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TERMINOLOGY REFERENCES
(Note: King James Bible used for Bible verses.)
GODHEAD
LDS: Teach that Father God is a resurrected man with a physical body. He has a Father-God above Him. Christ is a separate resurrected man with a physical body; Holy Ghost is a separate man with a spiritual body. These three are totally separate Gods.
Doctrine and Covenants 130:22: The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, by Joseph Smith, vol. 6, April 7, 1844, p. 345-346
God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. ...—I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form—like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; ...In order to understand the subject of the dead, for consolation of those who mourn for the loss of their friends, it is necessary we should understand the character and being of God and how he came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see.
These are incomprehensible ideas to some, but they are simple. It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another, and that he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did; and I will show it from the Bible.
...The Scriptures inform us that Jesus said, As the Father hath power in Himself, even so hath the Son power—to do what? Why, what the Father did. The answer is obvious—in a manner to lay down His body and take it up again. Jesus, what are you going to do? To lay down my life as my Father did, and take it up again. ...
Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. ...
These are the first principles of consolation. .... What is it? To inherit the same power, the same glory and the same exaltation, until you arrive at the station of a God, and ascend the throne of eternal power, the same as those who have gone before. What did Jesus do? Why; I do the things I saw my Father do when worlds come rolling into existence. My Father worked out his kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same; and when I get my kingdom, I shall present it to my Father, so that he may obtain kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt him in glory. He will then take a higher exaltation, and I will take his place, and thereby become exalted myself. So that Jesus treads in the tracks of his Father, and inherits what God did before; and God is thus glorified and exalted in the salvation and exaltation of all his children. ...
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, vol. 6, 1843–44, p. 370-373:
I will preach on the plurality of Gods. I have selected this text for that express purpose. I wish to declare I have always and in all congregations when I have preach on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods. It has been preached by the Elders for fifteen years.
I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods. If this is in accordance with the New Testament, lo and behold! we have three Gods anyhow, and they are plural; and who can contradict it?
Our text says, "And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father." The Apostles have discovered that there were Gods above, for John says God was the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. My object was to preach the scriptures, and preach the doctrine they contain, there being a God above, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ...
Paul says there are Gods many and Lords many. I want to set it forth in a plain and simple manner; but to us there is but one God—that is pertaining to us; and he is in all and through all. But if Joseph Smith says there are Gods many and Lords many, they cry, "Away with him! Crucify him! Crucify him!"
Mankind verily say that the Scriptures are with them. Search the Scriptures, for they testify of things that these apostates would gravely pronounce blasphemy. Paul, if Joseph Smith is a blasphemer, you are. I say there are Gods many and Lords many, but to us only one, and we are to be in subjection to that one, and no man can limit the bounds or the eternal existence of eternal time. Hath he beheld the eternal world, and is he authorized to say that there is only one God? He makes himself a fool if he thinks or says so, and there is an end of his career or progress in knowledge. ...
Some say I do not interpret the Scripture the same as they do. They say it means the heathen's gods. ...You know and I testify that Paul had no allusion to the heathen gods. I have it from God, and get over it if you can. I have a witness of the Holy Ghost, and a testimony that Paul had no allusion to the heathen gods in the text. I will show from the Hebrew Bible that I am correct, and the first word shows a plurality of Gods; and I want the apostates and learned men to come here and prove to the contrary, if they can. An unlearned boy must give you a little Hebrew. Berosheit baurau Eloheim ait aushamayeen vehau auraits, rendered by King James' translators, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." ...It read first, "In the beginning the head of the Gods brought forth the Gods," or, as others have translated it, "The head of the Gods called the Gods together." ...
In the very beginning the Bible shows there is a plurality of Gods beyond the power of refutation. It is a great subject I am dwelling on. The word Eloheim ought to be in the plural all the way through—Gods. The heads of the Gods appointed one God for us; and when you take [that] view of the subject, its sets one free to see all the beauty, holiness and perfection of the Gods. All I want is to get the simple, naked truth, and the whole truth.
Many men say there is one God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are only one God. I say that is a strange God anyhow—three in one, and one in three! It is a curious organization. ...All are to be crammed into one God, according to sectarianism. It would make the biggest God in all the world. He would be a wonderfully big God—he would be a giant or a monster. ... I want to reason a little on this subject. I learned it by translating the papyrus which is now in my house.
