Mormonism Vs. Biblical Christianity Series

Mormonism vs. Biblical Christianity

2 Corinthians 11:2-4

Slide

Good Morning.

I am glad that you are here this morning. If you are joining us today for the first time, we are in the midst of a series called Faithology, a series that is looking at some of the different faith systems that we see around us and comparing them to Biblical Christianity.

We are doing this to help us understand what other faith systems are teaching

so Christians can be more assured of the truth of Christianity and

to help us gain an idea of where someone else is coming from and what they believe so we might be able to minister to them with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now, I think this is an extremely important series for us to be going through because there are many people in the world and, shockingly within Christianity, who believe that many religions are just different paths to the same God and that following and believing any of a number of different, even non Christian, beliefs, can lead to eternal life.

According to a survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, “the vast majority (of those claiming to be Christians)(80%) …(believe that) at least one non-Christian religion… can lead to salvation, and …(61%) name two or more non-Christian religions. Even among white evangelical Protestants, …(72%) of those who say many religions can lead to eternal life name at least one non-Christian religion that can lead to salvation.”

Many Americans Say Other Faiths Can Lead to Eternal Life - Dec. 18, 2008, accessed 4/22/10 @ http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=380

So this isn’t talking about just different denominations within Christianity, this is showing that many people, even those claiming Christianity, believe that there are other ways to salvation apart from believing in and receiving Jesus Christ.

I think this is largely due to the fact that we live in a society where it seems tolerant to affirm what people believe.

Tolerance is being able to live among people peacefully who believe differently than you.

Tolerance, however, does not mean that we do not share the truth with people who are believing what we know to be a lie that is damning them to an eternity in Hell.

It is important for us to be certain of the truth of Christianity in our minds and our hearts. Jesus Christ said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).

Christianity teaches that it is only through Jesus Christ that one can be saved.

Now here is the thing.

Just because you believe something doesn’t make it true. Just because we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, God in the flesh, and that He died for our sins in our place, and rose again from the dead, doesn’t make it true.

Truth is true regardless if it is believed.

Truth needs to correspond to reality.

How do we determine what is true?

Is it supported by evidence and does it match up with reality?

Three weeks ago, on Easter, we looked at Biblical Christianity and the evidence that supports it and how it lines up with reality to see the truth of it.

You can listen to that message on our website if you were not here for it.

This morning we are going to compare Mormonism to Biblical Christianity.

Slide

I think this week and next week are even more important than the previous 2 weeks.

This week and next week we are going to be looking at Religions that claim to believe in and follow Jesus Christ, but the Jesus they talk about is not the same Jesus of the Bible.

And I think it is important that we understand their views so we do not fall prey to these deceptions that lead us away from the true Jesus back into a life of bondage.

Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 11:2-4

Slide

The Corinthians were experiencing some of this. They had some false teachers come in and some of them were believing this false teaching about who Jesus was and what He did.

Listen to what Paul says to them in

2 Corinthians 11:2-4

2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.