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Sharpton Comments On Romney's Faith; Religious Right Claims Mormonism A "Cult"

Conservatives are up in arms over recent comments made by Al Sharpton over Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith (comments Sharpton claims are being intentionally taken out of context).  Before the conservatives go flying off the wall calling Sharpton a bigot maybe they should consider what the Religious Right thinks about Mormonism.

Southern Baptists have officially declared Romney’s faith a “cult” and have said:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--For the past 150 years Mormonism has been in conflict with biblical, historic Christianity.

But leaders of Mormonism -- officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- have in recent years downplayed the cult’s divergence from traditional Christianity and now portray it as merely another form of the biblical faith.

Steven J. Wellum, editor of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, contends that Mormonism’s efforts at blurring theological lines are designed to make the sect appeal to a broader public. In his editorial in the summer edition of the SBJT, Wellum argues that Mormonism is not merely one variety of Christianity among many.

“Regardless of the Mormon claims, it is difficult, nigh impossible, to maintain that Mormonism is just another version or subset of historic Christianity,” he writes. “Why? Because at point after point, if we compare and contrast Christian orthodoxy with Mormon theology, we have to conclude that Mormonism represents an entirely different theology, an alien worldview -- another gospel, which is no gospel at all.

“In this regard, we need to heed the warning of Paul that even if an angel from heaven preaches a gospel other than the one proclaimed by the apostles, let him be eternally condemned (Gal. 1:8-9). That is why evangelicals historically view Mormons as those who need to hear and respond to the true gospel found in Scripture alone, and as standing outside a saving relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Missouri Synod Lutheran Church agrees:

The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, together with the vast majority of Christian denominations in the United States, does not regard the Mormon church as a Christian church. That is because the official writings of Mormonism deny fundamental teachings of orthodox Christianity. For example, the Nicene Creed confesses the clear biblical truth that Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, is "of one substance with the Father." This central article of the Christian faith is expressly rejected by Mormon teaching -- thus undermining the very heart of the scriptural Gospel itself. In a chapter titled "Jesus Christ, the Son of God: Are Mormons Christian?" the president of Brigham Young University (Rex Lee, What Do Mormons Believe? [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992] summarizes Mormon teaching by stating that the three persons of the Trinity are "not... one being" (21), but are "separate individuals." In addition, the Father is regarded as having a body "of flesh and bone" (22). Such teaching is contrary to the Holy Scriptures, destructive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and indicative of the fact that Mormon teaching is not Christian.

I’ll confess that I don’t have a clear enough of an understanding of Mormonism to draw any conclusions about their theological beliefs but I reject out of hand that membership in the LDS should disqualify anyone from public office.  Religious and political conservatives might hope to score political points over Sharpton’s remarks but the truth is that some of the worst comments made about Mormonism comes directly from the Religious Right and their allies.

Related Link:  Sharpton on Romney and the Mormon faith 

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