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©2001 by Thomas F. Heinze
Mormon Salvation
• Celestial Glory Smith's successor, Brigham Young once said, "There is the New Testament; you may leave out The Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and follow the precepts of that book faithfully, and I will warrant you to arrive at salvation.1 He is right. Follow the Bible, and you will find salvation. The salvation of your soul is important, and the Bible is the word of God and is an accurate document. Remember:
Salvation in the Mormon system depends on a complex mixture of grace, good works, baptism, other temple ceremonies, etc. which are not well understood even by most Mormons. Their theologians, however, have figured it out, and present a bit of it here, and a bit there. To give you a handle on what Mormon doctrine teaches about salvation, I have relied heavily on the 856 page book, Mormon Doctrine, 1966 edition by Mormon apostle and theologian Bruce R. McConkie. To permit you to check up on me, but keep the references short, I have abbreviated the author and title to MMD, and followed it with the page number; for example: (MMD, p. 670). In the process of studying Mormon salvation, we will compare it on occasion to salvation in Christ as explained in the Bible. Mormon doctrine teaches that at death a person goes into either spirit prison or spirit paradise. In prison he gets a second chance to accept the gospel. If he does, he can move up to spirit paradise. At the judgment he will be judged according to what he did in the flesh and assigned to one of a number of different levels: heaven, hell, etc. I have organized these levels in a descending order, starting with the highest heaven. I have summarized the Mormon belief about each level, and how to get there. Mormons believe in "eternal progression," that is, that men are becoming gods, and that God Himself was once a man who became our God. McConkie quotes Joseph Smith: "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man… God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth…"2 Within the celestial kingdom there are three distinct glories. Entrance into the lower level of the celestial kingdom requires faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Ghost. (This level also includes children who die before the age of eight.) To enter the middle level requires these same prerequisites, plus two ordinances which are performed in the Temple:
The highest level of all is celestial glory, also called exaltation and eternal life. A person at this level has become a god, and gives birth to spirit children with which they will populate other worlds. "With few exceptions this is the salvation of which the scriptures speak."3 For those who have all the prerequisites already mentioned, "Celestial Marriage is the gate to an exaltation in the highest heaven within the celestial world."4 This refers to being married in a Mormon temple. Other things McConkie mentions which one must have to enter are: Grace, obedience, good works, righteousness, devotion, sanctification, and faithfulness to the end."5 McConkie's idea of the salvation Christ offers by grace is vastly different than that of the Bible. He writes: "Immortality comes by grace alone, but those who gain it may find themselves damned in eternity." McConkie refers us to Alma 11:37-45, and continues: "Eternal life, the kind of life enjoyed by eternal beings in the celestial kingdom, comes by grace plus obedience."6 This second level of glory is no more than a reflection of the celestial glory. Those who are saved to this level remain unmarried and without exaltation eternally.7 Those who go there must have lived an upright, honorable life, but fall into one of these categories:
Most people end up in the telestial kingdom, the lowest level of glory. These are the people who have not received the gospel.8 In the Mormon system, Jesus Christ saves everybody, but from physical death only. That is, everyone will be resurrected and will be able to live somewhere after death. Where depends on the person's own works. "Those who gain only this general or unconditional salvation will still be judged according to their works and receive their places in a terrestrial or a telestial kingdom. They will, therefore, be damned…"9 Only those who receive exaltation to the highest level of celestial glory and become gods receive full salvation.10 According to Mormon doctrine, who will be found in this lowest level of glory, which is also called damnation?
