Dr Paul Allen

English: Painting by an unknown painter, circa 1842. The original is owned by the Community of Christ archives. It is on display at the Community of Christ headquarters in Independence Missouri, where its provenance is explained. The painting was originally in the possession of Joseph Smith III (died 1914), who is recorded as commenting on the painting. The c. 1842 date is given by the Community of Christ, the painting's owner. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Mormons are the only true Christians . At least, that’s the official position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . Shortly after Jesus’ original disciples had passed from the earth, the Christian church lost the Gospel . According to the Mormon scriptures , God restored the true Gospel to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith , and he established the LDS church ( Pearl of Great Price , Joseph Smith—History , 1:1-75), “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” ( Doctrine & Coven...

Image by paparutzi via Flickr Predictably, Mormonism is in the news again. The presence of two members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints among contenders for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination ensured that it was only a matter of time before Evangelicals, along with other Americans, began to talk openly about what this means for the nation, the church, and the stewardship of political responsibility in the voting booth. There are numerous ways to frame these questions wrongly. Our responsibility as evangelical Christians is to think seriously and biblically about these issues. The first temptation is to reduce all of these issues to one question. We must address the question of Mormonism as a worldview and judge it by the Bible and historic Christian doctrine . But this doe Image by paparutzi via Flickr s not automatically determine the second question — asking how Mormon identity should inform our political decisions. Nevertheless, for evangelical Chri...

Image by dagnyg via Flickr The following is adapted from the section on Mormonism (or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ) in  the ESV Study Bible article on religious cults . The attempt is to be concise yet still accurate. I’ve added questions in bold to break it up a bit. What do Mormons believe about apostasy and restoration ? Mormons claim that “total” apostasy overcame the church following apostolic times , and that the Mormon Church (founded in 1830) is the “restored church.” What’s the problem with this understanding? If the Mormon Church were truly a “restored church,” one would expect to find first-century historical evidence for Mormon doctrines like the plurality of gods and God the Father having once been a man. Such evidence is completely lacking. Besides, the Bible disallows a  total  apostasy of the church (e.g.,  Matt. 16:18; 28:20 ;  Eph. 3:21; 4:11–16 ), warning instead of  partial  apostasy ( 1 Tim. 4:1 ). What do ...