By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them
David Stewart, Jr.
Introduction
Today, The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the
This article will
examine how these faiths do at promoting scripture-based beliefs and Christian
lifestyles among their own members. The
purpose of this article is not to condemn any other faith, but to restore
much-needed perspective on how other faiths measured up when their own
professed standards are applied to them.
Biblical Christianity?
Surveys of both the
members and the ministers of so-called "traditional" Christian faiths
consistently demonstrate striking discrepancies between the widespread beliefs
and behaviors of these groups, biblical standards, and official church teachings.
Both the Bible and Book
of Mormon teach clearly that Christ led a sinless life. Yet George Barna, perhaps the most respected
Christian researcher in the
Even from a Born-again
Evangelical view of the Bible, George Barna research finds that the
"biblical purity" of teachings acknowledged by members of the
Christian Pastors
and Ministers
This is not purely a
problem of poor "followership."
The secular trends of Christian ministers are similar to -- and
sometimes worse than -- the trends of the lay membership. Sociologist Jeffrey Hadden reported a survey
of ten thousand mainline Protestant pastors in the May 1982 issue of Christ for
the Nations magazine. When asked if
Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, over 50% of pastors said
"no." To the question
"Was Jesus the Son of God?," over 80% of ministers replied
"no." Is the Bible the
inspired word of God? Over 80 percent said "No." Over 36% responded that they did not believe
in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Similarly, the magazine Pulpit Helps reported a survey of 7,441
Protestant pastors.5 51 percent of the
Methodists, 35 percent of the Presbyterians, 30 percent of the Episcopalians,
and 33 percent of the American Baptists did not believe in the physical
resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
J. Kincaid Smith tells
of his experience in Lutheran seminary: "When I graduated in 1973, to the
best of my knowledge, none of my classmates, nor I, believed in any of the
miraculous element in the Bible, in anything supernatural, no 6 day creation,
that Adam and Eve were real historical people, that God really spoke to people,
the flood with Noah and the Ark, the Red Sea parting. We believed that no Old
Testament Scriptures foretold of Jesus of Nazareth, that Jesus was not
anticipated in the Old Testament. No virgin birth."[4] Anglican Bishop David Jenkins, who represents
the views of many Anglican ministers, states: "As for the virgin birth,
they're the sort of stories that get told after you already believe somebody is
very important. You don't have to believe in the virgin birth."[5]
Bishop James Thomas
stated at the United Methodist Church Quadrennial General Conference in 1976:
"We do not believe ... in rigid doctrinal concepts to hold us steady in a
wavering world." A survey published
in 1968 at
Moral
Decision-Making
The concerning theological situation in major Christian
faiths is reflected in moral decision-making.
Only 16% of Catholics, 25% of mainline Protestants, and 40% of born
again adults rely on Bible or church teachings as their main source of moral guidance.[7] George Barna noted: "When asked the
basis on which they form their moral choices, nearly half of all adults (44%)
cited their desire to do whatever will bring them the most pleasing or
satisfying results. Roughly one-sixth of the adult public (17%) bases its moral
decisions on what they believe will make other people happy or minimize
interpersonal conflict. The same percentage (17%) credits the values they were
taught by their family as the dominant influence on their moral considerations.
About one out of four adults (24%) lean primarily upon religious principles and
teaching or Bible content when making moral decisions.”[8] He continued: “among all adults, only 22
percent believed in moral absolutes, while 64 percent thought truth was always
relative to the person concerned and their situation. Among those interviewed that were identified
as being born again, just 32 percent believed in moral absolutes...Among the
teens...eighty-three percent of all teens thought moral truth depended on the
circumstances, with just 6 percent believing in absolute truth."
