They think they can become Gods....WHAT?!?

Taking the Gospel to people often involves getting in their shoes and examining their belief system before you can relate to them the good news of Christ in an effective manner. Knowing that there is definitely a Mormon influence in Idaho, I figured it would be important for me to get to know at least the basics of the Mormon faith, so that sometime in the future when I'm sitting down with a Mormon student to share the Gospel, I won't sound like an uneducated jerk trying shove my beliefs upon him.

With that in mind, the last few weeks I have set out on a quest to examine the doctrines of the Latter Day Saints. Now normally when I thought of Mormons before, I thought of the nice commercials they have on TV promoting family values or how it was a little odd that they had the Book of Mormon in addition to the Bible. Honestly, I didn't know much about their faith or doctrines. Boy, was I in for a surprise.

Apparently, Mormons believe that we are all on a journey to become gods ourselves. Before we were born, we existed as "spirit bodies" that were the direct offspring of our current God (Elohim). Birth into the world allows these "spirit bodies" the ability to become more like god through a process of good works. We have no memory of being "spirit bodies" before birth, but view our time on earth as a trial to see if we can be good enough to achieve "godhead" once we die. In their mind, Jesus opened the way for a general resurrection for all mankind. Individual "salvation" or "godhead" is determined by how closely you adhere to the laws of God. If you adhere perfectly, you achieve "godhead" when you die and go off to another planet to rule with your wife and make more "spirit bodies." If you don't adhere perfectly, then you either go to one of the other levels of heaven (there's three) or to perdition (hell).

If you go to a Bible believing church, right about now you are probably saying, "HUH...what the heck is all that nonsense." Yup, that was my initial response as well. I haven't even begun to say anything about temple practices, authority of the president of the church, or the many different books they teach from...

It's sad and heart wrenching to see the lies people believe about God and Christ. It makes me realize all the more why God tells us to diligently study the Bible and to take the good news of Christ to others. My heart goes out to the many people who have been duped into the Mormon belief system. Living in the false doctrines and contradictions their church teaches, they will never know the freedom in Christ believers have. Rather than shun or distance ourselves from Mormons (or lost people in general), as believers we need to take the life-changing message of the true Gospel to them. Any other response is a discredit to our Savior.

My eyes have been opened to what the Mormon faith teaches and it makes me that much more eager to get onto campus and share the true Gospel of Christ with lost students.