Mormonism: the Fourth Abrahamic Religion

Not the first time it's been proposed.

The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints is unquestionably a potent entity, with its own distinct moral code, culture, and customs that millions of people around the world follow. It adds on not only texts by Joseph Smith but an entire book (of Mormon) of its own upon the canonical Christian Scriptures- usually when a new religion such as Islam or Baha'i springs up there's a considerable amount of writings added. The Mormon Church sees itself as the true Christian church. Its theology and ideas is definitely distinct from the rest of Christendom.

So should Mormonism be considered the 4th Abrahamic religion? Or is it not different enough from Christianity? If an offshoot is different enough and big enough, shouldn't it be considered its own religion- after all, Islam is. Then again, there are more Jehovah's Witnesses than Mormons, and JW is already very different from mainstream Christianity, just as Mormonism is. Of course JW's don't add another book, they just use their own unique translation of the Bible.
 
Then again, there are more Jehovah's Witnesses than Mormons, and JW is already very different from mainstream Christianity, just as Mormonism is. Of course JW's don't add another book, they just use their own unique translation of the Bible.

the Witnesses use the King James Bible :confused:
 

Sissco

Banned
Some of my Family are mormons...but I sissco don't believe a word of that book......Hope I don't get into trouble here for saying that!

sissco
 
Before you can decide whether Mormonism fit's the mold of "Christianity", you have to define what Christianity is: (1) The present definition as has been decided by 2,000 years of bickering among various theologians, or (2) the religion Christ and his direct apostles originally set up among the people of the time? The two are very different entities.
 
Well, does the Church of Latter Day Saints fit in with the three major Christian branches:

Catholic Church: No. Simply, no, not at all.

Eastern Orthodox Church: No. Getting colder.

Protestant Church (all of the numerous denominations): Maybe. But no. Mormonism reject a few key Protestant ideas.

So, it doesn't fit with the Big Three. The question is if it can even be considered Christian. I think that it is the 4th Abrahamic religion because it teaches that God is, in fact, a man from another world who became God, and there are also other Gods and the ability to become a God. (They source Genesis 1:26- the "us" part).
 
No they don't, look it up.

oh you right, though they did use the KJV for the first 60 years, and still quote it in the watchtower, any way calling it "unique translation" is misleading, they do publish a bible but it isn't that different from KJV or American Standard Version of the bible (the biggest thing is they call the Old and New Testament the "Hebrew-Aramaic Scriptures" and "Christian Greek Scriptures")
 

Nietzsche

Banned
Well, does the Church of Latter Day Saints fit in with the three major Christian branches:

Catholic Church: No. Simply, no, not at all.

Eastern Orthodox Church: No. Getting colder.

Protestant Church (all of the numerous denominations): Maybe. But no. Mormonism reject a few key Protestant ideas.

So, it doesn't fit with the Big Three. The question is if it can even be considered Christian. I think that it is the 4th Abrahamic religion because it teaches that God is, in fact, a man from another world who became God, and there are also other Gods and the ability to become a God. (They source Genesis 1:26- the "us" part).

Christianity, really, is only "Belief in Jesus, God and the Holy Ghost". Everything else is optional.
 
then that means jews should be considered part of christanity. cause they belived in jesus, just that he was just a nice guy and not god.
 
Intra-Christian conversion, usually termed "Affirmation" (not even Confirmation,) between the wide varieties of Christianity spanning Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, Protestantism, and Copticism all acknowledge each other as Christian, and thus see the person as simply coming to the truest form of the Christian Religion; and thus do not require re-baptism.

However, ALL, even the Episcopal Church in the United States, require Mormons to be baptized if they wish to become a member of their respective churches. Thus to Christianity, they are not Christian. Just as Muslims claim to be the true followers of Christ, it does not mean we are Christians in terms of what the word means.

Thus, yes, you could classify Mormonism as the fourth, and newest, Abrahamic Faith.
 
Most Christian churches would reject the LDS simply because they don't conform to the Trinitarian position- that is not a debatable point, since they reject them already. So people usually don't consider them Christians, or at least not orthodox. The issue I guess is if they should be considered notable (i.e. big in numbers and power) and different enough to be considered a Fourth Religion/Branch, rather than a mere offshoot. There's already Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, Rastafarians, Druze, Baha'i, etc. around who are offshoots of Christianity and Islam as well. I'm just unsure if any of those sects are as numerically and politically/culturally significant as the Mormon Church.
 
Something to consider: Mormonism positions itself under the Christian aegis. There have always been Christian "heresies" (in the non-judgmental meaning), and even within those three categories posted above, many branches are un-Christian by not holding to tenets other denominations hold essential.

If one is willing to make Mormonism into it's own category, we really shouldn't be talking about the 4th branch, but many more similarly radical branches of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have popped up over time and maybe could be considered outside the pale...
 
That sounds like a good methodology. I'm certainly willing to talk about similarly radically different branches of Islam and Judaism.
Hmm I suddenly have an urge to mention Karaism/Karaitism. Anyway if Mormonism is going to become a separate Abrahamic religion I think it is a bit early to tell. For quite a while people considered themselves both followers of Yehoshua ben Yosef and good Jews (some still do). I think we are going to have to wait a few hundred years to see if Mormonism is going to evolve into another Christian denomination or a separate faith.
 
According to who and what groups?
During the Enlightenment, there was a move away from the Trinity - but IIRC most of those people/groups either came back into mainline belief or ceased to be what I'd define as "Christian".

Some Unitarians are essentially Christian, some are not. I don't think you could seriously call the denomination as a whole Christian.

Jehovah's Witnesses deny the divinity of Christ, and so are not Trinitarian, but, again, I'd not really want to call them Christian, although they would.

In the early church, Gnostics were often not trinitarian (they called themselves Christian, I'm not sure I'd agree). Arians didn't believe in the divinity of Christ, and were accepted as Christian at the time (heretical, mind, but Christian).

Today, you get the odd Episcopal/Anglican or other modernist/leftist minister who stands up and says they don't believe in the Trinity. Usually causes a big fuss, and is certainly not ACCEPTED by any mainline church today.
 
I believe Christianity, as a whole, has enough breadth to encompass the Mormons as Christian sects, albeit with some extraneous beliefs. As the posts above indicate, other Christian faiths interpret the Trinity differently.

I have heard fundamentalist Christians denounce passages from the Book of Mormon as non-Christian, but I consider the differences to be semantic issues with nineteenth century English.
 
I think a major separate holy text - not different interpretations or a few pieces of specific revelation - is a pretty compelling difference between Abrahamic faiths.

The Book of Mormon is a major, transformative addition to the Bible - you can't add that much scripture and stay in bounds. See the New Testament and the Koran.
 
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