A couple of weeks ago, on my radio show, I read some response letters to my controversial writings and broadcasts about Mormonism in which I defended Mitt Romney politically (preferring him to Huckabee, even though I am an Evangelical) yet still discussed the teachings of Mormonism rather candidly.
Since then, several Mormons have written and thanked me for my kind tone. Other Mormons took offense because I did challenge their religion.
To put it mildly: Mormons don’t like being called a cult. This, of course, is very understandable. Nobody wants to believe they are involved in a cult and people find the term derogatory. Now there are different definitions of the word “cult”. Would a Mormon leader take his people to Guyana and have them commit suicide like Jim Jones did? No, of course not. Mormons are usually pretty sane people. They don’t act weird or whacked out at all. So if that’s your definition of a cult, a group which acts weird, so be it. With that description I would agree; Mormons are not cultic.
However, Mormons do tend to have a fairly blind unquestionable view of their prophets and I wouldn’t trust men like Joseph Smith or Brigham Young any further than I can throw. This suggests a different, yet, popular cult definition: Groups that blindly follow one or two individuals without proper scrutiny.
In any event, amongst Christians, there is yet another definition in play and understanding this definition may help to eliminate some of the confusion characterizing this discussion. Christians believe in a certain kind of cult, that is, a religion, which claims to be Christian but contradicts even the most basic tenets of the Bible. With those criteria in mind, Mormonism teaches Polytheism and the Bible teaches Monotheism. I realize Mormons believe there is only one God for this earth (they make that clarification quite often) but they do believe in the existence of additional gods elsewhere and the Bible teaches there are no other gods at all. (Isa 43:10)
And so, according to that definition; a church with a Biblical claim that teaches unbiblical things, Mormonism is a cult.
Pointing out what a religion teaches is not the same as showing disrespect. Hindus believe in multiple gods as well but Hindus do not take offense when others display the belief. Why then, should Mormons take offense? Well, not all of them do. As for the others? Possibly because they realize how difficult it is for a Judeo-Christian culture to think of a polytheistic religion as “just another Christian denomination.”
Speaking of denominations: Generally speaking, denominations claim to be one expression of Christianity. They recognize other denominations as alternative expressions. Cults, on the other hand, usually claim to be “the only true church.” Mormonism makes that claim quite emphatically. It is the whole foundation of their religion. Smith, supposedly, was given a vision of God saying all churches were corrupt. His calling was to bring back the true church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is exactly that, The church of Jesus Christ, not a church of Jesus Christ. Now, I believe in freedom of religion and Mormons are free to believe what they want. And I will still vote for Romney if he gets the nomination. But let’s be clear: In this discussion of who respects who, it can be argued that those who think they are in the only true church are anti-Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, etc. I’m not saying we need to necessarily draw that conclusion. I’m just saying, it’s an interesting phenomenon to ponder when Mormons accuse those who critique their church of being anti-Mormon.
I still like you, Romney. I even like you better than Huckabee, the guy whose theology more closely resembles mine.
This is the Evangelical Christian apologist, Bob Siegel, making the obvious, obvious
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