Mormon Scripture – The Articles of Faith/Part 27

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The eleventh LDS Article of Faith declares, “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.”

In explaining this Article, LDS Apostle James Talmage said on page 403 of his book entitled the Articles of Faith, “He (man) is prone to regard the faith of others as not merely inferior to his own but as utterly unworthy of respect.” But he claimed he was different when he said, “I count the (religious) sects as sincere until they demonstrate that they are otherwise and am ready to defend them in their rights.” That sounds like he and other Mormons are very tolerant. But on the same page he said, “Toleration is not acceptance” and explained that the LDS Church is “the only one entitled to the designation ‘Church of Jesus Christ’ and the sole earthly repository of the eternal Priesthood in the present age.”

Mormon Apostle, Bruce R. McConkie also said that the term “Christendom…applies to the whole body of supposed Christian believers; as now constituted this body is properly termed apostate Christendom” (Mormon Doctrine, p. 131).

In Mormon scripture Joseph Smith claimed he was visited by God the Father and Jesus when he was fourteen years old. He said he asked them which church was right and which he should join and was told that he “must join none of them, for they were all wrong…that all of their creeds were an abomination in His sight; that those professors were all corrupt…” (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith-History 1:19). That is what “universal apostasy” means to LDS.

In another Mormon scripture it say the LDS Church “is the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth.” Such teaching does exactly what Talmage accused others of doing when he said they “regard the faith of others not merely inferior to their own but utterly unworthy of respect.”

The Book of Mormon is also Mormon scripture. In it an angel supposedly told the prophet Nephi, “Behold, there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth” (I Nephi 14:10). Since the LDS Church identifies itself as the church of the Lamb of God, what does their scripture say about all other churches?

Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism also said, “Will everybody be damned but Mor­mons? Yes, and a great portion of them, (LDS) unless they repent, and work righteousness” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119). Notice that Smith said all non-Mormons as well as some Mormons who don’t repent will be damned!

Another LDS General Authority, Milton R. Hunter declared, “He (man) will also learn that in order to gain eternal life in the celestial glory of God he must become a member and live the Gospel principles and ordinances of the true Church of the Master—which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, restored to earth through divine revelations to the Prophet Joseph Smith” (Gospel Through the Ages, p. 166).

Mormons do not believe the above claims are bigoted. But, if Christians don’t accept those LDS claims as “Christian,” Mormons often call them intolerant, anti-Mormon bigots! In reply to such LDS accusations Christians can tell LDS that they tolerate Mormons but as Talmage said, “Toleration is not acceptance!” So, Christians do not accept such Mormon teaching as Christian.

This LDS Article of Faith says that Mormons “allow all men the same privilege” that LDS have in worshiping God according to the dictates of their own conscience. That is an interesting statement. If you “allow” someone to do something, it implies that you also have the power NOT to allow them to do it. So, how do LDS “allow” others to worship “how, where or what they may”? Obviously they can’t prevent most people from doing whatever they want to do!

But in the previous quotation Talmage claimed that the Mormons Church is “the sole earthly repository of the eternal Priesthood in the present age.” By that he means that only those who hold the LDS Priesthood can act for God on earth now. While Mormon Priesthood is very impor­tant to them, it has little or no affect on the rest of the world. But, whenever they can claim its authority over someone, they usually try to do so.

For example, until very recently Mormons who wanted to leave the Mormon Church and have their name removed from the membership roll could not do so! They were told that the LDS Church alone had the “authority” to remove their name. So, in order to get their name removed members had to be summoned to a Bishop’s Court or a Standing High Council and be tried before a group of Priesthood holders and then excommunicated. The LDS Church received some bad publicity for some excommunications so now members can resign their membership without having a trial and being excommunicated.

The LDS Church talks more about the “free agency” of man than any other church. The LDS view of “free agency” is explained by Talmage as an “inalienable right…to choose the good or the evil…to obey or disobey the Lord’s commands” (The Articles of Faith p. 52). So, it is interest­ing that LDS children at the age of eight have the free agency to “choose” to get baptized and join the LDS Church. But until recently members could not leave the LDS Church no matter how old they were! They could only be excommunicated. Therefore, they must have lost their “free agency” while they were members of the Mormon Church. This LDS Article of Faith doesn’t convey a clear picture of what they believe any better than the others we have discussed.

For those who want to read more on this subject we suggest Chapter 22 in The Articles of Faith by James Talmage. Next article we will discuss the twelfth Article of Faith regarding the LDS relationship to political and national leaders as well as to the law.