Biblical Jesus versus The Book of Mormon Jesus.?

Question

This is just a question to find out what the difference is and why it may or may not matter to you.

Answer 1

OK.. I've seen a lot of answers on here about what we LDS people believe, coming from people who aren't LDS. Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose? I mean, I wouldn't come on and say that what Catholics, or Protestants believe. I don't live that religion, so how do I really know? These people are going off of hear-say, which doesn't help anyone out at all.

First- GOD DIDN'T HAVE SEX WITH MARY!!!!!!!! How many times do I have to say this on here? We don't think that!! That is blasphemy even to us!! We don't know how Christ was conceived exactly, it was spiritual. The quotes given about this were taken out of context. If you read the whole quote, you would know that it was taken from a talk about the divinity of Christ. It is saying that Christ was conceived and born of a mortal woman. The birth was a natural process, the pregnancy was a natural process- the conceiving wasn't. Does that make Christ any less? No! Does it make Mary less? No! Christ was born in Bethlehem, to a mortal woman who was obedient to God. She was chosen, by God, to be the vessel to bring Christ into this world. His birth was of the most lowly of circumstances, born in a stable (which in those days was really a very shallow cave cut into the side of a hill or mountain used to hold livestock, and not big enough to hold much else.), with only animals and his earthly parents to witness the birth. To me, this says something. It says that just because He is our savior, He was still born in very bad circumstances.

OK- now the theme going on about what Pres. Hinkley said about us believing in a different Christ. If you read the whole thing again, you will see that he says we don't believe in the Christ of the trinity. The Christ that was set for doctrine by the Nicean and other creeds. Does it mean we don't believe in the same Christ of the bible? NO!!!! It means that we don't believe in the creeds set up by men in the 3rd and 4th centuries. We believe in Christ as the man/God that He is. He is the redeemer, the savior, the only one willing to come here for all of us and give His life for all of us! It is the same Christ we believe in. A very wise man put it like this:You said that he denied believing in the Christ of the Bible. What President Hinckley is saying is well known to LDS people: we don't believe in the kind of Christ taught by modern tradition, the Christ of the Nicene Creed and other traditional expressions of belief devised long after the Bible. President Hinckley is distinguishing us from the Trinitarian tradition of modern Christianity, not from the Bible.

President Hinckley's views were further clarified in the Sunday morning session of the April 2002 General Conference session of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: As a Church we have many critics, many of them. They say we do not believe in the traditional Christ of Christianity. There is some substance to what they say. Our faith, our knowledge is not based on ancient traditions, the creeds which came of a finite understanding and out of the almost infinite discussions of men trying to arrive at a definition of the risen Christ. Our faith, our knowledge comes from the witness of a prophet in this dispensation who saw before him the great God of the universe and His Beloved son, the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. They spoke to him. He spoke to them. He testified openly, unequivocally, and unabashedly of that great vision of the Almighty Redeemer of the world glorifying our understanding, but unequivocating in the knowledge it brought.

We always say we believe in the bible. We learn the bible, we teach the bible, we study the bible. In fact, I'm reading it right now, along with a bible study guide to try and better understand who my savior really was. We are also studying it in Sunday School.

The Book of Mormon Jesus is the same Jesus that is in the bible. He came to the Americas after his resurrection and ascension to The Father- His Father, the Father of all our spirits- GOD!! He came to teach the same as He taught before his death in Jerusalem. He told his disciples that He had "other sheep" (John 10:16; 3 Nephi 15:17,21). Those people were the people in the Americas. His birth and death were fortold all over the world. I'm sure He visited other places also, not just here, or in Jerusalem. ALL PEOPLE needed to hear his message, not just the people where He was from, and since there were no phones, no post office, no real mail delivery system, who else were they going to know that the signs they saw were really about Christ?

The Book of Mormon testifies of Christ. It is another testament of Him, His life, His death and His mission on earth. It also clarifies other things about Him, so we can all understand our savior better.

There is a really good website about our church, I'll post two. The first is the churches website, so you can get info straight from the horses mouth, so to speak. The second is from a wonderful man who served ( I mean served. None of our clergy or leaders of the church are paid to do what they do for the church) as a leader in a congregation. A lot of his info isn't even from LDS people, so it's very unbiased, but still tells what we believe.

Answer 2

There is, in my viewpoint, no difference between the two.

