You Mormons believe in a different Jesus!
This is an allegation I have heard many times. I don’t think this allegation is accurate or productive. Without calling out where I have heard this allegation, I wanted to spend some time debunking some myths about what we believe about Jesus Christ.
Myth 1: Latter-Day-Saints believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers.
Fact: They are not and were never brothers–in any sense
What is birth?
Let me explain a little better. When we talk about familial relationships in this context, we are not really talking about the same kind of family we have here on earth. When I say “brother” to you, you are probably going to think of the dictionary definition of a male sibling, where sibling is someone who has the same parents as another person. In this definition, the keystone is the concept of birth. Your brother or sister was born to the same parents as you. Without birth, there are no siblings or parents.
However, in an eternal perspective, “birth” is not the same as what we think of on earth at all. When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus about being “born again,” Nicodemus even asked him to clarify when he asked,
How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?
Nicodemus’ idea of what birth means is a myopic worldview many of us share. To us, being “born” is understandably associated only with the emergent event of leaving our mothers’ collective wombs. Naturally, this is why Nicodemus was confused, and his question is totally in line with what any of us might have thought in his position.
However, the savior goes on to say
Verily, verily, I saw unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God 1
Jesus, always with an eternal perspective, is trying to help Nicodemus understand that the birth of which he speaks is not a temporal one. In fact, he is talking about baptism and the receiving of the Holy Ghost. The restored gospel helps latter-day-saints understand this concept better:
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel. 2
Here the prophet Nephi is testifying that “thus came of the voice of the Son” testifying about how it’s possible to enter into the kingdom of God. By choosing to be baptized, we are choosing to enter into a covenant with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Latter-Day-Saints renew this covenant almost every week, and promise that we are willing to do three things:
- Take upon us the name of Jesus Christ
- Always remember Him
- Keep His commandments
In return Saints are promised “they may always have his Spirit to be with them.”
These promises are, in a way, illustrated in the symbolism of the ordinance of baptism. The person to be baptized is fully submerged in the water. This submersion is intended to signify the death of the previous life. When the person emerges from the water, this symbolizes a new life dedicated to Jesus Christ. In fact, every act a person undertakes from that point forward, according to the promise, is done in the name of Jesus Christ. That is what point 1 means in the covenant.
To Latter-Day-Saints, this covenant embodies not only the “rebirth” that Jesus was trying to teach Nicodemus, but also calls out the importance of repentance. Each time we repent, we leave behind whatever it was that was keeping us from obeying the commandments, or more precisely, whatever it was that was keeping us from being Christlike. When Jesus talks about being “born again” it is with this eternal perspective that he is speaking of it. “Birth” is taking on a new covenant wherein each of us is invited to live a higher law and in response, we are promised that we will be able to reap the corresponding blessings that come with this sort of obedient lifestyle.
This concept is of paramount importance in our discussion. Whenever we take on additional rights, responsibilities or powers the Lord has seen fit to ensure that these things are received by covenant. This is the pattern He has established.
King Benjamin taught this concept to his subjects in his great sermon where we learn what He means when He calls us his children. The people who heard the sermon were moved. The Spirit had touched them and they greatly desired to repent and make a covenant with the Lord:
Yeah, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which was wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually . . . And we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he shall command us, all the remainder of our days . . .
And when King Benjamin heard this, he began to teach them more about what they had agreed to:
And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters. 3
This is the type of “brother” that the Saints talk about when they use this honorific in Church settings. We are brothers and sisters in a covenant. We become “sons and daughters” of almighty god by virtue of this covenant. We are “spiritually begotten” when we choose to enter into this covenant. People who have entered together in the same covenant have the same “father.”
What other covenants have we made?
We can read in the book of Abraham, which is canonical scripture in our church, that in order to come to Earth, we each made a similar covenant as the baptismal covenant.
And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; 4
and in the book of Moses we learn that Jehovah volunteered to help us with our mortal journey.
We entered into a covenant to come here, and, in this way, all of us who have lived, do live or will ever live on this earth are all brothers and sisters in the covenant.
So what about Satan
We learn also from the book of Moses that Satan did not accept this covenant and, in fact, rebelled against it.
Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused he should be cast down; and he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice. 5
Satan accepted no such covenant. He did not allow the Lord to claim him as a son or a daughter and therefore cannot be called a brother.
Myth 2: Latter-Day-Saints don’t believe Jesus is God
Fact: Yes we do
I have heard this accusation a lot too, and I don’t believe it stands up to doctrinal scrutiny, or even a passing glance at scripture.
The Book of Mormon is “another testament of Jesus Christ.” On its title page we can read about its purpose:
. . . to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations. . . 6
The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. If we can’t depend on it to declare what we believe, I don’t know how we can have a meaningful conversation about it, but here are some more passages:
. . . God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people. And because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son–The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God, and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and Son–And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth. 7
I have also often heard John 1 quoted at latter-day-saints attempting to show that we don’t believe it, but I don’t know how they are hoping to trap us with that because we believe the Bible is the word of God also.
Conclusion
I’m sure there are more myths we could demystify here, but I’ll leave it here for now.