The Prophet said, "The sectarian world are going to hell by hundreds, by thousands and by millions."12 "Among them are the sorcerers, adulterers, whoremongers, false swearers, 'those that oppress the hireling in his wages,' the proud, 'and all that do wickedly.'" 13 Hell, according to Mormon doctrine, will have a much smaller population after the resurrection: "After their resurrection, the great majority of those who have suffered in hell will pass into the telestial kingdom; the balance, cursed as sons of perdition, will be consigned to partake of endless woe with the devil and his angels." 17 There is some difference of interpretation on this last point. Apostle John Widtsoe said: "In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is no hell. All will find a measure of salvation." 18 Most Mormons would not go that far because The Book of Mormon says quite clearly that there is no deliverance from hell. It says that the devil whispers "there is no hell," while he deceives people and "grasps them with his awful chains from whence there is no deliverance. Yea, they are grasped with death and hell…from whence they must go into the place prepared for them, even a lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment." 19 The Book of Mormon and the Bible agree that hell is everlasting punishment from which none can escape. Fear of hell has led many to repent and turn to Christ for salvation, while others of all denominations try to convince themselves that Scripture is wrong and there is no hell. Some Mormons have come up with the argument that hell is God's punishment, and God is eternal, and that this is the only sense in which hell is eternal punishment. Most would agree with McConkie that a relatively small number of sons of perdition will at the judgment be sent back to hell. As we reflect on salvation, dear Mormon friend, it is of the greatest importance that you know where you are going. The Mormon teaching about salvation is very complex and may discourage you from thinking this through, but the questions I want to ask you are vital to your future. Are you saved? Can you know that you have really done everything necessary for your salvation and will continue to do it faithfully until the end? No system, Mormon or otherwise, can offer you the assurance of your salvation when the salvation it offers depends to a large degree on your efforts to save yourself. Why not? "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). You too have sinned. Perhaps you have sinned more than others, and perhaps less, but you have done some things that God sees as wrong, and may do more in the future, so you can't possibly know for sure that God will not judge you guilty. The teachings of the Mormon Church make the hope of anyone's works being good enough even less certain: "It is very evident that church membership alone will not keep an individual from one degree of damnation or another." This paragraph ends stating that he who doubts, or keeps a commandment with slothfulness, "the same is damned." 20 Even the proud, the liars, and those who do not help the poor go to hell. 21 President Joseph F. Smith said he believes birth control is "one of the greatest crimes in the world today." 22 Since in Mormon doctrine your salvation depends in great part on your works, what chance do you have? The good news is that Christ took upon Himself the judgment and punishment for your sin and mine. It is absolutely true that, "the wages of sin is death," but the really wonderful truth is, "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). The gift becomes ours when we receive it by faith. The salvation that God offers to sinners does not depend on our own power to keep God's law. "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law" (Romans 3:28). Salvation is a gift that God gives to sinners who accept Christ by faith. I may have confused you, but here is a passage that clears up the relationship between our faith in Christ and our works: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:8-10). If our salvation depended on our putting aside a million dollars before we died, try as we might, most of us would never be able to do it, but if someone gave us the million dollars we would certainly be able to receive it. We are not able to save our souls by only doing good works. God's laws make us see this. They shine a spotlight on our sins and help us to repent, believe, and receive the complete salvation that God, by His grace, offers us in Christ. It is a gift which we accept through faith. When we accept that gift, our spiritual life starts, and Christ's Spirit molds our lives. The good works that we do result from the salvation which we have received as a gift. When we receive salvation, we become Christ's workmanship, and He guides our lives. He does not guide us to sin, but to do good works. This little train illustration makes it more clear. The Bible says, "We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law" (Romans. 3:28). Don't count on your works being judged good enough. If you are a sinner, count on Christ who saves sinners. "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15). If you are trusting in your good life to save you, Christ is not the one that you are trusting to save you. Neither is His salvation a halfway measure that leaves us damned. It does not just get us resurrected and then depend on our own works to get us saved. "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). You will remember the thief on the cross that repented. He turned to Jesus and said: "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." Jesus did not say he would check the record to see whether the man had done enough good works. This man was being executed because he was a criminal. He turned to Christ because he knew that the kind of works he had done could never save anybody! He had not been baptized either. Jesus told the thief on the cross who turned to Him, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). That is what Jesus Christ really said to him. The passage has not been incorrectly translated as some Mormons have claimed. The original Greek word for paradise used here, spelled out in English letters, is "paradeiso." The English word "paradise" comes from it. You can check for yourself in a Greek/English New Testament. Jesus saved this sinner who turned to Him. Once you are saved, God will help you do good works because you have been saved by grace through faith in the Savior, but your salvation does not depend on your works. It depends on Christ's ability to save. Let me illustrate this with another kind of salvation. You are drowning in the ocean and call out to a lifeguard. He is jumping in to save you. Whether or not he will succeed will not depend on how good a person you have been. It will depend on the life guard's ability to swim. Shift your faith from your works to Jesus Christ. Accept Him as your Savior. This is one of the most important of Mormon doctrines. Without temple marriage a Mormon can not be fully saved. McConkie states: "Salvation in its true and full meaning is synonymous with exaltation or eternal life, and consists in gaining an inheritance in the highest of the three heavens within the Celestial Kingdom. With few exceptions this is the salvation of which the scriptures speak… This full salvation is obtained in and through the continuation of the family unit in eternity, and those who obtain it are Gods." 23 As gods, they are to give birth to spirit children with which they will populate other worlds. Because temple marriage is the key to Mormon salvation, McConkie emphasizes its importance: "The most important things that any member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ever does in this world are: 1) To marry the right person, in the right place, by the right authority; and 2) To keep the covenant made in connection with this holy and perfect order of matrimony- thus assuring the obedient persons of an in-heritance of exaltation in the celestial kingdom." 