The rejection of basic Biblical standards by many
professing Christians inevitably influences conduct. Among Christians who claimed to have donated
ten percent or more of their income to churches or ministries within the past
year, an actual examination of their finances demonstrated that two-thirds of
those individuals were lying.[9] 40% of adults and 20% of born again
Christians had viewed pornography within the past seven days. 58% of all adults, 54% of mainline
Christians, 42% of weekly church attenders, and 36% of born again Christians
believe that premarital co-habitation is morally acceptable. George Barna
stated: “while Christians are exhorted to not engage in behaviors such as
gambling or filling their minds with inappropriate sexual images through
pornography, millions do so on a regular basis. While some of that behavior is
perhaps outright disobedience to God's commands, much of it may be naïve
ignorance of what the Bible calls for and how we are to translate its
principles into daily living."[10]
Faith, Works, and
Salvation
Lay Christians reject
some non-Biblical teachings of their own faiths inconsistent with divine
justice. Only 9% of Catholics, 27% of
Lutherans, 43% of Baptists, and 30% of all adults believe traditional non-Biblical
evangelical tenet that good works are not important for salvation. Latter-day Saints know from both the Bible
and the Book of Mormon that we are saved through Christ’s grace, on conditions
of repentance and obedience. However, critics attack Latter-day Saints for this
mainstream belief in the importance of both faith and works. Jesus Christ repeatedly instructed that it is
necessary not just to profess belief, but to obey God’s commandments to enter
heaven: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven”
(Matthew 7:21).
Inerrancy of the
Bible
In spite of non-Biblical
teachings that the Bible is complete and inerrant, Christian researcher George
Barna reports that only 22% Episcopalians, 26% of Catholics, 34% of Lutherans,
38% of Methodists, and 40% of Presbyterians in the
Protestant pastor Gary
Amirault wrote, “If you say, 'I believe in the Bible,' then you are faced with
the question of 'which Bible?'...Nearly all Christian Bibles rely on the Jewish
Masoretic Hebrew text for translating the Old Testament into current languages.
How was it possible for the translators to produce an 'inerrant' Bible, when
the 'guardians of the so called 'inerrant' Hebrew text', did not know the
meaning of many words and passages? Unfortunately, the problem does not lie
with the Jews lack of understanding of their own language, but with a false
doctrine perpetuated by fundamentalists for many years, the doctrine of
Biblical Inerrancy. This doctrine has caused Christian leaders to have to
outright lie to maintain their position…They say the 66 books of the present
King James Bible are inerrant, but they don't tell you it lacks 14 entire books
which were in the original King James of 1611. They don't tell you the King
James Bible has been changed many times in the last 350 years and there have
been thousands of corrections!”[12],[13]
Methodist minister David
M. Chapman wrote: "While sola scriptura remains an important safeguard
against unwarranted additions to Christian faith, it has the unfortunate effect
of obscuring the development in doctrine that took place in the patristic
Church as the Fathers wrestled with the far-ranging consequences for Christian
doctrine of the foundational affirmation of faith-Jesus is Lord. As any
theology undergraduate knows, the doctrine of the Trinity settled upon at the
Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451 is nowhere explicitly contained in the
New Testament. Contrary to Luther’s intention, if followed rigorously sola
scripture would exclude even the doctrine of the Trinity from authentic
Christian faith."[14] If one must accept the doctrine of Trinity
to be considered a Christian, as many non-LDS Christian faiths insist, and the
Bible is complete and inerrant, one might wonder why the doctrine of Trinity is
not found in the Bible.
Critics claim that
Latter-day Saints, who accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and believe in the Bible, are not Christians
because they do not accept non-biblical creeds.
Yet at the same time, it is not unusual for someone to become a
Christian minister without even believing in the Bible.
Latter-day Saints
believe that the Bible is the word of God, to the extent that it is translated
correctly.[15]
This puts Latter-day Saints in a much stronger position than churches that
claim absolute biblical inerrancy while many of their own members reject
historically and logically untenable claims.
Book of Mormon testifies to the truth of the Bible (1 Nephi 13:40), and
Latter-day Saints study the Bible and love its teachings. When we examine the deep confusion over even
the most basic doctrinal points in many Christian faiths, as well as
discrepancies between Biblical teachings and actual lifestyle, one wonders how
“mainline” Christianity has strayed so far from the Bible.
A Sure Foundation
The Apostle Paul
described those who lack the "rigid doctrinal concepts" of eternal
truths expressed in holy scripture as “children, tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive" (Ephesians 4:14). The Savior taught: “And every one that
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a
foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and
the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and
great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:26-27).
The Book of Mormon
prophesies that in our day, many churches will "deny the Holy Ghost, which
giveth utterance" (2 Nephi 28:4).
