What Mormons Can Teach Us
Practical Lessons from Common Grace
Listen to the audio narration of this article here.
Introduction:
What can Mormons teach us? Some Christians may reflexively answer nothing, but we’d argue there are many lessons to be learned. Obviously, we’re not talking about learning our doctrine from them; as we’ve explained before, Mormons teach a fundamentally different gospel, and thus rest under Paul’s anathema. Yet, we can learn from false believers because all truth, wherever it is found, and whoever happens to say it, is God’s truth. This is nothing but a recognition of the historic reformed doctrine of common grace. So, what can Mormons teach us? Particularly, we can learn from how Mormons handle their finances, build strong communities, and educate their children.
1. Debt Control:
Mormons are very keen on avoiding debt as much as possible. They encourage all members to pay their expenses through their savings instead of taking out massive loans. The Mormon church’s own guide on personal finance says this concerning debt:
Prophets have counseled that there are very few justifiable reasons to go into debt and that when you do incur debt you should pay it off as quickly as possible. President Gordon B. Hinckley taught that “reasonable debt for the purchase of an affordable home and perhaps for a few other necessary things is acceptable. But from where I sit, I see in a very vivid way the terrible tragedies of many who have unwisely borrowed for things they really do not need…”
The “Financial Stewardship Success Map” as laid out in the Mormon guide for financial self-reliance is similar to Dave Ramsey’s “Baby Steps.” This very well may be coincidental, but it is an observation worth mentioning.
The principle of debt control is a biblical one: Under the Mosaic law, all debts were to be forgiven on the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. Given the indebtedness of our society writ large, this practice would be a necessary corrective. Via higher education, we have normalized the notion of teenagers beginning their adult lives with tens - sometimes hundreds - of thousands in student debt. Beyond being foolish, it’s downright cruel; as Solomon said, “The borrower is the slave of the lender.” From a generational perspective, it severely hampers their ability to start families. Even mature Christians and conservative churches will take on needless debt justifying their folly with, “We’re just trusting the Lord to provide.” While God does promise blessings for covenant faithfulness, ignoring his counsel on finances is not covenant faithfulness but disobedience.
2. Financial Generosity:
Donations and other forms of financial generosity are the lifeblood of churches around the world; this is no secret. However, the LDS (Latter-Day Saints) place a huge emphasis on financial generosity, and the numbers bear this out. Among bodies statisticians would categorize as Christian, Mormons actually make the highest per capita yearly donations:
It is also important to note that Mormons donate this much while feeling the least pressure to do so. The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:7 that God loves a cheerful giver, so perhaps we should seek to outdo our Mormon friends in donating to our churches. In turn, our churches should imitate their financial wisdom and generosity.
3. Interest-Free Loans:
We’ve discussed the ethics of interest and usury in greater depth previously, and it is interesting to see how Mormons handle this subject. In Mormon belief, it is unlawful to charge interest on a loan when helping out a fellow Mormon, but is permitted towards outsiders (such as Protestants). Now, we believe that interest is, generally speaking, permissible - even, in many cases, towards other Christians - but in the Mosaic law, one of the most frequently mentioned and extensively detailed means of charity is lending interest-free to brothers in Christ. Some Christian churches today have a similar practice (offering interest-free loans as a means of financial assistance), but it ought to be far more widespread than it currently is.
4. Eliminating Nominalism:
The Christian sphere is plagued with people who have no genuine faith but profess the name of Jesus anyway, hence the term “nominal Christian.” Nominal Mormonism is frowned upon in their faith, and Mormons go through great lengths to “weed out” the fake believers. For example, in order to enter a Mormon temple, which is where many of their ordinances such as marriage take place, a member has to go through an extensive process. This process includes a thorough interview, baptism, full tithing, etc. This decreases the likelihood of non-believers desecrating the holy sites and the organization overall. While this extreme level of rigor is nowhere prescribed in Scripture, church discipline is, and, unfortunately, it has nearly disappeared from American Christianity. In his popular book “Nine Marks of a Healthy Church,” Mark Dever cites an interesting statistic from Gregory Will’s book “Democratic Religion”:
Wills shows that in pre-Civil War days, “Southern Baptists excommunicated nearly 2 percent of their membership every year”!1
Similar statistics could probably be produced for all but the most liberal denominations. In this case, learning from Mormons coincides with learning from our forefathers. The effect of having only devout members is higher social trust, and when people trust each other more, they tend to be even more generous with both their money and their time.
5. Volunteering:
Just as with donating, Mormons are very committed to volunteer work. According to their own study sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania in 2012, Mormons claim to volunteer approximately 9 times more than the average American (who in 2012 volunteered about 48 hours per year), volunteering about 428 hours per year. Assuming this data is representative, it is clear the church has some room to improve in this area. Donating one’s time, skill, and labor is simply a logical application of the divine mandate to aid our brothers and sisters in the name of Christ (Matt. 25). We’ve heard of some churches where gentlemen who are rather handy will help parishioners with projects on the weekends.2
6. Education:
Countless Christian families have handed their children over to be mentally formed, day in and day out, by degenerate, anti-Christian leftists, and are yet astonished when their children leave the faith. Mormons are very aware of this problem and take numerous measures to reinforce their faith in their children and mitigate government propaganda that might cause them to stray. Firstly, it is not uncommon for public schooled Mormons to attend a before-school seminary program throughout their high school years. Secondly, the LDS church has established their own set of universities to ensure students have an immersive Mormon experience as they take the next step towards the real world. Lastly, who can forget about the missionary program many Mormon students embark on? And while many Evangelicals either homeschool their children or send them to Christian schools, far too many blindly send their children into the spiritual meatgrinder that is government education.
Conclusion:
Being a disciple of Christ means learning from him eagerly and willingly, however he may choose to teach. Sometimes his lessons are simple, sometimes they are painful, and occasionally, they come from surprising sources. As we highlighted on most items in the preceding list, these lessons from the Mormons are simply elements of biblical wisdom that they have, for whatever reason, excelled us in practicing. Let us take this as an opportunity to abide by these principles so well, that soon, an article like this could not be written. God bless.
Addendum: Check out this podcast on a similar topic which got posted several months afterwards.
From Chapter 7, under the heading titled, “How Have Christians in the Past Handled Church Discipline?”
Incidentally, this is also a fantastic way to incorporate men who usually enjoy that sort of thing much more than emotions-oriented Bible studies, tearful prayer meetings, and singing sappy love ballads to Jesus.
Article by C.J. For more articles like this, join us on MeWe, Telegram, Gab, YouTube, or feel free to: