This question was put to me by a friend of mine (no, not the one with all the anti-Mormon questions). The answer is a “not really…well, sort of, I guess…well, I guess I can see why people would say that” type of answer.
The quick answer is “No, we believe we get an entire universe” but even that would be misleading because the real answer is “We don’t know.” Allow me to explain, and prepare for your eyebrows to raise a little. Here it is in a nutshell.
Mormons believe that human beings are children of God, and as such, have within them the potential to become like God. Got it? Let me say it more clearly. We believe that we can become Gods. Trust me, if you think about it and read the Bible from this perspective a lot of things will start to make sense. Just read Romans 8 where Paul says that we’re children of God and that we’re joint-heirs of God with Jesus Christ. In other words Christ is our brother and together with him we’re all heirs to what God has. What does God have? The kind of life a God lives. Here’s shocker #2–we believe God used to be a man, just like us.
Now this brings up all sorts of logical and reasonable questions like “When did Gods begin then?” and “Is God the God of the entire universe or just part of it or are there other universes?” and “So there are other Gods then?” and the answer to all of these and many other questions is “We don’t know.” All we worry about is one God.
But one of the questions that arises is “So what is God all about, and if we’re going to be like him then what do we go about doing after we die?” and the logical answer would be that if we become like God then we would create other planets like this one and populate them with our children, just like God has done with this one. And I’m guessing that’s where people would come up with the idea that Mormons believe they get a planet when they die. But as for me, I’m holding out for my own universe, although I’m sure it requires a bit of after-death training to run one.
So… you really buy into that? This sounds like a religion that is driven by greed. But, then again, aren’t most religions? Do what we tell you (comply) and when you die (and ONLY when you die), you’ll get all of this neat stuff PLUS eternal life! Whoo-hoo!!!
The primary motivating factor in the Mormon religion is to attain happiness. Everything else is secondary and a means to that end. I don’t know of any Mormon that sits around saying “Man! I just can’t wait to have my own universe!” We believe the things that produce happiness after we die are the same things that produce happiness in this life. So no, we don’t suffer during this life with the hope of something good afterwards–we’re happy right now. At least I am.
So… If Mormons KINDA believe in other planets with populations, why do they think that the idea of alien life in our universe is completely absurd?
Who says Mormons think the idea of alien life in our universe is completely absurd? Watch this four-minute video from Neal A. Maxwell, one of the apostles of the church, and that will put to rest any idea that Mormons don’t believe in intelligent life on other planets.
You guys are all crazy and going to hell. What a shame because I have noticed that you all seem like good people. God was never a man. And you will never come close to ever measuring up to the dirt Jesus scrapped off his sandals when he walked the earth as a man. None of us ever will so how can you have the audacity to think that you can be “gods”? God is perfect, sinless. So was Jesus. That’s why God sent him to die for our sins, then 3 days later he resurrected him. Joseph Smith was a clown who fooled a lot of people. God made us to glorify him. That is our purpose in life. When we die, those of us who followed Jesus’ instructions, and teachings will get to heaven to glorify and worship God, NOT TO RULE PLANETS! Read the bible, the real bible, find some sense and repent. Hopefully not all of you will end up in the fire “where there will be crying and gnashing of teeth” for all eternity.
Actually the doctrine has changed and/or been removed in the recently new published Gospel Doctrine book.
Used to read:
“Jesus taught,’In my Father’s house are many mansions’ (John 14:2)…If we prove faithful to the Lord, we will live in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom of heaven. We will become exalted, just like our Heavenly Father”
Now it reads:
“If we prove faithful to the Lord, we will live in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom of heaven. We will become exalted, to live with our Heavenly Father in eternal families.”
So Laura you might not be aware of this so I figure I might let you in on a little secret GOD is the only one who has the authority to condemn anyone to Hell, I mean heck im not here to tell you how to run your life and by all means keep saying it if you find it leaves you with some strange satisfaction just thought you would like to know that he is the only one who can do that same thing actually goes for judging people Crazy right! who would have thought well hope you have a nice life look forward to talking to you as we wait in line to be judged and if by some turn of events your right and I am wrong well we will have a good laugh about it Im sure BYE.
This is a response to Laura. I am guessing you call yourself a Christian, but your words toward Mormons are anything but. Your nasty tone and hateful words give Christians like me a bad name. Treat others the way you would like to be treated.
Wow, I am not a mormon, but I am doing research and I found this site. I do not believe in the Mormon religion or their beliefs, but I do not believe that anyone should condemn a whole group of people like some of the posts on here have. If you are truly a Christian, you would not be saying those awful things to them, instead you would be trying to help them see the truth. I am truly sorry for the awful things that have been posted on here.
laura does not have a nasty tone or hateful words. what is so wrong with telling people what you think. I have read lauras message and i think she is right. what she said was writen in the bible.and having a universe and thinking your going to be a ‘god’ when u die is NOT writen the bible.might be writen in your mormon bible, but not in Gods bible.you can never become like God after you die, you will stand in front of God and he will lead u into heaven or to hell it matters if you believe in him or not.it says it in the bible.it doesnt say you will get a universe or be like god. i think laura was right with what she said.you dont have to hate just because you dont agree.
Catrina- Read more carefully. I didn’t say I didn’t agree. I am fully aware of what is in the bible. I do not beleive what Mormons believe, as I am a Christian who follows the Bible. What I don’t agree with is turning it into a personal attack against an entire religion of people by using unkind words towards them and saying they will go to hell. That will be between them and God. Personally I don’t think it is pleasing to God to speak unkindly to people because of their religious beliefs, instead I think he would want us to be good Christian examples and treat others the way we would want to be treated. That is all. I don’t “hate” like you said in your post. Find someone else to attack- I don’t think I am the target you are looking for.
Karen- you are so right! It’s so sad how “christians” have set such a bad example for so long….and this is not an attack on Laura…I don’t know her heart, only God does. I’m sure that she has good intentions…it just isn’t presented in a Christ-like fashion. I agree with most of what she said, but to my understanding..Mormons believe that Jesus is the son of God…that he died…and that he rose again on the 3rd day. I also remember reading that they call him their savior. Just hope they believe Jesus IS God. If all that is true, I don’t believe they will go to hell. Have they been mislead…yes. I think the fundamental truth is there though. I pray for them. I also pray that those of us who do read our bible will listen to Jesus’ teachings. Jesus said the two MOST important commandments are to Love the Lord your God with all your heart and to love your NEIGHBOR as you love yourself…speaks volumes I think. My only advice to Laura and other christians is that if you believe someone is going to hell it’s your DUTY to pray for them and to try to witness to them so that they too can be with God in heaven. If someone started barking at you and telling you that you are completely wrong about something you believe in…are you likely to listen to their reasoning?? No. Why? Because they are presenting themselves as unreasonable. I prefer to call myself a Christ-follower…just because the term Christian is so often associated with hypocrisy. I hope everyone has a blessed day!
Thanks Melissa- I agree with everything you said. I also refer to myself as a Christ follower, because of the same reasons you do. There are too many people with attitudes like Catrina and Laura (see above) that I prefer not to be categorized with.
Ironically enough, I don’t see a big difference between the errors in Mormonism and the misuse of scripture in Christianity. Someone mentioned that Mormons needed to read the “Real” Bible…but, I sometimes wonder what bible a lot of christians are reading. The 4 gospels speak nothing but LOVE. Where is the love? People are so judgemental and self-righteous. I am fully aware that I am a sinner. I’m sure as I type I am committing sin in my irritation with these people. Gosh, it’s just that Jesus himself suffered so much persecution from the pharosis(aka church people) for doing things differently…for not following THEIR rules. But, who are they? Sinners like the rest of us…why are they setting rules? My biggest issue with Mormonism is that they rely too much on their “works” here. Now, don’t get me wrong…this quality makes them some of the kindess people you will ever meet. But, in my opinion, feeling that you need to do certain things sort of says that Jesus isn’t enough. JESUS IS ENOUGH! The truth is that once you are truly saved…you do good things here…not because you feel like you’re supposed to, but because you WANT to. It’s because you understand the gravity of what Christ did and you want to please him. I am so grateful everyday and nothing I ever do will ever live up to what Christ did for me and all of you. He just wants you to love people, that’s it….spread the good news and love.
Exactly Melissa. That is what I was getting at in my first post. There is a large population of Christians who claim to read the bible and follow it but instead of living as Christ lived, the become judgemental, self-righteous and even cruel. I think they justify their actions because they somehow feel that because they are saved, they are above others who may not be saved yet. Instead of looking down on those who are misguided, we need to share our faith, love people and tell people about God. That is what Christ would do. You couldn’t have said this point better! God Bless.
I have stumbled onto this thread on Father’s Day 2010. I’m taking a father’s perspective.
All the various religions of the world, including my own (Christian – Roman Catholic), must seem a little strange from the outside. But we worship the best way we know how, and we present to God our offerings of praise, of petition, of love, and of service. And I believe that God, like a loving Father, accepts them. What loving father would behold a gift from their child, OFFERED IN TRUE LOVE, and reject it because it is not perfect? How often has one of my young children given me a crazy drawing, or an unidentifiable sculpture, or a really gross-looking sandwich they made, and I haven’t taken it with heartfelt joy and love? Offered in love, accepted in love – good, bad, and everything in between.
All our scriptures, doctrines, rituals, liturgies, prayers, and acts, offered in earnest love to God and with selfless charity to our fellow human, JUST MIGHT BE ACCEPTABLE TO A LOVING GOD who knows what is in our hearts.
I cannot claim with absolute certainty that the God I worship (ONE God in three persons: Father-Son-Holy Spirit), the rites I follow (Roman Catholic), the holy sacraments I’ve received (five out of a possible seven), and the Scriptures I hold to be the Divine Revelation of God (46 books in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament), are the only truths. They are the truths which lead me to a loving relationship with my Creator and Redeemer.
As to everything else? May God our Loving Father have mercy on us, accept our unworthy offerings, and bring us ALL to eternal life so that we may behold Him as He is.
You’re all sinful bastards. You don’t know what I’m all about. MAN wrote the bible, MAN “speaks for me”, MAN interprets my meanings, MAN to this day changes the bible and manipulates it to serve his own purposes. You’re all going to hell as far as I’m concerned. I’m currently there myself chillin’ with my brother Satan. We’re kicking back a few beers. YES WE DO THAT! Once again that was just MAN thinking he’s a bad guy and my enemy.
I think that when I die i will worship the god who gives me my gifts rather than the gifts that are given to me. I would much rather spend eternity with the one who has always loved me (God of the Holy Bible) rather than rule my own planet or universe.
Early Mormon church leader Lorenzo Snow said; “as Man is God once was, and as God is man may become.” Hence the implication is that men can become gods and that that God was once a man which isn’t true as we can see that God has always been God and he created everything else in the universe as seen in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Also, as shown in Genesis 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” So clearly God couldn’t have been a man first as man didn’t exist yet until God created him on the sixth day of creation (see Genesis 1:6) and without God man was just dust and dust could not create all of the heavens and the earth. So, as I said, God could not have been a man first.
I will show in another post how the Book of Mormon and the beliefs of the LDS church and other LDS holy books are not needed and that the Bible is completed and it has all the revelation that we need.
Hi Kent, we Mormons are quite aware of the scriptures in the Bible, but of course we interpret them differently than members of other faiths, just as members of all Christian denominations interpret the Bible differently. If not, then the Catholic Church never would have had to deal with that pesky Martin Luther.
According to your interpretation of the Bible, God could never have been a man. According to our interpretation, God could have been a man. Who’s right and who’s wrong? One cannot appeal to the Bible for an answer, because you end up back where you started–with each party claiming their interpretation is correct and the other incorrect. There is no way to determine who is correct without evidence external to the Bible.
As for the Mormon interpretation of the scriptures you cite, here it is:
Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
How does this prove God was never a man? It only does so if you interpret this scripture as meaning that nothing existed prior to God creating the heavens and the earth. But there are many different ways to interpret this scripture. Here are some alternative possibilities:
1. “created” = “organized”. Maybe the scripture doesn’t mean that everything on earth or in the heavens was created out of nothing, but that God took existing matter and organized it into what we see today.
2. What are “the heavens”? Is this referring to the entire universe, or only to the heavens as seen from the earth we live on? Maybe our earth was somewhere else in the universe, and God moved it into its current orbit, or brought the elements of our earth together in its current place, and thus he “created” the heavens, or that is, the heavens as we know them did not “exist” in the sense that there was no mortal to see them from the perspective we now see them.
3. “God” or “the Gods”? The Hebrew translation of this scripture uses the word Elohim, which is a plural form of the word “God”, or in other words, this scripture can also be read as “In the beginning the Gods created the heavens and the earth.”
4. What’s “the beginning”? Is the scripture talking about the beginning of our earth, the beginning of our universe, or the one and only beginning of everything?
5. Even if the answer to #4 is “our universe”, who’s to say there isn’t more than one universe? Maybe each God gets their own universe to work on.
Moving on to the second scripture, Genesis 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
1. Is this scripture saying Adam was the first man every created, ever, anywhere? Or just the first man created on this earth?
I don’t know the answers to all the questions I put forth above, but suffice it to say that all the scriptures of the Bible can support the Mormon perspective that God was first a man, and that man may become like God. But of course it depends on your interpretation of those scriptures.
Where Mormons agree with mainstream Christianity is that there is only one God we worship and obey. Whether there is one god, or two, or two hundred, there is only one that matters to us. Just as a child has only one father, and that father is the only man who matters to him, even though other “fathers” exist in the world, we have only one Father, even though there are others. Which God do we worship and obey? The one who created us. Are there other men on other worlds who are the children of a different God and worship him instead? Theoretically the answer is yes. But for our purposes on this earth and in this life it doesn’t really matter.
The bigger logical question the Mormon perspective brings up is this matter of where everything really began. If God was once a man, then where did he come from? Theoretically, from another God, but then he was a man once too, right? Quickly you come to the question “Well, this all had to start SOMEWHERE, right?” And that’s where Mormon theology doesn’t provide a concrete answer, at least not that I’ve found. But then again, it doesn’t really matter, since having the answer wouldn’t affect my behavior one way or the other.
Oh, as for the statement “God has always been God” that statement can be true and still jive with the Mormon perspective. We believe that all beings have always existed, although they may progress and change. You and I have always existed in spirit form. God has always existed. We all have. And inasmuch as we are on the road to becoming like God, you could say we already are “gods” in the same sense that a child is a man–not a fully grown man, but he is a “man” in the sense he is human and will become a fully grown man. Perhaps it’s easier to understand the Mormon perspective if you think of the word “god” as describing a species. We are all “gods” the same way we are all “human”. The difference between us and other species (by which I mean animals) is that other species all attain the full measure of their creation, unless they die prematurely. Humans do not all become like God, but that is based on their choices. Thus, not all humans become gods, but all gods always have been gods, if that makes sense.
Hello Joshua, even the book of Mormon says that “God is the same yesterday, today, and forever” in several different passages so yes God has always been God and he couldn’t have been a man first.
But it is just restating what the Bibles says, that Jesus Christ, who the Bible says is God, is
the same Yesterday, Today, and forever.
John 1:1-3 says:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God He was in the beginning with God All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
As far as whether there was anything before the creation it is clear that only God created everything as we see in Genesis 1:14-17:
Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth.”
So yes there was nothing else besides God before the creation of Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1 and God, one God but three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (that is the plural aspect you spoke of), created everything, the Heavens (the entire universe) and the earth and the Bible doesn’t say there are other universes so that is just pure speculation.
And while God knew he was going to create us, as he is and always has been and always will be, all knowing and all powerful, Man didn’t exist before he was created from dust in Genesis.
There is nothing in the Bible that says Man existed in any form prior to the creation, other than in God’s own mind.
