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Yes, Mormonism is a Christian faith. And it is an evolving Christian faith.

Like the early Christian Church, and most other new religious movements, the Mormon belief system is evolving rapidly. This is because some of the obscure beliefs of yesterday's members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are not founded it the church's canon.

The idea of God once being a man, the idea of Adam being God, and some other notions, are not found in the scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). These ideas came from early leaders of the LDS people, who sometimes held a diversity of unique beliefs. Some ideas caught on and are widely held by LDS members, while some fizzled out and disappeared.

The theory that Adam was God was a belief held by some LDS members in the Nineteenth Century, which is no longer taught or even mentioned in LDS meetings. It was also denounced by various leaders of the LDS church in the Twentieth Century. Commonly cited by LDS detractors, this is one example of an idea once held by many in the LDS church, which became obsolete.

This kind of change is to be expected from a new religious movement. The early Christian Church, also, quickly became splintered and was filled with a number of doctrines that would be considered blasphemous by most christians today. Over time, and with the help of certain rulers, Christianity became more unified. The weaker doctrines died out (or were killed), and Catholicism became the only way to legitimately practice christianity for about a millenium.

Mormonism is a new movement. An interview with a diverse cross-section of LDS members will reveal different levels of beliefs in the church's diverse doctrines. Online LDS-based blogs are moving the ideas of a new generation forward. If mainstream christians visited the blogsites of these young LDS members, and compare their ideas to the books written by their grandparents, we would see their progressive ideas, and especially, their more bible-based ideas.

It seems the ideas considered blasphemous are being recognized and emphasized less, or reinterpreted with a biblical take (And by "biblical" I mean King James Version). Young LDS members are clinging to the ideas of faith and grace, without losing some of their unique LDS ideas. It's a movement that would make some of their great-granparents roll over in their graves. But none-the-less, many young LDS members see it as a positive change, and they are not going to conform to the old notions. At least not easily.

The LDS church is a christian faith. It is unique, and it's changing. If mainstream christians wish to help the LDS church conform to more traditional notions, they need to realize the changes won't come in a month, or a year. Indeed, many positive changes within a broad culture may take generations.

In the meantime, Mormons who express an undying faith in Christ, and experience grace, and who feel the change of heart described in the Bible, should not be discounted by the rest of the christian world.

Learn more about this author, Ben Mitchell.
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