Barna research shows that a majority (52%) of all born-again Christians
reject the existence of the Holy Spirit.2 One wonders how these churches can
claim to be “Bible-based” when the majority of their adherents deny basic
scriptural truths. The prophet Nephi
testified of the apostasy among his own people: “there were many churches which
professed to know the Christ, and yet they did deny the more parts of his
gospel” (4 Nephi 1:27). Nephi’s
description seems to aptly describe the state of much of the Christian world
today. We might be inclined to wonder,
as the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob, “how is it possible that these, after
having rejected the sure foundation, can ever build upon it, that it may become
the head of their corner?” (Jacob 4:17)
Christ's true church is built upon the rock of revelation and not on the
teachings of men.
Belief and
Lifestyle
In a study released on
July 9, 2001, George Barna reports that 95% of Latter-day Saints, 90% of
Protestants, and 88% of Catholics report praying to God over the past week. 13
Of U.S. citizens identifying themselves as Latter-day Saints, 67% state that
they read the Bible, 62% attend Sunday School (compared to just 16% of all U.S.
adults), 27% are involved in Church-related small groups. 40% were involved in Church-related service
over the prior week, compared to 16% of
Top and Chadwick report
that 10% of male senior LDS seminary students and 17% of female senior seminary
students in the
Education and Faith
George Barna found that
adults under the age of 35, people with college degrees and above average
household income levels, and individuals attending large churches were found to
be more likely to deviate from traditional Christian teachings and
values.9 Increasing education is almost
proverbially associated with secularism and skepticism of Protestant
Christianity. The opposite is true of
Latter-day Saints, who experience higher church activity rates among both men
and women as their level of education rises.[19]
Some teachings of sectarian Christian churches may be difficult or impossible
for many educated individuals to reconcile with their own experience and
observed fact, while Latter-day Saint teachings withstand scrutiny and speak
through the Holy Spirit to the mind and heart.
Christians by Faith
and Conduct
In his article “Ten
Things Christians can learn from the Mormons,” professional anti-Mormon Eric
Johnson acknowledges that Latter-day Saints are well-known for their high moral
code, chastity, honesty, observance of the Sabbath Day, emphasis on family
life, generosity, and care for the poor.[20] He rationalizes his ongoing efforts to attack
the
It may seem odd that
some churches claim that Latter-day Saints -- who overwhelmingly accept the
divinity of Jesus Christ, and live Christ's commandments in daily life -- are
not Christians, when Latter-day Saint performance in these areas consistently
exceeds that of many other faiths securely labeled as part of
"mainline" Christianity. The
honest inquirer is led to wonder how many of those who judge Latter-day Saints
harshly would measure up if their own practices and beliefs were judged by
scriptural standards. One might also ask
whether a correct view of God, Jesus, and scripture cannot be overwritten by a
bad lifestyle. “Merely” achieving the
“positive lifestyle” of righteous living is not a peripheral concern as Johnson
implies, but a central goal of religious teaching. The gospel message proclaims: “Bring forth
therefore fruits meet for repentance ... the axe is laid unto the root of the
trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down,
and cast into the fire” (Matthew 3:8-10).
Christ taught that Christianity is not just a creed, but a lifestyle:
“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke
6:46)
The Savior taught that
truth is established not by lengthy doctrinal disputations, but that “ye shall
know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16).
He stated, “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye,
but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say
to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when
thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite,
cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly
to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye. For a good tree bringeth not
forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For
of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes
(Luke 6:41-44).
Marginalization and
Persecution
In recounting his
miraculous visitation by Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father that led to the
translation of the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the Church of Jesus
Christ, the prophet Joseph Smith stated: "My telling the story had excited
a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the
cause of great persecution, which continued to increase; and though I was an
obscure boy, only between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and my
circumstances in life such as to make a boy of no consequence in the world, yet
men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite the public mind
against me, and create a bitter persecution; and this was common among all the
sects--all united to persecute me."[21] Joseph Smith noted that he was “persecuted by
those who ought to have been my friends and to have treated me kindly, and if
they supposed me to be deluded to have endeavored in a proper and affectionate
manner to have reclaimed me.”[22] Where individuals have honest differences of
opinion on religious matters, they ought to express these differences in a
charitable fashion, rather than through persecutory or fear-mongering tactics. It is apparent to the honest in heart that
non-LDS Christian faiths have enough glaring spiritual deficiencies to require
the best efforts and dedicated attention of both clergy and laity to remove the
beam in their own eyes, rather than attempting to pick motes from a neighbor’s
eye. The Book of Mormon teaches that
“God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall
the outer vessel be cleansed also” (
One need not expect that
ongoing attempts of nominally Christian groups to marginalize or attack Latter-day
Saints will slow down anytime soon. We
expect that they will continue. The
Savior taught: “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them,
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John
17:14). The apostle Paul taught: “all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy
3:12).
