It's mimicry of exactly the kind you find in the animal kingdom.

For instance, the various insects that carefully mimic the appearance of wasps or bees.

Or caterpillars that evolved to look like snakes:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sciencephoto.com/image/372362/530wm/Z3551437-Snake_mimic_hawkmoth_caterpillar-SPL.jpg&imgrefurl=http://talkrational.org/showthread.php?t%3D39461&h=362&w=530&sz=54&tbnid=u7aOH7x8Qn7KqM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=132&zoom=1&usg=__3JwGnKY5lQjt4iUC1KTS6TPRLO0=&docid=8SHzLVJLSuUboM&sa=X&ei=8rsHUYb-Ks6EygGz-oHQDA&ved=0CD4Q9QEwAw&dur=433


The fact is that the deeper you go, the less the LDS church resembles "Christianity" as most people think of it. The "banned mormon cartoon" gives a pretty good breakdown of just how greatly the core theology differs.

It doesn't even really have a "common ancestor" with these beliefs, given that it is neither derived from Protestantism nor Catholicism, but is claimed to be a brand new "Restoration". Most Christian sects are branches breaking off of larger existing sects. The LDS church is essentially a brand new tree that then borrowed tons of ideas from its surroundings in order to blend in.

According to Fawn Brodie, the Book of Mormon, as a project, may not have even been *intended* for religious purposes at first. It may have merely been meant to be an explanation of the ancient civilization of the mysterious "Mound Builders" of upstate New York. And the original draft of those first 116 pages were speculated to be far less "religious" in nature, and far more focused on politics and the social structure of the Nephites. The theory goes that the game was escalated when those pages were lost and the con was nearly exposed, and the religious subtext was kicked into overdrive when he started fresh on his "second draft". Granted, that's largely speculative, but if it's true, it means that many of the "Christian" qualities of the church are transplants, grafted onto a sapling of ideas with no shared heritage.


The church used to stress theological points that took it very far outside the realm of traditional Christianity. Yet it has evolved over the years to look, on the surface, very similar to a form of Protestantism. Especially when strong selective pressures have been applied to it. It has had to become more and more "Protestant" just to survive, slowly de-emphasizing teachings that highlight its differences.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2013 08:46AM by doubtisavirtue.

This is a perfect analogy for Mormonism. It is simple and elegant in showing how Mormonism approximates the traditions of Christianity but just doesn't quite fit in.

+1

I don't see the glaring differences you reference. Mormonism is christianity v5.2.1.

It's all the same.

1. Monkey-looking god creates humans because it wants to. (Why it wants to is up for grabs because the bible is silent on that)

2. Monkey-looking creatures eat forbidden fruit and become mortal and cast out of the garden

3. Monkey-looking god picks and chooses which of his monkey-looking creatures should speak for him and they do a piss poor job in general so there's a bunch of confusion

4. Monkey-looking god gets angry that everybody is acting bad so he drowns most of them

5. Monkey-looking surviving family repopulates the planet through incest

6. Monkey-looking god comes down to earth and gets nailed to a cross, commits suicide on the cross, walks around the netherworld for a couple days, then comes back life

7. Monkey-looking creatures write down their memories of the monkey-looking god, then start a bunch of churches

8. Monkey-looking emperor of rome creates a new religion based on a mixture between paganism, christianity, and a few others

9. Monkey-looking creatures decide they don't like the emperor's church so they start making their own, deciding which bits they like and which bits they don't like

10. One of these monkey-looking creatures is Sidney Rigdon

Don't get me wrong, I DO think Mormons are Christians (depending on how you define Christian). I'm just saying they are more than just a minor departure from the "standard" Christian mindset. They try to play up the doctrinal similarities (when it suits them), and pretend there aren't some radical theological differences.

Whether they are Christian or not entirely depends on what working definition of Christian you are using. I'm saying if your working definition is "genealogical", then it is not a Christian religion. It didn't descend from older forms of Christianity the way other sects did. It was a pretty fresh invention, the same way Islam was a new invention that borrowed from Christianity.

If however, your definition of Christian is just "follower of Christ," they certainly are Christians.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2013 05:49PM by doubtisavirtue.

Well stated! Funny how only Mormons define Christians as merely "followers of Christ". Technically Islam also "follows Christ". You won't hear that definition outside of a Mormon church. I just love their canned responses to everything questionable.