I think that if they rely entirely upon Jesus Christ for their hope of salvation, then Mormons are members of His church. However foolish they may be in believing what Joseph Smith told them about the plates and the spectacles he read them with. Strange that he translated what they were supposed to contain into the English language of James the 1st (1603-1625) and not the American version of the English language spoken by Americans of (1828-29). I guess he wanted it to look a more like the KJV than the ASV. The KJV seems more religious to Protestant religious people I suppose. That was the readership he was aiming at, obviously. .
They depart very significantly from the Faith as taught by Christ and the Apostles. They are not Christians.
Whilst not disagreeing with anything you have written Tiffy, I'ld just like to add a few points to your post. This is largely true but Alma chapter 40 from the B.o.M. appears to have been copied point for point and with very similar wording from the Westminster Confession and Catechism chapter 32, written by the General Synod of the Presbyterian Church in 1729. Again largely true but on occasions he was known to translate the plates by looking into a hat with a peep (seer) stone in it. This interestingly is the same method he used to "find" hidden treasure in Bainbridge New York and was hauled before the courts and found quilt of a misdemeanour in 1826.
I guess I understand why it is easy to say they are not Christians, however, I question how true that is. Fundamentally there is a difference between a non-believer and a heretic. As it so happens we are saved by grace through faith and not of works lest ... so whilst I accept that they are not Nicene Christians, indeed they specifically do not accept the Athanasian Creed, so one must presume them heterodox, I am not sure that is enough edge to call them non-christian. In the same way, Arian Christians are heretics, however, that does not of itself make them not Christian. If you look at the New Testament there was a significant distinction between the Samaritans and Judaism, however, that did not discount their rightful claim to be children of Abraham. I would prefer to say they are not Mainstream Christians, not Nicene Christians, and Not Orthodox Christians, I am not quite sure that I am ready to go the extra step that some of you seem ready to take.
What sort of things would Mormons have to believe or not believe or do or not do for you to say they were not Christians? When you reply I'm sure I could help out.
Rejection of the New Testament as Canonical Scripture Rejection of the beliefs of the New Testament A rejection of the Dominical Sacraments Rejection of the Person and Work of Jesus Christ An acknowledgement by them that they are not Christian Now it would be a long bow (a very long bow) that would conclude that I was anywhere close to being a Mormon. There are many things that they appear to believe that I do not, indeed most people who know me regard me as an Orthodox Nicene Christian. Anyway, so now you have the invitation you sought, though none was required.
Just one thing or rather sort of two. Believing that their restored relationship with God is brought about by doing everything that Mormons have to do, which Nicene Creedal Christians don't have to do and conversely abstaining from doing anything that Nicene Creedal Christians have to do, which by not doing Mormons believe establishes for them, a restored relationship with God. It seems that true Mormonism can mostly be defined in terms of what they are not allowed to do or what they believe they must do rather than what they believe God in Christ has done for them. .
Mormons will tell you they believe the N.T. The trouble with Mormons is they change their minds and God's mind. God should now be treated as ( "God") in my post. Although they say they believe the N.T. - article 8 of their beliefs say "We believe the Bible is the Word of God as far as it is translated correctly." I could quote various Mormon statements denying the accuracy of the Bible, but these statements are "non canonical"- but God did say that the [Roman] Catholics had changed the "Gospel of the Lamb" (1 Nephi 13:26-29 B.o.M.) Now getting to the N.T. specifically. Mormon scripture, Doctrine and Covenants section 7 adds to the N.T. with the intro including-The revelation is a translated version of the record made on parchment by John and hidden up by himself. Now the Mormons will say they believe the N.T. and use the KJV version, but this is misleading. God told Smith to produce the "Inspired translation of the Bible" which he did and completed it, and God OKed it. Unfortunately for the Brigham Young Mormons who left for Utah with most of the followers, the document was left with Smith's widow Emma. Young tried to get the "corrected" Bible from Emma, but failed. The Reorganised Church of LDS published it later. Young in a case of sour grapes decreed that the KJV would do just fine. The Inspired version includes the Johannine Comma and John 1:1 now becomes- In the beginning was the Gospel preached through the Son. And the Gospel was the word and the word was the Son. And the Son was with God and the Son was God. The inspired version has a confrontation with the Pharisees with Jesus about Baptism in Matt 9:18-21, that is not in the KJV. I hope this suffices for your query. Any questions - just ask I will follow up on the other points later.
Is the purpose or goal of Mormonism the same as Christianity? It seems to me that they are not. Though some of the literature and much of the language and ritual of Christianity was borrowed -as it was with most of the Restorationist sects that sprouted in early 19th century US history- the purpose is not the same. The purpose of Mormonism is to become god.
Again it is hard to pin down Mormon beliefs on N.T. matters. Many wacky ideas like; God having a mother and father, we can become Gods, God is an exalted man, Adam is our God, and men on the moon, have been stated in an apparently authoritative manner. But they will often claim this is not their "scripture" and they are largely right. Alma 11:26-31 says there is only one true living God, and Mosiah 15:1-5 tells us that Jesus is the son of God. However later scripture mentions Gods several times. In my cut down version of The Book of Abraham chapter 4 it says "------------------ 1 And then the Lord said: Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth. , and the Spirit of the Gods was brooding upon the face of the waters. 3 And they (the Gods) said: Let there be light; and there was light. 4 And they (the Gods) comprehended the light, for it was bright; and they divided the light, or caused it to be divided, from the darkness. 5 And the Gods called the light Day, and the darkness they called Night.. 6 And the Gods also said: Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and it shall divide the waters from the waters. 7 And the Gods ordered the expanse, 8 And the Gods called the expanse, Heaven. . 9 And the Gods ordered, saying: 10 And the Gods pronounced the dry land, Earth ----------------------------- The Mormons now espouse the orthodox three persons of the Godhead, but their scripture called the Doctrine and Covenants originally had a question and answers section call the lectures in Faith where it is explained that the Holy Ghost is the mind of God the Father and the Son. This statement was there from 1835 till it was quietly dropped in 1921. In 1830 1 Nephi 11:18 said "Behold the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of God after the manner of the flesh" in modern version it reads "Behold the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the son of God after the manner of the flesh" The B.o.M. Alma 7:10 confirms that Jesus was born of a virgin, unfortunately for you Christians the birth place is given as Jerusalem not Bethlehem. The N.T. account of heaven is augmented by Joseph Smith. There are three section to heaven the Celestial Kingdom, the Terrestrial Kingdom, and the Telestial Kingdom. Don't get your dictionary out to look up Telestial it's a word made up by Smith
Could that be a prophetic reference to the 'other' world we see inside our Television sets, from outside of them? .
A Christian primitivist approach. The idea is that the first century church was the ideal church. The goal is then to duplicate the practice of that era. The problem is, these people are usually totally unfamiliar with Rabbinic Judaism and synagogue services as well as not particularly sacramental. The US spawned a whole bunch of churches, sects, and cults with this ethos.