Joseph Smith Jr., the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, claimed he was restoring the genuine church to the earth, a church absent since the first century. So are we to assume that Mormonism is Christianity? Students who ask such questions often differentiate among denominations, sects, cults, and world religions. [b]Denominations are movements that differ on doctrinal issues but hold to a common core[/b] of beliefs about God, Christ, and the Scriptures. They see God as Trinitarian, Christ as unique in His human-divine person, and the Scriptures as the authoritative text passed down from the prophets and apostles. [b]Sects agree with the denominations on these matters, but they often have some characteristic that places them on the fringe of Christianity[/b], such as the radical separatism of the Amish. [b]Cults are connected to Christianity in that they employ Christian Scripture and appeal to Jesus, but they also differ from the traditional faith in certain core areas. [/b]They may deny or reinterpret the Trinity. They may have novel views about Christ. They may reject part of the Christian Scripture, add new texts to it, or claim to have an infallible interpretation that replaces traditional doctrine with a new approach. World religions are those historic traditions that include the Christian religion as well as others, such as Islam, Shintoism, and Hinduism. If the question asks only whether Mormonism is connected to Christianity in some sense, the answer would be "Yes," but that is not enough. Religions such as Baha'i claim some connection to Christianity, and Muslims believe in the second coming of Jesus, but it is widely accepted and obviously stated that the two are not Christian. In order for a faith to be Christian, it must pass both the doctrinal test and the experiential test. Doctrinally, it must be orthodox on the key issues outlined above, and experientially, it must see salvation as a faith encounter with Christ alone as the pathway to being right with God. How does Mormonism stack up? Mormonism is neither monotheistic nor technically, trinitarian. In one of the Mormon scriptures called [i]The Pearl of Great Price[/i], we are told that the world was fashioned "by the Gods." In his famous King Follett sermon, Joseph Smith stated that God was once as we are and that we may become as He is, a God. Mormonism teaches that Father, Son, and Spirit are all God, but it denies the historic Christian view on the Trinity, God is three in one. Mormon scholar Robert Millet has verified that the Trinity is comprised of "Three Beings." Mormonism is not Trinitarian but tritheist or polytheist. Mormon theology teaches that Jesus is an incarnation of Elohim, conceived instead of begotten literally as the son of God, but He is not the unique incarnation since we also can be incarnations of the Father. Jesus is important to the whole of Mormon theology [b]but in a different way than for traditional Christians. [/b]In Mormonism, we are not saved by the atoning work of Christ but by obedience to Mormon principles. Mormons follow the Bible as Scripture, but they have placed three other texts alongside or even higher than the Bible: The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price. It is in the last two books in particular that the novel Mormon doctrines can be found. Because of these departures from standard Christian teachings, Mormonism falls outside orthodox Christianity, and instead, dabble in a whole other teaching.