You said, “I don’t know the answers to all the questions I put forth above, but suffice it to say that all the scriptures of the Bible can support the Mormon perspective that God was first a man.”
Where does it anywhere in the entire Bible say that God could have possibly been a man first? All it says is that God created man from the dust of ground hence man didn’t exist before God created him as the almighty God can make dust into men but dust can’t create anything.
You said, “There is no way to determine who is correct without evidence external to the Bible.”
My point entirely, that the Bible is the source in all spiritual matters so we either believe what the Word says or we don’t believe it.
In my last post I said:
“the Bible is the source in all spiritual matters so we either believe what the Word says or we don’t believe it.”
I know some people will say that is narrow minded and if that is the case, then so be it but in the end it doesn’t matter what I say but only what God says.
Matthew 7:13-14 says
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Again, it’s all a matter of interpretation. Without external revelation, we don’t know what the correct interpretation of scripture is. Left to our own devices, the best we can do is make assumptions about what the words of the Bible mean.
A primary difference between Mormons and the rest of Christianity is that most of the rest of Christianity doesn’t even claim to have any source of external instruction to tell them what the Bible means.
Joshua, you said the following:
“A primary difference between Mormons and the rest of Christianity is that most of the rest of Christianity doesn’t even claim to have any source of external instruction to tell them what the Bible means.”
Yes we do have a source and that is the teacher, the Holy Spirit, who Jesus said would be coming to help us.
So what source would I trust, man, which is the only external source we could possibly have, or would I trust God the Holy Spirit?
I think the choice is obvious!
I take back my statement then, although there was a time when the majority of Christian leaders rejected the idea of modern-day communication with God.
You and I both claim to have the same external source of evidence, that is, communication with God via the Holy Spirit. Of course you claim God’s spirit tells you one thing, and I claim it tells me something different. There’s no objective way to prove things are one way or another. That is, I can’t prove my views to you, and you can’t prove your views to me (although obviously we’ll all be presented with objective proof once we die).
But I don’t see a problem with this. God didn’t set up things so that anyone could prove to another what is true. He set things up so that each person, individually, could prove to himself what is true. My purpose with this website is not to prove to anyone that anything is true. My only purpose is to clarify the Mormon point of view where it has been misrepresented, and to show that Mormon theology can not be proven to be false. As long as the door is left open, I’m sure those who humbly seek the truth will find it.
You are right about the door being left open to those who humbly seek the truth and that truth can be found in the Bible the only source, the true Word of God, that we need for all things spiritual.
My question to you and others from the LDS church, do you truly know that you are forgiven from you sins, not just mistakes, but sins that would put you into outer darkness forever after you die?
Because if you aren’t sure, you can know with all certainty by repenting (turning away) from your sins and believing in the true Jesus of the Bible, not just the spiritual brother of you, me, and even Satan, but Jesus who is both God almighty and who also came to this earth for a brief moment in time and who took on the form of a perfect human being to be sacrificed in our place on the cross to give us something none of us deserve and none of us can ever earn, a place in heaven for eternity with God.
This was foretold by the old testament prophets such as Isaiah who said in Isaiah 53 which was written hundreds of years before Jesus came to this earth in perfect human form:
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
From John 19:
“After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”
Also from John 19: “He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”
So what was fulfilled and what was finished?
1. The predictions of the old testament prophets of the coming and the crucifixion of the Messiah to take away the sins of the world.
2. And his rising from the dead three days later to conquer sin and death, not just to give us a chance to be righteous, which is utterly impossible on our own apart from believing in him. As the Bible says in Romans 3, “There is none righteous, no, not one.”
But the good news is found in Romans 10:
“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Also from Romans 10:
“For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved”
So the Bible is complete and we have no need of any modern prophets to point the way to anything else but to Jesus and him crucified for all of us.
The major difference between the truths found in the Bible and the the beliefs of the LDS church seems to center on who Jesus is.
Is he someone who progressed to became the perfect being he is today (LDS version) or is he God almighty who took the form of a perfect human being to fulfill the need for the perfect sacrifice as foretold in the Bible by the Old Testament sacrifices of the spotless innocent animals such as lambs?