I learned a testimony concerning Abraham, and he reasoned concerning the God of heaven. "In order to do that," said he, "suppose we have ...two men on the earth, one wiser than the other, would logically show that another who is wiser than the wisest may exist. Intelligences exist one above another, so that there is no end to them."
If Abraham reasoned thus—If Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and John discovered that God the Father of Jesus Christ had a Father, you may suppose that He had a Father also. Where was there ever a son without a father? And where was there ever a father without first being a son? ...I want you to pay particular attention to what I am saying. Jesus said that the Father wrought precisely in the same way as His Father had done before Him. As the Father had done before? He laid down His life, and took it up the same as His Father had done before.
Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 1, p. 10-12:
God is an Exalted Man. ...our Father in heaven at one time passed through a life and death and is an exalted man. ...
The Prophet [Joseph Smith] taught that our Father had a Father and so on. Is not this a reasonable thought, especially when we remember that the promises are made to us that we may become like him?
BIBLE: God is not a man.
Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
God has always been God. He has never been less than He is today.
Psalms 90:2
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Malachi 3:6
For I am the LORD, I change not;...
Habakkuk 1:12
Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One?...
Romans 1:22-25
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man,...who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.
There is only one God. He has eternally existed as God and does not have a father-god above him.
Isaiah 43:10-11
Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
Isaiah 44:6
Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
Isaiah 45:21-22
Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
John 4:24
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
1 Timothy 1:17
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
[PLACE IN TEXT]
JESUS CHRIST
LDS: He is literally our elder brother, born to Heavenly Parents in the Pre-existence. Jesus, Lucifer, angels and humans are all the same species and are brothers and sisters.
Gospel Principles, p. 11, 17, 18
Every person who was ever born on earth was our spirit brother or sister in heaven. The first spirit born to our heavenly parents was Jesus Christ...so he is literally our elder brother.... We needed a Savior to pay for our sins and teach us how to return to our Heavenly Father. Our Father said, "Whom shall I send?" ... Two of our brothers offered to help. Our oldest brother, Jesus Christ, who was then called Jehovah, said "Here am I, send me".... Satan, who was called Lucifer, also came, saying, "Behold, here am I, send me." ... After hearing both sons speak, Heavenly Father said, "I will send the first." ... Because our Heavenly Father chose Jesus Christ to be our Savior, Satan became angry and rebelled.
BIBLE: Jesus is fully God, not a subordinate deity. He eternally exists as God and is our creator.
Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
John 8:58
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
1 Timothy 3:16
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
John 1:1-4, 14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. ... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Colossians 1:16-17
For by him [Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
[PLACE IN TEXT]
PREMORTAL LIFE
LDS: Teach that everyone existed in heaven before born on earth. We have all existed eternally as ‘intellegences’ and were later born in heaven as spirit children of God and his wife. We later were born on earth as humans.
Doctrine and Covenants 93:29:
Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.
Pearl of Great Price, Abraham 3:21:
I dwell in the midst of them all; ... for I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, in all wisdom and prudence, over all the intelligences thine eyes have seen from the beginning; I came down in the beginning in the midst of all the intelligences thou hast seen.
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 352-4:
I have another subject to dwell upon... It is associated with the subject of the resurrection of the dead,--namely, the soul--the mind of man--the immortal spirit....All learned men and doctors of divinity say that God created it in the beginning; but it is not so: the very idea lessens man in my estimation....The mind or the intelligence which man possesses is co-equal with God himself....I am dwelling on the immortality of the spirit of man....The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end....There never was a time when there were not spirits; for they are co-equal (co-eternal) with our Father in heaven. ...The first principles of man are self-existent with God.
BIBLE: Only Christ existed before mortality, not man. We did not have a spiritual existence prior to earth.
John 8:58
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Colossians 1:17
And he [Christ] is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Zechariah 12:1
...saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
1 Corinthians 15:46
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
[PLACE IN TEXT]
THE FALL
LDS: Teach the Fall was a blessing. Fall brought mortality, ability to have children and physical death. Believe we had to experience the Fall in order for us to progress to godhood. Believe Adam was given conflicting commandments (have children but don’t eat of the fruit) and was supposed to fall.
Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 1, p. 111-116:
BLESSINGS OF MORTALITY CAME WITH FALL. Adam's status after the fall was:
1. He was banished from the presence of God and partook of the spiritual death. ...
3. He gained knowledge and experience—knowledge of good and evil.
4. He obtained the great gift of posterity. ...
DEATH FOR ALL LIFE CAME BY FALL. President Brigham Young has said: "Some may regret that our first parents sinned. This is nonsense. If we had been there, and they had not sinned, we would have sinned. I will not blame Adam or Eve. Why? Because it was necessary that sin should enter into the world; ...But they transgressed a command of the Lord, and through that transgression sin came into the world. The Lord knew they would do this, and he had designed that they should. ...
NO IMMORTALITY OR ETERNAL LIFE WITHOUT FALL... In order for mankind to obtain salvation and exaltation it is necessary for them to obtain bodies in this world, and pass through the experiences and schooling that are found only in mortality. ... Through this gift they choose good or choose evil, and thus receive a reward of merit in the eternities to come. Because of Adam's transgression we are here in mortal life….The fall of man came as a blessing in disguise, and was the means of furthering the purposes of the Lord in the progress of man, rather than a means of hindering them. ....
ADAM AND EVE REJOICED IN FALL. Before partaking of the fruit Adam could have lived forever; therefore, his status was one of immortality. When he ate, he became subject to death, and therefore he became mortal. This was a transgression of the law, but not a sin in the strict sense, for it was something that Adam and Eve had to do! I am sure that neither Adam nor Eve looked upon it as a sin, when they learned the consequences, and this is discovered in their words after they learned the consequences. Adam said: "Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God." Eve said: "Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient."
We can hardly look upon anything resulting in such benefits as being a sin, in the sense in which we consider sin. ... Now if we had been left in that condition, without any hope of redemption from the fall, then that fall would have been a most dreadful calamity."
Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 2:25
Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 268
FALL OF ADAM
Adam, our first parent (1 Ne. 5:11), a "son of God" (Moses 6:22), was first placed on earth as an immortal being. His coming was the crowning event of the creation; and as with him, so with every department of creation -- immortality reigned supreme. (2 Ne. 2:22.) There was no death, no mortality, no corruption, no procreation. Blood did not flow in Adam's veins, for he was not yet mortal, ... He had not yet come to that state of mortal probation in which are found the testings and trials requisite to a possible inheritance of eternal life. As yet the full knowledge of good and evil had not been placed before him; and, what was tremendously important in the eternal scheme of things, he could have no children.
But all these conditions, in the providences of the Almighty, were soon to change. According to the foreordained plan, Adam was to fall; that is, "in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things" (2 Ne. 2: 24), Adam was to introduce mortality and all that attends it, so that the opportunity for eternal progression and perfection might be offered to all the spirit children of the Father.
BIBLE: God intended obedience. There is nothing in the Bible to indicate that Adam and Eve could not have children before the fall.
Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
James 1:13-14
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Romans 8:5-8
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
1 Corinthians 2:14
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
[PLACE IN TEXT]
VIRGIN BIRTH
LDS: Believe God is a resurrected, physical man. He is the literal Father of Jesus by the same manner in which men are conceived on earth.
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 546-547:
ONLY BEGOTTEN SON
Christ is the Only Begotten ..., the Only Begotten Son ..., the Only Begotten of the Father. (Moses 5:9.) These name-titles all signify that our Lord is the only Son of the Father in the flesh. Each of the words is to be understood literally. Only means only; Begotten means begotten; and Son means son. Christ was begotten by an Immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers.
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 742:
SON OF GOD
God the Father is a perfected, glorified, holy Man, an immortal Personage. And Christ was born into the world as the literal Son of this Holy Being; he was born in the same personal, real, and literal sense that any mortal son is born to a mortal father. There is nothing figurative about his paternity; he was begotten, conceived and born in the normal and natural course of events, for he is the Son of God, and that designation means what it says.
(See also The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, Bookcraft, 1988, p. 6-7; Family Home Evenings Manual, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1972, p. 125-126; Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Macmillan Pub., 1992, p. 725, 729, 739, 740, 1670, 1671; Journal of Discourses, vol. 8, p. 115, vol. 11, p. 268; The Seer, p. 158.)
BIBLE: There is nothing in the Bible to indicate a physical relationship between God and Mary. Jesus’ conception is declared to be a miracle.
Matthew 1:18
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Luke 1:30-35
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary...thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS....Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
[PLACE IN TEXT]
SIN
LDS: Specific acts, not man’s basic nature. Must know act is wrong to be a sin.
