Alright guys, let’s talk about Jesus. Who does The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe Christ is? What do we believe about Jesus Christ? Is the Church of Jesus Christ a Christian church? Was Christ really a handsome white guy like he is in all the pictures? For answers to this and more, stay tuned.
So, who is Jesus Christ? We believe He is our Savior. He suffered and died in payment for our sins. He was born to Mary in Bethlehem and died on the cross at Calvary. He lived a perfect, sinless life. He taught the people through parables, He cleansed the temple at Jerusalem, was baptized in the Jordan River, healed the sick, ate with sinners, performed miracles. He was executed on the cross, but after 3 days He took his life back and was resurrected. Together with God the Father and the Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ is God.
Now, some people believe that Latter-day Saints do not qualify as a Christian faith because our beliefs are so different from mainstream Christianity. Whether or not we qualify as Christians is, frankly, subjective, based on what your definition of a true “Christian” is. If your definition of a Christian is someone who believes Christ is their Savior and tries to follow His teachings, then yes, I’d say we’re undeniably Christian. But if your definition of a Christian is someone who accepts the post-new testament creeds and rejects the possibility of extra-biblical scripture, then no, we wouldn’t be Christian.
Some critics treat Latter-day Saints as if we’re a friendless outcast desperately trying to be cool enough to get into the “Christian club,” but the truth is that when people ask what we believe in, we want there to be absolutely no mistake:
“We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ … that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.”
Now, some people also assert that the Christ we believe in is not the same as the Christ they believe in, and therefore, we worship a different Jesus altogether than the rest of Christianity. Again, this is an understandable conclusion to come to. We believe Jesus Christ is a separate being from God the Father. Creedal Christians believe the Father and the Son are the same being manifested as two persons. We also believe that after Christ’s death, he taught and ministered to the people in the Americas as per The Book of Mormon. Pretty much no one else but us believes Christ did that. So if you want to believe we’re talking about a different Jesus than everyone else, that’s fine. In my mind, it’s sort of like two acquaintances getting together and realizing they simply have different experiences with the same mutual friend.
The point is, Latter-day Saints believe that there was a real person named Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life and suffered for your sins so that you might be cleansed of them and return to the presence of God. Only through Christ can we be saved from the consequences of sin and death. That’s who Christ is to us. Literally, all the other things we believe, as Joseph Smith put it, are only “appendages” to these doctrines.
We believe that Christ is eternal. Under the direction of God the Father, Jesus Christ was the creator of the heavens, the earth, the universe, all that good stuff. Before Christ’s mortal birth, He was the God of the Old Testament known as Jehovah.
We believe he lived on Earth during New Testament times, and we believe He’ll come again sometime in the future. Right now, Christ is a resurrected, divine, glorified, perfected being with a body of flesh and bone.
That’s who Christ is to us. If you have any more questions about our belief in Jesus Christ, feel free to leave a comment, check out the link below that’ll take you to an article about this topic on our website, and have a great day!
Learning More:
Is Christ Eternal?
Latter-day Saints believe that our lives did not begin at birth. We believe that we are literally the spirit-children of God and that we dwelled with Him in a pre-mortal realm before our birth into mortality. Before we were organized as spirits, we existed as unique “intelligences” and we are therefore eternal beings, all of us. Christ, therefore, is eternal, and more intelligent than the rest of us put together. God the Father organized His spirit first and through Him, has created “worlds without number.” Christ’s light is in all things and through all things, and we arrive in mortality with the Spirit of Christ within us to give us a natural sense of right and wrong and to make us feel towards God. Christ is the only name and only path given to return to the Father and the only way to repent of and be forgiven for our sins. Because of His infinite atonement, we may, through His grace, return to God’s presence and with Them have eternal life.
Follow these links to learn more about how Latter-day Saints love, worship, and understand Jesus Christ: