What Are The Similarities Between Mormonism and Islam?

 by Matt Slick | Dec 18, 2018

There are many similarities between Mormonism and Islam.  Both teach that the Bible is corrupt yet the Bible predicts their respective prophets.  Both teach that angels visited their prophets in order to restore the true religion and that their prophets are closely related to the means of salvation.  Both have new sacred books (Book of Mormon and the Quran) that they claim were revealed by inspiration.  Both say that their God is the only true God, that their religion is the only true religion, and salvation is by works.

Below is a table with documentation from both Mormon and Islamic sources, categorized by similarities. However, it is worth noting that there are also significant differences between Mormonism and Islam.  Mormonism is polytheistic where Islam is not.  Jesus is one of three gods in the godhead in Mormonism, where Islam teaches only one God.  Mormonism teaches that people have the potential becoming gods, where Islam would deny that. Mormonism says that Jesus was crucified, where Islam does not.

I leave it to you to examine the similarities and draw your own conclusions from them.  In my opinion, the same demonic force is behind both of them.

Read more at CARM.org

Keeping the Sabbath Holy

The reason that we are called not to sin isn’t simply because we have a rebellious nature, it is because there are things that are constant. There is a created ordinance. Even if we were not fallen we are to keep the Sabbath Holy. We are given the command to marry and have children or to keep the Sabbath Holy because there is a final perfection to look forward to. There is a perfection than from the initial creation itself. It is a created work. It is universal. God made the Sabbath for all mankind. It is grounded in creation.

If God Made Me Rebellious, Then Isn’t He Responsible?

"If God made me with a rebellious nature, then isn't He responsible for my sin?"

Understanding the Heart of God:

God is not morally evil because He creates us knowing that we have a rebellious nature. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemene he was sorrowful. He was praying that God take this cup away from him but not as his will but the Father’s will. He knew that what he was going to suffer and die for people who would still reject him. It anguished Jesus’ heart because he knew that the people at the present time were rejecting him and also in the future to come after he finished the job on the cross. Foreknowing that future people will be born with a rebellious nature he still went to the cross. He still took the judgement of God for those who rejected him knowing that most would reject him but for the hope of the few that would be saved it was worth the cost. He took the judgement that we deserve knowing that we would still reject him. How is that unloving?

Romans 1 Critical Thinking

 Whether in art or literature, education or psychology, mathematics or science, every theory or movement is inspired by an underlying philosophy. 

Worldviews do not come with a warning label attached. They do not ask permission before invading our minds. Instead there is what Nancy Pearcey would call a “stealth” secularism that uses images and stories to bypass people’s critical grid and hook them emotionally, sometimes without them even knowing it. That is why it is imperative to learn the skill of deciphering worldview when they come to us not in words, where they are easier to recognize, but in the idiom of picture, composition, plot line, and characterization.

Resource: Finding Truth by Nancy Pearcey

Society in Regression

  Many people think that we are always progressing. There is a term that is over used which is "progressive" and this has been collaborated with the identity of some conservatives.

On the contrary, if we look at history society is in regression. What we see today is a rise of narcissistic hedonism and that it is degenerate.

The Last Shall Be First, And The First Shall Be Last

 Labourers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the labourers for a denarius]" a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market-place, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the labourers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’  16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Matthew 20:1-16

Positions of honour or prestige in this life by no means assure heavenly approval; indeed, often the reverse will be true. "The last will be first, and the first will be last." In other words, everyone finishes the race exactly even. No matter how long each of the workers worked, they each received a full day's wage. Similarly, the thief on the cross will enjoy the full blessings of heaven alongside those who have laboured their whole lives for Christ. Such is the grace of God.

Resources: The Reformation Study Bible, The John MacArthur Study Bible.

Christian Double-Mindedness - Trust in God, Not Your Freedom

 Through the pandemic I've learned to trust in God and lean on Him. It is now 2022 and I see how other Christians are behaving towards the government. They have a parental view of government. They fight for freedoms that they believe they have a right to that has been given to them by God. They go after the fire starter instead of trusting in God to provide a job, a house, everything for them that they need. Instead they look to the government like their parents. Not knowing why certain decisions were made but not liking the results. Much like children act when their parents make bad decisions. Or sometimes their parents make decisions that end up with bad results for better results in the long term...who knows? But the point is how much we rely on the government to take care of us instead of God--trusting that God has a reason and a plan for all this. Many of them feel that the government has overreached their hands. We are used to thinking that we keep separate from the government and the government doesn't stop us from worshipping God. Some believe the government is supposed to follow God and if they don't we then have a good reason to not obey if they infringe upon our "rights" that were written in 1982. These laws are made to keep us from intruding in government and the government intruding into the Church.

I've lost my job and didn't have work for more than a year. I had to trust in God to provide. And He did. I learned to lean my fear away from the circumstances and rely on God's plan in all this. The thing is no one, not the government can prevent us from worshipping God. Church building or not. We are not separated from Him. I'm not endorsing virtual church. It is no way real fellowship, not the way we are naturally supposed to interact and communicate with each other. But there are ways to work with these circumstances and make Church happen. Maybe this was a time that God wanted us to get out of our Church bubbles and bear fruit. Most of western churches are filled with I'd say 3/4 false teaching or lukewarm believers. Those complaining about "persecution" in the West don't have a deep theology or knowledge of history. They compare themselves as being persecuted when their fellow brothers and sisters abroad are literally risking their lives for their faith in Jesus. It's so distant to them. They don't want any of that to come to them so they start protesting. Protesting for what? Their freedom? Then let's see where this fight for freedom leads.

If freedom is #1 and make it your mandate (pun intended) then you must accept that everyone's freedom is to live the way they choose and your freedom cannot infringe another's. You better allow everyone to express their freedom too. That includes every colour of the spectrum.

Did we naturally deserve any of God's good grace? We've lived in a country blessed by His grace for many years. But those years are ending. And there is good reason. These are the results. Your freedom is removed. God is loosening His leash. Truth be told that God's love allows us to live freely if we obey His commandments. If we follow His way. But if we want to fight for freedom in the way that constitutions promise us then we are slaves to the law. We are free to do whatever we want and then end up slaves to ourselves. Living according to God's word and disciplining ourselves to live Holy means giving up on worldly pleasures and the things that this world can offer. 

"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?" 

We were not promised comfort in this life. 

Jesus said, “…In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:24, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”

Following Christ means denying ourselves.

Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’”

Let me remind you.

James 1:2-8 

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the LORD. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

So is your persecution based on your life lived based on living a godly life? Do you think you deserve the good things you have the the government is supposed to provide every good thing for you? Who is it ultimately who provides everything for you? And who is it who judges you too? It's God.

The way I see "Christians" act is not Christian at all.

Jesus taught, “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

The protests, the slandering, the retaliation, the demands. None of that was what Jesus intended. Look at how Paul lived under Nero. How were Christians treated and did you see Him write about their "right and freedoms"? Did He tell His people to start a convoy in protest down to the Emperor's palace when Christians were being murdered? No. Yet we see those professing Christ and making a disdain to His name just by losing their jobs or lesser then that, being told to wear a piece of cloth to protect themselves and other from a cold. Where have we come in this society? We fight for freedom to work and travel but not for laws that allow or no laws that protect children being murdered everyday. What morals have we ever fought for? Who have we every cared to make a stance against so publicly? No, it's when the government affects our safe little religious bubble. This sounds all judgemental and harsh but it's really appalling to watch God's "Church" divide and become a symbol of national freedom instead of the true freedom we can offer to people living as slaves to their sin and on their way to hell. Which is more important to us?