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RSSWho is Jesus? According to the Christian Bible Jesus is the son of God, He is God, He created man, and He is Savior to all humankind. There is only one God who is immortal. Jesus was miraculously born from the virgin Mary and died on the cross, only to rise from the dead three days later, thus saving humanity. God is a trinitarian being, meaning he exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These are fundamental beliefs for the Christian faith.
Their claim is that he is not God’s only son, but that we are all the children of God. He is considered to be the brother of Satan. We are all supposedly brothers and sisters in that we are all his created spirit-children. Put the two ideas together, we are the brothers and sisters of Satan and Jesus as well! He had to physically have many children (literally… as in having to concieve every single one of us with some female being).
God was once as we were (Teachings of the Prophect Joseph Smith, 345). He was flesh, was mortal, and even grew up somewhere before he became God of Earth. If we do what we are supposed to while we live, we could possibly be gods one day as well. Then, just like God, we can work on populating our own planet.
According to Mormon theology, Jesus is not God. Their religious foundation is based on the belief of many gods, this is called polytheism. Christianity is monotheistic, meaning a belief in one god.
He is also not considered to be the Savior for mankind in the same sense that Christianity believes. There is also not claim that Jesus was born from a virgin Mary, but rather that God came down and did the deed so that she was pregnant.
As we can see, the Mormon Jesus is not the same Jesus as the Christians. Two different people. Christians believe Jesus to be God, and since Mormons do not it would safe to assume they are seperate religions. Unfortunately, Mormonism is still trying to masquerade as a Christian Denomination.
lori
Oct 11, 2008 @ 12:42:32
I am loving your new blog!! Awesome-keep it up!!
Jesse
Oct 11, 2008 @ 14:14:28
Mick,
While I am sure there are many members who do believe a lot of the things you have written down, I will try to speak for the majority of the LDS Church and, where possible, cite actual doctrine instead of speculation.
In regard to the trinity, there are actually many sects, such as Mormonism, that do not believe in the trinity. Further, the LDS faith does not believe in the trinity as evidenced by the scriptures. One such scripture is found in Matthew 3:16-17, where Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, and God the Father all are distinctly separate beings.
The LDS Church does indeed believe that we are all spirit children of God the Father. We do not believe that God had to conceive each and every one of us in the traditional sense. Perhaps this is one of those things that you heard from someone else. I actually have never heard that theory.
Further, we also do believe, like you said, that we all are spirit children of God the Father, even as Jesus Christ and Lucifer were spirit children of God the Father. However, only one of God’s spirit children ever came to this earth having God as their mortal father as well. For example, I am a spirit child of God, but I am a mortal child of my biological father here on earth. Jesus Christ, on the other hand, is also spirit child of God, and He is also a mortal child of God.
In regard to how Jesus Christ was conceived, we do not know. Nowhere has official doctrine ever been said stating that we believe God the Father actually came down and “did the deed.” We base our belief on this topic off of the scriptures provided in the Bible and elsewhere (Luke 1:30-31, Matthew 1:20).
“According to Mormon theology, Jesus is not God.” This could not be further from the truth. We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost (Articles of Faith 1); God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.
Jesus Christ is the Savior of all mankind, who indeed died for all mankind, and rose three days later. It is very saddening to think that others think we do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior and Redeemer of the world. I assure you, with every ounce of my heart, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and has made salvation possible for all mankind if they will be repent and believe on His name. “And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ the Lord Omnipotent” (Mosiah 3:17).
We do not try to come across as a mainstream religion. We proclaim indeed that only through restored gospel of Jesus Christ, which is found and authorized in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, can one receive exaltation in the heavens above. We are different, and we know this. We claim Christianity because our faith is centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, which is the core belief of Christianity.
All the scriptures I quoted can be found by doing a search at this site:
http://scriptures.lds.org/en/contents
God bless.
Mick
Oct 11, 2008 @ 15:42:23
Jesse,
Thank you for the interaction you have been providing. It is nice to actually see a Mormon interact with what I have been saying.
If you do believe everything you have written, and it seems that you very well do, I can only hope that most people of the LDS believe the same.
Many of your points are encouraging to hear, only there is one that I am still getting stuck on: “receive exaltation in the heavens above.” The idea of being a god is totally in contradiction with Christianity.
This becomes clear when reading Scriptrue like Deuteronomy 4:39 which says, “Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.” Also, in John 10:30 Jesus says himself, “I and the Father are one.” Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit are one God.
So, yes, you believe some of the basis doctrines of Christian faith. But it does not seem at you believe in one of the main reasons Christianity is different from other religions: only one God.
Because of this, I cannot look at the LDS as a denomination, but have to view it as a cult.
