Posted on 08/27/2010 6:09:41 AM PDT by Colofornian
"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." — Romans 8:38-39
PROVO, Utah — She was faithful, but overwhelmed. So she wrote a letter to her stake president. He, in turn, read it to his counselors:
"Dear President, I want to do everything the Lord expects of me. I want to do everything the church expects of me. I decided to make a list of the things that I've been asked to do in church in the last six months. Enclosed is a copy of that list …"
One of the counselors in that Tallahassee, Fla., stake was Robert L. Millet, who is now a popular author and professor of ancient scripture at BYU. Millet told a class at BYU's Campus Education Week that the woman's list was "very forbidding" and went on for a number of pages.
At the end of the list, the woman wrote: "I have only one question. HOW?!!!!"
Instead of signing the letter "Sincerely," she signed it "Dejectedly."
The stake president assigned Millet to go speak with her. Millet had been her bishop and knew that she was active and involved in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He knew she was very caring wife and mother and was also very involved in the community.
He visited her, and she talked for a long time. "I guess," she told him, "what I'm saying is I just can't do it all."
"Hmmm, you know what? I can't either," Millet told her.
"You admit that?"
"I admit that."
"Would you admit that in public?"
"Yeah, I'd admit that in public."
"How about stake conference?"
"Yeah, I'd admit that."
They began to talk more about what was bothering her.
"How do you deal with the guilt?" she asked.
"You know, I could do a lot of things a whole bunch better, but I don't feel a lot of guilt over everything I can't get to," he said.
"Why?" she said. "I'm sorry that you don't."
They talked for about two hours. For Millet, it caused him to think about how Mormons should live the gospel. It also made him think about how not to live the gospel.
"What does the Lord expect of us?" Millet asked the class at BYU. "God does not want the Latter-day Saints to languish in guilt. He does not want us to wear ourselves out physically and emotionally … wrestling with all the things that we cannot get to."
When Millet was a bishop in Utah, he visited a faithful woman who was near death. She told him she was frightened that she had not done enough.
Millet told the class at BYU that it is natural to be afraid of death because of the mystery of the process, "And yet I do not want … to be staring at death with a fear concerning my salvation. And that sister didn't need to be."
The problem both women were dealing with was a misunderstanding about God's grace.
Both the New Testament and the Book of Mormon declare that people are "unprofitable servants" no matter how hard they try to serve God (Luke 17:7-10 and Mosiah 2: 21). Millet said that this means that nothing we do will bring personal gain or benefit to an already perfect God. Otherwise, God would be indebted to us. Instead, we are eternally in God's debt (see Mosiah 2:24).
"But that doesn't mean we must spend the rest of our lives crouching in fear, hiding in the corner from the wrath of God," Millet said. "It doesn't mean you and I must spend our time wrestling and just being buffeted by the idea we're not going to make it."
Many people think Mormons believe that their own works will get them into heaven. Some have even called this the impossible gospel of Mormonism. Millet said that somehow people are getting the impression that Mormons believe "Yes, Jesus does his part, but mostly we've got to work ourselves into glory."
"There must be a way for us to let people know that, of course, we believe in good works, … but that no one of us thinks that we are a profitable servant and that we bring honor and power and riches to God by our obedience," Millet said.
Salvation is not something that is earned. It is not a matter of getting what we deserve. "One of the great messages of the plan (of salvation) is that you and I don't have to get what we deserve. To not get what you deserve is mercy," Millet said. "What God promises is that if we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ with all our hearts and souls is that we can receive what we don't deserve. I like that better. I just don't think any of us are going to walk around in exaltation and say 'Look what I earned!'"
Related to this is an understanding of what sin is and what righteousness is. Sin is missing the mark, Millet said. It is missing the target. "We shoot some arrows and they fall off to the right or to the left. Some of them go over the top. Some of them hit a little too soon," Millet said. "Once in awhile, we'll hit the target. Occasionally we get close to the bull's-eye."
One book Millet read asked the question of what then is righteousness? If sin is missing the mark what is righteousness? Is it hitting the mark?
No.
The author said righteousness is "target practice."
So what answer do we give when asked "Are you righteous?" or "Are you living the gospel?"
"We could go into this false modesty routine," Millet said. "'Oh, gosh I'm not much. They'd probably throw me away in the next life and start over."
But following Christ isn't a matter of "poor me." It isn't a matter of, on the other hand, getting cocky.
It isn't a question of keeping the commandments without any deviation or flaw.
Millet said it IS a matter of going in the "commandment-keeping direction." It is being pointed in the right direction. It is being involved in "target practice." It is striving.
"If my attitude is 'I want to do more. I want to accomplish more. I want to be better for my Lord and Savior.' Then, we're going in the right direction," Millet said. "To believe that is to live a very different life. We are not living in fear. We are not living in doubt."
There is no reason to be consumed with doubt or worry like the women in Millet's stories. "Let's trust more and worry less," Millet said. "If you let the Lord do it, he'll do the caring for you. He'll do the worrying for you. He'll do the fretting for you."
Millet said it is as if God is saying, "Give me a chance. Trust me."
Ah, a very real issue that is prompted by Lds legalism: Works-righteousness imposed by the Lds hierarchy.
