People often confuse The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and Christianity. In fact, you often hear people from the LDS (also called Mormon) church refer to themselves as Christians. And though the LDS church and Christianity are very different theologically, they can look alike on the surface. For example, both religions are very family-oriented, encouraging strong marriages and family relationships. Because of the strong family bond encouraged by both of these religions, both the LDS church and Christianity look similar and are deeply tied to one’s identity. Both Christianity and the LDS church are about building strong, connected communities. Both refer to the Bible as their Scriptures and believe in God, Jesus Christ, and heaven. However, while they may seem similar at first, there are also some big theological differences between the two, and according to the gospel, these important differences will impact a person’s eternal salvation.
Christians and the LDS church don’t worship the same God. The LDS church says that God was once a man, but became God, that God has a physical body, and that humans can become gods when they die. If God was once a human and still has a physical body, then who created Him? The Bible teaches that God is eternally a spirit and has always been God. The Bible rejects the idea that humans can eventually become gods.
Christianity teaches that through Jesus we are completely saved, while the LDS church theology teaches that through Jesus we are only conditionally saved. The LDS church teaches that, when we accept Jesus’ death on the cross, we are saved “conditionally.” This means that we must continue in faith for the rest of our lives and do good works in order to be saved completely. It also teaches that things like baptism are necessary for salvation. This conditional salvation taught in the LDS church theology is problematic, because it teaches that while believing in Jesus is the first step, you have to do good works and live a good enough life in order to complete the transaction. This ultimately cheapens Jesus’ death on the cross and keeps people from assurance of eternal salvation. How does one ever know if they have been good enough to merit eternity in heaven? As Christians, we find our true identity in Christ and can know with assurance that we are children of God because of Christ’s work. We don’t have to wonder if that status changes based on our ability to do good works - Christ’s work is enough!
The LDS church states that eventually, nearly everyone goes to one of three levels of heaven. It also teaches that after you die, your family members can make amends for you so that you can be saved. Only the worst of the worst go to “outer darkness.” However, the Bible makes it clear that the difference between heaven and hell has to do with a person’s relationship to God, not their good works or the good works of their family. It also makes it clear that your place in the afterlife depends solely on Jesus and his gift of salvation, which allows us to be reconciled with God. This gives a person complete assurance of their eternal “destination.”
Lastly, Christianity teaches that as the Word of God, the Bible is set apart from (and above) every other historical and religious work ever created. The LDS church believes that the Book of Mormon and other texts hold the same weight as the Bible impacts their theology and what they believe is true. If the Bible isn’t the complete, inerrant (error-free), unchanging word of God, then it’s not Truth. If the Bible isn’t Truth, then Christianity isn’t true either, or, at the very least, we can’t prove that it’s true anymore.
The first copy of the Book of Mormon dates back to only 1830. However, manuscripts of the Bible dating back over thousands of years, have been found and compared with each other, and, from the oldest manuscript to the newest, the Bible has remained consistent. (For more information on this, view our article “Can we trust the Bible?”).
The true message of the Bible is so much better than the teaching of Mormonism. The story woven throughout the 66 books of the Bible consistently tells us that mankind is sinful, breaking relationships with God and with each other. But because of God’s love for mankind, He made a way to restore His relationship with us, and because of that restoration, we also have hope of peace with each other. God came to earth as Jesus, the Saviour of the world, to die on the cross and rise from the dead to pay the debt of mankind’s sin and to give us assurance of salvation. The Bible does not contradict itself. From beginning to end, it tells the message of God’s love for the world. And we can rest assured that we have peace with God and are welcome into His family, not based on what we can do, but because of what Christ has done on our behalf.
Click the button below to learn more about the gospel. We want you to know how you can have the assurance of peace with God!
People often confuse The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and Christianity. In fact, you often hear people from the LDS (also called Mormon) church refer to themselves as Christians. And though the LDS church and Christianity are very different theologically, they can look alike on the surface. For example, both religions are very family-oriented, encouraging strong marriages and family relationships. Because of the strong family bond encouraged by both of these religions, both the LDS church and Christianity look similar and are deeply tied to one’s identity. Both Christianity and the LDS church are about building strong, connected communities. Both refer to the Bible as their Scriptures and believe in God, Jesus Christ, and heaven. However, while they may seem similar at first, there are also some big theological differences between the two, and according to the gospel, these important differences will impact a person’s eternal salvation.
Christians and the LDS church don’t worship the same God. The LDS church says that God was once a man, but became God, that God has a physical body, and that humans can become gods when they die. If God was once a human and still has a physical body, then who created Him? The Bible teaches that God is eternally a spirit and has always been God. The Bible rejects the idea that humans can eventually become gods.
Christianity teaches that through Jesus we are completely saved, while the LDS church theology teaches that through Jesus we are only conditionally saved. The LDS church teaches that, when we accept Jesus’ death on the cross, we are saved “conditionally.” This means that we must continue in faith for the rest of our lives and do good works in order to be saved completely. It also teaches that things like baptism are necessary for salvation. This conditional salvation taught in the LDS church theology is problematic, because it teaches that while believing in Jesus is the first step, you have to do good works and live a good enough life in order to complete the transaction. This ultimately cheapens Jesus’ death on the cross and keeps people from assurance of eternal salvation. How does one ever know if they have been good enough to merit eternity in heaven? As Christians, we find our true identity in Christ and can know with assurance that we are children of God because of Christ’s work. We don’t have to wonder if that status changes based on our ability to do good works - Christ’s work is enough!
The LDS church states that eventually, nearly everyone goes to one of three levels of heaven. It also teaches that after you die, your family members can make amends for you so that you can be saved. Only the worst of the worst go to “outer darkness.” However, the Bible makes it clear that the difference between heaven and hell has to do with a person’s relationship to God, not their good works or the good works of their family. It also makes it clear that your place in the afterlife depends solely on Jesus and his gift of salvation, which allows us to be reconciled with God. This gives a person complete assurance of their eternal “destination.”
Lastly, Christianity teaches that as the Word of God, the Bible is set apart from (and above) every other historical and religious work ever created. The LDS church believes that the Book of Mormon and other texts hold the same weight as the Bible impacts their theology and what they believe is true. If the Bible isn’t the complete, inerrant (error-free), unchanging word of God, then it’s not Truth. If the Bible isn’t Truth, then Christianity isn’t true either, or, at the very least, we can’t prove that it’s true anymore.
The first copy of the Book of Mormon dates back to only 1830. However, manuscripts of the Bible dating back over thousands of years, have been found and compared with each other, and, from the oldest manuscript to the newest, the Bible has remained consistent. (For more information on this, view our article “Can we trust the Bible?”).
The true message of the Bible is so much better than the teaching of Mormonism. The story woven throughout the 66 books of the Bible consistently tells us that mankind is sinful, breaking relationships with God and with each other. But because of God’s love for mankind, He made a way to restore His relationship with us, and because of that restoration, we also have hope of peace with each other. God came to earth as Jesus, the Saviour of the world, to die on the cross and rise from the dead to pay the debt of mankind’s sin and to give us assurance of salvation. The Bible does not contradict itself. From beginning to end, it tells the message of God’s love for the world. And we can rest assured that we have peace with God and are welcome into His family, not based on what we can do, but because of what Christ has done on our behalf.
Click the button below to learn more about the gospel. We want you to know how you can have the assurance of peace with God!