Seth R.
Oct 11, 2008 @ 15:44:33
Doctrine and Covenants 93:29
“Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.”
and verse 33:
“For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy;”
From this, it should be obvious that there is not such thing as a “created being” in Mormonism. At least not the way you mean the word.
Thus, the Mormon Jesus cannot be a created being either.
Mick
Oct 11, 2008 @ 16:06:43
Seth,
You and Jesse have both been quoting from the Mormon Bible, so I think in my next blog I will discuss matters concerning authoritative writings for the LDS.
With what you are saying, it would appear that you believe man is not created, thus being eternal just as God is eternal. I wonder how you would wrestle with the first several chapters in Genesis that explain God creating the world. Or John 1:3 which talks about how everything was made through Him?
We are not eternal. We were created.
Jesse
Oct 11, 2008 @ 16:21:15
Hey Mick,
To be honest, I do not comprehend either the full potential of a righteous man exalted in heaven. I do believe that our reward(s) will be endless, but I really have a hard time wrapping my head around the ‘eternity.’ Regardless, though, I do still have faith and believe that there are rewards innumerable being stored for us in the heavens.
Like you mentioned, there are a lot of scriptures that are identical to or close to the one you cited: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). The difference in belief arises from our belief that those such statements are not to be taken literally, but metaphorically. They truly are one in purpose, but distinctly separate beings. That is our belief.
That belief of ours is further augmented by the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith commonly called “The First Vision.” If you are not familiar with it, it was when God the Father and Jesus Christ physically appeared to Joseph Smith in answer to a prayer of his. I can see very readily though how other Christians believe the opposite.
Thanks for the chance you’ve provided to discuss this stuff. God bless.
Mick
Oct 11, 2008 @ 16:30:11
If you would not mind me asking you a couple of questions, that would be great.
1) Why do you see those verses as metiphorical?
2) Why is there a need for another prophet like Joseph Smith? Was Jesus not enough?
Your answers would be greatly appreciated.
Jesse
Oct 11, 2008 @ 16:48:19
Sure.
I see them as metaphorical because like I said, we have the testimony of modern prophets, starting with Joseph Smith, which have relayed prophesy and doctrine which makes it clear for us that they’re not literal. Also, it would not be surprising to hear Jesus say something like that metaphorically, seeing as he often talked about His and the Father’s unity, such as in John 8:19, “…if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.”
We believe that additional prophets have been needed in these days for this very reason we’re experiencing here: different interpretations and opinions as to the meaning of the scriptures in the Bible.
In short, we believe that after Jesus Christ and His established church had been taken from this earth, that the world fell into a period of apostasy, all the way up until the 19th century. During that time, we believe that no one on earth had God’s authority to administer His church, and because of this, man was left to their own to interpret the scriptures how they thought they should be.
They were not left in this state because of God, but because of their lack of faith. God in fact always wants His children to have the blessings that come with prophets and apostles, but according to His wisdom, the world during that time was not ready for such.
So we believe that for a couple reasons God started calling prophets again in these days, starting with Joseph Smith, all the way up until the present day prophet, Thomas S. Monson.
Reason 1: The authority of God, which we call the Priesthood, is needed to administer the saving ordinances required, such as baptism, marriage, etc. We believe this authority has been restored solely to the LDS Church.
Reason 2: To give guidance, prophetic counsel, and prophesy according to God’s wishes, which we believe is very much needed in these times.
Jesus Christ is enough. He has already atoned for our sins, and taught and explained His doctrine. However, God wishes to make the path easier for us, so He has called additional prophets in these days to satisfy those two reasons I stated above. Joseph Smith is a prophet, and a great prophet at that. But he does not trump or even come close to equalling the importance and role of Jesus Christ in our salvation.
Sorry for rambling on a little
. That is a rough background of why we feel it was needed for God to restore His church through prophets to this earth.
Jason Taber
Oct 11, 2008 @ 21:27:22
Jesse,
How do you explain “The First Vision” when you compare it to John 1:18 the says no one has seen God at any time?
I do believe that you believe Jesus is God, because most Mormons believe in a plurality of gods. The problem there is that if you reject the Trinity, you contradict Isaiah 45:5 which says “I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God” There is only one God.
Also, Matthew 3:16-17 actually supports the idea of the Trinity. It does not show three separate beings, but one being that is three separate persons.
Brad
Oct 13, 2008 @ 11:08:11
Jesse,
Which version of the “First Vision” do you refer to? The 1st, the 9th, or somewhere in between?
Jesse
Oct 19, 2008 @ 21:27:31
I refer to the version found in the Joseph Smith History, which is found in the Pearl of Great Price.