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 550:
ORIGINAL SIN THEORY
In contrast to the doctrines of free agency and personal accountability for sin, modern Christendom has the false doctrine of original sin. Although the scriptures abundantly show "that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression" (Second Article of Faith; Articles of Faith, pp. 57-73), the common view is that all men are tainted with sin and denied blessings because of Adam's fall.
"Original sin," according to Catholic theology, is "the hereditary stain with which we are born on account of our origin or descent from Adam. ... Original sin is the privation of sanctifying grace in consequence of the sin of Adam," and it can only be "effaced by baptism." (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11, pp. 312-315.) Infant baptism, therefore, is a necessary corollary to the doctrine of original sin. Since "those who die in original sin are deprived of the happiness of heaven" (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 2, pp. 258-274), according to their view, it is easy to see why they think infants must be baptized. One false doctrine begets another.
Protestant views about so-called original sin are similar. The Church of England, for instance, teaches that original sin "is the fault and corruption of the Nature of every man, that naturally is ingendered of the offspring of Adam; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit; and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and condemnation." This "condemnation" is removed only "for them that believe and are baptized." (Book of Common Prayer, The Anglican Church of Canada, pp. 662-663.)
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 735-736:
Sin cannot be committed unless laws are ordained (Alma 42:17) and unless people have knowledge of those laws so that they can violate them. Adam and Eve could not commit sin while in the Garden of Eden, although laws of conduct had already been established, because the knowledge of good and evil had not yet been given them. Unless they had partaken of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil "they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin." (2 Ne. 2:23.)
...On man's part, the process of gaining salvation is one of cleansing himself from sin so as to stand clean before God at the last day. "Ye cannot be saved in your sins." (Alma 11:37.) Repentance, baptism, and enduring in righteousness to the end comprise the course whereby sins are remitted.
Exaltation consists in inheriting "all things." (D. & C. 76:54-60.) "But no man is possessor of all things except he be purified and cleansed from all sin." (D. & C. 50:28.)
BIBLE: We are in spiritual rebellion until our conversion. We do not just commit sins; we are basically sinful.
Ephesians 2:3
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Romans 5:6
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Matthew 1:21
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Luke 5:32
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
[PLACE IN TEXT]
FORGIVENESS
LDS: Granted at end of process of repentance and reformed behavior. Serious sins must be confessed to the Bishop.
Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 292-298
Forgiveness, which includes divine pardon and complete remission of sins, is available, on conditions of repentance, for all men except those who have sinned unto death. ...To accountable persons in the world, remission of sins comes by repentance and baptism of water and of the Spirit. For those who have once been cleansed in this way and who thereafter commit sin--but not unto death--(and all members of the Church are guilty of sin, in either greater or lesser degree) the law of forgiveness embraces the following requirements:
1.GODLY SORROW FOR SIN...
2.ABANDONMENT OF SIN--This means to stop doing what is wrong, to cease completely from one’s evil acts,...
3.CONFESSION OF SIN--To gain forgiveness all sins must be confessed to the Lord. ...
Further, those sins which involve moral turpitude--meaning serious sins for which the court procedures of the Church could be instituted so that a person’s fellowship or membership might be called in question--such sins must be confessed to the proper church officer. ... It follows that it is the order of the Church for confession to be made to the bishop,...
Normally a period of probation is involved before the earthly agent determines to refrain from instituting the procedures whereunder church penalties are imposed.
4.RESTITUTION FOR SIN--Restitution means restoration; it is to return the stolen property, to make amends for the offense committed,...
5.OBEDIENCE TO ALL LAW--Complete forgiveness is reserved for those only who turn their whole hearts to the Lord and begin to keep all of his commandments--...
Initially and primarily, accountable and worthy persons gain forgiveness of their sins when a valid and authoritative baptism is performed for them.... Their sins are washed away in the waters of baptism;... Those sins committed after baptism are forgiven whenever members of the Church, by full compliance with the law of forgiveness, again get themselves in the same state of righteousness and purity previously attained in connection with their baptisms.
Gospel Principles, p. 75-77,
a parable explaining the LDS view of the atonement and forgiveness is related by Apostle Boyd Packer.
After a man gets deeply in debt, a friend [Christ] steps forward to help: As the creditor was pondering the offer, the mediator added, ‘You demanded justice. Though he cannot pay you, I will do so. You will have been justly dealt with and can ask no more. It would not be just.’ And so the creditor agreed. The mediator turned then to the debtor. ‘If I pay your debt, will you accept me as your creditor?’ ‘Oh yes, yes,’ cried the debtor. ‘You saved me from prison and show mercy to me.’ ‘Then,’ said the benefactor, ‘you will pay the debt to me and I will set the terms. It will not be easy, but it will be possible. I will provide a way.
