7 December 2010
Mormonism: Cult or Religious Movement? Mormonism is one of the fastest growing religions in the world today. When it first was founded in 1830 there were only six members. A month later this number had grown to forty members. Currently there are estimated to be over 13,824,854 members in the entire world ("Newsroom "). After observing the belief systems of Mormonism one could argue that it contains more similarities to that of a cult compared to that of a new religious movement.
Before comparing Mormonism to a cult, a definition must be laid down. A cult, according to Dr. Walter R. Martin as quoted in Edmond Gruss’s book entitled Cults and the Occult, is “the Adherence to major doctrines which are pointedly contradictory to orthodox Christianity, yet which claim the distinction of either tracing their origin to orthodox sources or of being in essential harmony with those sources. Cultism, in short, is any major deviation from orthodox Christianity relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith” (Gruss 3). Anthony Hoekema calls cults the “unpaid bills of the church” (Hoekema 1). Hoekema also goes on to say that cults sometimes arise because they believe “established churches have failed to emphasize certain important aspects of religious life, or have neglected certain techniques or values.” ( 1) Many times cults either contain all or some of the following ten characteristics. The first characteristic they usually contain is the importance they place on having certain convictions about matters of faith. For example if a cultist is asked what he or she believes in they will usually not be hesitant to share their beliefs with you. This may be the leading reason as to why some cults grow in size so quickly. If an individual who has little or no doctrinal teaching with the Bible is exposed to a cult leader, they will be under the impression that the leader has a deep knowledge of the Bible and is able to offer true insight in the scripture simply because cult leaders tend to speak with such confidence that it can be mistaken for knowledge of the Bible.
Another strength that cults contain is the ability to quote scripture in order to back up their belief system. For instance Jehovah’s Witnesses can quickly quote passages from the Bible when asked questions concerning their beliefs. This is one of the reasons cults attract believers. They have the appearance of being able to combat attacks against their belief system that come from other Bible believing churches or religions. If one closely examined their arguments they could probably find loopholes in their arguments.
Cults also tend to have a zeal or passion for witnessing. They are out on the street sharing their beliefs door-to-door. Anthony Hoekema calls them, “enthusiastic propagandists for their faith.” (32). They’re very enthusiastic about the message they have to share with people and they go out of their way to make sure those around them hear it.
Not only do cults to make use of verbal methods of sharing their beliefs, but they also tend to make good use of printed page. For example Seventh-day Adventists have 44 publishing houses producing literature in 220 languages (Hoekema 52). The Jehovah’s Witnesses have passed out over 22 million copies of their periodical The Watchtower ("Watchtower "). Mormons have published The Book of Mormon, The Pearl of a Great Price, Doctrines of a Covenent (Hoekema 378).
Another strength of cults is their ability to give their message a sense of urgency that causes people to listen to them. People feel as though they need to listen to the message that is being told to them because it directly concerns their fate. For example, Jehovah’s Witnesses have been teaching that the end of the world, the Battle of Armageddon as they call it, is right around the corner. The core belief of the Battle of Armageddon is that all who die in this great battle will never be raised; therefore it is imperative that they witness to people while they still have the chance to do so.
Unlike most Christian Orthodox churches or sects, cults tend to place a high responsibility on the role of layman. Another term to describe a layman is a non-clergy. Mormons are a perfect example of this. They claim to have no professional clergy, therefore it is important that every male Mormon over the age of 20 is able to hold the position of what they call the Aaronic or the Melchizedek priesthood.
Members of cults spend a great amount of time involved or dedicated to their particular cult. For example Mormon’s dedicate two years of their life as young adults dedicated to the Mormon Church as missionaries. Jehovah’s Witnesses also spend a great amount of time every week witnessing for their church. Cults tend to teach their members very specific techniques for witnessing in order to help them witness more effectively. Jehovah’s Witnesses for example have weekly service meetings in which they give their members specific training in methods of witnessing.
One of the most defining features of a cult is the fact that they want to endure ridicule. For example, Jehovah’s Witnesses are not afraid of being thought to be eccentric or weird. Seventh Day Adventists are not afraid to defy convention by observing the seventh day as their Sabbath instead of the first. Mormons and Adventists are willing to be thought different from others in the sense that they refuse to eat certain foods or beverages.
There are many more defining features of cults that could be discussed. In fact one could probably fill an entire paper discussing what exactly defines a cult and what qualifications does a religious group have to meet in order to be defined a cult. The characteristics mentioned are merely a very basic way to relate the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter day Saints to cults and compare similarities members of Mormonism have with some modern cults.
