Mormon Heretic

One would think that these generic titles were easily understood. But it turns out that many people define these terms differently.

Originally , as stated in the Bible, Christians were referred to as anyone who followed the teachings of Christ. As we all know, Christians were fed to the lions, burned at the stake, and received all sorts of persecution during the first century A.D. What is not so well known, is how diverse the early Christian beliefs were at the time.

It seems that there was at least 3 types of Christians: Marcionites, Gnostics, and Orthodox Christians. Briefly, Marcionites were followers of Marcion. Marcion was one of the first people who wanted to organize scripture. He was quite anti-Jewish, and wanted to avoid all scriptures that put Jews in a good light, such as the book of Matthew, as well as many other scriptures. Gnostics believed that the resurrection of Jesus was unimportant, and that the true message of Jesus was his teachings. They believe he escaped from the cross. Orthodox Christians founded both the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, and most Christians are familiar with this “winning” brand of Christianity.

Of course, these early Christians were quite zealous in their beliefs. Irenaeus, from what is now known as France (Gaul), was the first to try to influence “orthodoxy” or “straight thinking”. People who didn’t believe in orthodoxy, were “heterodocs” or “heretics.” He lived in approximately the 2nd century. He thundered against such gospels as the “Gospel of Judas”, and didn’t appreciate the Marcionites. He referred to Paul as teaching the true gospel, while Gnostics, and Marcionites were not only heretics, but non-Christians, because they believed in the “wrong” Jesus.

When Constantine embraced Christianity, he wanted to put an end to these heated disputes, and basically anointed the Orthodox Church as the true church, and began a systematic persecution of heretical teachings of Marcionites, and Gnostics. Thus, the term “non-Christian” became applied to people who actually believed in Christ, because they didn’t believe in the “true” form of Christianity.

It seems the same things are happening today. Mormons are often referred to as “non-Christians.”   However, for those not acquainted with the theological arguments, and not acquainted with the official name of the church, this is a real puzzler.  Are Mormons more like Muslims, Jews, Hindus, or Buddhists?

Obviously not.  Many people try to narrow down the definition, along the same lines of Ireneaus.  Such narrowing refers to the trinity, the sole belief in the bible, the nature of God, etc.  It seems that it would be more accurate to say that mormons are “non-trinitarians”, rather than “non-christians”.  However, it is much more persuasive for opponents of the church to derisively call mormons “non-Christian.”

What is interesting to me is that Mormons also seem to have narrowed the definition of “mormon.”  Originally, when Joseph Smith was alive, a mormon was simply one who believed in the Book of Mormon.  However, there are many groups which believe in the Book of Mormon, including the FLDS, RLDS, Strangites, Hedrickites, and a multitude of small offshoots.  Mormons want to keep the term “mormon” to refer solely to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  However, the original definition was solely used by the belief in the Book of Mormon.  It seems that Mormons today, are in much the same situation that Irenaeus faced in the 2nd century A.D.  The LDS church refers to these other groups as heretics, and that the true version of the religion rests rightly on this church.  However, these other groups, tacitly refer to themselves as mormons as well, though they are usually careful to distinguish their church from the one headquartered in Salt Lake City.

So what do you think?  Do Mormons refer to non-Mormons in the same was Christians refer to non-Christians?  It seems there is a parallel here.

(Please note: Gnostics refers to “secret knowledge”, while the term Agnostic refers to “Without knowledge.”  Many people confuse these 2 terms.  Gnostic Christians certainly believe in God, though this group is now extinct.  Agnostics can often be atheists, which is quite different.)