Gospel Principles, 1997, p. 123:
Elder Spencer W. Kimball declared: ‘There is no royal road to repentance, no privileged path to forgiveness. Every man must follow the same course whether he be rich or poor, educated or untrained, tall or short,...There is only one way. It is a long road spiked with thorns and briars and pitfalls and problems.’
Doctrines of Salvation, Vol.1, p. 133-134:
The Latter-day Saints believe in the efficacy of the blood of Christ. They believe that through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel they obtain a remission of sins; but this could not be if Christ had not died for them. ... Are you aware that there are certain sins that man may commit for which the atoning blood of Christ does not avail? ...
But man may commit certain grievous sins - according to his light and knowledge - that will place him beyond the reach of the atoning blood of Christ. If then he would be saved he must make sacrifice of his own life to atone - so far as in his power lies - for that sin, for the blood of Christ alone under certain circumstances will not avail.
BIBLE: Complete forgiveness is granted the moment we turn to Christ.
Mark 2:5
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
Colossians 2:13-14
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he [Christ] quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Ephesians 1:6-7
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his [Christ’s] blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
[PLACE IN TEXT]
SALVATION BY GRACE
LDS: Believe Christ’s death brought release from grave and universal resurrection. Salvation by grace is universal resurrection. Beyond this, man must earn his place in heaven. Saved by grace after all we can do.
Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 25:23
For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 669-671:
SALVATION
1. Unconditional or general salvation, that which comes by grace alone without obedience to gospel law, consists in the mere fact of being resurrected. In this sense salvation is synonymous with immortality; it is the inseparable connection of body and spirit so that the resurrected personage lives forever.
This kind of salvation eventually will come to all mankind, excepting only the sons of perdition. ...Thus it is that the Lord "saves all the works of his hands, except those sons of perdition who deny the Son after the Father has revealed him." (D. & C. 76:40-48.) All others are saved from death, hell, the devil, and endless torment. (2 Ne. 9:18-27.)
But this is not the salvation of righteousness, the salvation which the saints seek. Those who gain only this general or unconditional salvation will still be judged according to their works and receive their places in a terrestrial or a telestial kingdom. They will, therefore, be damned; their eternal progression will be cut short; they will not fill the full measure of their creation, but in eternity will be ministering servants to more worthy persons.
2. Conditional or individual salvation, that which comes by grace coupled with gospel obedience, consists in receiving an inheritance in the celestial kingdom of God. This kind of salvation follows faith, repentance, baptism, receipt of the Holy Ghost, and continued righteousness to the end of one's mortal probation. (D. & C. 20:29; 2 Ne. 9:23-24.) ...
Even those in the celestial kingdom, however, who do not go on to exaltation, will have immortality only and not eternal life. Along with those of the telestial and terrestrial worlds they will be "ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory." They will live "separately and singly" in an unmarried state "without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity." (D. & C. 132:16-17.)
3. Salvation in its true and full meaning is synonymous with exaltation or eternal life and consists in gaining an inheritance in the highest of the three heavens within the celestial kingdom. With few exceptions this is the salvation of which the scriptures speak. It is the salvation which the saints seek. It is of this which the Lord says, "There is no gift greater than the gift of salvation." (D. & C. 6:13.) This full salvation is obtained in and through the continuation of the family unit in eternity, and those who obtain it are gods. (D. & C. 131:1-4; 132.)
Full salvation is attained by virtue of knowledge, truth, righteousness, and all true principles. Many conditions must exist in order to make such salvation available to men. Without the atonement, the gospel, the priesthood, and the sealing power, there would be no salvation [full salvation/exaltation]. Without continuous revelation, the ministering of angels, the working of miracles, the prevalence of gifts of the spirit, there would be no salvation. If it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there would be no salvation [in the full sense of exaltation to godhood]. There is no salvation [exaltation] outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ...
SALVATION BY GRACE
...one of the untrue doctrines found in modern Christendom is the concept that man can gain salvation (meaning in the kingdom of God) by grace alone and without obedience. This soul-destroying doctrine has the obvious effect of lessening the determination of an individual to conform to all of the laws and ordinances of the gospel, such conformity being essential if the sought for reward is in reality to be gained.
