wales@ucla-cs.UUCP (05/11/85)
This is the second of a series of three or four articles describing some of the beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS or "Mormon" church). Since these articles were prompted by a series of anti-Mormon postings by evangelical Protestant contributors to the net, I have devoted some effort to describing differences between our beliefs and those of the evangelicals. My intent here is NOT to write an anti-fundamentalist tract; I am simply trying to spread accurate information regarding the LDS view. My topic this time is: +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The conditions under which forgiveness of sin is available to man; | | or, stated another way, what (if anything) a given person must do | | in order to be "saved". | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ One of the questions that has divided Christians for a very long time is the relationship between the grace of God and the beliefs and/or actions of man. This is not a uniquely Mormon-versus-non-Mormon issue -- one could easily hold quite lively (or inflammatory) debates over it without involving the Mormon Church at all. Evangelical Protestants, as I understand their views, tend toward the belief that man is inherently evil and incapable of doing anything what- soever to please God -- except to acknowledge and accept Jesus's atone- ment for his sins. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on the other hand, believes and teaches that gaining eternal life is a cooperative effort involving actions both of God (through the atonement of Jesus Christ) and of man (through faith in Jesus Christ as the Saviour and a sincere effort to pattern one's life after His teachings). (a) A simple verbal acknowledgment or acceptance of Jesus as one's Sav- iour, without a corresponding transformation in one's way of life, accomplishes no useful good, and in fact we believe that such behav- ior is a mockery of Jesus and everything He stands for. In our view, a person who acts this way is not unlike the second son of the vineyard owner in Matthew 21:28-31 ("and he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not"). The incident of the repentant thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43) is often cited as "evidence" that a verbal acceptance of Christ is all that is necessary. A thoughtful reading of this passage, however, should make it plain that the thief's heart was in fact changed and that -- had he been given the opportunity -- he would have lived a completely different kind of life from that time on. (b) The necessary change in one's life through sincere acceptance of the Saviour happens through a genuine desire on the person's part to lead a Christ-like life. It is not the result of the convert's being "taken over" by the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost) and made to do good in spite of himself. The Holy Ghost will help and strengthen him in his resolve to act righteously, but he retains his ability of free choice throughout. A popular analogy of salvation used by many Protestant evangelists pic- tures mankind at the bottom of a deep pit (symbolizing spiritual death) -- so deep that he cannot possibly climb out. In one version of this analogy that I have heard, the Atonement of Christ is likened to an elevator shaft which Jesus has sunk down into the pit. All you have to do, so the story goes, is get in the elevator (symbolizing accepting Christ as your Saviour). You don't have to do anything more -- you don't even need to push any buttons once you get in, because Jesus is in the car and, in fact, is the elevator operator. A version of this story which would be more conformable to the LDS view of things would have Christ dropping not an elevator shaft, but a lad- der. In order to get out of the pit, you have to get on the ladder (symbolizing accepting Christ as your Saviour) and climb it (symbolizing your effort to obey Christ and conform your life to His example). Note that, once you get to the top of the ladder and out of the pit, you can- not justifiably say "Look at what a good person I am -- I climbed all the way up this ladder!"; because except for the fact that Jesus put the ladder there for you to climb, all your own abilities wouldn't have done you any good at all. I don't claim this to be a perfect analogy, but I hope it at least shows how (in our view at least) God's grace and man's action can coexist. ======================================================================== In my next article, I will say a few things about the LDS view of the role of divine authority and a specific church organization in the life of the follower of Christ. -- Rich Wales // UCLA Computer Science Department // +1 213-825-5683 3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, California 90024 // USA ARPA: wales@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA -or- wales@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU UUCP: ...!(ihnp4,ucbvax)!ucla-cs!wales