Not that doctrinal disparity doesn’t plague evangelical Protestantism—it certainly does—but one of the things that puzzled me for years was just how profoundly rampant it is in the LDS Church, particularly among faithful and learned Latter-day Saints.Two important distinctions come to mind.First, although Evangelicals derive our doctrines from the same Scriptures, namely, the Bible, our interpretation of biblical Scripture varies thus leading to doctrinal disparity.Latter-day Saints, however, have a modern-day prophet of God whose divine directive is to correctly interpret LDS Scripture thus safeguarding against doctrinal disparity.Second, when it comes to the mechanism by which our daily sins are forgiven, without question one of the most important of all biblical doctrines, Evangelicals sound off in relative homogeneity—faith in Christ’s work and Christ’s work alone is the sole necessary condition for our cleansing.(See Rock #10 for more information.)Conversely, one might reasonably conclude that because all faithful and learned Latter-day Saints are led by a modern-day prophet and because retaining a remission of sins is their singularly high calling each and every day (see Mosiah 4:12), the mechanism by which their sins are remitted would be singular in belief as well.Such is not the case, however.As I mentioned, this phenomenon among Latter-day Saints used to puzzle me, but I believe I have come to an understanding of not only why it occurs, but how it betrays the grandeur of the biblical gospel of grace.
It all began with my study of the LDS Scriptures and writings of LDS General Authorities on the LDS doctrine of repentance.Of particular interest was the unabashed, unequivocal teaching that (1) sin resulting from not keeping a commandment of which one was aware was only remitted on the condition of repenting by keeping that commandment, (2) repeating that sin at any time proved one’s initial repentance false or incomplete, thereby rendering both sins unforgiven, (3) even one unforgiven sin rendered one unclean and therefore unworthy to dwell with the Father and the Son in the celestial kingdom and (4) nothing short of inheriting a celestial glory SHOULD BE the goal of every faithful Latter-day Saint.(See Rock #8 for documentary evidence of these teachings.)
Then came my outreach to Latter-day Saints at Brigham Young University–Idaho in Rexburg.It was there that my awareness of the conflict in Camelot began to congeal.When faced with the aforementioned LDS doctrines BYU-I students, the vast majority having already served two-year missions, routinely recoiled in horror at the notion of perfect repentance.Second Nephi 25:23 was the oft invoked passage from the Book of Mormon to support their counterclaims.It reads:
23 For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.
The LDS counterclaim (hereafter referred to as “the LDS error”) goes something like this: “God knows our hearts and when we try our best to live by His commands His grace will cover the areas in our lives where we fall short of perfection.”
The LDS error surfaced again during a public presentation I gave in Tremonton, Utah.Much to the chagrin of one learned LDS gentleman my explanation of the LDS doctrine of perfect repentance was quickly corrected with a somewhat more objective variation.He used a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 representing all of the commandments God has given us to gain entrance into the celestial kingdom.He gave a hypothetical scenario whereby if after trying as hard as we could to reach a 10 we ended up reaching an 8, God by His grace would “pick up the slack” so that we could dwell eternally with Him.
At another one of my public presentations in Idaho Falls an LDS attorney and bishop took offense to the prospect of perfect repentance emphatically claiming that “it would be impossible to ever become perfectly clean.”
This past month I met with an LDS Stake President and two LDS missionaries who vehemently denied that the LDS gospel required perfect repentance to be accepted by Heavenly Father.I walked them through the following steps and asked the Stake President at the end of each step to correct me if I was in error.
1.We sin when we disobey any God-given commandment of which we are aware, and as long as that sin remains on our soul we are rendered unclean and barred from the celestial kingdom.
2.The only way to have the stain of sin forgiven is through the gift of repentance.
3.Repentance requires 6 steps: (1) recognizing our sins, (2) feeling sorrow for our sins, (3) confessing our sins, (4) making restitution for our sins, (5) forgiving others and (6) forsaking our sins.
4.Forsaking our sins is strictly defined as NEVER repeating the sins of which we have repented.
5.Repeating any sin of which we previously repented proves false our repentance by virtue of it NOT being forsaken.
6.The only way to become perfectly clean and worthy to dwell with God, then, is to perfectly repent thereby ultimately keeping ALL of Gods commandments.
Every step of the way I adduced evidence from the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and the published works of LDS Prophets and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Not once did the LDS Stake President correct me.Most ironical, however, was the accusation by one of the LDS missionaries that I had gotten my material from anti-Mormon websites!
Just so there is no misunderstanding I conservatively estimate (based on my personal experience, mind you) that for every ten Latter-day Saints who have succumbed to the LDS error there is one who holds firmly to the LDS doctrine of perfect repentance.Nevertheless, the point of recounting these events in my life as an evangelical missionary to Mormons is not to sensationalize statistics on doctrinal disparity in the LDS Church, but to offer a perspective on the reason for its prevalence.
First and foremost I believe that the gospel rhetoric among LDS leaders and popular LDS writers over the past many decades has taken a telling turn.What was once a penchant for unapologetic doctrinal dogmatism to safeguard the holiness of God by burning up the chaff of sin within “the Church” has by comparison given way to a veritable gusher of grace.Yesteryear’s prophetic warnings of fire and brimstone have smoldered into embers of mercy.And because faithful Latter-day Saints are called and even commanded to follow their leaders, trickle-down doctrine, intentional or otherwise, has insidiously led to the LDS error.
I venture to speculate, however, that much greater spiritual forces are at work than meets the eye within all strata of the LDS Church.Many Latter-day Saints having labored under the stifling load of the LDS gospel have also unwittingly strayed from the actual LDS doctrine of repentance and inched ever-closer to the biblical gospel of grace.“The slack” of sin picked up by God in the LDS error is a foretaste of God’s true grace—it is a compensatory shift that holds out hope for acceptance by God and a form of relief from irrepressible feelings of despair and guilt.
In closing, and at the risk of validating Protestant Reformer, John Calvin, and those who follow in his honorific footsteps, I’d like to say that there is something about God’s grace in the face of our human depravity that IS in a sense irresistible.Selah—think about that!
