Are Mormons Or Heretics

Mormons

a. Mormons are one of the many religions present in the United States. It is a movement that has been surrounded by controversy since the beginning. Much of the controversy stems from the fact that none of their leaders have been willing to procure the Golden Plates, their practice of polygamy at the beginning of their religion, their baptism of the dead, and their insistence that they receive revelations from God. However, just because a religion is controversial does not necessarily mean it is heretical. Thus, one must question if Mormons are Christians or heretics, and if they are heretics, one must ask what makes Mormons heretics. In the eyes of the Orthodox Church, Mormons are heretics for several reasons, chief among them being

While it is no longer acceptable, and has not been since 1890, the Mormon Church did, at one point, engage in polygamy. That was something many people took issue with as, according to the Church, marriage is between two people. Indeed, according to the Church, especially Catholics, marriage is “a public statement about God: the loving union of husband and wife speaks of family values and also God's values.” Thus, many found it offensive that Mormons were openly bigamists, which is one of the reasons they were driven to Utah. Today, Mormons no longer practice polygamy, and they actually excommunicate those they discover participating in the act.

Another aspect of Mormonism that many find discomfiting and wrong is that of baptism of the dead. Baptism of the dead is a practice enacted by Mormons to ensure that everyone gets a chance to go to heaven. Many believe this is an overstepping of bounds, because these people may not have chosen to be baptized. It goes against the very foundation of the Baptist denomination, who feel that only consenting, adult believers should be

One of these is that it is a fairly large religion, with over fifteen million members worldwide. In the United States, they are more common in the Midwest and on the West Coast, with most of their members residing in Utah. Another notable aspect of Mormons today is their mission work. Indeed, when one thinks of Mormons, one of the first things many think of is Mormon missionaries going door-to-door with the Book of Mormon to spread their message. The religion is also contemporarily relevant because of its insistence that the church leaders are prophets. This has a tendency to push people one of two ways. The first is that people believe that the church leaders are truly prophets and thus Mormonism must be the favored religion of God. The second falls more in line with the declaration of the Orthodox Church in the second century CE, that Mormons are heretics, or at least not Christians, because they continue to insist that they receive prophecies and revelations despite the fact that the church declared there would be no more of these almost two thousand years