The "Are Mormons Christian?" is kind of becoming annoying. The answer is really simple and as always comes down to difference of definition. Are we Christian in that we believe the Bible is perfect and God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one being? No, we're not. But that's not our definition of Christian. We believe in Christ and try to emulate His teachings. To us, that means we're Christians. So yes, Mormons are Christians.
However, this is only where it begins getting interesting to me. For myself--and I don't expect anybody else in the church to accept my views as doctrine because they're not--I am Christian and Jewish and Muslim. To understand why I believe this, you have to look at the historical background of each religion.
God distributes information--bits of "the Gospel"--to people according to what they're capable of understanding and accepting ("line upon line, precept upon precept"). However, people often misunderstand what was given or willfully change it to fit what they want it to mean. Adam received a bit, but his descendents strayed, so God sent Enoch. Then the city of Enoch got "taken up" because they became so righteous. Adam's other descendents strayed, so God sent Noah and a whole lot of water. Then Noah's descendents strayed and God sent Abraham. This is when things start getting dicey. All the righteous people up to this point didn't belong to the "Mormon Church" because there was no "Mormon Church" back then, only the religion of God. These men--yes, all of these happened to be male--weren't the only ones restoring truths or believing in the "religion of God," except in the case of Noah and Adam.
Abraham and the Hebrews--the Ishmaelites were off doing something else--went to Egypt. Then a lot of them went astray. By the way, when I say "went astray" I do not mean that they became bad people, even if the scripture label them "wicked." Nor do I necessarily mean that their religion was evil. I only mean that they forgot or lost to some extent the Gospel of God. Back to Egypt: God sent Moses to, first, deliver them from Egypt and, second, to restore truths and establish the religion again, this time in a simplified form called the "Ten Commandments" (see my blog post about them below). These eventually became changed as well. It's interesting to note the amount of people that were not Israelitish in this time period--or "dispensation"--that had at least some connection with God, if not the purest form of the religion. Balaam and Jethro are two examples.
But--as is inevitable--the Israelites strayed. Several times, in fact. But eventually they had split into two kingdoms--Samaria and Judah (where the demonym was "Jew")--and both had a form of the religion including a temple and their own respective translations of the Old Testament. Everything--or at least part of it--up to this point is in the Old Testament and certain apocryphal books. Some of the prophets in this era were very prominent, especially Jeremiah, Isaiah and Lehi. Then Jesus came, primarily to do the Atonement, but also to restore the religion back to God's. Jesus was not "Christian" because "Christianity" wasn't even a "thing" until Constantine made it the official religion of the Eastern Roman Empire. "Christianity" was just another sect of Judaism, just like the Pharisaic and Sadusaic sects. Jesus was a Jew and so--by definition--all Christians are Jews.
But--and here's where I'm going to have to be blunt about my beliefs and hope nobody is offended--Christianity went astray. I have nothing against Catholicism or Coptic Christianity or Eastern Orthodox or any other sect of any other religion. But that doesn't mean I don't think they "went astray" from the truth, just as I'm sure they think Mormons are "astray" of the truth. Up to this point I am 100% in harmony with Mormon Doctrine. So I am Christian and Jewish. Not that I accept every belief of every adherent to both religions as truth, because that's impossible. But I believe both religions--on a whole--are inspired of God and basically true because they are both really part of one religion of God.
Here is where my beliefs are "unorthodox." I've already established that Christianity had gone astray. By this point, Abraham's other descendents--the Ishmaelites or Arabs--were not exactly following the religion. So--I believe, this is not enumerated Mormon doctrine--that God sent Muhammad to restore the religion again. Not that I accept everything in the Holy Quran as truth or from God. But I also don't accept everything from the Bible as such, either (parts of Song of Solomon are downright pornographic). But I do believe that basically it is the Word of God, if with slight changes made by people or maybe given by God because it's something that the Ishmaelites could understand at that time. I do not understand the Quran as most Muslims do. In fact, many would probably be offended by me calling myself Muslim. But some Christians are offended by me calling myself Christian and I still do. But--it's interesting to know--in some Muslim countries, Mormons aren't referred to as "Christian" but "Christian Muslim" and in some countries, members of the church are asked to not call ourselves "Christian" because the word has a different meaning in those countries than in others. Also, on page 46 of Preach My Gospel, it says that Muhammad was inspired of God to restore certain truths. So I just take that one step further and say he was a prophet and so I am Muslim. Again, not because I believe everything every Islamic sect believes, but because I believe the Quran is basically the Word of God, just as I believe the Bible is the Word of God.
Then came along Joseph Smith, and now we have the church as it is today. Not that it's perfect or was perfect at any point, but we're working on that. A religion is only as perfect as its adherents.
