Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Bijhan Nasser-Faili: Protestantism is a Heresy and the Protestant Creeds are Those Condemned as an "Abomination"

I don't shy away from my belief Protestantism (esp. Reformed Protestantism) is a heresy and is Satanical to its core. See, for e.g.:


Not By Scripture Alone: A Latter-day Saint Refutation of Sola Scriptura  


Response to a Recent Attempt to Defend Imputed Righteousness


I was rather pleased to see another Latter-day Saint (one who has read at least some of the writings of Luther et al [*]) come to similar conclusions:


After the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, the various Protestant churches were splintered off from that great schism produced a wide range of creeds and “confessions” whose main functions were to distinguish the many Protestant sects from one another. They were often lengthy and elaborate affairs, and bore no resemblance or relationship to the early Christian creeds, and cannot be properly regarded as extensions, continuations, or developments of them. By the time of Joseph Smith these Protestant declarations of faith had multiplied without number. The following quote from the preface to the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, published in 1835, shows that Joseph Smith was aware of this phenomenon, and saw it as a problem: “There may be an aversion in the minds of some against receiving anything purporting to be articles of religious faith, since there are so many now extant; . . .” (emphasis added). Evidence suggests that when Joseph Smith condemns the “creeds” of the churches, he is actually referring to this welter of Protestant declarations, and not to the simple creeds of the early Christian Church. (Bijhan Nasser-Faili, Essays on Doctrine: Nine Articles Relating to the Doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [3d ed.; Antum Publications, 2020], 17)

 

The suggestion [one LDS] author makes that the Protestant Reformers were “inspired by God,” and that the work that they did resulted in a genuine “reformation” of the Christian Church is also highly questionable. The Protestant Reformation was in reality a heretical movement like the many others which had preceded it, and its outcome for the Christian world was more disastrous than good. One of the greatest mistakes that Latter-day saints have made during the past 170 years has been their tacit endorsement of Protestantism, which has absolutely nothing in common with the restored gospel, and which is utterly repugnant to it. Joseph Smith identifies the Protestant Reformers as “traitors and apostles”:

 

The character of the old churches have always been slandered by all apostates since the world began. I testify again, as the Lord lives, God never will acknowledge any traitors or apostates. Any man who will betray the Catholics will betray you; and if he will betray me, he will betray you. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 375)

 

The reference to the Protestant Reformers is obvious, as well as to the Evangelical churches at that time who slandered both him as well as the Catholics.

 

Latter-day Saints, with the wealth of knowledge gained through modern revelation, are in a position to make an enormous contribution to the development of Christian theology; but they have so far failed to take advantage of that great opportunity because they have such a distorted notion of the historical development of Christianity, and lack of appreciation for traditional Christian theology. (Ibid., 45)

 

(*) in my experience, Latter-day Saints who speak highly of Luther et al are those who have read little to nothing about/from them. Those who, like me, have studied the writings of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and others (e.g., Francis Turretin) realise how rotten to the core Protestant theologies truly are.