How is the Mormon religion different from the Lutheran religion?

Question

please no mean answers.....i am lutheran so no mean comments about that....

I NEED SPECIFIC DETAILS TOO!!!

OH AND TO CHRISTINE: no!!!!

Answer 1

you said you're lutheran, so you know what we believe (i'm LCMS Lutheran). the mormons believe Jesus came to the americas and taught the indians that all the christian churches had it wrong. they follow the book of mormon, which contradicts the bible, believe they will become gods, God was adam at one time, Jesus and satan are brothers... there are tons of reasons why the mormons are not considered christian. they're considered a cult. if you want details, type ''mormon'' in the search engine in this website:

http://www.gotquestions.org

Answer 2

I'm assuming most people to answer this have never practiced either Mormonism or Lutheranism, or at most have practiced one or the other.

I'm not Lutheran so I don't know all the doctrinal differences you are specifically looking for, but I can tell you about the fundamental differences so that you may have an outline on what to further search for yourself.


It seems that the initial premise behind the "Lutheran Cause" is that "The traditional "Catholic" Church became corrupt and was in dire need or REFORMING". Martin Luther was the man to reform it.

The initial premise behind the "Latter-day Saint Cause" is that "The traditional "Catholic" Church (And Protestantism for that matter) became corrupt and was in dire need of RESTORING". Joseph Smith was just the man to restore it.

It seems that all other doctrine and dogma of the two faiths have been simple appendages of these premises.

A fundamental difference is the belief about salvation. I don't know exactly how Lutherans view salvation, but I do know that Martin Luther preached salvation by faith alone (and this seems to be a basic tennent now found in all Protestant faiths) whereas Mormons believe as Catholics do, that salvation is a web intertwined with faith as the foundation, and good works (keeping the commandments) as an emerging property of said faith.

Now as you study this, make sure you try to judge the credibility of your sources. Understand that just as there are people who want to defame your faith, there are likely people who desire to do the same with ours.

To give you a little hint, if some fool starts going off about "magic underwear", "mormons ruling over their own planets", or the mormon church as being "racist" I would take what those people say with a grain of salt. These are all extreme misconceptions, and frankly over exagerations about LDS dogma.

As mormons believe in the RESTORATION of Christianity rather than the REFORMATION, its quite evident when one observes the faith that the LDS church prides itself in being as "primitively Christian" as possible (I'm not using 'primitive' in a negative way). Mormons believe (at least this has been my take on it) in the "Christianity" that can be found inbetween the Old and New Testaments.

Studying the early history of Christianity we find that the faith started to degrade into sects rather quickly. The three main were classified as, (1) Jewish Christians, (2) Gnostic Christians, and (3) Pauline Christians.

Pauline Christians would come to dominate and cause the extinction of the other two forms. Pauline Christianity is the "Romanized" Christianity that most of all Christian denominations today practice. Pauline Christianity seemed to abolish Old Testament practices entirely, bring about the doctrines of the Trinity, it venerated Mary and the Saints (Biblical Saints) and elevated the "divinity" of Jesus farther than the other two branches did.

Jewish Christians still considered themselves Jews (and probably didn't even call themselves Christian). Some believed that Jesus was divine, others didn't, and some believed he was somewhat divine. No matter what, he wasn't the exact same God that they have worshiped as a people since Abraham. His messianic identity was more focused on. These Jews still practiced many Old Testament ordinances (circumsision, Temple practice, etc). These Christians probably would have never accepted the trinity (if they were still around when the Nicene Creed was created).

Many Mormons believe that it was during this early Christian division that apostasy crept into ALL the branches of Christianity, and that the TRUE form was something inbetween. (This is why many people have quickly seen the similarities between Mormonism and all three early branches).

The mystical beliefs about knowledge and "divinity being within the human being" that was found in Gnosticism is somewhat present in Mormonism

The Old Testament practice of temple building, and keeping with primitive forms of priesthood as was found in Judaic Christianity is somewhat present.

And finally, as the LDS do not out right deny Paul as an apostle, there are many Pauline beliefs in the LDS religion.