Immortality is a free gift and comes without works or righteousness of any sort; all men will come forth in the resurrection because of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. (1 Cor. 15:22.) In and of itself the resurrection is a form of salvation meaning that men are thereby saved from death, hell, the devil, and endless torment. ...Works are not involved, neither the works of the Mosaic law nor the works of righteousness that go with the fulness of the gospel.
Salvation in the celestial kingdom of God, however, is not salvation by grace alone. Rather, it is salvation by grace coupled with obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. (Third Article of Faith.) Those who gain it are "raised in immortality unto eternal life." (D. & C. 29:43; 2 Ne. 9:22-24.) Immortality comes by grace alone, but those who gain it may find themselves damned in eternity. (Alma 11:37-45.) Eternal life, the kind of life enjoyed by eternal beings in the celestial kingdom, comes by grace plus obedience. And the very opportunity to follow the course of good works which will lead to that salvation sought by the saints comes also by the grace of God.
BIBLE: Salvation is not limited to universal resurrection but is a gift from God to those who believe.
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Hebrews 9:28
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
[PLACE IN TEXT]
REDEEMED
LDS: From mortal death only. Not the same as Eternal Life.
Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 2, p. 10-15:
REDEMPTION: CONDITIONAL AND UNCONDITIONAL. Conditional redemption is also universal in its nature; it is offered to all but not received by all; it is a universal gift, though not universally accepted; its benefits can be obtained only through faith, repentance, baptism, the laying on of hands, and obedience to all other requirements of the gospel.
Unconditional redemption is a gift forced upon mankind which they cannot reject, though they were disposed. Not so with conditional redemption; it can be received or rejected according to the will of the creature.
Redemption from the original sin is without faith or works; redemption from our own sins is given through faith and works. Both are the gifts of free grace; but while one is a gift forced upon us unconditionally, the other is a gift merely offered to us conditionally. The redemption of the one is compulsory; the reception of the other is voluntary. Man cannot, by any possible act, prevent his redemption from the fall; but he can utterly refuse and prevent his redemption from the penalty of his own sins. ... We need a little more explanation as to just what we mean by unconditional redemption. That means to restore us from this mortal state to the immortal state; in other words, to give unto us the resurrection. That comes to every creature, not only to men but also to the fish, the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the field, as the Lord tells us in section 29, of the Doctrine and Covenants. All of them had spiritual existence before they were placed upon the earth; therefore they are to be redeemed. ...But the conditional redemption is the redemption which will place us as sons and daughters of God in the kingdom of God. ...Redemption, according to the gospel, is the gift of God to every creature born into the world, that he shall live again, being entitled to the resurrection. Christ is frequently spoken of in the scriptures as our Redeemer, and so refers to himself.
Salvation is the gift of God, according to the scriptures, to all men who do not sin against the light and become sons of perdition. Salvation is of varying stages or degrees. Every man is to be judged according to his works, and for this reason various degrees or kingdoms have been established.
Exaltation is to dwell in the presence of God and to be like him. ...
NOT HALF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS TO BE SAVED. Those who receive the fulness [exaltation] will be privileged to view the face of our Father. There will not be such an overwhelming number of the Latter-day Saints who will get there. ... He would have every one of us go in if we would; but there are laws and ordinances that we must keep; if we do not observe the law we cannot enter.
BIBLE: Christ redeems from more than mortal death; he redeems us from spiritual death and gives us Eternal Life.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Ephesians 2:1
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Galatians 4:4-5
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
[PLACE IN TEXT]
GOSPEL
LDS: Doctrines and commandments of the LDS Church. True gospel of Jesus Christ was lost until Joseph Smith restored it in 1830.
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 331
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan of salvation. It embraces all of the laws, principles, doctrines, rites, ordinances, acts, powers, authorities, and keys necessary to save and exalt men in the highest heaven hereafter. ...
Literally, gospel means good tidings from God or God-story. Thus it is the glad tidings or good news concerning Christ, his atonement, the establishment of his earthly kingdom, and a possible future inheritance in his celestial presence. ... Just as there are false teachers, false religions, false prophets and false Christs, so there are false gospels. Paul proclaimed that all who preached any gospel except that received "by the revelation of Jesus Christ" should be accursed. (Gal. 1:6-12.) And the revealed test whereby the true gospel may be identified is that revelations, visions, miracles, signs, apostles, prophets, and all the gifts of the Spirit will always be found in connection with it. (Mark 16:14-20.) Where these signs are found, there is the gospel of Christ; where these signs are not found, there the gospel of Christ is not. ...The true gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to earth in the last days through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith. It is found only in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 1, p. 156-9:
GOSPEL IS THE EVERLASTING COVENANT. What is the new and everlasting covenant? I regret to say that there are some members of the Church who are misled and misinformed in regard to what the new and everlasting covenant really is. The new and everlasting covenant is the sum total of all gospel covenants and obligations, ...
