Often, our critics like to engage in “guilt by association,” a common logical fallacy. It often goes like this:
Latter-day Saints affirm doctrine “x”
Aberrant group affirms doctrine “x”
Ergo, Latter-day Saint theology is aberrant, too
Of course, this can be used against critics (often Evangelical Protestants) who engage in such fallacious reasoning. For instance, many of our Evangelical critics reject the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, so one could use their “reasoning” against them on this score:
Evangelical Protestants reject baptismal regeneration
Jehovah’s Witnesses reject baptismal regeneration (see pp. 55-56 of Reasoning from the Scriptures)
Evangelical theology is as aberrant as that of the Jehovah’s Witnesses
Such can also be used against our Trinitarian friends and the doctrine that God the Father is embodied. There are many aberrant groups, according to Evangelicals and others, that are very dogmatic that God the Father is not embodied and is “only” a Spirit. One such group is that of the Christian Science movement. The following comes from Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures (1875), with my edition being 1971 printing by The Christian Science Board of Directors
Christian Science strongly emphasizes the thought that God is not corporeal, but incorporeal,--that is, bodiless. Mortals are corporeal, but God is incorporeal . . . God is Spirit, therefore, the language of Spirit must be, and is, spiritual. Christian Science attaches no physical nature and significance to the Supreme Being or His manifestation . . . (pp. 116, 117)
Question.—What is God?
Answer.—God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. (p. 465)
Genesis i. 27. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
To emphasize this momentous thought, it is repeated that God made man in His own image, to reflect the divine Spirit. It follows that man is a generic term. Masculine, feminine, and neuter genders are human concepts. In one of the ancient languages, the word for man is used also as the synonym of mind. This definition has been weakened by anthropomorphism, or a humanization of Deity. The word anthropomorphic, in such a phrase as “an anthropomorphic God” is derived from two Greek words, signifying man and form, and may be defined as a mortally mental attempt to reduce Deity to corporeality. The life-giving quality of Mind is Spirit, not matter. The ideal man corresponds to creation, to intelligence, and to Truth. The ideal woman corresponds to Life and to Love. In divine Science, we have not as much authority for considering God masculine, as we have for considering Him feminine, for Love imparts the clearest idea of Deity. (pp. 516-17)
Using the “reasoning” of some critics, one could argue thusly:
Evangelicals reject God the Father as being embodied
Christian Science, a group with an aberrant theology, rejects God the Father as being embodied
Evangelical theology is aberrant in rejecting the Father as being embodied.
Of course, such is fallacious, but it does highlight the problematic nature of engaging in "guilt by association," a tactic one finds all too often in anti-Mormon "literature."
