Is the Latter Day Saint Church a Denomination of Christianity?

Last Friday, Latter Day Saint Glenn Beck told Liberty University students that Mormonism is a Christian denomination. While I focused briefly on the Grand Council reference in the speech, blogger James Duncan referenced Beck’s statement about Latter Day Saints and Christianity in his post on Beck’s speech in Liberty’s chapel.  Beck said:

I share your faith. I am from a different denomination, and a denomination, quite honestly, that I’m sure can make many people at Liberty uncomfortable. I’m a Mormon, but I share your faith in the atonement of the savior, Jesus Christ. In my faith, we have a guy who gave his life for what he believed in. You don’t have to believe it; I’m not asking you to. I’m asking you, “What is it that you believe? Are you willing to give your life?”

Unlike some other speakers who deviate from Liberty’s evangelical affiliations, Beck made a religious claim. It is incredible that Liberty allowed this to be said without any response or disclaimer. Given the enthusiastic response of LU leaders and the student body, I wonder if Beck’s claim is accepted and taught at LU.
Al Mohler addressed the claim that Mormons are members of a Christian denomination. As he points out, the LDS movement began as a rejection of Christianity and a claim that the LDS church had recovered the true Gospel.

Once that is made clear, the answer is inevitable. Furthermore, the answer is made easy, not only by the structure of Christian orthodoxy (a structure Mormonism denies) but by the central argument of Mormonism itself – that the true faith was restored through Joseph Smith in the nineteenth century in America and that the entire structure of Christian orthodoxy as affirmed by the post-apostolic church is corrupt and false.
In other words, Mormonism rejects traditional Christian orthodoxy at the onset – this rejection is the very logic of Mormonism’s existence. A contemporary observer of Mormon public relations is not going to hear this logic presented directly, but it is the very logic and message of the Book of Mormon and the structure of Mormon thought. Mormonism rejects Christian orthodoxy as the very argument for its own existence, and it clearly identifies historic Christianity as a false faith.

As I noted yesterday (and blogger Duncan also demonstrates), Beck spoke from the foundation of his Latter Day Saint theology. About that theology, Mohler wrote:

The major divisions within Christian history (Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism) disagree over important issues of doctrine, but all affirm the early church’s consensus concerning the nature of Christ and the Trinitarian faith. These are precisely what Mormonism rejects.
Without doubt, Mormonism borrows Christian themes, personalities, and narratives. Nevertheless, it rejects what orthodox Christianity affirms and it affirms what orthodox Christianity rejects. It is not Christianity in a new form or another branch of the Christian tradition. By its own teachings and claims, it rejects that very tradition.

LDS founder Joseph Smith clearly taught that his angelic visitors told him that none of the denominations of Christianity were correct. From Smith’s writings 1:19-20:

18 My object in going to ainquire 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.
 19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all awrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those bprofessors were all ccorrupt; that: “they ddraw near to me with their lips, but their ehearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the fcommandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the gpower thereof.”
 20 He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time.

Some of the silence in response to Beck’s claims may be due to the endorsement of David Barton. Barton has claimed that Beck is a Christian who identifies as a Mormon out of loyalty.  Also, some of the silence may be due to the fact that Beck donated money to Liberty and promised to do more.
In any case, from both an orthodox Christian and the historic LDS perspective, the case for the LDS church being a denomination of orthodox Christianity isn’t credible.
 
 

Mark Driscoll Appears on James Robison's Life Today Show; Also Appears on T-Shirt

I guess moving out of celebrity status is hard.
Mark Driscoll appeared as a guest on James Robison’s show today discussing Driscoll’s  book A Call to Resurgence. The interview was tame compared to his interview with Janet Mefferd back in November 2013.  As you can see from the transcript, Robison didn’t bring up any uncomfortable issues.
In mid-March, Driscoll said he would be doing “very few media appearances, if any.” Until Easter, Driscoll’s live preaching was mostly to staff. I wonder if the Robison show was one of “very few” appearances or is the media blackout now over.
Driscoll also recently appeared on a t-shirt:

Note the “Pastor Mark Driscoll” next to Saves. At least Jesus got top billing.

