"Christian Beliefs vs. Mormon Beliefs"
by Richard Abanes


This chart gives a small sampling of the many ways that Mormonism diverges from classic Christianity. Nevertheless, you will rarely hear Mormons (including/especially Mitt Romney) fully explaining these beliefs. Instead, they will simply explain their views using familiar Christian terms such as "God," "Jesus Christ,' and "salvation" without defining those terms (again, think Mitt Romney). Consequently, those unfamiliar with Mormonism are left with the mistaken impression that Mormonism is just another Christian denomination. Nothing could be further from the truth. (This chart was produced exclusively for abanes.com.)

BELIEF Christianity Mormonism
God There is only one true God (Monotheism), who exists eternally as three distinct Persons (or centers of consciousness): Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is not a man, nor does the Father have a body of flesh and bones. God has always been God and always will be God. God is not married, nor has he any literal children whom he has sired in the spiritual realm.
 There are many gods in the universe (Polytheism). The god of this planet (the one worshiped by Mormons) is an exalted man of flesh and bones who progressed to godhood just like all the other gods in the universe (although we have nothing to do with those particular gods). God has at least one wife (perhaps more) with whom he has procreated spirit children in the spirit world (see "pre-existence").
Pre-existence Christians are "children" of God, metaphorically speaking: 1) by having been created by God; and 2) by adoption through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:14-16; Gal. 3:26, 4:4-6). We are not "children" of God in any literal sense. We did not exist prior to conception in the womb, where the spirit is created by God and placed into our physical form (see Zech. 12:1). Moreover, with regard to race, God is no respecter of persons, and race is not determined by anything we have done or not done. According to scripture, there are no race distinctions (Gal. 3:28). All people are equal in God's eyes. No one race is superior than any other race.



 All of us pre-existed (i.e., lived before coming to earth) in heaven as literal spirit children of Heavenly Father and his wife, Heavenly Mother. We were procreated in as spirit babies in the same way babies on earth are procreated—i.e., via the natural biological act of sexual intercourse of our parents (in context of pre-existence, that would be Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother). Consequently, we are all brothers and sisters in a literal sense, having had the same heavenly Father and Mother whom we lived with on an as-yet-undiscovered planet somewhere in the cosmos named Kolob. Moreover, our actions in "heaven" before coming to earth determined our race here (a teaching that led to blatant racism throughout Mormonism's history, although this teaching is now being stressed much less).
Jesus Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, has always existed as God the Son in the eternal realm and merely took on human form as the Christ (the doctrine of the Incarnation). Jesus was/is God in human flesh, the creator and sustainer of all life (see Col. 1:16). Contrary to Mormon teachings, Jesus is not the spirit-brother of Lucifer (a.k.a. Satan). Lucifer is a fallen angel, who has rebelled against God. He is in no way related to Jesus or to us. He is an utterly separate creation. Jesus, like all of us, is a literal spirit child of Heavenly Father and Mother, who was born in the spiritual realm with us. He is distinguished from us, however, because he was the "firstborn" of God. Therefore, he is literally our elder brother. Another spirit child of God was Lucifer, commonly known as Satan, or the Devil. Consequently, Jesus is the spirit-brother of Lucifer. All of us, in fact, are siblings from the pre-existence state when we lived together on Kolob, which Mormons believe is God's planetary home.
Virgin Mary Jesus was miraculously born of the virgin Mary in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies (see Is. 7:14). He was conceived without the aid of man, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary remained a virgin until after the birth of Christ. Jesus was conceived on Earth via physical relations between Heavenly Father and Mary (who was a virgin when God visited her, but was no longer a virgin when he left her impregnated). This teaching is rarely if ever talked about among Mormons, and truth be told, many Mormons will deny the teaching, which leaves them with no real explanation of how (given their full theology) Mary became pregnant. Early Mormon leaders, however, made it very clear how Mary was impregnated (quotes by early Mormon leaders and more recent leaders indicate that this is still an underlying belief in Mormonism). As of 2008, the Mormon Church had not yet issued any official repudiation of those statements by former church leaders wherein it was clearly suggested that Jesus was conceived by way of sexual relations between God and Mary.
Eternal
Life		  After death, those who have accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior will eternally dwell in heaven with God (Rom. 3:24, 10:9); those who have not accepted Christ as their Savior will be eternally separated from God and judged according to their deeds (Matt. 11:21-24; Luke 12:45-48). Classic Protestantism teaches that heaven and hell are the only states of existence that are available to persons in the afterlife. Moreover, there are no other gods, nor can anyone become a god—no matter how dedicated they may be to truth, the Bible, the church, their fellow man, or Christ. Although anything can be called a god (1 Cor. 8:5,e.g., sex, drugs, fame, money), there is only one true God by nature (Is. 43:10, 44:8; 1 Tim. 2:5; James 2:19). The biblical passages indicating that there is only one true God are numerable (Deut. 6:4; 1 Ki. 18:18-39; 2 Sam. 7:22; is. 45:2-22). By preaching the one true God, the Old Testament prophets were reminding Israel of how utterly separate their God was from the false pagan gods represented by pagan idols. Similarly, the New Testament is replete with verses that clearly indicate there exists only one true God (Gal. 3:20; 1 Tim. 1:17, 2:5; James 2:19; Jude 25).


