1. Followers of an exclusive system of religious beliefs and practices.

2. Followers of an unorthodox, extremist, or false religion or sect who often live outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.

3. A religion or sect that is generally considered to be unorthodox, extremist, or false; “it was a satanic cult”.

4. A system of religious beliefs and rituals.

Do Mormons fit any of these definitions? Certainly Mormons are followers of an exclusive system of religious beliefs and practices, but so is everyone else who belongs to a religion, so by this definition of the word “cult” all other Christians would also belong to a cult.

Are Mormons followers of an unorthodox, extremist, or false religion or sect who often live outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader? Mormons certainly do not live outside of conventional society by any stretch, but it could be argued that Mormon beliefs are unorthodox, extremist, and false, and that we have charismatic leaders. But then again, the Jews accused Christ of all those same things. From their viewpoint he was teaching a false religion, and he was certainly unorthodox and extremist, at least from their perspective. Of course he was teaching the same truth the Jews had been taught for millennia by the prophets, but they misunderstood the gospel and therefore didn’t recognize Christ as the Messiah when he came.

Finally, here’s Webster’s definition: A system of religious belief and worship.

So you can smile, yes, Mormons are a cult, and when confronted with this evidence, even Mormons won’t be able to deny it. Of course by this definition Baptists, evangelicals, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and anyone else who belongs to any religion of any sort also belongs to a cult.

Regardless of whether someone else is willing to call me a Christian or not it doesn’t change what I believe. What do I believe? I believe Jesus is the Son of God, that he is my Savior, and that there is no other way to be saved from the consequences of sin other than through the Atonement of Christ. I believe in order to be saved that we must do the things Jesus says we need to do in order to be saved. I try to do what Jesus taught, and I try to emulate Jesus’ example. To me, that’s what makes somebody a Christian. Other people think differently, but so what, what difference does it make?

Well, it doesn’t make a difference to me, at least not directly. Where it does make a difference to me, I suppose, is that it might confuse other people who don’t know much about Mormons. Maybe somebody else who would otherwise be interested in the LDS Church won’t be because they think Mormons don’t believe what I just stated I believe above.

Then again, I think people are attracted to controversy, and when people throw a stink about whether Mormons are Christians or not, it attracts attention. And I think open-minded people who are seeking the truth will see it in the LDS faith, regardless of the interfering noise. And then there are those people who know Mormons personally but when they hear someone ranting about how Mormons aren’t Christians they think “Man, why is this guy so angry at Mormons? I know Mormons and the way this guy is describing Mormons isn’t at all like what I’ve seen. Maybe I’ll talk to my Mormon friends about this and find out more.” So maybe this whole “Are Mormons Christians?” question is a good thing that ends up bringing more people to look into the LDS Church.

Mormons do believe the LDS Church is the only church on earth with the priesthood, or the authority of God, which is necessary for the “legal” administration of ordinances like baptism and the sacrament. But Mormons do not believe that being a follower of Christ means you have to be a Mormon, and for Mormons, the only requirement to be a Christian is to believe in Christ and try to do what he taught. This is why Mormons refer to any religion or church based on following Christ as a Christian religion.

Mormons believe that being a Mormon is no guarantee of salvation, and that not being a Mormon is no guarantee of damnation. We believe there are untold millions of non-Mormons who will be saved in Heaven, and there will probably be a fair number of Mormons who will not be if they don’t live up to the tenets of their religion.

We believe it was necessary for there to be a “restoration” of the true church, which could only be accomplished by messengers from God restoring the priesthood authority, since nobody on earth had it and there are certain required methods for granting it.

In other words, we see all Christian religions as being outgrowths of Mormonism, which is the true and original Christian church.

Here’s an excerpt of a conversation between me and a friend of mine who believes Mormons are not Christians:

Q: Tell me more about this “cult” thing. We Mormons are always accused of being part of a cult, but we have no idea what that means. What’s a cult and how is it different than any other religion?

A: It’s probably more concise if I use the term Christian cult

Basically, a Christian cult is a group or organization that claims to be Christian, but is not. Mormonism is definitely a Christian cult.

Q: Fair enough. So what’s your definition of “Christian” and why don’t Mormons fit that definition?

A: Christians are defined by what they believe. They must believe in the historical tennants of the Christian faith in order to be deemed a Christian.

Christians believe:

That the Bible alone is the word of God (Mormons tack on the BOM and other books)

That there is only one God (God as the uncreated creator of the universe. Not the Mormon God that was once a man, or that man can become a god, etc.)

That God is a Trinity (Mormons hold to a distorted view of the Trinity)

That Jesus is God (also the uncreated creator, not just a god and not the brother of Satan)

That salvation is by faith alone (Mormons add good works to faith based salvation)

So, there it is in a nutshell. What Christianity holds and the contrast between standard Mormon beliefs. Some similarity perhaps, but at the same time, quite a difference.

Q: So who came up with these rules in the first place?

A: Jesus, John, Peter, Paul…..they come straight out of the Bible. They were also ratified by various Church councils throughout Church history.

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And from there things get a bit convoluted and several tangents emerge. Suffice it to say my friend and I have different interpretations of the same words in the Bible. But I can say I don’t give a hoot for what was ratified by various church councils throughout church history. What authority did this “church” have to make such decisions?