I’m a Mormon and I’m a Christian!

I had just finished listening to Conference on a spiritual high, only to enter the following week by reading an individual’s claim that I was not a Christian but rather a cultist. Imagine, everything I had just heard during Conference was “weird,” “underground,” “anti-Christ.” I shook my head in disbelief.

• Had this individual ever read The Book of Mormon?

• Had he ever attended one of our meetings and listened to the sermons about Christ?

• Was he aware of the Church’s vast humanitarian efforts, the thousands of yellow-Tee-shirted “Helping Hands” volunteers, the Perpetual Education Fund, Bishops Storehouse, Welfare Square, Deseret Industries, Relief Society compassionate service, priesthood projects to assist the needy?

• Had he ever listened to Latter-day Saints’ conversations with each other? Invariably, they default to their love of the Savior and His goodness in their lives?

I wished I could have told him that I am continually surrounded by Latter-day Saints who live their lives this way—the Christian way. I don’t hesitate to proclaim that we are among the most Christian people in the world!

Like other Latter-day Saints, I believe that Jesus is the actual Son of God, my Deliverer, Redeemer and Savior.

I believe that Jesus was born to Mary, His mortal mother, and that He was the Only Begotten of the Father.

I believe that He was baptized of John and later told Nicodemus that the only way to enter the kingdom of God was to do likewise.

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I believe that He lived a perfect life, and invited me to come and follow His example and His teachings.I believe that Jesus Christ formed a Church—The Church of Jesus Christ—which was as perfect as was He.

I believe that the foundation of that Church was “apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20). I believe that Jesus called these men out of the world and “ordained” them to their holy calling (John 15:16).

To Peter and later to the other apostles and prophets, I believe that Jesus delivered the “keys of the kingdom,” which held the power to “bind on earth” and “in heaven, and “loose on earth” and “in heaven” (Matt 16:29).

I believe that Jesus empowered and instructed Peter and the apostles to employ the “keys of the kingdom” to “teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:29).

I believe that I received an authorized baptism by one who had had the actual authority delegated by living apostles.

I believe that Jesus Christ suffered and died for me as a supreme act of love.

I believe that because He atoned for me, and if I follow Him in the way He prescribed, I can receive forgiveness of my sins, achieve reconciliation with my Heavenly Father, and qualify to live one day with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Moreover, I believe that because of all that Jesus did for me, I can have my wife and family eternally.

I believe that they whom I love the most are bound to me forever by the “keys of the kingdom” held by living apostles and prophets, who have the right and power to “bind on earth” and “in heaven.”

I believe that Jesus rose the third day from the grave and thus overcame death by His literal, bodily resurrection. I believe that because of this, He has the power to resurrect me, my family, and every person who has ever lived on the earth.

What is anti-Christian about my beliefs?

I love Jesus Christ. I worship and adore Him. I constantly seek to bring people to Christ so He can heal them. I have covenanted to devote my life to serving Him. And I am not alone.

To those who doubt our devotion to Jesus Christ and His teachings, we boldly declare that we are both “Mormons”–members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–and Christians. “We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ” (2 Ne. 25: 26). We seek to emulate Christ. We love the Bible, which testifies of Jesus Christ, and we love the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. With all people of other faiths who love and worship Jesus Christ, we declare with them that we too are Christians.

Here is the testimony of a modern-day apostle, who answers the question: “Are Mormons Christians?”

Author’s Note

If you would like to lend your name to a Facebook group called “I’m a Mormon and I’m a Christian,” click here.

“And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and wewrite according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” 2 Ne. 25: 26

Alan Osmond
For The Family
Any Questions or Want To Know More?