My concern is that people are following another gospel that is leading people towards outer darkness.
Because the Bible warns in Galatians 1:9:
“if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed”
The Jesus of the Bible is the Jesus we believe in. We don’t see any conflict between what the Bible says and what we believe. We believe we are following the true Jesus, the true God, and the true gospel. Again, it’s all a matter of subjective interpretation.
Not that we believe everyone else is following the wrong Jesus, wrong God, wrong gospel, per se. We just believe all other religions have portions of the truth, but not all of it. You might compare it to two people who each have maps to show them how to get to the same place. Both maps are complete and show the same course to be taken, but one shows more detail, making it easier to navigate. Likewise the Book of Mormon, other scriptures, and modern-day prophets add detail to the gospel. They clarify the points where there is confusion and make the path more clear.
I’m sure anyone who sincerely studies the Bible and follows its teachings will be saved. But if God wants to give us more scripture to compliment the Bible and help us better follow his gospel, why reject it? What sense does it make to tell God “Nope, I’ve got enough truth and I don’t need anymore.”?
But to people of the LDS church, do you truly know that you are forgiven for any sins you have committed or may commit in the future?
Because unless you are perfect for your entire life you will end up in outer darkness and the following passages show how all human beings are, to varying degrees, and none of us can ever hope to be in the presence of Heavenly Father without an atoning blood sacrifice to take our sins away as he cannot look upon sin in any form.
Romans 3:10-13 says:
“There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one
Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”
Romans 3:22 says:
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Isaiah 64:6 says:
But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf. And our iniquities, like the wind
Have taken us away
The good news is that we can know we are truly forgiven by believing in Jesus and what he did for us, period, there is no other Gospel except this.
And no, we cannot progress to this as even one sin, which is not just a mistake, but is something that will keep us out of the presence of Heavenly Father forever.
So what did Jesus do for us?
He died on the cross in our place and his blood, the blood of someone completely innocent, paid the price for all of us, the guilty, and it is by his grace we are saved not by works lest anyone should boast.
So I know I am saved and I will spend eternity in heaven with my Heavenly Father as I have repented of my sins and I believe in Jesus and what he did for me and that he rose from the dead on the third day and believing in him and what he did for me is all that will keep me from outer darkness as without the blood of Jesus shed for me, I can’t possibly, no matter how hard I try, live up to it.
Matthew 11:28-30 says:
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
So all Jesus expects of us is to believe in him (that is that is his burden put on us) as he did everything for us by dying on the cross in our place so that Heavenly Father will not remember our sins past, present, or future so the rest for our souls is in Jesus Christ and what he did for all of us.
We are all sinners who don’t deserve anything except outer darkness for eternity for even one sin because, as I pointed out in my last post, Heavenly Father cannot look upon even one sin but it impossible to never commit any sins so what is the solution?
1 John 1:8 says:
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
But even the Apostle Paul knew that he still sinned and did things he really didn’t want to do.
Romans 7:18-20 says:
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”
The solution? Believing in Jesus Christ, period!
Romans 8:1-2 says:
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
So, as I also pointed out, you can find true rest in your soul by trusting in what Jesus Christ did in your place on the cross and this is how you can know that you are truly forgiven.
My LDS friends, you can never live up to the perfection God demands on your own without giving it all to Jesus who did it all for you!
Joshua, one more think before I take a break from all of this, if our interpretations are incorrect, then all we get from it is a place in a lower heaven which really in the grand scheme of things is not much of risk.
But if people from the LDS church are incorrect in their interpretations and they aren’t following the true Jesus of the Bible, then they risk being in outer darkness for enternity out of the presence of Heavenly Father.
Because we believe that the three heavens in the Bible are:
1. the sky above our earth where the clouds are and the birds fly, etc.
2. outer space (the entire universe outside of our atmosphere).
3. Heaven (the only one) where God himself resides.
So no I didn’t come here to harras people from the LDS church but only to witness to the truth because I care about people from the LDS church.
Thank you for allowing me to post my beliefs in these matters.
All I know…Mormon guys are HOT! WOOF!