Jun

18

Yesterday I went to Manti, Utah and watched the Mormon Miracle Pageants. Before the performance started, I noticed these people from other faiths with their signs about the Bible or other websites, usually against the Mormon Church.

Usually I avoid them, but this time I decided to talk with a couple of them. It was an interesting experience. All of them insisted on salvation by grace. They have a hard time to understand or accept a simple and even logical concept as that of progression. The have an all-or-nothing attitude. Or you are saved or you are damned, or you believe or you do not, or you pay tithing or you do not. They do not understand or they do not want to understand degrees. Also, they want something simple and easy. Jesus does everything for you.

They do not get the big picture and insist on words or specific scriptures trying to prove their point. I know that discussing religion with them is almost useless, but I tried to understand them. There was another one who was only yelling, trying to be like Samuel the Lamanite. I could not even talk to him, he just kept yelling and really nobody was listening to him, he should have tried with a megaphone.

There were also a father and a son. The father left the LDS Church after going unworthily to the Temple when he was 18, according to his own words. His parents are still active in the Church, but his son was with him trying to convert Mormons….

I told his son that because his father left the Church he was losing the blessing of the temple and he told me that “Mormons do terrible things in the temple, they do baptisms for the dead”… When he said that I did not know if I should laugh or cry. I thought about his father. He went to the Temple at least once and he knows that we do not do “terrible things”, but his choices have “terrible” consequences in the lives of his family and his posterity. As a convert I am particularly sad when I see people who were born in the Church break the progression of their families. I think how sad must be his parents.

For some reason when he was 18 he gave up. Why? At one point he told me that it is hard for some people to keep the commandments. I had the impression he was trying to tell me that he prefers his new doctrine because there is really no effort or possible failure implied.

According to his doctrine, you accept Jesus and you are saved, while in the Mormon Church you are taught that you need to fight against your nature to follow the commandments and keep improving your life (even after accepting Jesus). He probably felt unworthy when he was 18 and he gave up. He was inactive for many years and then a few years ago he was “saved” by some Protestant group. He wishes it was that easy. But it is not. On the other hand, it is not impossible and it is not just for a few special people, but all men and women can qualify for the true salvation. However, it requires humility and perseverance: true salvation is a process not a single event.

During the performance it was remembered how important is to let people know the true principles of the gospel, because when the true doctrine is not known and practiced, human being have the tendency to fall into transgression and entire societies may end up being destroyed, as it happened with the ancient Nephites.

While there I have thought again about the power of the Internet. How important is for us to explain true principles to all mankind,

“teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things…(Matthew 28:19-20)


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4 Comments so far

  1. falcon on June 18, 2008 7:35 pm

    Yea that’s it. Accept Jesus as your Savior and you are saved? In the Book of Acts the Phillipian Jailer asked Paul “What must I do to be saved?” And Paul said, “fight against your nature, follow the commandments after you accept Jesus and you can qualify for true salvation. If you pass all of the tests you will become a god just like heavenly father who was a sinful man also and became a god.” It’s all in the Bible. Rigt? Look it up!
    The Bible clearly teaches that you have to work your way to salvation. Jesus’ death on the cross made it possible for you to have eternal life if you make the grade, keep all the commandments, word of wisdom, tithe, do temple rituals and accept all assignments given by the church. Serve a mission, attend all meetings. This is God’s free gift, right? Jesus’ death on the cross was not sufficient for salvation. Something must be added to it.

  2. Mormon Soprano on June 19, 2008 11:45 am

    Good post! The message of Jesus is of unfailing kindness, understanding, love, service and above all, leaving judgment in the hands of God. Thus, I always wonder why loud and disruptive protesters feel that vocalizing their anger and stirring up contention is appropriate behavior of a professed Christian. I suspect these are individuals who enjoy making a scene and getting attention, even if it is negative in nature. In the end, the irony is that they only hurt their spiritual relationship with God and fortify the testimonies of those they persecute.

  3. kevin on June 20, 2008 8:54 am

    Good Post

  4. Alan on July 16, 2008 12:44 pm

    Paul told the jailer that if he believed in and accepted Christ as his Savior, he would be saved. I believe that after this the jailer was led to the local branch of the Church and was taught the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, just as I was and just as converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are every day.

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