About 13 years ago I was sitting in the living room of a man who was studying to become presbyterian minister. He was in divinity school and was as interested in converting me to his faith as I was to converting him to mine. I was a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints.
Most of our discussions centered around faith, works, and grace. If I understand his position correctly, its very close to the evangelical idea that one needs to only have faith in Jesus Christ to be saved. Let it be said here that his position was very well thought out and based mainly on the writings of Paul in the New Testament.
He believed that once you except the Savior, you are saved and you simply cannot fall from grace. In other words, you are done. It does not matter what kind of life you lead from then on because Christ has covered you.
That isn’t to say that my friend would condone a life of sin. In fact, he would hope that you would try to model your life after Christ only because of the love that Jesus has shown to you by saving you. But if you don’t live your life for Christ, He will still save you because you have faith in Him. I asked him if he believed that a man who is “saved” and then went out and murdered people at will would still be “saved”.
He answered yes, it doesn’t matter if he murdered he would still be saved. Jesus Christ takes care of it all as long as you have faith. But back to this story a little later…
Latter-Day Saints often get painted in a dark light by our Christian friends because of our emphasis on works. After all, didn’t Paul say:
Eph. 2:8
8 For by agrace are ye bsaved through cfaith; and that not of yourselves: it is the dgift of God
And…
Titus 3:5
5 Not by works of arighteousness which we have done, but according to his bmercy he saved us, by the cwashing of regeneration, and drenewing of the Holy Ghost;
I’m sure I could show many more scriptural examples. To clarify the issue I would like to share with you now, and hopefully better than I did to my presbyterian friend of how Mormons view these scriptures and our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Faith And Works
Mormons often turn to the book of James to clarify the writings of Paul. James tells us of a way we can determine if our faith is real. Real and alive faith is always accompanied by works or action.
James 2: 14, 17-18, 20-22, 24-26
14 aWhat doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath bfaith, and have not works? can faith save him?18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my afaith by my bworks.21 Was not Abraham our father ajustified by works, when he had boffered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Being “Saved”
What does it mean to be “Saved?”
Latter-Day Saints have a very different view of what happens after death than creedal Christianity. Simply put, we don’t believe in a simple “Heaven” or “Hell”.
To a methodist, baptist, or Lutheran, the term “Saved” refers to Jesus’ power to save us from Hell. To the Latter-day Saint, the term “Saved” can mean being saved from “Hell” but also can mean other things as well.
For instance, we believe that because of Jesus Christ’s atonement and resurrection ALL mankind will be resurrected. (John 5: 25-29) This is regardless of how much they sinned or if they believed in Jesus or not. You could call that a form of Salvation. All being saved from the grave.
We also believe that in the end there will be different glories or heavens assigned each of us depending on our (true) faith in Christ. To the Latter-day Saint, there is only a tiny group of people called the “Sons of Perdition” that will not benefit from the great sacrifice and atonement of Jesus Christ. These are people who commit the unpardonable sin spoken of by Jesus:
31 ¶ Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven aunto men: but the bblasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall cnot be forgiven unto men.
These people will be cast out with the Devil and his angels. Everyone else will in some way be “saved,” or receive a kingdom of glory.
Having said that, most Mormons would only consider themselves “saved” if they end up in the highest kingdom which is called the Celestial Kingdom. This is the salvation most often talked about in the scriptures. To enter this kingdom, you must have (true) faith in Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end of your mortal life.
Beyond that there is yet a last and final form of being “Saved”. This is called “Eternal Life” or “Exaltation.” This is the highest level within the highest kingdom or glory. It is reserved for those who have made sacred covenants in the temple including eternal marriage and have been true and faithful to those promises made to God. Here you live with God Himself and with all of your family relationships in tact.
Why baptism is essential.
There are several reasons why Baptism is essential, but I would like to touch on just one. You see, to the evangelical, once you pray the prayer of faith you have been saved and you ever more in a state of grace. But this contradicts what the scriptures say. I would like to cite just one scripture to prove it:
Galations 5:4
4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the alaw; ye are fallen from bgrace.
Wait! Did Paul just use the words “fallen from grace???” Yes he did. In context he is telling the Galations that if they go back to their faith in Moses’ Law, they are no longer under the grace of Jesus Christ. In other words, they have lost their faith so they are fallen.
So going back to James, we can also lose our faith, or our faith can become dormant or dead if it does not include action or works. Simply put if our works do not provide evidence of our faith, then we do not have true faith. If we do not have true faith, then we do not have access to the Grace of Jesus Christ. If we do not have access to the grace of Jesus, then we do not have access to Heaven.
I would submit to you that every time we undertake to sin (willfully) our faith has become dead and we need to repent in order to be restored to grace.
The evangelical might scoff at that and say something like “so do we just jump in and out of Christ grace constantly then?” In fact I’ll take you back to my story now. When I tried to explain this to my presbyterian friend he gave me a scenario. He said in effect “what if you were in a car accident and the last thought you had was a swear word? Would you then be damned in Hell even though you had tried to live a Christ like life?”
I believe the answer to this question is no. And here is the reason why.
After we show true faith, and after we repent of our sins, we enter into the covenant of Baptism. This covenant is very similar to the covenant we make at marriage. Just like you don’t divorce your spouse for the way they eat grape fruit God is not going to disown us for the small mistakes we make as long as we are consistently showing forth works meet for repentance.
If we are striving to overcome our weaknesses we will be found safely within the bounds of Christ’s grace. Because of the baptismal covenant we have made with Jesus, we are His. And just like in a marriage, only heavy, repeated infractions with no willingness to repent will fully break that covenant.
Jesus is in the business of saving souls. He knows our hearts. He is merciful to those who love and serve Him. As the Apostle Elder Jeffery R. Holland said:
When we join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Through Baptism) we board the Good Ship Zion and sail with her wherever she goes until she comes into that millennial port. We stay in the boat, through squalls and stills, through storms and sunburn, because that is the only way to the promised land. This Church is the Lord’s vehicle for crucial doctrines, ordinances, covenants, and keys that are essential to exaltation, and one cannot be fully faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ without striving to be faithful in the Church, which is its earthly institutional manifestation. To new convert and longtime member alike, we declare in the spirit of Nephi’s powerful valedictory exhortation: “Ye have entered in by the gate; … [but] now, … after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; … press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, … and endure to the end, behold, thus … ye shall have eternal life.” 5
Jesus said, “Without me ye can do nothing.” 6 I testify that that is God’s truth. Christ is everything to us and we are to “abide” in Him permanently, unyieldingly, steadfastly, forever. For the fruit of the gospel to blossom and bless our lives, we must be firmly attached to Him, the Savior of us all, and to this His Church, which bears His holy name. He is the vine that is our true source of strength and the only source of eternal life. In Him we not only will endure but also will prevail and triumph in this holy cause that will never fail us. May we never fail it nor fail Him I pray in the sacred and holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.
”
Of this I add my witness that faith, repentance, baptism, The Holy Ghost, and endurance to the end is how we can access to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And when we are found within His grace, we have true salvation.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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