In order to understand Mormonism, it is important to evaluate it from the very beginning of when it was created all the way up to it in its current state. Mormonism was founded by Joseph Smith Jr who was born on December 23, 1805. He was the third son born to Joseph and Lucy Smith. In 1817, when Joseph Smith Jr. was 11, the family moved to a town near Palmyra, New York. After a few years, most of Joseph Jr.’s family had joined the Presbyterian Church. Joseph could not decide however as to which church he wanted to join. He felt as if there was so many differences among all the different denominations among the church that he couldn’t decide which church was the right one to join. He is quoted as saying in his book The Pearl of Great Price, “…so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person, young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong.” (Smith). The following account is taken from Joseph Smith’s autobiography entitled Pearl of Great Price. While still in the process of deciding which church he wanted to join, Joseph Smith read James 1:5 from the Bible which reads, “If any of you lack wisdom let him as of God that Giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” After reading this verse, Joseph claims to have gone into the woods to have prayed according to this verse, asking God for wisdom concerning his choice to join a church. Suddenly two “Personages” appeared. One of them pointed to the other and said, “This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!”. Answering Joseph’s question as to which sect or denomination of the church was the “right” one. The Personage said that he was to join none of them since “they were all wrong” and since “all their creeds were an abomination in his sight”. It should be noted that at the time of this incident Joseph Smith was only fourteen years old. This concludes Joseph Smith’s first vision that he claims to have had (Hoekema 9-10).
On September 21, 1823 Smith claims to have had a second vision. A personage, “glorious beyond description”, appeared at Smith’s bedside. He said he was a messenger sent from the presence of God and that his name was Moroni. He said that God had work for Smith to do. He said that a book had been deposited which was written on golden plates. The book gave an account of the former inhabitants of this continent and “the fullness of the everlasting Gospel” as delivered by the “Savior to the ancient inhabitants of this land.” He also told Joseph that the books that had been written on the golden plates had to be interpreted by using “two stones in silver bows” which were attached to a silver breastplate. This made up what Joseph referred to as the Urim and Thummim which the angel said was deposited with the book that Joseph was to translate. Smith claimed in the vision, he was shown the exact location of the plates. He also claimed that the messenger appeared twice again that same night and it repeated the same message once each time it appeared. The day after he received the vision of the location of the plates, Joseph went to a hill outside the village that was called Cumorah and found the golden plates deposited in a stone box along with the Urim and Thummim and the breastplate. He did not take them out at that time, however because he claims he was not yet permitted to remove them. The angel told him to come back to the same location for the next four years and eventually on September 22, 1827 he was finally allowed to remove the plates along with instructions to keep them safe (Hoekema 10-11)
At about this same time Mr. Martin Harris, a farmer from New York, planned on financing the publication of the book that would result from the translation of the golden plates. He wanted to see proof that the plates were indeed genuine and that they were being translated correctly. Although Harris had been under the impression that the plates were Hebrew, Smith claimed that they were in fact “reformed” Egyptian or an altered form of it. Smith gave Mr. Harris a sample of the plates along with a translation of them. Harris then took the sample and the translation to Professor Charles Anthon in New York City so that the authenticity of them both may be verified. After evaluating both the sample of the plate and the translation of it, Professor Anthon identified the language of the plates to be not only Egyptian but also Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic. He also confirmed that the translation of the Egyptian was correct. In fact he claimed it was correct “more so than any he had before seen translated.” (Hoekema 11-12).
After the authenticities of the plates were verified, Joseph Smith was joined by Oliver Cowdery, a former school teacher. Cowdery aided him in translating the Book of Mormon. Smith would narrate and Cowdery would write down the translations. The Book of Mormon was completed on March 26, 1830. The first copy was placed for sale on the bookshelf of a Palmyra bookstore. Mr. Martin Harris did indeed finance the publication of the book, but it was not cheap. He had to mortgage his farm in order to pay for it. On April 6, 1830 at Fayette, New York, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was first formed. A first the church only contained six members with Cowdery and Smith holding positions of the Elders. A month later there were forty members (Hoekema 12-13).
There are striking similarities Mormonism contains to that of a cult. As mentioned before, cults tend to have certain characteristics that allow them to be categorized separately from being that of a religious movement. As previously stated by Anthony Hoekema, cults sometimes arise because they believe “established churches have failed to emphasize certain important aspects of religious life, or have neglected certain techniques.” (1). Joseph Smith Jr. founded Mormonism after stating concern over the decision to choose a certain denomination. He said that“…so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person, young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong” (Smith). Simply put, he was dissatisfied with the current church denominations that were present at the time. Also as Anthony Hoekema previously stated, cults have also been called the “unpaid bills of the church” (1). meaning that they tend to add on to currently existing church doctrines in order to fulfill what they think to be the parts that they are lacking in. Cults are major deviations “from orthodox Christianity relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith”.
Hoekema states that cults have an “extra-scriptural source of authority” (378). For instance Mormons, as they believe the Bible to be full of errors, offer their own source of authority in the form of The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price. These books have replaced the traditional Christian source of authority; the Bible.