Now as you study this, remember to distinguish the difference between dogma and doctrine.

Doctrine can change in a religious body from time to time. Doctrine is the "status quo" acceptance of certain beliefs. They are based out of logic, reason, scripture, and currently held belief at the given time.

It was once doctrine of the Catholic church that the earth is flat. That is no longer doctrine. It would be erroneous to say that "Catholics believe the world is flat".

It is doctrine in the LDS church that we are not to watch R rated movies, nor as a man should I wear piercings. The president of the church can change this over time and it wouldn't dramatically alter the Mormon faith, its just how it's done now. We can't speculate if this will change ever or grow in strength.

Dogma however is a fundamental belief that literally shapes the faith. Remove some dogma from a religion and you no longer have that religion, you have a completely different religion. Dogma will typically never change within a religion.

Dogma in the Catholic church is that Jesus Christ is "true man true God". Remove this and you no longer have Catholicism as we see it. Such dogma is the actual foundation of the religion. Break the dogma and everything else comes tumbling down.

a Dogma of the LDS church is that Joseph Smith was a prophet. This belief can not change for the religion to stay in tact.

I liken the relationship of Doctrine to Dogma as Chemical Ions.

We know that in chemistry, an elemental atom has an equal number of protons and electrons. (Equal positive and negative charge). Dogma is like the protons and Doctrine is like the electrons. Chlorine will typically have 9 protons and 9 electrons. If we ionize Chlorine it will gain an electron. Now it has 9 protons and 10 electrons, yet it's identity hasn't changed. It is still Chlorine, however if you change the proton count (as we see happen through radiation) it is no longer Chlorine, it is fundamentally different and is now a different element.

Doctrine can be simple or profound. If it is profound and kept for a long time, it is typical in a religion for some doctrine to become Dogma.

Answer 3

The 2 are like night and day.
The Lutheran church upholds the nature of God found in the Bible. The Mormon church doesn't uphold the nature of God that is found in the Book of Mormon.

The same can be said of salvation, the priesthood and a bunch of other things.

Answer 4

Mormons followed Joseph Smith and have a strict moral code to adhere to. Lutherans (ELCA, not Missouri Synod) believe in salvation through grace and are a little less strict with the daily living rules.

Answer 5

I know very little of the Lutheran faith outside the fact that they are Christian. But for any questions you may have on my faith, here's a couple of links that will help.

Answer 6

I love when poeple answer questions about Mormons, they never say the right thing, at least most of them.

Go to www.lds.org it is an easy website to browse around and to compare beliefs, asking questions about the Mormons on Y!A is usually a way to get negative feedback. That website will give you all the CORRECT info that you need.

If you want a quick response, http://scriptures.lds.org/a_of_f/1/1-13#1

this will tell you what we mainly believe. LEt me know if you have any questions

Answer 7

Depends on what sect of Lutherans you come from. In general there are a whole lot of differences.

I suggest you ignore what you will hear on this site and study it out on your own with real paper books.

Answer 8

T. G.,

Kait and Anonymous L. both gave you great answers. In summary, if you read Scripture Mormons are NOT Christian, therefore they are not a Church. You can't deny the divinity of Jesus Christ and call yourself Christian.

Mormons do read and follow the Bible, but also the book of Mormon. The book of Mormon completely changes the meaning of scripture.

Mormons generally are nice people, but remember; works don't save, grace does through faith; which comes from the Holy Spirit; which comes from Scripture alone.

Mark

Answer 9

Kait is wrong...We don't believe that Heavenly Father and Mary had sex...I would give him a million dollars if he could give me the Mormon sources that say explicitly that God the Father had sex with Mary. He has none.

Lutherans are protestant and believe in grace only like every other prostestant church.

LDS believes in grace with works like the Catholics and Eastern Orthodox churches.

Answer 10

Mormons believe they will become Gods. Lutherans do not. Mormons believe in heavenly polygamy. They share this with the Islamic faith. A bunch of oversexed men thought this one up :-( Lutherans do not. Mormons believe Th e Book of Mormon and pearl of great price are Gods word. Lutherans do not.