The Bible is a good source of information about Jesus, but Mormons accept that it doesn't tell us everything about Him (just take a look here at the Religion & Spirituality section, and see how many people ask questions about Jesus, like what He did between the ages of 12 and 30). Not everything that was written by Christ's followers in Israel was included in the overall book we call the Bible today (different churches today include different books in the New Testament), and with translational errors and various other edits, a lot of information may very well have been lost in the approxomately 2,000 years since the original events occured (ever wonder why some people around here say that there are contradictions in the Bible?).

The Book of Mormon (and other accompanying information that Mormons believe came from modern-day revelations) provides additional information about Jesus. That isn't an effort to take away or demean Jesus in any way, but is an effort to help us understand Him better, and to know what He wants for us to have.

Many people will agree that the Bible can sometimes be confusing, and there are a lot of different viewpoints on what various passages of scripture mean (that's why there are so many Christian churches today). Mormon doctrine in general (including, but not limited to, the Book of Mormon) is on the basis that God loves us all, and wants to make sure we understand His words (in accordance with, among other things, Amos 3:7 in the Old Testament). Since a lot of things can change in 2,000 years (and that's just for the New Testament; even longer for the Old Testament!), there has to be a way to make sure that the information God provided can be put into ways that the current generation can understand (after all, a lot of people in the English-speaking world don't even understand Shakespear, and he wrote a lot more recently than anyone from the Bible!). That's why there was continuous revelation and prophets throughout the Old and New Testaments - if God didn't need to continually give us information, He'd have handed everything we needed to know to a single prophet like Adam or Moses, and there'd be no further need for any other prophets. The reason we've other prophets (Noah, Abraham, Malachi, etc.) is because information gets lost and manipulated by man, and needs to be restored to its original context.

Answer 3

From what I've read, there is no difference. Both books identify Jesus as a man born of a virgin in the Holy land. He grew up, preached for a short period of time then suffered for the sins of all mankind. He died on a cross, and was resurrected.

According to the Bible, after his resurection, he visited his followers in the Holy Land, said a few more things..

According to the Book of Mormon, after he visited his followers in the Holy Land, he also visited his followers in the Americas.

If both books are correct, I'm guessing that after these two visits, he ascended to heaven and is sitting with Father, waiting for the time of his second comming....

Matters?
Mathew 18:6 defines what some call the "law of witnesses"- that there must be at least two witnesses of anything...
2 Nephi 9:28 clarifies how the Book of Mormon could be seen as a second nation's witness that Jesus is the Savior of the world, coroborating what the Bible says.

Answer 4

A short history lesson: 1823 A fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith prays about which church to join and sees a vision of God and Jesus, who tell him that all the churches are corrupt. 1826 An angel appears to Joseph Smith revealing the location of an ancient book of scripture. 1829 Joseph is allowed to remove the book of scripture and translate it into English by the gift and power of God. 1830 Jospeh Smith and Oliver Cowdery are visited by John the Baptist, and then the apostles Peter, James, and John who confer upon them the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods. They are directed to reestablish Christ's church upon the earth, patterned after the New Testament church with 12 apostles led by a prophet. The translation of The Book of Mormon is published. 1832 Joseph Smith is commanded to build a Temple. Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon receive a vision of the three degrees of glory, showing the various heavens or kingdoms of God. 1833 Joseph receives a revelation discouraging the use of alcohol, tobacco, coffee and tea. 1836 The Temple is finished and dedicated. There were numerous accounts of visions, people seeing angels, hearing bells, seeing fire and a pillar of smoke, etc. Adam, Moses, Elijah and Elias all appear to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, conferring upon them the keys to their dispensations. 1838 At the collapse of the Kirtland Bank, and because of rising persecution, Joseph abandons the Temple and flees the state, relocating in Missouri. 1839 Severe persecution forces the members to leave Missouri. They relocated in Illinois and began preparations for a new Temple. Joseph Smith and other church leaders are incarcerated without trial and spend six months in prison at Liberty Jail. 1840 Joseph received a revelation regarding Baptism for the Dead, a vicarious ordinance which would later be done exclusively in the Temple. 1844 Joseph Smith is arrested for a crime for which he was previously aquitted and subsequently murdered by a mob while in Carthage Jail waiting for trial. 1845 The Temple is hurredly finished so that the members can receive the newly established Temple ordinances, and then the Temple is abandoned as the members are forced to leave Illinois and begin their journey to Utah. 1846 Brigham Young is asked for recruits to fight in the Mexican-American war and sends 500 men to fight. He promised them that if they kept the commandments of God, that the only battle they would ever see would be against a herd of wild animals. Their only battle was in fact against a herd of cattle that started charging the camp. 1847 Brigham Young leads the first company of saints to the Salt Lake Valley, to the place he previously saw in vision. 1848 Ogden is settled. 1849 Provo is settled. Manti is settled at the invitation of the Ute indian chief. 1851 Fillmore is settled. 1855 Settlements were established in Idaho and Nevada. 1857 The Utah War was started when President Buchanon sent an army to Utah to quell a non-existant Mormon uprising, and take over the territorial government. The Mormons resisted and effectively neutralized the US army without actually killing anyone. The failed attempt became known as Buchanon's blunder. Negotiations persued and a compromise was reached; Brigham Young agreed to step down as governor although he had been lawfully elected 1890 The practice of polygamy was officially ended following a revelation by the prophet Wilford Woodruff.