So I am Mormon. I am also Christian, Jewish and Muslim. I also happen to believe in Zoroastrianism, but I haven't ever read the Zend Avesta nor prayed about it so I can't say that I'm Zoroastrian because I don't believe in it the same way . Yet.
Some people would say "But that's impossible. That's like saying I'm white, brown and black." (Yes, I have heard that argument, and it's as silly as it sounds.) Others would say "Oh awesome! You're like Pi Patel!" Both are false and here's why.
I don't believe in every aspect of any of the three basic religions. Basically, I believe in the area where they all meet and I call it Mormonism. But take a look at the basic tenants of the three religions and tell me you can't be all of them or that to be all of them is something special.
Judaism--Obey the Ten Commandments. Love God. Love your neighbor. Look forward to a Messiah.
Islam--The Five Pillars: testimony, fasting, prayer, alms, pilgrimage to visit the House of the Lord (or temple attendance?). Love God. Love your neighbor.
Christianity--Accept Jesus as the Messiah or Christ. Love God. Love your neighbor.
These are not mutually exclusive doctrines. They're not necessarily mutually inclusive, but they can be. And I happen to believe in all of them, especially the "Love God" and "Love your neighbor" bit. Yes, you can bring up that there can be truth to be found in all religions and yes, you can talk about individuals in each that don't adhere to each of these basic principles. But you can't judge an entire religion--especially a "broad" religion like Christianity or Islam--based on the actions of its adherents. You can't judge Islam by Al-Qaeda, you can't judge Christianity by Ku Klux Klan, you can't judge Judaism by the Zionists.
I am Muslim. I believe in Muhammad and the Quran--although imperfect--and try to follow the Five Pillars of Faith. In fact, I went to the temple today in a sort of pilgrimage for Mormons. I try to humbly follow God, which is inherent in the title "Muslim". Some day I'll observe Ramadan and other holidays.
I am Christian. I believe in Jesus and the New Testament--although imperfect--and try to pattern my life after what Jesus would do. I celebrate Christmas and Easter and their respective preceding holi-months: Advent and Lent. But that's another story.
I am Jewish. I believe the Moses--and Adam and Noah and Enoch and all the rest of those guys--and the Old Testament--although imperfect--and try to follow the Ten Commandments in the ways that I know best how to. I'd like to start celebrating Passover and Purim and maybe Hanukah. But we'll see.
For me, I can't give up any one of them and so I hope I never will. But remember I did say at the beginning that all of this is subject to change. I don't think I've had two consecutive days for years when I believed the exact same way. The only constant so far is that God loves me, and I ought to love Him and everybody.
Finally, I am Mormon. I believe in Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon--and its imperfections are miniscule and insignificant as is stated in the Book of Mormon at several places--and try with all my heart to live its teachings. All the rest of God-given religion so far--I believe--has been building up to Mormonism and Mormonism itself claims to be building up to something even greater. But that's another discussion. Mormonism isn't perfect because the people aren't perfect, even if we claim to strive for perfection. In fact, Mormonism claims that there's a heck of a lot more knowledge out there, more prophets we don't know about yet, more truths that maybe no person ever knew. But we believe we have everything we need at this point in history to become closer to God, although that doesn't mean we shouldn't look for more.
I do not ask you to believe as I believe, although it is always an open invitation. I do not expect even Mormons to believe as I believe. That would be stupid and foolish, not to mention extremely cocky and selfish which I try--as a Muslim, Christian and Jew--to not be. Well-meaning friends and family members have raised concerns, such as that I wouldn't be able to attend the temple and claim to be Muslim because you can't affiliate with any organization against the LDS Church and attend the LDS Temple for obvious reasons. This has been my answer: I do not affiliate with any church besides the LDS Church. I do not attend any Muslim congregation or Jewish congregation or Christian congregation. I attend the Mormon Church on the corner of Juanita and Boise. Another way to look at it is I'm not Muslim or Jewish or Christian. I practice Mormonism. But I prefer to be optimistic. I am all three because they were all the Religion of God at least at one point and at a most basic level they all still are. I don't try to resolve all the discrepancies. When there are any, I go with what God's prophets have said most lately, i.e. General Conference.
My sister brought up a good way to think of it when I first started having this debate with myself. When we're all dead and sit down in heaven for those who make it, there won't be Mormons or Muslims or Christians or Jews. There won't be Hindus or Buddhists or Zoroastrians or Samaritans or Atheists. Those are labels and there won't be labels in heaven. There will only be the One Religion of God. That is what I mean when I say I am Muslim and Christian and Jew. I mean I am none of them because there is no such thing and all of them because they are all part of one religion.
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