The Mormon Mirage, part 1 of 5 by Latayne C. Scott

The existence of such a cyber community was unimaginable when I left Mormonism 35 years ago. (I was indeed alone: In fact, I had been an active member of a Christian church for five years before I ever met in the flesh another ex-Mormon Christian.) It’s a whole new world in the twenty-first century, one in which there are two groups within the LDS Church: "chapel Mormons" and "Internet Mormons," whose worldviews, religious tolerance, and knowledge of their own church comprise what can only be accurately described as two different realities.

Part of this divergence is directly traceable to the LDS Church’s leadership which, as reported in the Salt Lake Tribune years ago, began to deliberately cover up and whitewash oddities and contradictions in two areas: in its own history, and in the teachings by its self-avowed inspired leaders. In fact, LDS leaders once spoke openly about the necessity to "conceal" such things. http://www.janishutchinson.com/newsletter.html

While such practices may disturb Christians, it has devastated many Mormon, as seen in the story of Michael Barrett, an LDS attorney who once was called on by Mormon Church leadership to participate in such cover-ups. Barrett, an assistant general counsel to the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington, left the church over this issue. http://www.ils.unc.edu/~unsworth/mormon/churchhistory.html

http://www.mrm.org/michael-j-barrett

The thought that a church in this information-rich age would think to rewrite its own history to make it more acceptable to its members and Christians is not only shocking to many faithful "chapel" Mormons, it is incredible to most evangelical Christians. After all, haven’t we seen great strides in building bridges between Mormon scholars and Evangelicals? And to the extreme, did not Fuller Theological Seminary President Richard Mouw publicly and spectacularly apologize to Mormons for our "sins" against them? http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=19612 

On the other side of the fence, Mormons appeal: Can’t we all just get along?

Here’s an excerpt from The Mormon Mirage that addresses that question.

LDS apologists such as Robert Millet say those who critique Mormonism usually use a straw-man approach: characterizing Mormonism in terms of obscure statements by long-dead men, and using disputed or fringe teachings to describe LDS doctrines. Even some Christian writers have made the same accusation.¹ Eric Johnson of Mormonism Research Ministry, however, has formulated a simple list of beliefs to which the vast majority of Mormons of the 21st century would agree:

1) The idea that "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become";

2) The idea that temple work is essential to reaching the highest level of the celestial kingdom;

3) The idea that ultimate truth is to be found in the Standard Works² as well as the LDS prophet and apostles;

4) The idea that a person must be baptized in the Mormon Church to have an authentic baptismal experience;

5) The idea that Joseph Smith and succeeding church leaders were given complete authority on earth; and

6) The idea that the Mormon Church is the most trustworthy church in the world.³

To Johnson’s list I would add the following:

7) The idea that a complete apostasy from Christ’s teachings and Church began in the second century AD and necessitated a restoration instead of a reform; and

8) The assertion that a personal, feelings-based "testimony" of events and doctrines outside of one’s own personal experience (Joseph Smith’s first vision, for instance) is a reliable arbiter and authenticator of truth claims.

This is the Mormonism of real Mormons today. And there’s not a single statement there with which an Evangelical Christian could agree, no matter how many friendly fireside chats are held between us. Just as they make Mormonism distinctive from traditional Christianity, these elements are also significant enough and powerful enough to disqualify Mormonism from categorization as Christianity.

Tomorrow I’ll share with you an area of theology, representational thought, which I have found useful in dealing with concepts like Mormonism.

Latayne C. Scott was a faithful and happy Mormon for ten years, attending Brigham Young University on writing scholarship and working as a staff member for two of BYU’s weekly magazines. She is the author of thirteen published books, including The Mormon Mirage, Why We Left Mormonism and After Mormonism, What? She has also published articles and poems in secular magazines and in major Christian magazines. She is the recipient of Pepperdine University’s "Distinguished Christian Service Award" for "creative Christian writing." She is a representational thinker and a full-time writer. Her Web sites are http://www.latayne.com/ and http://www.representationalresearch.com/.