According to Mormon writings, what makes you "worthy?" Your perfection (3 Nephi 12:48; Mt. 5:48)
[Whereas, in contrast, a good definition of a "Christian" is someone already perfect in the Father's eyes thru Jesus sacrificial death (Heb. 10:14) -- where His perfect righteousness is substituted for our imperfect righteousness. (1 Cor. 1:30). Heb. 10:14 ...because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.]
Just to be sure, I looked up "worthiness" (a key Lds concept) in the 1977 "Topical Guide to the Scriptures of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" published by church-owned Deseret Publishers.
I found verses like Doctrine & Covenants 59:4: "And they shall also be crowned with blessings from above, yea, and with commandments not a few, and with revelations in their time--they that are faithful and diligent before me."
"Commandments not a few"? -- sounds like a long checklist to me.
I then looked at the 1979 "Topical Guide" in the Lds version of its KJV -- and turned to the "worthiness" entry there: It tells me right up top its related to the concept of "qualifying for" & then proceeds to verses like D&C 31:5: "Therefore, thrust in your sickle with all your soul, and your sins are forgiven you, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your back, for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Wherefore, your family shall live."
Ah. There it is: The Mormon "strategy." Don't "trust" for your salvation, "thrust in your sickle"
So it sounds like the Mormon god wants plenty of soul labor -- paid labor -- spiritual hirelings -- earned labor for salvation. No free gifts here. No grace here. Just follow the rules, ma'am.
Indeed, the LDS are the "rules oriented" ones: The purity and perfection we seek is unattainable without this subjection of unworthy, ungodlike urges and the corresponding encouragement of their opposites. We certainly cannot expect the rules to be easier for us than for the Son of God... (Lds "prophet" Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 28)
Just look @ all the "rule extensions" Lds have imposed upon their followers in order to make it to the highest degree of afterlife:
(1) You have to be obedient to all the commandments & ordinances of the Mormon god
(2) You have to tithe -- what Lds reference as the "Law of consecration"
(3) You have to obey the "Word of Wisdom" -- not drink coffee, etc.
(4) You have to get married -- sorry, no never-married single people allowed
(5) You have to have as many children as possible
(6) You have to perform temple work for the dead
(7) You have to perform endowments essential for this highest degree of salvation
(8) You have to be a member of the right church (Lds)
(9) You have to receive & perform the rites and ordinances established by that church
(10)You have to have Joseph Smith's consent to enter into your highest afterlife
That is 19th-20th-21st century legalism!
Luke 17:10 says the slave was to do ALL the things assigned to him, so what is this woman being advised?
man-made-works-religion-placemarker
... or was it SATAN!?
There is nothing false about the modesty when you realize what Christ actually accomplished on our behalf. When you realize that Christ accomplished something that we could not have done on our own, thankfulness is the only realistic response. With salvation comes a humility which I find sorely lacking in Dr. Millet despite his quiet demeanor.
In my own view, based on family ties to Mormonism and my own nivestigation of Mormonism, is that Mormonism is not Christian. There are any number of reasons why I believe this including the following:
Belief in many gods - polytheism;
Denial of the true nature of Christ and his once-for-all salvational work through his suffering, death and bodily resurrection;
Belief in impossible historic events completely unsubstantiated by evidence;
Belief in levels of heaven and celestial unions;
Belief in practices of ceremonies for the dead, including polygamous unions of the dead (so-called “sealings”);
These are just a few.
The real kickers for me though are the circumstances surrounding Joseph Smith’s receipt of the Mormon so-called scriptures and the events surrounding his death.
I know of no religion that claims as its prophet and martyr someone who was killed in a gun battle by agitated townspeople angry with him for stealing their wives and daughters for polygamous unions. This is foundational and disqualifying in my opinion. No wonder they cannot seem to “work out” their salvation. They have been duped by one of the most successful con-artists of all time.
Naturally every person is free to believe what they choose - no matter how erroneous those beliefs may be - as for me, I cling by my fingernails to the Only True Light of the World. No matter how wrong I am, I know He is Right.
Nicely stated.
Amen to that!
28. Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29. Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
To a Christian this could be construed as accurate. But this lady is reflecting her DOCTRINE
MORONI 10:32: “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you,. . .
2 NEPHI 25:23: “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 woman reflects Moroni's statement - complete removal of all ungodliness is mandated BEFORE grace can save. She reflects wondering if she has done all she can do - this shows the internal witness that our works of righteousness are as filthy rags and nothing we do can EARN us God's favor. But does this still excuse her under mormonism? She should know another standard taught
DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 25:15: “Keep my commandments continually, and a crown of righteousness thou shalt receive. And except thou do this, where I am you cannot come.”
No one can claim they've done this - and her doubts reflect this.
Millet's discourse seems to reflect a growing trend I've seen referred to as mormon neo-orthodoxy or neo-mormonism. Greater emphasis is given to grace, regardless of works, in a more classical Christian sense. Now while this is positive, it has also generated other nonsense, such as an apologetic for smith's treasure seeking / peep stone days saying that God was honing Smith's natural abilities for future translation of the bom.
So Millet here is reflecting this distinct change, championed by the intellectuals at BYU over the general authority, and away from the traditional Mormon theology produced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by B. H. Roberts, James Talmage, and John Widtsoe, centered on an "optimistic humanism, finite theism, and [an] emphasis on human merit in attaining salvation." (Carl Mosser, The New Mormon Challenge, ed. By Francis Beckwith, Carl Mosser, and Paul Owen (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002) p. 78.)
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