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Not much to add to the title. I would like to know the Latter-day Saints' definition of a true follower of Christ, that is to say, what features are considered by them to be essential for a person to be qualified as a faithful disciple of Christ, who walks according to the perfect will of God. And as a follow-up question, I would like to know if they believe that these essential features can be found outside of Latter-day Saints, in Christians from other denominations or groups.

Regarding the related question Do LDS believers not accept any others who self-identify as 'Christian'?, it lacks the emphasis on a more formal definition of what it means to be a true follower of Christ, from a Latter-day Saint perspective, in terms of essential features.

  • @NigelJ - do you mean the question about Jehovah's Witnesses? Yes, that was intentional. –  Sep 01 '21 at 17:19
  • My mistake. I didn't read closely enough and I thought they were identical. – Nigel J Sep 01 '21 at 17:21
  • I agree with @Nigel that it looks like a duplicate. What missing angles/aspects you are hoping to get if you look at the answers to Nigel's question? The answer seems to be basically "true Christian" follow what's common to mainstream Christianity except when it differs within LDS, and they also need to do LDS specific ordinances. Outside LDS, self-identify Christian CANNOT be "true Christian" but can have lesser glory and opportunity to "upgrade" later. – GratefulDisciple Sep 01 '21 at 17:52
  • @GratefulDisciple - see last edit. –  Sep 01 '21 at 20:19
  • @KorvinStarmast - see last edit. –  Sep 01 '21 at 20:20
  • I think it's two related questions, but those two thoughts certainly overlap heavily (one informs the other) so I can see it being one question. – KorvinStarmast Sep 01 '21 at 20:24
  • In the other question I provide a quote: Though the label “Christian” is often associated with particular creedal claims which the Church does not adopt, Latter-day Saints use it to express their belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ. that sums it up. There aren't really any essential features beyond expressing belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ – depperm Sep 01 '21 at 20:28
  • @depperm - from this it follows that Jehovah's Witnesses and Biblical Unitarians are not Christians according to LDS, since they deny the divinity of Jesus, correct? –  Sep 01 '21 at 20:30
  • At least for JW that was not my understanding of their beliefs (source) of the Biblical Unitarians I can't say (don't know enough of their beliefs). Usually LDS do not go around saying other denominations aren't Christian. So if that is their belief, and you want to get technical that may be the case. – depperm Sep 01 '21 at 20:51
  • @depperm - I replaced "Christian" with "true follower of Christ". Would you say the question is in better shape now? –  Sep 02 '21 at 01:02
  • not really, what do you mean by true. LDS believe they are the one true church, but plenty of people/denominations follow Christ – depperm Sep 02 '21 at 01:37
  • @depperm - what do you mean by the one true church? –  Sep 02 '21 at 01:38
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – depperm Sep 02 '21 at 10:17

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The in my opinion most appropriate definition of what constitutes a follower of Jesus Christ is simply this:

D&C 41:5

5 He that receiveth my law and doeth it, the same is my disciple; and he that saith he receiveth it and doeth it not, the same is not my disciple

see also Disciple

Regarding other churches, this quote by Gordon B. Hinckley sums it up well:

“Let me say that we appreciate the truth in all churches and the good which they do. We say to the people, in effect, you bring with you all the good that you have, and then let us see if we can add to it. That is the spirit of this work. That is the essence of our missionary service”

kutschkem
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  • Can you disambiguate what is meant by my law in the D&C 41:5 quote? Are there disciples obeying this law in other denominations? Yes or no? –  Sep 02 '21 at 16:13
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    @SpiritRealmInvestigator The point I was trying to make is the intent. A follower is someone actually trying to follow. The law received by other denominations is what is in the Bible. I came across lots of catholics who proudly told me they were catholic, but not practicing. For you to judge how much of a discipleship that is. To be fair, the law mentioned here is of course the modern-day revelations, and the audience is the members of the church (see verse 3). But the same sentiment can be found in the New Testament, I just thought this one is nice and clear. – kutschkem Sep 02 '21 at 16:40
  • see also law, but I agree with kutschkem statement/answer – depperm Sep 02 '21 at 16:45
  • @kutschkem - In other words, would you say that the other denominations can at best have "partial" disciples, because they are at best obeying an incomplete revelation, but not the perfect, complete, up-to-date revelation from God that LDS have? In other words, "complete" disciples can only be found among LDS, correct? –  Sep 02 '21 at 16:46
  • @SpiritRealmInvestigator Well if you want to see it that way. It's kind of hard to keep all commandments if you don't have them. But you are also not under condemnation as long as you don't have the commandment. The trouble starts when someone does have a commandment and consciously doesn't keep it. That's what sin is. – kutschkem Sep 02 '21 at 16:51
  • @kutschkem - would you say Christians in other denominations find themselves in that situation with respect to LDS commandments that are not found in the Bible? In other words, if a Christian in another denomination has a clean conscience because they are obeying the Bible to the best of their ability, are they still sinning, from a LDS perspective, if they are not obeying specific commandments found in extra-biblical LDS sacred books? –  Sep 02 '21 at 16:53
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    @SpiritRealmInvestigator Very simple, and somewhat innocent, example: A LDS drinking coffee is disobeying a commandment they have committed to keep (the Word of Wisdom, through baptism). No one in their right mind would say another Christian would sin if they did the same. They didn't covenant the same. There is nothing morally wrong with drinking coffee. There is everything wrong with drinking coffee despite believing God told you not to do it. – kutschkem Sep 02 '21 at 17:02