Donald Sterling is not a Democrat and other reactions from the Twitter feed

By now, many people know that Los Angeles Clippers soon-be-former owner Donald Sterling was banned from the NBA due to his comments to his girlfriend berating her for hanging out with black people. He isn’t so great when it comes to how he treats women either but I don’t think that had any impact on his sanctions.
Some conservatives tried to paint Sterling as a Democrat. For instance, Conservative Chick tweeted:


American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer joined in:


However, according to the LA Times, he hasn’t donated to Dem pols in over a decade and is a registered Republican:


Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon congratulated NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for his leadership:


Dimemag.com has a collection of NBA tweets.
Alas, this tweeter said:


Andy Borowitz analyzes the situation:


On the Sterling is a Democrat thing, apparently Matt Drudge beat that drum but has now removed his tweet to that effect.

The Virtue of Distraction

Marten Scheffer, professor and scientist with appointments in The Netherlands and Uruguay, has a brief, but thought provoking, essay in today’s edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (USA)* on nurturing creative associations. Hopefully, you don’t have to subscribe to read it. Scheffer begins:

Although thinking is the core business of scientists, we rarely ponder how it thrives best; this is ironic, as there is abundant scientific insight to draw upon. For example, it is now known that thinking has two complementary modes: roughly, association versus reasoning (1). We systematically underestimate the role of the first (1), and the way our institutions, meetings, and teaching are organized heavily reflects this imbalance. By contrast, many of the greatest scientists systematically nurtured a balanced dual-thinking process. We should follow their example and reform scientific practice and education to catalyze the unusual combinations of knowledge that often turn out to have the highest impact.

How does Scheffer suggest we make progress toward more creative associations? Nap and goof around:

Recent experimental work confirms that our capacity to make novel associations is boosted by rapid eye-movement sleep (3) and by undemanding activities that allow the mind to wander (4). This finding suggests that it may be good in a daily routine to alternate our cognitive work with naps or activities conducive to mind wandering.

I’m in. In fact, I’ve been in for a long time.
Scheffer also suggests interdisciplinary pursuits (I’m there), walks (short ones I hope) and talks (with gluten free food and a tasty beverage):

The idea that taking walks, reading things unrelated to your research, and hanging out with strangers in a campus pub should be considered part of the serious process of thinking, but might well meet with skepticism in practice. Should we really set time and space apart for things that distract us from our jobs? Yes we should, because many of the breakthroughs in science were made by people who were distracted.

I knew there was virtue in distraction but now I can get busy being more distracted so I can finally get to the breakthroughs.
 
*Marten Scheffer, The forgotten half of scientific thinking. PNAS, April 29, 2014, vol. 111 no. 176119, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1404649111.
 

Glenn Beck Talks Mormon at Liberty University

I honestly have a hard time figuring out Liberty University.
After finding themselves in some hot water over Mitt Romney, and then more recently Benny Hinn and Ron Godwin’s past devotion to Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, you would think they would take more care about the speakers in their chapel. However, last Friday, LU featured Mormon enthusiast Glenn Beck in their chapel. Right there in front of their motto “Training Champions for Christ Since 1971,” Glenn Beck spoke from his Mormon theological base to young evangelicals.
Right Wing Watch had the story yesterday. Here is a clip where Beck refers to the Mormon doctrine of pre-existence (begin at 26:45)
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYNjZ55nctE#t=1597[/youtube]
To the Liberty students, Beck refers to the Grand Councils which apparently is a reference to the pre-mortal meeting to decide the plan of salvation and other matters, according Mormon theology. I wonder how many classes the LU profs have to spend undoing what happens in chapel.