Musing on a recent posting and comments at The Orthosphere

The Theological Foundations of the Mormon Religion

The problem of Mormonism for mainstream Christians could be analysed as follows:

If we distinguish Mormon Fruits from Beliefs – with Fruits being the behaviour of Mormons, and Beliefs being the doctrines, theology and scriptures – then:

The basic observation is that

1. Mormon Fruits are very similar-to mainstream Christian ideals

But

2. Mormon Beliefs are very different-from mainstream Christianity.

So, to mainstream Christians there seems to be a large mismatch between Mormon Fruits and Beliefs.

How to explain this?

If the above is accepted as true, with similar Fruits and different Beliefs both accepted as real facts – then either:

1. Mormon Fruits are distinct from their Beliefs – the two are utterly disconnected – in effect their different Beliefs are irrelevant. (This is the typical view of mainstream Christians sympathetic to Mormons.)

2. There is an elaborate fraud going-on – Mormon Fruits are a façade, a pretense, a fake – the Beliefs are the reality. And these Beliefs are ‘Not Christian’. (This is the typical view of mainstream Christians hostile to Mormons.)

3. The Fruits are a product of the Beliefs, the Beliefs support the Fruits.
This third possibility, that Mormon Fruits and Beliefs make a mutually-reinfording unity is my understanding, and it is what makes Mormonism so revolutionary and astonishing a phenomenon.

Because it means that there is now – proven by 180 years of experience – an extremely-different way of being a Christian

The facts of Mormonism show that Christianity can be, and is, a product of an extremely-different theology, set of doctrines and set of scriptures.