GOSPEL COVENANT EMBRACES ALL COVENANTS. Now there is a clear-cut definition in detail of the new and everlasting covenant. It is everything—the fulness of the gospel. So marriage properly performed, baptism, ordination to the priesthood, everything else—every contract, every obligation, every performance that pertains to the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise according to his law here given, is a part of the new and everlasting covenant. ...Therefore, all who seek a place in the kingdom of God are under the obligation and commandment to abide in the new and everlasting covenant, which is the fulness of the gospel with all its rites, covenants, gifts, and obligations, or they "shall be damned, saith the Lord."
BIBLE: God’s provision for our salvation through Christ’s death and resurrection as atonement for our sins.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
Galatians 1:6-8
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
[PLACE IN TEXT]
BORN AGAIN
LDS: Baptism into the LDS Church.
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 100-101
To gain salvation in the celestial kingdom men must be born again ...The first birth takes place when spirits pass from their pre-existent first estate into mortality; the second birth or birth "into the kingdom of heaven" takes places when mortal men are born again and become alive to the things of the Spirit and of righteousness. The elements of water, blood, and Spirit are present in both births. (Moses 6:59-60.) The second birth begins when men are baptized in water by a legal administrator; it is completed when they actually receive the companionship of the Holy Ghost, becoming new creatures by the cleansing power of that member of the Godhead.
Mere compliance with the formality of the ordinance of baptism does not mean that a person has been born again. No one can be born again without baptism, but the immersion in water and the laying on of hands to confer the Holy Ghost do not of themselves guarantee that a person has been or will be born again. The new birth takes place only for those who actually enjoy the gift or companionship of the Holy Ghost, only for those who are fully converted, who have given themselves without restraint to the Lord.
BIBLE: The Bible never equates being born again with church membership. We are spiritually dead until our spiritual birth.
1 Peter 1:23
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
John 3:7, 14, 15
[Jesus said] Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again....As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
[PLACE IN TEXT]
TRUE CHURCH
LDS: Only the Mormon Church. The true church was taken from the earth until Joseph Smith restored it.
Doctrine & Covenants 1:30
And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually--
Doctrine & Covenants 115:3-4
And also unto my faithful servants who are of the high council of my church in Zion, for thus it shall be called, and unto all the elders and people of my Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, scattered abroad in all the world; For thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 133
Our Lord's true Church is the formal, official organization of believers who have taken upon themselves the name of Christ by baptism, thus covenanting to serve God and keep his commandments. (D. & C. 10:67-69; 18:20-25.) It is literally the kingdom of God on earth (D. & C. 65; 84:34; 136:41), and as such its affairs are administered by apostles, prophets, and other legal administrators appointed by Christ the King. (1 Cor. 12:27-29.) It is the congregation or assembly of saints who have forsaken he world by accepting the gospel, formal society of converted persons and not the unorganized spiritual vagary termed the Christian church by sectarianism.
The church was first organized on earth in the days of Adam, ...The common sectarian notion that the day of Pentecost is the birthday of the Christian Church is a false heresy. ...With the coming of the great apostasy the primitive Church was lost, and the various churches or societies which have since grown up bear no particular similarity to the original.
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 136
CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
To his earthly kingdom in the dispensation of the fulness of times the Lord has given the formal name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (D. & C. 115:3-4.) This Church is "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth" (D. & C. 1:30), the only organization authorized by the Almighty to preach his gospel and administer the ordinances of salvation, the only Church which has power to save and exalt men in the hereafter. Membership in this divine institution is a pearl of great price.
BIBLE: The Christian church is not a particular organization. As born-again Christians we are part of God’s church.
1 Corinthians 12:12-14
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.
Matthew 16:18
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 18:19-20
Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
[PLACE IN TEXT]
AUTHORITY - PRIESTHOOD
LDS: Believe that only LDS have authority to baptize, ordain, etc. They have a two-part system of priesthood-Melchizedek and Aaronic.
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