Christian Answer
The Latter-day Saints (commonly known as “Mormons”) are members of a group called “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” (or “Mormonism”). It was founded in America by Joseph Smith in 1830.
Christians of all traditions, whether that be Protestant, Roman Catholic, or Eastern Orthodox, have never considered the Latter-day Saints to be Christians for several important reasons. The first main reason would be that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded upon the premise that all Christian churches fell away from the truth in its early years, and that only Joseph Smith has restored it back to its original truth 1,800 years later. This goes against the Lord Jesus’ promise to all Christians that the gates of Hell will not prevail against his Church (Matthew 16:18).
The second main reason would be that the Latter-day Saints’ view of Jesus is a drastic departure from the Christian view of Jesus. Christians see Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God and the Second Person of the Holy Trinity based upon biblical teachings (Matthew 28:19; John 1:1, 14; John 10:30). The Latter-day Saints, on the other hand, not only believe that Jesus was a created being contrary to this, but they even teach that Jesus ascended to godhood as one God among many gods. They teach that each of these gods are from other planets who also ascended to godhood by obeying their gods’ teachings. Latter-day Saints even believe that God the Father was once a man on another planet who became a God in the same way. Hence, Mormonism departs from Christianity’s strict adherence to monotheism—the belief that there is only one God in all existence who created all things (Psalm 90:2; Isaiah 44:6, 8; Revelation 4:11).
Ultimately, the Christian verdict is that the Latter-day Saints are not Christian because of these and many other differences in core teachings. To learn more about these profound differences, please see the main article below which explores this question in greater depth from a Christian perspective.
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