Are Non-Mormons Considered Christians by the LDS?

Mormons are always complaining about real Christians saying that Mormons are NOT Christians.  The charge is usually that we are attacking them and that they never attack us - that they don’t denounce us as non-Christian.  Of course, anyone who dares challenge the Mormon faith is immediately labeled an “anti-Mormon,” but if they challenge the Christian they certainly don’t want to be called “anti-Christian”!  It’s all part of their victimology; the claim that they have been persecuted.

Which brings us to an article by the LDS apologetic group, FAIR (Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research), which doesn’t hesitate to call “anti-Mormons” non-Christians.  Notice that they abuse the Scripture to support their position (which is normal for any position in the LDS).

But note what they claim in this article:  “Never mind that there is no book or pamphlet published by the Church that attacks, denigrates, undermines or belittles the beliefs of any other church....”

Well, what is the truth?  Ironically this very article states that “anti-Mormons” are not Christians.  The fact is, that from the very founding of the Mormon faith the true Christian church has been attacked by Mormon leaders.

Joseph Smith’s story of the “First Vision” is in every copy of the Mormon “scripture,” The Pearl of Great Price.  This book is usually found bound together with the Doctrine and Covenants, and every Mormon has a copy.  In fact, the “First Vision” is part of the primary beginning teaching of the LDS; it is foundational to all their other beliefs.  Here is what Smith claimed took place:

“My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join.  No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong) - and which I should join.”

Now, just prior to this passage Smith states that two personages stood before him and were identified as God the Father and Jesus Christ, with “God” telling Smith to listen to his son.  Smith wanted to know which sect of Christianity was correct, so as to be able to join them.  Now, the sects of Christianity at that time would have been every mainline denomination, as well as numerous break-off assemblies (albeit not as many as there are currently).  So Smith says he wants to know which one is correct.  Here is the response given by Smith’s “Christ”:

“I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: ‘they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.’”

Smith claims that he was told that God considered all the creeds of Christianity to be abominations, meaning the sects themselves would be abominations; all sects of Christianity were “wrong.”  Smith stated that he was told that all who were members of such sects (professors) where themselves corrupt.

This is the first thing Mormons teach - that according to God, all Christians who are not Mormons are corrupt and members of abominable sects; yet FAIR said nothing like this was in any LDS publication!

For over 100 years the LDS temple ceremony presented Christian pastors as agents of Satan, and yet FAIR has the audacity to make the statement cited above!  

Well, let’s look at some more teaching of the LDS, which are indeed in books published by the LDS:

“After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth.  They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon.  The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their creeds and organization, have one common origin.  They all belong to Babylon.”  George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth: Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon, 2:56.

“The Roman Catholic, Greek, and Protestant church is the great corrupt ecclesiastic power, represented by great Babylon which has made all nations drunk with her wickedness... Great, and fearful, and most terrible judgments are decreed upon these corrupt powers, the nations of modern Christendom; for strong is the Lord God who shall execute His fierce wrath upon them, and He will not cease until He has made a full end, and until their names be blotted out from under heaven.”  Orson Pratt, Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, No. 6, pp.84-85.

“The gates of hell have prevailed and will continue to prevail over the Catholic mother of harlots, and over all her Protestant daughters...”  Orson Pratt, Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, No. 3, p.44

“The people called Christians are shrouded in ignorance, and read the Scriptures with darkened understandings.”  Brigham Young, October 8, 1859, Journal of Discourses, 7:333.

“Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity.”  Brigham Young, July 8, 1863, Journal of Discourses, 10:230

“What does the Christian world know about God?  Nothing; yet these very men assume the right and power to tell others what they shall not believe in.  Why so far as the things  of God are concerned, they are the veriest of fools; they know neither God nor the things of God.”  John Taylor, 3rd LDS President, The Gospel Kingdom, p.75.

“There are a good many people who profess to be Christians, but they are not founded on the foundations that Jesus Christ himself has laid.”  Joseph F. Smith, 6th LDS President, November 2, 1891 [Stake conference message], Collected Discourses, 2:305.

“That portion of the world in which so-called Christianity prevails - as distinguished from heathen or Mohammedan lands - is called Christendom.  The term applies to the whole body of supposed Christian believers; as now constituted this body is properly termed apostate Christianity.”  Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1966, p.131

“And virtually all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ whom they suppose to be a spirit essence who is incorporeal uncreated, immaterial and three-in-one with the Father and Holy Spirit.”
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1966, p.269

“The whole Christian world, in the days of the Prophet, believed falsely that God was a mystical spirit essence that filled the immensity of space and was everywhere and nowhere in particular present - all of which proved only that they were all heretics, that the apostasy was universal.  Heresy is false doctrine... There is no salvation in a false doctrine.”  Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1966, p.352 (ellipses mine)

“False creeds make false churches.  There is no salvation in believing a lie.  Every informed, inspired, and discerning person is revolted by the absurdities and scripture-defying pronouncements in the creeds of Christendom, whose chief function is to define and set forth the nature and kind of being that God is.”  Bruce McConkie, The Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary, 1:30, footnote 2.

“Wherever creeds are found one can also expect to find a paid clergy, the simple truths of the gospel cloaked in the dark robes of mystery, religious intolerance, and a history of bloodshed.”  BYU Professor Joseph Fielding McConkie and Craig Ostler, Revelations of the Restoration, p. 964

Mormon Apostle/President/Prophet David O. McKay stated that, "the [LDS] Church is the greatest thing in the world, and the only authorized group to represent the Lord Jesus Christ in the salvation of mankind."  Teachings of Presidents of the Church: David O. McKay, p. 55.

I could fill a couple more pages of quotes from LDS leaders, all condescending to the true Christian faith, but I think this should suffice to demonstrate that the LDS has historically attacked the Christian faith.  And yet Mormons will continue to claim they never do so.

The bottom line is that it is not “anti-Mormon” to expose the LDS for the fraudulent belief system that it is.  It is not “un-Christian” to expose lies and falsehoods pretending to represent true Christianity.  Nor is it “hate” or “bigotry” to state that Mormons are not Christian.