Mormons are Christians
What makes a Christian a Christian? If I think back to my pre-LDS days, I remember that saying you were Christian was just another way of saying you weren’t Catholic. That distinction was important for some reason even though Catholics definitely believe Jesus died for their sins. Saying you were Christian was like saying you believed in Christ without all the heavy self-inflicted suffering Catholics are famous for.
What makes a Catholic a Catholic? Not even the Catholics know. Not really. I didn’t. I don’t even know what Catholic means, but when I was one I wore the label with pride because most of the world’s population belonged to this church and I was always one to stick with the crowd. As a Catholic, I got the distinct feeling that you could do whatever you wanted to all week long as long as you showed up to mass on Sunday. They made it easy for you to show up, too, by offering several services in the morning and at night. You could even go on Saturday night if you had plans on Sunday. Sunday was not the Holy Sabbath, but an extra Saturday and one more day that you could play before heading back to work.
I stopped going to the Catholic church when my lifestyle was in direct conflict with attending mass. I felt guilty. How could I show up on Sunday repentant after spending the night before partying with my friends with little thought of God and knowing I would be doing the same thing next Saturday. What was I doing in that pew? So I stopped going… that was in high school. When I did go to church it was to be with my family and we would usually go out to breakfast after mass.
In the years that followed, I would go to church with my mom and attend a non-denominational bible study that she got involved in. I stopped going to that eventually because I would fall asleep during the presentation. This was a popular program and they had a waiting list. I gave up my spot and took a nap at home. I could sense that mom was not really into being Catholic, too, but she kept going because she was taught that to step into another church meant you were going straight to hell. Today she is involved in a sect of the Catholic church that not all Catholics approve of (at least, my mom said that the Pope had to send a letter stating that they were an approved organization in the church). It’s called Neocatechumenate Way (I think… not sure of the spelling). I have no idea what that means either, but I’m sure she does. From what I gather, they have gone back to practicing as they would in the olden days… Saturday is her Sabbath Day. They use real bread and wine instead of manufactured wafers for their sacrament. They still wear crosses and believe that Jesus died for them and they have a slightly closer relationship as they are a smaller group and she refers to them as her community.
Now I’m LDS. A Latter-Day Saint. It doesn’t mean that I think I’m perfect or that I have angel status or that I’m on a pedestal of any kind and people should pray to me. A saint is simply a member of the Church. The “latter-day” distinguishes between a saint from the ancient Church that Jesus organized when he was on the earth and a member of the Church today. And I’m a Christian. The name of the Church bears the name of him who we follow… The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Sants. So how do you get Mormon out of that?
We have another testament of scripture called The Book of Mormon. Mormon was a prophet in Ancient America who was one of the last surviving prophets to keep the records of the Church in that part of the world. So his name is on the cover, but the contents are all about Jesus Christ. It’d be like taking out the Book of Matthew out of the Bible and putting a cover on it by itself… and then people would erroneously call those Christians Matthews. (uh… yeah.)
Zack has a friend at school that Zack suspected was a member of our church. I thought it was unlikely because if he were, we’d probably already know the family… they’d be in our ward (what we call our congregations) or our stake (what we call a bunch of wards in one area). Still, Zack said he saw him wearing a shirt that said “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” on it.
Zack has been trying to set up a playdate with him so I called his friend’s house to speak with his mother. When we were done ironing out the details, I asked her if she was LDS. She asked me to repeat myself and by her reaction, I figured she wasn’t. So I said, “LDS or Mormon?” and she said, “No we’re Christian.” And the way she said it, as if with a laugh of relief, made me feel sorry I had brought it up. I said, “Oh.” She said, “Are you Mormon?” and I said that we were and then I said that Mormons were Christian also. She said, “Oh, I know, but you’re Mormon Christian and we’re Christian Christian. You know what I mean?” I said, “Oh, yes.” She said, “Is this going to be a problem?” I quickly stated that it wasn’t a problem, and explained how Zack thought we were from the same church and how I thought we would already know them. She said that they went to a church in Pearland (which is over an hour away) and how much they loved it. Then she said that one of her really good friends is a Mormon and named someone from our ward whom I absolutely adore. So the awkwardness of the call was forgotten and we found that we both love the same someone.
Only, it was not the same someone that you would think would unite us.
Posted on October 23rd, 2008 by trish
Filed under: Church, Haley Kids
what?
i’m a little confused…so where does the shirt fit in?
how did they get it?
and if she was somewhat appalled by “mormons” then why did she go on to say her “really good friend” is a mormon?
don’t you think that is weird, one minute putting mormon in a negative context, the next talking about “a church”, and how much they loved it, and the friend too.
did they go to an lds church in pearland or just a church?
sorry, i read it twice and am still confused.
and who’s the link?
Sorry for the cliffhangers. I didn’t know my musings would be so stressful. It’s just interesting how we’re all in the same boat and yet we’re so disconnected… like that movie Powder… did you see it?
Dear blogger,
It seems that you have encountered many situations in your life that impeded you from learning what it means to be a member of the Universal Church (by the way that’s what Catholic means, Universal= One & Whole). It is very true that many Christians are not aware of the beliefs which their denominations profess, just as few practice what is taught by the Church.
