What are the major differences between evangelical Christianity and Mormonism?

Q: practices on where they differ? These practices are different to Evangelical groups.

All LDS adults are also Priests, and the responsibility for their neighbors is a covenantal promise. Everyone in the local Church has a Priest assigned to them and he visits the home every month to see if anything is needed, and reports back to the Bishop.

LDS live a life of Christ, as far as it is possible in this day and age. They are monitored by the brethren and warned if they stray from God's Will as it is defined by Scripture and by revelations of the Prophets.

None of the clergy is paid. As in the early Church, each person must support themselves with a job outside the Church.

The Church has a central authority. Everyone believes the same theology. There is no disagreement in the Church.

Christians believe the Bible and the traditional understanding of what the Bible teaches, as summarized through the centuries in the various creeds (Nicene Creed, Apostles' Creed, Westminster Confession, etc). All Christian denominations, both Catholic and Protestant, are united in the following beliefs taken directly from Biblical teachings:

• There is only one God, and there has only ever been one God, in the entire Universe
• This one God has revealed himself in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- but these three are a unity (hence "tri-unity" or Trinity)
• Jesus of Nazareth is the human form taken by this one God when he came to Earth to live a perfect life and allow himself to be sacrificed for the sins of all men
• That through this sacrifice of Jesus, all men can be reconciled to God and have their sins forgiven, without any deserving efforts of their own
• There are many more, but this will serve to show some essential differences.

Mormonism differs from Christianity in that Joseph Smith, Brigham Young (and others) taught that there have been more recent gospels: the Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Convenants, Pearl of Great Price -- as well as all sermons preached by Smith and Young as recorded in the Journal of Discourses.

Further, the Mormon church teaches that the Bible is a lesser source, in that it has been "corrupted" and is essentially not the same as what was first written. (This game, under a different name, "Post Office", is often used as an example of how/why that happened.) Therefore, Mormons say, it is more important to read/believe the latter teachings. However, Christians point to examples from archaeology, such as the 1947 Dead Sea scrolls discovery, in which most books of the Old Testament were discovered, dating back 100 years before the birth of Jesus. The book of Isaiah, for example, shows only 13 characters in question, none of which change the meaning of any phrase. On the other hand, the Book of Mormon (to compare apples with apples) even changes the identity of God in one of it's 3,900+ changes since it was first published in 1830. (Compare 1 Nephi 11:18 and 1 Nephi 11:21 with their originals in 1830. Knowing Mormon theology, you will know that "God" and the "Son of God" are Elohim and Jehovah, respectively. This is a significant, theology-altering, change.)

Over and above the Bible's teachings, and sometimes in conflict with the Bible's teachings, the Mormon leaders taught that:

• There is only one God -- for this world. Every world has its own God, and every temple-going Mormon male hopes and believes that one day he will be judged worthy to become a God. As such he will receive/create his own World and will populate it with spirit children.

• God was once a man, and therefore He also has a father (as does his father, as does his father, etc). Where this stops is not discussed in Mormon literature.

• All humans (including Jesus) pre-existed in the spirit world. Jesus, Lucifer, Mary and you are all spirit brothers and sisters. In the spirit world Jesus was known as "Jehovah", and the Father's name is "Elohim"

• Jesus was born to Elohim (God the Father) and the virgin Mary through normal physical relations.

• The Book of Mormon tells the story of a Jewish family (time of Abraham) that sailed across the world to settle in America. The American Indians discovered by Columbus are the descendants of these Semitic peoples.

There are a vast number of other differences between the teachings of Christianity and Mormonism. You may wish to investigate the following areas: polygamy (many wives), polytheism (many gods), archaeology, scripture, the nature of God, the Trinity, the history of Christianity.

Most Christians who have investigated the claims and teachings of Mormonism firmly state that there are virtually NO common essential beliefs between Christianity and Mormonism. This matter is confusing to many people because Mormon teachings use the same names/words as Christian sources, but with completely different meanings. For example, the Mormon Jesus is not at all like the Christian Jesus, although the Mormon Jesus is said to BE the Christian Jesus. However, if you compare their origins, what they claimed about themselves, and their position after death, you will see little resemblance. They are two totally different beings.

Sources:

CRI - Mormonism

Utah Lighthouse

Simply put Evangelicals differ over at least three primary things:

1. The Nature of Jesus

Evangelicals believe Jesus to be God - of one being with Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, etc... Mormons do not. Mormons believe Jesus to be divine, but a separate person from the Father. Evangelicals tend to subscribe to the historic creeds of the church - Nicene, Apostles, etc... - and are almost invariably Trinitarian. (I cannot say that I have ever run across a non-Trinitarian Evangelical, but as it is a movement and not a denomination, there are always exceptions).

^{Note: In the comments, there was a notion that the creeds only adhered to the "Catholic" church. Insofar as "catholic" is understood as "universal" or "what most people think of when they think of 'mainstream' Christianity, that is accurate. If that were taken to mean the 'Roman Catholic Church,' that would be precise, but inaccurate, in that most Protestants and Orthodox also subscribe to the Creeds and to the Trinitarian formulations thereof.}

2. The nature of the "Bible"

Evangelicals consider the canon to be closed. Mormons have their own scriptures composed well after the period.

3. The nature of soteriology

Evangelicals, by and large, believe salvation to be solely the gift of God. We believe that all who are saved enter into eternal relationship with God. Mormons believe that people are rewarded according to the nature of the covenant they believed.