Mormonism: The New Postmodernism?

What exactly is Postmodernism? In writing this entry, I discovered that it is very difficult to define the word, "Postmodernism." It's hard to define because there is such a wide range of uses of the word. Postmodernism originally was a movement in art and architecture, but has now moved into philosophy and religion. Since I just poked fun at Wikipedia with this picture, I want to use the following definition of Postmodernism from http://www.apologeticsindex.org/:

"Postmodernism is the cultural worldview that now penetrates and owns our society. This worldview deeply values the following: spirituality, pluralism, the experiential, relativity, altruism, community, creativity, the arts, environmentalism, globality, holism, and authenticity. In many ways we are transitioning away from the "modern" values of rationalism, science, dogmatism, individualism, pragmatism, capitalism, nationalism, compartmentalism, and veneered religiosity."


"Rejecting objective truth is the cornerstone of postmodernism. In essence, postmodern ideology declares an end to all ideology and all claims to truth."

In other words, Postmodernism rejects objective truth; everything is relative! So, I'm sure you are wondering how this relates to Mormonism. I mean, after all, Mormons believe in objective truth, right? Well, unfortunately, the more we (as a ministry) dialogue with Mormons, whether they be missionaries, church officials, or lay people, the more and more we hear and see Postmodern overtones.

Yesterday afternoon, my good friend Angie and myself met with two Mormon Missionaries. As usual, they were very nice, zealous, loving, and caring young men. And as usual, about 45 minutes into the conversation, they could not answer for discrepancies from Scripture to what they believe and are taught (and are teaching door to door). So, if you have ever talked to Mormon Missionaries, you know what happened next: they began to bear their testimony. For those of you who do not know what I am speaking of, when they bear their testimony, they basically spend 5 to 10 minutes explaining how they know Mormonism is the truth because they have prayed about it, and because they have therefore received a, "burning in their bosom" from the Holy Ghost. This response, traditionally, is how they are taught to respond to a Christian when they cannot answer a question. This also usually signifies that they are done talking to you and want to leave. The problem with their testimony is that it is completely subjective. You cannot measure truth subjectively, that is of course unless you are Postmodern, and then everything is subjective. And just like yesterday, even when you get a Mormon to admit that their testimony is completely subjective, it doesn't matter to them, because they have no other fallback.

Towards the very end of our dialogue yesterday, as the two missionaries were packing up their stuff to go, they said something to me that I have not heard before, that completely blew my mind, and that absolutely wreaked of Postmodernism. When I began to present one of many false prophecies given by Joseph Smith, Jr., I was told by one of the missionaries that if it came from The Journal of Discourses, then it is not necessarily viable. For the record, the one I presented to them came from Church History, but nonetheless I was blown away. For those of you who do not know what the The Journal of Discourses is, it is literally a compilation of sermons given by LDS general authorities (Apostles, Prophets, etc.) every year. I was then told that if a publication is not officially printed by the LDS Church, then it cannot be considered truth, even if it is a book published by their Modern Day Prophet. Apparently, what the LDS Church has done, has labeled only publications found in the Quad (the JST/KJV Bible, Book of Mormon, D&C, and Pearl of Great Price) as officially LDS. By doing this, they have found a loophole to disregard any false prophecies given by Joseph Smith, Jr. or Brigham Young, or any LDS Prophet; or any controversial teaching given by any of the former. So, even though we have every word of false teaching ever given by any Mormon Prophet in print, it doesn't matter. Even though Brigham Young said his sermons were as good as Scripture, it doesn't matter. It's all relative, unless it has the "official LDS stamp" on it. It's very sad, and very frustrating as a Christian. Because Mormons cannot use objective truth (The Bible) to prove the claims of Joseph Smith, Jr, as true, they have used his subjective claims, to say that what they teach is the only objective truth, which in turn actually makes it subjective truth, and therefore making it completely Postmodern!