To be "saved" implies that you're finished. Your place in heaven is a guarantee.
Not so in Mormonism.
Being baptized by the proper authority isn't enough.
Going through the temple isn't enough.
Paying tithing isn't enough.
Reading the Book of Mormon 100 times isn't enough.
Obeying every single rule and commandment isn't enough.
Going to church faithfully, praying, and reading scriptures isn't enough.
Even becoming the prophet isn't enough.
Nope. You are never done. You are never saved. Your place in heaven is never guaranteed...
...until you are nice and DEAD!
In order to get the highest level of heaven, a person has to have lived their entire life in full compliance with Mormon rules. It's what they call "Endure to the End". Endure is defined as: "to suffer without yielding." Sounds like loads of fun. NOT!
Therefore you are not saved until you are dead AND devoted your entire life to the church (or from the point of your conversion forward).
That's why Mormons aren't saved. It's why they constantly struggle with "worthiness" and "obedience". They are always stressing about whether or not they are Celestial Kingdom worthy. When you die, you are judged based upon where you were spiritually at the time of your death. If you had unresolved sins, they are not covered by the atonement. You will have to pay for them yourself, no matter how good of a devoted life you lived.
It is very hard to get to Mormon heaven. One small sin can keep you out. Death can come at any time so Mormons (at least the very devoted ones) are always trying to make sure they are worthy now. The moment of your death is what determines your fate for eternity. If you are caught unprepared, it sucks to be you. Once you are dead, there is no more forgiveness of sin.
So stay worthy, damn it! (And keep paying.. God loves your money!)
6 comments:
Your blog has interested me for a while as a complete outsider. I have never understood how people can just blindly believe in something with little justification and ever changing rules. No other religion changes the way the Mormon religion constantly changes.
I was given a choice as a teenager whether I wanted to continue to go to church, only to find out that my parents only went because they thought I wanted to and don't actually believe in it, and I only went because I thought I had to.
I now only go every other Christmas as my father loves the choir at Christmas.
Jarron, we can look to evolution to find the answer to that question.. Why do human beings believe such obvious BS?
The human mind has evolved to be gullible. It believes anything it is told. The reason is because in order to survive, mankind had to work together and trust each other. We had no reason to lie to each other and, therefore, no reason to be skeptical. Those who didn't conform to authority probably died quickly, thus preserving that gene for conformity. At the time, this mind gullibility was necessary for survival. Now, it is used to control us.
As an outsider, it is difficult to understand. Even as one who was once right in the middle of it, I have a hard time understanding. Mormons are so sure they are right. They have been brainwashed since children to "know" it. They have been programmed to obey without question. Many of them are well educated and very intelligent people. Yet, their minds cling to this illusion.
They will admit that some things don't make sense. And yet that is justified by stating, "god's ways are higher than our ways." It's both sad and ironic that they use their imaginary god to defend their irrational beliefs. It is a completely self-sustaining system. It is fool-proof. Evidence doesn't matter when you have a mysterious god. Your beliefs can be as strange as you want them to be; they can contradict every fact known by science. But it's still okay because god's ways are higher than ours.
In other words, it's using bullshit to defend more bullshit.
Yes, Mormonism changes, even though they arrogantly claim that it never changes. Some of these changes are very obvious, such as the recent "dark skin curse". Yet, Mormons believe in "continual revelation". Therefore, if something changes, god wanted it. Their unchanging god changes and yet they are perfectly okay with it.
One of the many radical claims that Mormonism makes is that they never change. Their god is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And yet they change all the time.
If LDS doctrine changes, it is revelation. If any other church changes, it is apostasy. So change is perfectly justified.
I do find it interesting, however, that even when these changes do occur, Mormons don't talk about them much. They just accept it and move on. I would be willing to bet that across the world in every Mormon chapel, not a single Sunday school will discuss the dark skin curse. They will just talk about obedience and loyalty to the church.
Even the amazing temple ceremonies have changed. The endowment ceremony was radically changed in 1990. There are many Mormons alive who are first-hand witnesses to these changes. Yet, not a word is said. Not a doubt, not a question. They blindly accept it.
So they change. But they don't change. And this isn't a problem to any of them. It all goes back to that gullibility thing. It doesn't matter to them if there are contradictions.. It's all true anyway.
I have to clarify one point you made here that you accidentally overlooked. You said "not even the prophet" I am going to have to disagree with you about this and call attention to a previous post where you mentioned calling and election made sure where the chosen few who have this are guaranteed heaven as long as they don't kill anyone or 'deny the holy ghost' Even though the term 'Saved' is not used it is in a very real sense exactly the same. They know that they are saved and going to heaven and can lie all they want.
Funny thought about the changeability of God. I don't know if this is a joke or if it was just somebody's smart-Alec remark but I heard this when I was on my mission. A student at BYU who was concerned with the passage in the scriptures of the un-changeability of God and noticing all the changes in the scriptural laws over time asked his professor about it. He was told that God was changeable then, he is changeable now and will be changeable in the future. That makes him the same!
Of course that is the other tactic, when a member finds something wrong about the church's teachings the response is to simply turn it into a joke and somehow that makes the concern go away without actually having to address it.
Senigami, I don't recall ever writing about callings and elections. However, I do believe you are correct. A very certain few people (according to Mormon doctrine) will have their calling and election made sure, which basically means heaven is guaranteed unless they really screw up.
An internet search brought up some interesting discussions about it. Many people believe that receiving this rare honor includes a personal visit from Jesus Christ.
Since there are only a few sins that can have this blessing removed, those who have it believe that they are immune to sin. In other words, as you mentioned, they can lie, cheat, and steal and it doesn't matter. This is why some Mormons who actually know about Joseph Smith's questionable life are not even bothered by it.
Other than that, I don't know much about it. I never heard about it at all in church during my believing days. Mormons don't talk about it much and I suspect the reason for that is because it is generally reserved for the top people.
Haha! That's the funniest thing I ever heard! Actually, I don't know whether I should laugh or cry.
God is always changing, therefore, unchanging. This shocks me on one hand, but doesn't surprise me at all on the other. Any answer is acceptable. Anything that can make a circle fit into a square...
And yet it still doesn't explain the REAL issue.. It makes the Mormon god coming out of the mud smelling like roses but what about all the other religions who have changed over time? The Mormons love to point at these things and use it to back up their claims that all other churches are apostate.
Why is it ok for the Mormon god to change things whenever he wants but the god of any other church is obviously a fake when he does it? Oh yea, because the church is true...
Obviously, this doesn't really answer the question, but to a Mormon mind, it does. If you first assume the church is true and take everything from there, it is easy to commit logical fallacies and accept any answer that is given, no matter how poorly it addresses the issue.
I maintain my position that Mormons aren't really interested in truth. They are only interested in THEIR truth.
Post a Comment