Christianity vs Latter-day Saints

Nicene churches teach that there is one God who exists as three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.¹²³⁴⁵ The Nicene Creed, in the Orthodox Church in America's text, describes the Son as begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father¹.

The Anglican Articles describe one living and true God without body, parts, or passions⁶, as does the Westminster Confession, and the Augsburg Confession says God is without body and without parts.⁴³ The Anglican Articles also say the Nicene Creed and two other ancient creeds should be fully accepted and believed, because Scripture supports them.⁶

The branches differ on one phrase. The Orthodox text of the creed says the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and the Latin tradition used in Catholic worship adds the Son, in Latin filioque.¹²

The Latter-day Saint church teaches that God the Father is the Supreme Being. With his Son Jesus and the Holy Ghost, he forms the Godhead: three separate beings, one in purpose.⁷⁸ It teaches that the Father and the Son have bodies of flesh and bones and that the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit.⁸⁹

The church's Godhead page says its view corresponds in a number of ways with the views of others in the Christian world, but with significant differences. It says Latter-day Saints believe that God and Jesus are glorified, physical beings⁸ and that each member of the Godhead is a separate being. It holds that the true doctrine of the Godhead was lost after the apostles died and began to be restored in Joseph Smith's First Vision.⁸

Christians hold, on the account in Acts, that after Jesus rose from the dead the Holy Spirit came upon his followers at Pentecost.¹⁰ Catholic teaching holds that the Catholic Church is founded on the apostles and guided by their successors, the bishops. The Orthodox Church sees itself as the unbroken continuation of the church that Christ and his apostles established.¹¹¹² The Nicene Creed professes faith in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.¹

Historians describe Jesus as a Jew from Galilee who was put to death in about 30 CE. His followers came to believe he had been raised, and they regrouped in Jerusalem as a movement within Judaism.¹³¹⁴¹⁵

The church teaches, on Joseph Smith's accounts, that God the Father and Jesus appeared to him in a grove near his home in western New York in the spring of 1820.¹⁶¹⁷ It holds that priesthood authority was lost after the apostles and restored through heavenly messengers in 1829, and that Smith and Oliver Cowdery organized the church on April 6, 1830.¹⁸¹⁹²⁰

Klaus Hansen, in an encyclopedia entry with no date on the page, places the beginnings in western New York in the 1820s, a region known for intense religious revivals.²¹ Smith gave several accounts of the First Vision, the earliest about 1832, and scholars read the differences between them in different ways.¹⁶²²²³

The Nicene churches' scripture is the Bible. The Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox churches, and the Westminster Confession list the same 27 New Testament books but differ on the Old Testament.²⁴²⁵²⁶ Catholic, Orthodox, and Reformed sources hold that God inspired the Bible, and Catholic and Orthodox teaching adds that its human writers were true authors.²⁷²⁴²⁶

On revelation, the Catholic Catechism teaches that no new public revelation is to be expected before Christ returns. The Westminster Confession holds that nothing is to be added to scripture by new revelations of the Spirit, and Orthodox teaching holds that Holy Tradition is not limited to what is written.²⁸²⁶²⁹

Historians describe Paul's letters, the earliest probably written around 50 CE, as the oldest New Testament writings, and Dale Martin of Yale explains that many modern scholars regard the Gospels as anonymous. Christian writings were not generally called scripture until the end of the second century CE, and the earliest surviving list matching the 27-book New Testament is from Athanasius, in 367 CE.³⁰³¹³²

The Latter-day Saint church accepts four volumes as scripture, called the standard works: the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.³³ It calls the Bible the word of God and says Latter-day Saints revere it, and in English it publishes the King James Version as its edition.³⁴³⁵ It teaches that errors entered the text as it was compiled, translated, and transcribed.³⁴

The church teaches that its canon, the list of accepted scripture, is open: God still reveals his word through living prophets.³⁴³⁶

The church teaches that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon from gold plates by divine power.³⁷ Scholars describe its origin in different ways. Klaus Hansen writes, in the same entry, that modern scholars rejected the charge of plagiarism and concluded that Smith was the author. Some Latter-day Saint scholars, among them Richard Bushman, accept that the plates existed, and Grant Hardy describes two views among Latter-day Saint scholars of how the translation worked.²¹³⁸³⁹

