"I am a Christian, but

I am going to openly deny an essential doctrine of the Christian faith because I do not want to offend anyone."

Image that you have encountered someone who makes the statement that I have started this blog post with. How would you respond?

I have actually encountered such a person on social media.

This particular person claimed to be a Christian, but the person refused to say that Jesus is the Messiah because, as I understood it, the person did not want to offend that person's Jewish friends.

No, this person wasn't a new believer in Jesus, and the person had ample opportunity to read what Jesus says about himself in John 4:25-26. 

In that passage, Jesus makes the explicit claim that he is the Messiah.

Yes, "Jesus is the Messiah" is an essential doctrine of the Christian faith as it is described in the New Testament.

We do ourself no good by denying an essential doctrine of the global Christian faith in order to "not offend" someone.

Another essential doctrine of the global Christian faith is monotheism.

Here is an excerpt from Paragraph 104 of The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church:

"There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." 

The monotheism of the Christian faith is presented in Isaiah 44:6 and in Isaiah 45:5.

A person would have to cut those verses out of the Bible in order to deny the monotheism that is a part of the Christian faith as presented in the New Testament.

Yet, that is just what Mormon theologian Dan McClellan did in a post of his on X.com.

Of course McClellan said what he said about monotheism. Monotheism conflicts with the Mormon faith. McClellan might feign being unbiased when he studies the Bible, but he is still biased.

Sure, the authorship of Isaiah chapters 44 and 45 is disputed, but the inclusion and reading of Isaiah 44:6 and Isaiah 45:5 are not disputed. 

Even an atheist can see that Isaiah 44:6 and in Isaiah 45:5 teach monotheism.

Not only do Mormons insist that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three separate gods in substance, they also believe that they themselves will become gods and goddesses.

Yes, Mormons teach a doctrine that contradicts United Methodist doctrine in particular and global Christian doctrine in general.

Yet, I have encountered "Christians" who ignore what the Mormon Church teaches because they like certain things about the public behavior of Mormons.

For example:

John Hawkins is woefully mistaken about Mormons. Their Jesus is not the Jesus of the New Testament. Yet, Hawkins favors them because he likes how they appear outwardly.

I would hope that no United Methodist makes the mistake that Hawkins has made. Mormon doctrines are simply not compatible with the doctrines of the United Methodist Church.

Yet, it is absolutely possible that a United Methodist could make that mistake. 

I suspect that it wouldn't take much to get some UMC members to believe that the God of Israel started out as one god in a pantheon of gods, something that I have heard Mormon theologian Dan McClellan teach.

As I see it, United Methodists need to be reminded that monotheism is United Methodist doctrine, a part of United Methodist law as expressed in the UMC Book of Discipline. I say that because United Methodists are fallible people, and as such, they could be led astray.