Cults tend to reject the Christian view that grace is considered the free gift of God. Mormon’s have replaced this view of grace by God with their own view that individual salvation can be reached by man’s own efforts and individual acts. Salvation, according to Mormonism, is an entrance into one of three different Mormon heavens. Mormons claim that man earns his salvation by his own merit and by keeping the Lord’s commandments (Hoekema 379).
The typical Christian view is that Christ is the son of God. Cults tend to reject this view and devalue Christ to be something less than he is viewed to be by the Christian church. Mormon’s contradict the teaching that Christ is the one and only son of God. They teach that Jesus was the firstborn of the spirit children of Elohim and that Satan is in fact Jesus’s brother. Mormons also teach that Jesus’s death did not save all men; it simply offered a way by which men may have the opportunity to save themselves (Hoekema 382)
Another distinguishable trait of cults is that they tend to remove themselves from society and form their own exclusive community. They claim to be the only group of people that are genuinely “saved”. For example Mormons claim to be the only true church because God revealed his truths only to Joseph Smith. (Hoekema 384)
Perhaps the most defining characteristic of a cult is that they firmly believe that they have been called into existence by God for “the purpose of filling in some gap in the truth which has been neglected by the ordinary churches” Mormons tend to strongly display this category. They state that they are the believers of the so-called “restored Gospel” that Joseph Smith has founded. (Hoekema 385).
As previously mentioned cults also tend to display other characteristics such as the tendency to have a deep knowledge of the Scriptures. This causes individuals with a weak understanding of the Bible to be drawn in to the cult leader’s apparent insight into matters concerning the Bible. Mormons readily quote the scripture. This could be because the Book of Mormon contains nearly 27,000 of the same words identical to that of the King James Bible (Hoekema 85). They have added on to the Bible, however creating their own version of the Bible and adding on their own interpretations of passages. Cultists tend to readily quote scripture in order to defend themselves against attacks on their own religion.
After evaluating characteristics that cults contain and comparing them to Mormonism, I think one could make the statement that Mormonism is indeed a cult. It is founded on the basis that the fundamental beliefs of the church were not good enough or were lacking in their teaching. As Anthony Hoekema stated, cults tend to form because “established churches have failed to emphasize certain important aspects of religious life, or have neglected certain techniques” (1). I think Mormonism is a perfect example of this. Joseph Smith was not satisfied with the job that the church was doing, and formed a religion that he claims to have been approved by God as other religions were apparently “all abominations”. The fact that The Book of Mormon has so many similar words, 27,000 (Hoekema 85) of the same ones the King James Bible has offers strong evidence for the fact that Mormonism is mainly based on the Christian Bible.
As previously mentioned cultists tend to readily quote scripture or appear to have a great knowledge of the Bible. I think this is clearly seen with that of Mormonism. Mormons claim to know the “true” translation of the Bible. They claim to follow the “restored Gospel” meaning the old one was false or lacking in its beliefs. Their religion differs greatly from Christianity yet the way in which they defend their beliefs by quoting scripture could lead one that has little knowledge of the scriptures to belief that Mormonism is in fact in support of the Christian religion.
Another defining feature of Mormonism that I believe directly ties it to that of cults is that cults tend to disassociate themselves from society with the belief that they are the only true “saved” group of people. Mormons frequently claim to be the followers of the “restored Gospel” or the only one that is true. They have formed themselves into communities that are separate from society in an attempt to show the world that they are the only true “saved” people.
Mormons also tend to believe they have been called by God to believe what they do. This is another similarity Mormonism shares with that of a cult. Joseph Smith claims to have been called by God by way of two messengers from heaven to form the religion of Mormonism.
After evaluating these similarities I can confidently say that I believe Mormonism is indeed a cult and bears more resemblance to that of a cult than to simply being a new religious movement. Although it could be argued that a more in-depth study of what exactly a cult is should be taken in order to fully understand the subject matter, for the purposes of my paper I believe Mormonism does indeed fit the definition of what it means to be a cult based on what I have established a cult to be.

Works Cited
Gruss , Edmond . Cults and The Occult . Rev. ed . Phillipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing CO. , 1980 . 3. Print.
Hoekema, Anthony . The Four Major Cults . Ann Arbor, Michigan : Cushing-Malloy , 1963. 1-87, 373-388. Print.
Newsroom . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints , 03 04 2010. Web. 6 Dec 2010. <http://beta-newsroom.lds.org/article/2009-statistical-report-for-2010-april-general-conference>.
Smith , Joseph. The Pearl of Great Price . Liverpool, England : 1851 . eBook.
"Their Modern Development and Growth." Watchtower . Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, 2000. Web. 6 Dec 2010. <http://www.watchtower.org/e/jt/article_02.htm>.