Answer 5

Jesus Christ

Mormonism says: Jesus and Satan, like the rest of us, were spirit brothers and sons of God before the spirit of Jesus was given a body by Mary in Bethlehem. The Mormon "Book of Moses" presents Satan and Jesus as contending for the privilege of taking a body of flesh in order to become the redeemer, with Jesus winning the contest. [See Joseph Smith, Pearl of Great Price, Book of Moses 4:1-4.]

Mormonism also teaches that Jesus was the physical son of God the Father and Mary, and that there is nothing in His life more than what is attainable by anyone else.

"When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus… he was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is his Father? He is the first of the human family. …Jesus our elder brother, was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the garden of Eden."
-Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 1:50-51, as cited in Gordon H. Fraser, Is Mormonism Christian? (Chicago: Moody, 1955), p. 58.

"His humanity is to be recognized as real and ordinary ...whatever happened to him may happen to any one of us. …The divinity of Jesus, and the divinity of all other noble and stately souls, in so far as they, too, have been influenced by a spark of Deity - can be recognized as manifestations of the Divine."
-Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology (Salt Lake City: Deseret, 1883) (emphasis added).

The Bible says: Jesus Christ has existed eternally as God the second Person of the Trinity, and then took on a human nature at His birth in Bethlehem. Since then He exists eternally as one Person with both divine and human natures.

Answer 6

Mormon leaders have taught that Jesus’ incarnation was the result of a physical relationship between God the Father and Mary. They believe Jesus is a God, but that any human can also become a god. Christians historically have taught that God is Triune and that He exists eternally as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). No one can achieve the status of God, only He is holy (1 Samuel 2:2). We can only be made holy in God's sight through faith in Him (1 Corinthians 1:2). Jesus is the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16) and is the only one ever to have lived a sinless, blameless life, who now has the highest place of honor in Heaven (Hebrews 7:26). Jesus and God are one in essence, Jesus being the only One existing before physical birth (John 1:1-8, 8:56). Jesus gave Himself to us as a sacrifice, and God raised Him from the dead, and one day everyone will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:6-11). Jesus tells us it is impossible to get to Heaven by our own works, only with faith in Him is it possible (Matthew 19:26). And many will not choose Him. “You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way” (Matthew 7:13). We all deserve eternal punishment for our sins, but God's infinite love and grace has allowed us a way out. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Answer 7

Hey, guys, she didn't say "the Mormon Jesus", she said the BOOK OF MORMON Jesus.

Answer 8

There's some significant differences, mostly related to the mormon concept of a pre-existence.

Mormons differ from Biblical thought in that they maintain:
Jesus is the literal Son of God born of Mary who was impregnated by God the Father (without being actually married to her).
Jesus is a separate being from God
Jesus is our 'elder brother' of God's spirit children, and we are the rest of them.
Jesus' spirit brother is Lucifer, Satan, the Deceiver.
Jesus is the actual creator of the world, not God.
Jesus visited America after his death to teach christianity.
Jesus' resurrected body is flesh and bone.
Jesus' father used to be a mortal human.

None of this matters to me, since Paul hijacked a Jewish teacher's doctrine of humility, healing and faith in god, and Romanized it. It matters to christians who believe the Bible to have the final say one who Jesus was and where he came from.

Addenda: Mormon4Jesus is correct. Most of the weird stuff about mormonism comes from the Doctrine of Covenants, not the Book of Mormon. Both are works of fiction anyway, so don't lose any sleep over it.

Answer 9

There is only on Jesus and one Jesus only.

gw

Answer 10

Biblical Jesus is fully God and fully man who lived a perfect life and died in our place to allow for complete forgiveness of sins if you trust in the work He already did.

Mormom Jesus is Lucifer's brother, a spiritual being though not perfect.