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by Zachary Wright

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we often run into people who criticize us for our beliefs.  I served my mission in a place where the Church was often criticized by General Christians who wanted me to abandon my faith and accept what they believed to be “the true Jesus”.  While they may seem confusing at first, it’s a common phenomenon for many Christians to believe that we, as members of the church, aren’t true Christians, and that we consequently, will be going to Hell.  However, in my experience, I’ve found that many Christian antagonists of the church often bring a number of ideas that have questionable reality.  This is what I want to focus on today.

In order to explore the dangers of some presuppositions those who oppose the Restoration often present, I wanted to focus this episode on Apologia Church in Arizona, specifically their pastors, Jeff Durbin and James White.  They are a Denominational Baptist church, with a Reformed or Calvinist view of Salvation or Soteriology. Their pastors frequently level attacks against LDS Theology based on the presupposition we are not saved. Their claim is largely focused on three main areas of contention, which included:

1. We worship a God who is not the “God of the Bible”. 


2. We believe in a “different” or “false” Jesus not depicted in the Biblical texts which can therefore not “save” as they define that term. 


3. They believe we reject the “free grace” of God offered through Jesus as a result of our belief in “works” as a necessary evidence of our Covenant relationship with God. 

From these ideas, they state that we as members of the church cannot be saved.  They’ve produced many tracts and pamphlets explaining why they label us in this way. I will address a common one entitled: ‘The Gospel for Mormons’. As we discuss the issues, I will also share clips from a discussion a fellow Latter-day Saint had with members of the Apologia Church based in Utah to highlight some of the issues we face and the dangers of the presuppositions which form the foundation of their attacks. By using some of the skills we’ve learned throughout this series, we’re going to address the complaints found therein.

The pamphlet’s text will be in red. My references will be scattered throughout the response (as opposed to the end as they have been in previous articles), and I’ve added parentheticals in some instances to help clarify words that most people don’t know about, such as “soteriology” previously mentioned. If there are mistakes, they are the mistakes of men.

Let’s get into it.

THE GOSPEL FOR MORMONS

The Mormon church teaches a message that sounds so similar to Christianity, but it is fundamentally a different Gospel that cannot save.

Apologia Studios

It is a common misunderstanding, if an intentional misrepresentation, of those associated with Apologia to call the Church, “The Mormon Church”. Many who are hostile to the Church similarly refuse to call the church by its proper name. 

(Kylie clip #1)

We are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which I will shorten to “The Church of Jesus Christ”. I don’t care as much about how people first hear our names (Jesus himself was known by many names) and the Church he founded was called “The Way” as in Acts and its members “Saints” as we do today. This pamphlet however, reiterates the same hostility as those who labeled the Saints at Antioch “Christians” or “Christ Worshippers” in derision. Interesting those who claim allegiance with Christ adopt the tactics of His opposition.  The idea that these pastors refuse the basic requests of what the church wishes to be called already indicates a lack of respect

The “gospel” is found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.  It’s the fact that Jesus came, died for us, and then rose again so that all may return to His presence.  The LDS scriptures support that fully and completely as well (See D&C 76:40-42, 3 Nephi 27:13-14, 3rd article of faith, etc).  There is no “Contrary Gospel” taught in The Church of Jesus Christ today.  Joseph Smith is said to have taught:

The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 121, link here).

When asked by those not of our Faith, this should be our response to “what is ‘The Gospel’?”

MORMONISM BEGAN WITH A LIE

The lie was that the Heavenly Father came to Joseph Smith and told him not to join any church because they had it all wrong. All their creeds were an abomination, and all denominations were corrupt. So Joseph told the world that God had told him that the Christian church had fallen away, and it needed to be restored.

This is an interesting claim which presupposes religious claims are subject to some objective criteria which would identify them as “true” and a person might “lie”.  This claim could not be other than an opinion based on perspective. Unless those associated with Apologia have some way to affirmatively disprove Joseph’s claim made on The Joseph Smith History respecting his interactions with God, I’m not sure how this could be a “lie”? Additionally, the claim “all churches” that existed then were “wrong” is (objectively speaking) an opinion, not a misstatement of fact that could form the basis of a lie. Representing as “a lie” someone’s admitted religious beliefs cannot be other than a product of deceit lacking context. 

Considering the substance of Joseph’s claim to a restoration as a way to overcome a rejection of Prophets as seen in Matthew 23, is an objective claim for example, just ask Apologia if they accept the possibility of living Prophets and additional scripture consistent with the claims of Jesus and Paul.

Other churches chose to reject the concept of divine messengers, a hallmark of the original church established by God.  Our belief is that such practices, and others, needed to be restored.  Are they claiming this wasn’t the case?  If so, why?  They never explain.

One might initially point to Hebrews 1:1-2, which many General Christians will use to show that God doesn’t call messengers anymore. ​ However, this is a self-defeating idea…The Book of Hebrews was (allegedly) written by an apostle/prophet, and future books were written by apostles/prophets.

This is a lie because two thousand years before Joseph came along with this revelation, God said that he would build his church, and “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” 

This interpretation causes some problems for their position, not only logically because of their reliance on the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation (more on that in a moment), but also because what this tract is extrapolating is a translation variation that doesn’t match the true meaning of the Biblical Greek.

In the original Greek, this passage in Matthew 16:18 does not say “the gates of hell” as this argument claims, but rather “καὶ πύλαι ᾅδου” (pronounced Keh Pee-leh Ah-thoo) or “the gates of hades”.  Most modern translations render this passage this way, and the fact that Pastor Durbin “reads Greek” and neglects to mention this important nuance is equally disconcerting.  Hades was universally understood then as the place where spirits go after this life, making this phrase here a direct reference to physical death.  Even Bible lexicons as old as Thayer’s refer to this place as the “the realm of the dead” (link here).  If you don’t believe me, consider the following reference that links death with Hades from the Wisdom of Solomon (written about a century earlier):

12 For neither herb nor poultice cured them, but it was your word, O Lord, that heals all people.

13 For you have power over life and death; you lead mortals down to the gates of Hades and back again. (Wisdom of Solomon 16:12-13 NRSV, updated edition)

As we can see, even in ancient sources, there is a connection between “Hades” and “death”.  We can even consult this elementary commentary on the verse;

[The Gates of Hades is] a familiar ancient expression for the realm