Mormonism and Nicene Christianity

rdf:langString Mormonism and Nicene Christianity

rdf:langString InternetArchiveBot

rdf:langString October 2019

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rdf:langString Mormonism and Nicene Christianity (often called mainstream Christianity) have a complex theological, historical, and sociological relationship. Mormons express their doctrines using biblical terminology. They have similar views about the nature of Jesus Christ's atonement, bodily resurrection, and Second Coming as mainstream Christians. Nevertheless, most Mormons do not accept the doctrine of the Trinity as codified in the Nicene Creed of 325 and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381. Although Mormons consider the Protestant Bible to be holy scripture, they do not believe in biblical inerrancy. They have also adopted additional scriptures that they believe to have been divinely revealed to Joseph Smith, including the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Mormons practice baptism and celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, but they also participate in other religious rituals. Mormons self-identify as Christians. Focusing on differences, some Christians consider Mormonism non-Christian; others, focusing on similarities, consider it to be a Christian religion. Opinions differ among scholars of religion on whether to categorize Mormonism as a separate branch of Christianity or as the "fourth Abrahamic religion" (alongside Judaism, Christianity and Islam). Mormons do not accept non-Mormon baptism and most non-Mormon Christians do not accept Mormon baptism. Mormons regularly proselytize individuals actually or nominally within the Christian tradition, and some traditional Christians, especially evangelicals, proselytize Mormons. Some view Mormonism as a form of Christianity, but distinct enough from traditional Christianity so as to form a new religious tradition, much as Christianity is more than just a sect of Judaism. The early Mormonism that originated with Joseph Smith in the 1820s shared strong similarities with some elements of 19th-century American Protestantism. Mormons believe that God, through Smith and his successors, restored various doctrines and practices that were lost from the original Christianity taught by Jesus Christ. For example, Smith, as a result of his "First Vision", primarily rejected the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity and instead taught that God the Father, his son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct "personages". While the largest Mormon denomination, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), acknowledges its differences with mainstream Christianity, it also focuses on its commonalities such as its focus on faith in Christ, following the teachings of Jesus Christ, the miracle of the atonement, and many other doctrines.