Nicene churches teach that a human being is made in the image of God, and that sin has broken humanity's friendship with God.⁴⁰⁴¹⁴ All three branches read the story of Adam and Eve as the account of the first sin, called the Fall, and Catholic, Orthodox, and Lutheran sources link it to death.⁴²⁴¹⁴³

The branches differ on the results. Catholic teaching holds that original sin is inherited, a state and not a personal fault, and that baptism erases it.⁴² The Catechism, quoting Thomas Aquinas, adds that God permits evil to draw forth some greater good, and it quotes the Exsultet, which sings O happy fault⁴². The Westminster Confession says the guilt of the first sin is counted to all the descendants of the first parents.⁴ An Orthodox Church in America answer holds that everyone bears the consequences of the first sin, above all death, but that only Adam and Eve are guilty.⁴³

The Latter-day Saint church teaches that every person is a spirit child of heavenly parents who lived before birth.⁴⁴⁴⁵ Adam and Eve's transgression, it teaches, cast them out of God's presence and made them mortal, so that the Fall brought spiritual and physical death.⁴⁶ Yet the Fall is an integral part⁴⁶ of the plan of salvation, with a twofold direction, downward yet forward⁴⁶. As descendants of Adam and Eve, people inherit a fallen condition during mortality, and through the Atonement of Jesus everyone will be redeemed from the effects of the Fall.⁴⁶

The second Article of Faith holds that people answer for their own sins, not for Adam's transgression.⁹ Agency, the church teaches, is the ability and privilege God gives us to choose and to act for ourselves⁴⁷. It teaches that little children are redeemed through the mercy of Jesus and need no baptism.⁴⁸

Nicene churches teach that salvation comes from God through Jesus, whose death and resurrection reconcile people to God and defeat death.⁴⁹³ The Catholic Catechism calls Christ's death the sacrifice that accomplishes the definitive redemption of men⁵⁰.

The branches differ on how a person receives salvation. Catholic teaching holds that justification, being made right with God, is given in baptism and establishes cooperation between God's grace and man's freedom⁵¹.⁵¹ Lutheran teaching holds that people are freely justified for Christ's sake, through faith³, and that good works must follow but do not earn justification.³ The Westminster Confession calls faith the alone instrument of justification⁴. Orthodox teaching describes the purpose of human life as theosis, sharing in God's own life.⁵²

The Latter-day Saint church teaches that the way forward is the Atonement of Jesus, which took place in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary⁵³. It is received through faith, repentance, and the ordinances and covenants (promises with God) of the gospel.⁵³⁵⁴⁵⁵ Grace, the church teaches, is divine help through the Atonement that brings resurrection, enables repentance and forgiveness, and strengthens people to do good works they could not do on their own.⁵⁶

Ordinances are sacred acts performed by priesthood authority. The ordinances essential to exaltation, or becoming like God, include baptism, confirmation, ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood for men, the temple endowment (a ceremony of instruction and covenants), and the marriage sealing. The sealing unites a couple for eternity.^5457585960

The Nicene Creed says that Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead. The creed ends: I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.¹ Catholic teaching then names heaven, purgatory (a cleansing for some after death), and hell, which it holds is eternal.⁶¹⁶²⁶³ The Reformed Westminster Confession holds that there are only two destinations, heaven and hell.⁴ Orthodox teaching holds that God's presence will be paradise for those who love him and hell for those who hate him.⁶⁴

On marriage and death, Catholic and Orthodox sources speak in different terms. Catholic canon law holds that a valid, consummated marriage between baptized persons can be dissolved by no cause except death⁶⁵. The Orthodox Church in America teaches that marriage continues most perfectly in the Kingdom of God⁶⁶.

The Latter-day Saint church teaches that after death the righteous wait in paradise. Those who did not know the gospel, or were wicked, are in spirit prison, a temporary state where they may learn it and accept ordinances done for them in temples.⁶⁷⁶⁸

After the resurrection of all people and the judgment, they receive a kingdom of glory according to their desires and actions: celestial, the highest; terrestrial; or telestial. The sons of perdition, those who know God's power, have been made partakers of it, and then deny the truth and defy it, receive no kingdom of glory.⁴⁴⁶⁹ People married in the temple can be together forever if they keep their covenants, and all who are worthy will have the opportunity of temple marriage, in this life or afterward.⁷⁰⁶⁹