Christ’s Church
Today
Latter-day Saints are
secure in the knowledge that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that he lived a
perfect and sinless life, and that He died and was resurrected on the third
day. Latter-day Saints know that salvation comes only through the atonement of
the Savior Jesus Christ. The Bible and
Book of Mormon provide enduring moral principles and spiritual truths that can
help all people draw nearer to God in a changing world.
While Latter-day Saints are not perfect, they are earnestly striving to
emulate the example of the Savior and apply His teachings. The fruits of the restored Gospel of Jesus
Christ testify to its truthfulness, and all are invited to come and see.
[1] Barna, George. “Religious Beliefs Vary Widely By Denomination.” Barna Research Group. 25 June 2001. http://www.barna.org/cgi-bin/PagePressRelease.asp?PressReleaseID=92&Reference=B
[2] Barna, George. “Beliefs: Trinity, Satan.” Barna Research 2001. http://www.barna.org/cgi-bin/PageCategory.asp?CategoryID=6
[3] Christianity Today. 11 September 1970.
[4] Cloud, David. “Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity.” Way of Life Publishers. 560 p. 1993.
[5] Cloud, David. “Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity.” Way of Life Publishers. 560 p. 1993.
[6] Hadden, Jeffrey.
1968
[7] Barna, George. “Americans Are Most
Likely to Base Truth on Feelings.” Barna
Research Group. 12 February 2002. http://www.barna.org/cgi-bin/PagePressRelease.asp?PressReleaseID=106&Reference=C
[8] Barna, George. “Practical Outcomes
Replace Biblical Principles As the Moral Standard.” 10 September 2001. http://www.barna.org/cgi-bin/PagePressRelease.asp?PressReleaseID=97&Reference=F
[9] Barna, George. “Practical Outcomes
Replace Biblical Principles As the Moral Standard.” 10 September 2001. http://www.barna.org/cgi-bin/PagePressRelease.asp?PressReleaseID=97&Reference=F
[10] Barna, George. “Survey Shows Faith Impacts Some Behaviors But Not Others.” 22 October 2002. http://www.barna.org/cgi-bin/PagePressRelease.asp?PressReleaseID=123&Reference=B
[11] Barna, George. “Religious Beliefs Vary Widely By Denomination.” Barna Research Group. 25 June 2001. http://www.barna.org/cgi-
[12] Amirault, Gary. "The Myth of the Inerrant Bible." http://www.tentmaker.org/lists/BibleStudyTips.html
[13] Amirault, Gary. "Bible
Translations that do not teach Eternal Torment."
http://www.tentmaker.org/books/GatesOfHell.html
[14] Chapman, David M. "Rest and Light Perpetual: Prayer for the Departed in the Communion of Saints." One in Christ 34 (1998): 39-49.
[15] Articles of Faith, number 8.
[16] Barna, George. “Protestants, Catholics and Mormons Reflect Diverse Levels of Religious Activity.” 9 July 2001. http://www.barna.org/cgi-bin/PagePressRelease.asp?PressReleaseID=93&Reference=B
[17] Barna, George. “Religious Beliefs Vary Widely By Denomination.” Barna Research Group. 25 June 2001. http://www.barna.org/cgi-bin/PagePressRelease.asp?PressReleaseID=92&Reference=B
[18] Top, Brent L, and Bruce A. Chadwick. “Helping Teens Stay Strong.” Ensign. March. 1999, p. 27.
[19] Albrecht, Stan, and Timothy B. Heaton. "Secularization, Higher
Education, and
Religiosity". In Latter-day Saint Social Life:
Social Research on the LDS
Church and its Members, ed. James T. Duke (
Center, 1998), p. 306-07.
[20] Johnson, Eric. 10 Things Christians Can Learn from the Mormons. http://www.mrm.org/articles/10-things.html
[21] Smith, Joseph. Testimony of the
Prophet Joseph Smith.
[22] Smith, Joseph. Testimony of the
Prophet Joseph Smith.