the Church released a proclamation that stated the following: "...the great religious leaders of the world such as Mohamed, Confucius, and the Reformers, as well as philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and others, received a portion of God's light. Moral truths were given to them by God to enlighten whole nations and to bring a higher level of understanding to individuals."
It is far more productive to emphasize common truth and to civilly debate theological questions than to dwell negatively on differences.
Jlf
2008-02-03 07:16:18
The term "abomination" is used to identify the creeds not the congregations. It is used to describe anythng that creates distance from God and his children such as the nicene, apostles and athansian creeds which teach that God the Father, Christ and the Holy Ghost are all one amalgamtion. This view is not defendable in the New Testament. In fact it is a 5th century invention that was heavily inflenced by Greek philosphy. Historic or traditonal Christians have held on to it as a traditon. It is not biblical. Mormons reject these creeds in favor of the original Christian view of Christ, God the Father and Holy Ghost and hold that they are three seperate beings. This is one reason why you will hear that mormons are not considered Christian. Our rejection of trintarianism is also the source of the term "cult" which is sometimes used to define mormons. Cult in the evangelical use, is any church that rejects one or more of the trintarian views of the nature of God and historic Christianity. Mormons beleive that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, savior of all mankind. His atonement is what saves us all.
Webmaster: I agree with this answer but wanted to add that while Mormons do consider God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost to be physically separate, we consider them to be one in every other way, especially one in purpose. I'm not convinced this view of the Godhead is incompatible with the Christian definition of "Trinity," but most Mormons seem to think it is, so I suspect I'm somehow ignorant!
That having been said, Mormons shy away from describing other religions as "abominations." While always asserting our claims to theological truth, we now tend to place more emphasis on that which is true in other religions, as opposed to that which is in error. While we believe most religions on earth have been mixed with human philosophies over the centuries, we nevertheless believe there is much truth in all of the world's religions.
In 1978, the Church released a proclamation that stated the following: "...the great religious leaders of the world such as Mohamed, Confucius, and the Reformers, as well as philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and others, received a portion of God's light. Moral truths were given to them by God to enlighten whole nations and to bring a higher level of understanding to individuals."
It is far more productive to emphasize common truth and to civilly debate theological questions than to dwell negatively on differences.
Webmaster: I agree with this answer but wanted to add that while Mormons do consider God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost to be physically separate, we consider them to be one in every other way, especially one in purpose. I'm not convinced this view of the Godhead is incompatible with the Christian definition of "Trinity," but most Mormons seem to think it is, so I suspect I'm somehow ignorant!