Nicene Christians hold that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, who became human, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and rose from the dead on the third day.⁷¹ Key early figures include Peter, one of his original disciples; James, the brother of Jesus, who led the Jerusalem group; and Paul, the missionary whose letters are part of the New Testament.¹⁵¹³²⁵

Catholic and Orthodox Christians also hold Mary, Jesus's mother, in special honor, and Orthodox Christians call her the Theotokos, or Birthgiver of God.⁷²⁷³

The Latter-day Saint church teaches that Jesus is the Son of God and acknowledges him as Lord and Redeemer⁸.¹⁷³⁷ Members hold that Jesus's church was restored through Joseph Smith.¹⁸ The Book of Mormon's introduction says that those who gain a witness of the book will also know that Smith is Jesus's revelator and prophet in these last days.³⁷

The church sustains the President of the Church, his counselors, and the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators, and teaches that the President alone receives revelation to guide the entire church.⁷⁴

Nicene churches teach that a person should love God completely and love others as themselves. The Catholic Catechism reads the Ten Commandments in the light of that double command of love, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism calls it their sum.⁷⁵⁷⁶⁷⁷

Worship centers on Sunday, which Catholic, Orthodox, Presbyterian, and Southern Baptist teaching all call the Lord's Day, kept because Jesus rose on that day.^7278795 The churches count their sacred rites, called sacraments, differently: seven in Catholic and usually in Orthodox teaching, two in the Anglican Articles and the Westminster Confession.^8081679 Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches baptize infants, while the Baptist Faith and Message defines baptism as the immersion of a believer.^82128384795

Latter-day Saints teach that the two great commandments are to love God first and to love one's neighbor. Members show love of God by keeping his commandments, among them the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath, the law of chastity, the Word of Wisdom (a law of health), and tithing, one-tenth of income.⁸⁵

Members meet each Sunday in a local congregation led by unpaid members, and they take the sacrament, the church's form of communion.⁸⁶⁸⁷⁸⁸ The church baptizes by immersion from age eight and does not baptize infants.⁴⁸⁸⁸ It calls temples houses of the Lord, where members make covenants, are sealed in marriage for eternity, and are baptized on behalf of people who have died.⁸⁹

The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church in America, which hold to the Nicene Creed, and the United Methodist Church hold that Christian faith centers on one God in three persons, and they regard Latter-day Saint teaching about God as outside that faith.^217190919293 In 2001 the Catholic Church ruled Latter-day Saint baptism invalid, mainly on two grounds, as Luis Ladaria explained: its teaching about God, and its understanding of Christ, who instituted baptism.⁹¹

The Orthodox Church in America's 2023 clergy guidelines say converts from the Latter-day Saint faith must be baptized.⁹² In 2000, as the Associated Press reported, the United Methodist Church said that the Latter-day Saint church by self-definition, does not fit within the bounds of the historic, apostolic tradition of the Christian faith.⁹³ The Methodist policy also said that Latter-day Saints who become Methodists should be baptized again.⁹³

The Catholic Catechism teaches that the sole Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church, while many elements of truth are found outside it.¹¹ The Orthodox document For the Life of the World holds that other non-Orthodox Christian bodies only find their coherence and clarity within the Orthodox Church.⁹⁴

Ladaria's commentary adds that the decision answers a question about baptism and does not judge members of the Latter-day Saint church. It hopes that study, dialogue, and good will can bring mutual understanding and respect.⁹¹

Latter-day Saints hold that they are Christians. Their church teaches that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world, who made an atoning sacrifice and rose from the dead.¹⁷³⁷ Members worship God the Father in the name of Jesus.⁹⁵ They speak of the Godhead: God the Father, his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. The church teaches that the Father is an embodied being, a truth it holds was lost when early theology merged with Greek philosophy and restored through Joseph Smith. So it does not accept the creeds written after the New Testament.⁹⁵

As the Associated Press reported in 2000, the church baptizes all new members, whatever their previous faith.⁹³ It teaches that baptism requires priesthood authority.⁴⁸ In reply to the Methodist statement, it said that Latter-day Saints embrace both ancient and modern revelations that proclaim Jesus Christ as the living, divine Son of God⁹⁶.

The church's General Handbook teaches that the Latter-day Saint church is the only organization on earth with priesthood authority.⁹⁷ The church's essay on the question calls the merging of early Christian theology with Greek philosophy a grave error⁹⁵, and it says there is no good reason for Christian faiths to ostracize each other⁹⁵.