18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their ungodliness and unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Rom 1:18-25, ESV)
In Paul's opening of the book of Romans, as he lays the groundwork for the necessity and efficacy of Christ's substitutionary atoning sacrifice on the cross, he points out where the "ungodliness and unrighteousness of men" (v. 18a) leads. They, and by they, Paul really means all of us before the justification and sanctification of Jesus (Rom 3:22b-25a), "suppress the truth" (v. 18b), ignore the "things that have been made" that point to God (v. 19-20), and "did not honor him as God or give thanks to him" (v. 21b) even though "they knew God" (v. 21a). As a result, they "became fools" (v. 22) and exchanged God's glory for "images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things" (v. 23). Paul reemphasizes this point in verses 24-25. God gives them over to what is in their hearts because they worshiped the creature rather than God. Now clearly, Paul is talking about traditional forms of idol worship as forbidden by God in the 10 commandments:
4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them... (Exo 20:4-5a, ESV)
The parallel phrases between the two passages make this evident:
| Exodus | Romans |
| carved image | image |
| likeness | resembling |
| in the heaven above | birds |
| in the earth beneath | mortal man, animals, creeping things |
| not bow…or serve | worshiped and served the creature |
The point I am about to make was not the point on Paul's mind. Paul's point was that idol worship, or creature worship, is a result of the unrighteousness of men. So, if we see someone worshiping "the creature rather than the Creator", we know that they are unrighteous and need the Lord Jesus Christ before they perish in their unbelief. From here, I think we can develop a powerful offensive apologetic for our Mormon friends and family. For starters, we have to look at the Mormon conception of Jesus Christ.
"Now who is Jesus Christ, and how could he bring about the resurrection when no other man nor all men put together could do so? The Scriptures respond to these questions. They make it clear that the spirit person Jesus Christ-as are the spirits of all men-is the Son of God, our Eternal Father. In this respect he is like all other men. He differs from all other men, however, by reason of the fact that men's bodies are begotten of mortal men and are, therefore, subject to death, being descendants and inheritors from Adam, while Christ's physical body was begotten of God, our Heavenly Father-an immortal being not subject to death. Christ, therefore, inherited from his Father the faculty to live on indefinitely." (Marion G. Romney, Conference Reports, April 1975, pp. 123-4)
The emphasis above is mine. So, Jesus Christ is just like all other men. He is a Son of God by virtue of the fact that he is a spirit child of the Eternal Father just like the rest of us. All of us, on the Mormon conception, were begotten in the pre-existence by Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother.
"Jesus was born of heavenly parents in a premortal world-he was the firstborn of our Heavenly Father" (Robert D. Hales, "Your Sorrow Shall Be Turned to Joy," Ensign (Conference Edition), November 1983, p. 67)
Jesus was the firstborn to heavenly parents. What does this mean? What does this have to do with the Romans passage I talked about earlier? The Mormon Jesus is a created being whom Mormons worship as the savior of mankind. Make no mistake that this is a different Jesus from the one in the Bible.
"As a church we have critics, many of them. They say we do not believe in the traditional Christ of Christianity. There is some substance to what they say." (Gordon Hinckley, "We look to Christ," Ensign (Conference Edition), May 2002, p. 90)
Their own leaders reluctantly admit that this is a different Jesus. Their doctrine proclaims that he is just another creature, an exalted one perhaps, but a creature none-the-less. But this is a major problem for them according to Paul in Romans 1:18-25. They are worshiping the creature rather than the Creator if Jesus Christ is not God, the creator. They are unrighteous as evidenced by the fact that they worship a created Jesus who is not God. I think this could be an effective apologetic for use with Mormons. I wouldn't expect any Mormon, on the spot, to admit that you are right and then ask how they can be saved. But, I think a major task of apologetics is just to "put a stone in their shoe" as Greg Koukl says. Just give them something to think about that ruffles their worldview.
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