Don’t be surprised if other “Christians” do not believe that LDS are not Christian, most Christians believe that God is three Persons: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, 1 God, 3 Persons. The faith of Joseph Smith teaches that The Father is 1 God, The Son is 1 God, and the Holy Ghost is 1 God, therefore 3 Gods and not 1, and that Satan is the “spirit brother” of Jesus, (I don’t know were to find that doctrine anywhere), the church of Jesus Christ (LDS) made Jesus equal to the devil, that is just wrong for any Christian. LDS basically takes the bus to the next town when it comes to belief in a single supreme being; instead “gods” can be born just like you or I, and indeed all Mormons hope to achieve the status of being god one day.
Catholicism professes to be One & Whole, because no matter what the people in it do, the Church will remain on earth until the second coming. Dude, why would Jesus created a Church he didn’t think would last? Why would he ditch his hometown and visit the Americas after he died, all his friends were in Israel, why not Africa or Asia? The Bible was written with the assistance of The Holy Spirit, and yet it needs to be “supplemented” by “another testament,” weak.
The fact is this, LDS is an AMERICAN religion, not a universal one, the book of mormon was written in the style of 1800′s east coast preachers, ahem, Jo Smith…
Astronomers have never seen Kolob, and yet LDS say its out there. There are mention of great North American cities, that are nowhere to be found by archaeologists, and there is no evidence that the Indians were anything like the Jews who supposedly brought golden tablets over the sea. NO EVIDENCE. NO KOLOB, NO LIAHONA, NO GOLD TABLETS (p.s. Jews never used tablets of gold for writting in the time of Jesus)
Respectable LDS missionaries come by my house almost once every week and we talk and they ask me to pray about Joseph Smith and the golden tablets, so just to be fair I will ask you some questions, just like the ones that exist on the brochure they probably gave you:
So I would ask you to consider these questions:
1) What are you seeking in your religious experience?
2) Who is God to You?
3)When I read the book of mormon, through and through does it speak about Jesus or does it speak of Lehi, Moroni, Ether, and others?
4) When I read the New Testament do I read about what Jesus really said and did?
5) Does the Church need to be “restored” or do people as in INDIVIDUAL PERSONS need to be restored?
6) When I was baptized I considered all that those who prepared me had told me, did I ever consider Catholicism had to say?
7) What do you look forward to in the life after?
Anyways, I am not afraid to have you consider this since you do not seem threatening and seem to be open minded, which is necessary to enter into the mystery of Jesus Christ. And if you want to know, I have encountered the Neocatechumenal Way, and it is a fantastic way to RE DISCOVER, that first Baptism that many of us have forgotten about or abandoned. So please reconsider the Universal Church and give its fountain of teachings, liturgy, and life a second chance.
And just as the missionaries of the LDS asked me to pray over Joseph Smith, I ask you to think about Jesus Christ, because he is the founder of the Catholic Church, and his Church waits for him, though never nervously because we are constantly in his presence. He choose Peter from among the 12 Apostles (whom no one can ever replace) and gave him a promise that that Church would never need a replacement. I leave you with a quote from what scripture sayeth:
“And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18
Hi Jose,
Thanks for reading and for giving me some answers to questions about Catholicism. I concede the point that you made that I was impeded in knowing more about the Catholic church. One thing was probably not liking a lot of its history. There was a lot of bloodshed and manipulation by those in power that I cannot reconcile my mind to. Never could. I also didn’t see the point of praying to different Saints. Why can I not pray directly to God the Father? The idea of the trinity seems only to force a kind of mystical sense into something that should be simple. God is my father, Jesus is his Son, and the Holy Ghost is a being of spirit, all three separate but one in purpose. And Catholics want to be god, too. If we are good and faithful we will inherit all that he is and all that he has. Is not that what he promises? We want to return to our home in heaven. It’s like we would want for all of our children… to come home. That’s not so mysterious. When I investigated the Mormon church all of the teachings made so much sense to me. It was like I had found something that I did not know I was looking for and it was a relief to finally have it.
I commend you for knowing what you believe in whereas I was born into the Catholic church and didn’t really get it. My step-mom, however, is a devout Catholic. I know that her prayers have helped me numerous times. She lives her religion and I commend her for that, too. I love that she goes to mass everyday. She takes time out of every day to meditate and read her spiritual books. She is like an angel to me, and she loves me, too, even though I am converted. She marvels that I started my family AFTER I got married. She thinks my children are well mannered and good. She thinks I’m doing a good job. If you look at the rest of my extended family, there are a lot of children born out of wedlock. My own brother went through a traumatic experience with his sons and I could have been just like that. There was nothing to stop me… until I met the missionaries. And when I met them I thought I was happy and I don’t know what made me agree to meet them and then not stand them up. Like I said, I was searching and didn’t even know it, but finding it has changed my life.
Being a Christian means that you believe and follow Jesus Christ, but different religions put different connotations on the word instead of making it be what it is. We are the same. We want to follow the example of Jesus Christ and find our way home to our Father in Heaven. That was the point of my post.
So thanks for the comment. I appreciate your concern for my well being. Truly. A comment this long says that you care. I will stick to my current path because it has afforded me so many blessings. Even though I choose not to rediscover the Universal Church, be glad that I am living what I believe in. That I am not professing one thing and doing another. I have found integrity and I’m happy that today my lifestyle reflects what I believe.
I just looked at the date and realized that I posted this on my re-brithday (as I call it) or the day I was baptized. Shout out to Sister Ramos (now Sister Rivera) and Sister Sakuma (now Sister Kurihara) who taught me 15 years ago.
Wow…I love you Trish!!!
Thanks Robbin! I love you, too!