The Desk

Are Latter-day Saints (“Mormons”) Christians?
Profile photo for Ray Farmer
Ray Farmer
Jealous of and Zealous for the Book of Mormon27m

A friend on another answer defined Christianity and attempted to put the LDSaints in this category: "'the religion based on the person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, or its beliefs and practices'. Definitionally, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christian”, he adds.

Well, certainly they use the Lord's name in the name of their church. There are pictures of Jesus scattered all over their buildings, websites and printed materials. They even have a clip-art Jesus in their logo. But does that automatically place them under the umbrella as being Christian?

Looking closer at the supplied definitions, we see "based on the person and teachings, beliefs and practices of Jesus...". Here is where we need to look.

There are so many teachings, beliefs and practices of the LDSaints that would be seen as foreign to what Jesus taught. Time I have to devote to this consideration would expire even as I began. So Let me just cover one most important characteristic of Jesus to make my point clear.

The statue of Jesus used as their logo has Jesus (with a scary face) stretching His arms out as if to say,

Matthew 11

28. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

He practiced this invitation throughout His ministry. In fact, this very invitation was the basis of a hateful accusation!

Luke 15:2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

Paul knew that this very thing, receiving sinners and saving them, was the very mission of Jesus' mortal and subsequent heavenly ministry!

1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Now you may be familiar with sinners or not. When you think of sinners, you may think of that guy who stole a neighbor newspaper. Maybe the guy who drove his car over someone's mailbox and drove away. You may think of that man who stayed home from church to watch football. Jesus, hwever, calls sinners of the deepest dye. Those whose sins are scarlet and crimson.

Alma 17:14 And assuredly it was great, for they had undertaken to preach the word of God to a wild and a hardened and a ferocious people; a people who delighted in murdering the Nephites, and robbing and plundering them; and their hearts were set upon riches, or upon gold and silver, and precious stones; yet they sought to obtain these things by murdering and plundering, that they might not labor for them with their own hands.

Look at the group He gathered. You will see not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble have taken Jesus' invitation. Rather, most of those who have come unto Jesus are the foolish people of the world, the weak folks of the world and base men and women of the world, even those who are despicable, and children of God who have been deemed as naught by everyone else. These are of the type who get themselves into some real filthy messes. These usually wind up some very lost souls. They usually live by no standard of righteousness. Maybe even devoid of civilization and its morals.

1 Corinthians 6

9. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Why is this significant? Because Jesus' target audience is made up of some simple and weak folk, not geniuses or philosophers. That is why His way is easy. It is geared to the people we are describing. He puts no complicating obstacles in the way of those He calls to be His followers.

His ordinances are of the simplest sort. One requires a spot of regular water to be immersed in. He requests to remember Him with a piece of bread and a sip of wine.

And so, therefore, He defines His Church as one of the simplest, reachable by the weakest of all saints..

Doctrine and Covenants 10:67 Behold, this is my doctrine--whosoever repenteth and cometh unto me, the same is my church.

And then He warns those who want to add obstacles, stumbling blocks, to trip the feet of those who accepted the invitation and wish to come unto Him, recognizing their need.

Doctrine and Covenants 10:68 Whosoever declareth more or less than this, the same is not of me, but is against me; therefore he is not of my church.

We can see this “coming” taking place and see just how easy He has made it.

Mosiah 4

1. ......behold they had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them.
2. And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men.
3. And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ

Enos had a similar experience.

5. And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.
6. And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.
7. And I said: Lord, how is it done?
8. And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen.

Visit to the Temple
Now, let's say as my wife was in the temple, I wondered around the grounds. Unbeknownst to me, my notes for the above fell from my pocket and I left without it, not knowing it had fallen to the ground. Soon after, someone came to the visitors center with his family and found my notes blowing in the wind. He is touched by the simpleness of the way and the kindness of Jesus as illustrated in my notes. He decides he and his family should follow Jesus. And how convenient! He is on the grounds of the “House of God”, as the literature suggests. He decides to go into the temple to become a follower of Jesus. What is his experience?

"Not so fast", says an elderly women at the desk. "You can't just walk in here!"

"I was told that Jesus accepts people just like us. He says, "come unto me" in the most kind and gentle way. I have it right here on a paper written by someone named Ray Farmer".

"Ray is a fool. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing. There are so many things you must do first! You must do certain things to get worthyed up. We have a Hymn that goes, ‘Ye elders of Israel, come join now with me And seek out the righteous, where’er they may be’. That is who gets in here. Only the righteous get past the desk."

"But,I seek the fountain of living water, like in your painting! Jesus says to come to the waters of life and drink freely."

"Don't you see there is something between you and the river?", says the sister in white, eyes pointing at the desk.

“I want to be a part of the Good Shepherd's flock for I have heard His voice calling. You even have a picture of the shepherd".

"I must make it clear, responds the sister in white. "There is a desk, a judgement of sorts, between you and the Shepherd. You need to go and get a note. You will be told what you must do."

"But look how your painting has Jesus reaching out to me and my family!"

"Security! Security! Come to the front desk!" shouts the sister in white. “We have an unworthy along with his kids”.

The man and his family are escorted out.

"Well, can I have a copy of the Book of Mormon anyway?", says the man.

"Go to our website. It is Chruchofjesuschrist,com. Good-bye, sir. You will be visited by missionaries, people just like us."

He does so. When the Book of Mormon is delivered, he takes the Book but asks the two who delivered it to go away. He had had enough of “people like them”. Reading it, he finds the Gospel as illustrated in the note he found. He silently thanks God for this Ray Farmer. He didn't find the word "desk" anywhere in all his pages. He did find the words of Jesus himself, however.

3 Nephi 18:22 And behold, ye shall meet together oft; and ye shall not forbid any man from coming unto you when ye shall meet together, but suffer them that they may come unto you and forbid them not;

Do you want to see the symbol of the difference between Christianity and the LDS Church?

It is a desk.