 There are three realms/kingdoms in the afterlife: 1) the Telestial Kingdom; 2) the Terrestrial Kingdom; and 3) the Celestial Kingdom. A person's actions in this life determines the kingdom to which they will eventually go. The first kingdom is reserved for non-Mormons whose lives were marked primarily by immorality and wickedness (oddly, Mormons still consider this state to be a kingdom of glory). The second kingdom is for non-Mormons and also Mormons whose lives were general marked by kindness, goodness, and trying to live the best life possible, but who were "not valiant in the testimony of Jesus" (see the Mormon Doctrine & Covenants 76:75-77, 79). The third kingdom is reserved for those faithful Mormons who lived exemplary lives. It has three levels itself, and only at the highest level can a Mormon attain godhood. Reaching this highest level of the Celestial Kingdom is exaltation (i.e., the state of a god). As Mormon apostle Bruce McConkie stated, "That exaltation which the saints of all ages have so devoutly sought is godhood itself" (see Mormon Doctrine, pp. 566-567). Mormon president Gordon B. Hinckley put it this way: "[T]he whole design of the gospel is to lead us onward and upward to greater achievement, even, eventually, to godhood" (Mormon General Conference, Salt Lake City, October 1994).
Salvation Salvation is cannot obtained by any works of righteousness, service to God, or acting kindly/lovingly to one's fellow man. Salvation is based purely on acceptance of Jesus Christ as one's personal Lord and Savior. Accepting Jesus as one's Savior grants salvation to someone as a free gift of God by grace alone through faith alone (Eph. 2:8-10). Good works (also known as works of righteousness) are merely the outward result of one's inward change. To use an analogy. A dog barks because it is already a dog. It doesn't bark to become a dog. Likewise, an apple tree bears apples because it is already an apple tree—not because it is trying to become an apple tree. In this same way, a Christian practices good works because he/she is already a Christian, and it is the natural outpouring of their identity in Christ. Works of righteousness do not (and cannot) make us righteous before god (Rom. 4:2, 4-5).. Instead, we do good works because we are already righteous through what Christ accomplished for us via his life, death, and resurrection (Phil. 3:8-9). Our works basically show others that we are saved (James 2:22-24).

 Individual salvation, including the removal of personal sins), is based on one's own effort and is "conditional" (Neal maxwell, "The Glorious Atonement," Aug. 29, 1999, Missionary training Center Address). The LDS Church manual Gospel Principles provides the following conditions necessary for us to earn our salvation/forgiveness: "We accept Christ's atonement by repenting of our sins, being
baptized, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and obeying all of the
commandments. In this way we are cleansed from sin and we become worthy to return and live forever with our heavenly Father. . .  .Christ's atonement makes it possible to be saved from sin if we do our part" (pp. 68-69, 1979 edition). Christ's death on the cross merely made it possible for us to save ourselves through human effort and good works. In addition to the above requirements, Mormons also must spread the gospel in a conscientious manner, abstain from coffee/tea, and receive forgiveness from a Mormon bishop if a serious transgression is committed (for documentation see endnotes #62, #63, and #64 in either Becoming Gods or Inside Today's Mormonism).
Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost is God, Third Person, of the Holy Trinity, one with the father and the Son, co-equal and co-eternal, one in being with the Father and the Son—not a separate God. In other words, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ARE the one God (analogous to how a singular concept such as "time" consists of three distinct units: i.e., past, present, and future. All are time, collectively as well as individually).  The Holy Ghost is a third god, like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (Joseph Smith, June 16, 1844). But unlike Jesus or the Father, the Holy Ghost "god" has no body, which is something that remains unexplained by Mormons, who at the same time teach that all gods have a body of flesh and bones (because all gods at one time has had to progress through "mortality" to become a god).
All of the above teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (i.e., Mormonism), are fully documented and discussed at length in my book Inside Today's Mormonism
(previously titled Becoming Gods)

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Metaphor Definition
A figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity - Princeton University (http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=metaphor)

A figure of speech "in which one thing, idea, or action is referred to by a word or expression normally denoting another thing, idea, or action, so as to suggest some common quality shared by the two - University of Richmond (writing2.richmond.edu/jessid/eng216/216terms.html)

A figure of speech in which one thing is called another which it resembles in some significant way" - Cambridge University (www.cus.cam.ac.uk/~cjp16/spanish/linggloss.htm)

A figure of speech in which one thing is described as if it were another, as in "Life is just a bowl of cherries" - Oneonta City School District (www.oneontacsd.org/hs/murphy/terms.htm)

A figure of speech that compares two unlike things, usually without using the words "like" or "as". "All the world's a stage" is an obvious metaphor. There are other, less obvious metaphors, such as when we think about our planet as a mother - Encyclozine (encyclozine.com/Arts/Literature/About/)

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