24 What McConkie means by this is that full salvation depends first of all upon marrying the right person in the Mormon Temple ceremony. Mormon scripture says that The Book of Mormon contains the "fulness of the gospel," 25 "the fulness of my everlasting gospel," 26 and that almost all the doctrines of the Gospel are taught in it. But where in The Book of Mormon do you find that being married in the temple for time and eternity is the only way to have full salvation? The idea is not even mentioned! In stark contrast to today's Mormon doctrine, many passages in The Book of Mormon, as in the Bible, teach that complete salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ, no temple marriage involved: "…remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man may be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the world." 27 These last two passages state not only that nothing else adds to a person's salvation, but that nothing ever will. This excludes the possibility that later revelation could substitute temple marriage as the way to complete salvation. The point that I want to make here is that The Book of Mormon never teaches about a temple marriage ceremony or that it has anything at all to do with our salvation, yet it is the book that is called, "the fulness of my everlasting gospel." 31 The Book of Mormon is not alone. The Bible never mentions a temple marriage ceremony either. If temple marriage were really necessary for full salvation, and is the most important thing a Mormon does in this life, it would mean that both The Book of Mormon and the Bible completely missed the most important part of the gospel. They teach faith in Christ, not only for resurrection, but as the exclusive means of complete salvation. Joseph Smith is introducing a different gospel: Full salvation depends on temple marriage. The Bible says: "But though we or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8-9). Are we saved by Christ, or marriage? The plot thickens! After Smith had already finished The Book of Mormon, and almost all of Doctrine and Covenants, he was struck by the idea of having more than one wife, and wrote new scripture, Doctrine and Covenants 132, which commands that men marry more than one wife. The first verse introduces the subject: "…I the Lord justified my servants Abraham, Isaac… as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines." He then says " …prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you…"32 Having prepared the reader that these instructions were to be about having extra wives, the atomic bomb goes off in 132:4! I emphasize important points with bold print. "For behold, I reveal unto you a new and everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not in that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory." According to this passage of Mormon scripture, for all time, anyone who rejects the new covenant of plural wives cannot enter glory. Marriage to only one wife brings damnation. 33 I have heard it argued that this is not really a new covenant, but just a detail added on to the covenants that had already been introduced. Smith did not say that. He called it "a new and everlasting covenant." Joseph did not expect his wife Emma to be very enthusiastic about sharing him with other women, even though he was presenting it as a commandment which we are to keep or be damned. We see this in the way he keeps coming back to the subject all through this section, adding one thing and another to convince her and the rest of us that God really commands men to have more than one wife. In doing this, he ends up contradicting a very clear statement which he had written earlier in The Book of Mormon. There he had taught that polygamy, that is having more than one wife at the same time, is wrong, and is an abomination to God: "Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph. Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that the people shall do like unto them of old. Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none." 34 Notice how clearly 132:39 contradicts this: "David's wives and concubines were given unto him of me, by the hand of Nathan, my servant, and others of the prophets who had the keys of this power; and in none of these things did he sin against me save in the case of Uriah and his wife…" The Book of Mormon clearly states that David's plural wives were an abomination before God. In direct contradiction, Doctrine and Covenants says that God gave him those wives and it was okay. Arriving at 132:52 Smith has God say, "And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph…" Smith has been building up to a climax, preparing people for the heart of his new teaching which is laid out in verses 61 and 62: "…If any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him… And if he have ten virgins given to him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him…" Smith closes this section of Mormon scripture, (Doctrine and Covenants 132) with some threats of destruction against wives who don't want to accept the new everlasting covenant and share their husbands with other women. Emma seems to have given in as the Encyclopedia Britannica says of Joseph Smith, "…there is evidence that he may have married as many as 50 wives." 35 The new and everlasting covenant of plural wives that everyone must accept or be damned was written in 1843. Because polygamy is illegal in the United States, the everlasting covenant lasted only until the United States government severely threatened the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints if they did not stop the practice. The church backed down on October 6, 1890, when Wilford Woodruff, the president of the church said: "…I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land." 36 Will any Mormons who do not have more than one wife get into Glory? There are two possibilities:
It has been argued that the new covenant is not about plural wives, but I would remind them that right after the new covenant was given, both Smith, and most Mormon leaders, married extra wives, indicating that this was the normal interpretation of the passage. Who was better able to understand the new covenant, Joseph Smith and the other Mormon leaders at the time, or people now who invent new meanings for the new covenant? Most Mormons now comply with the law of the land and have just one wife on earth. Heaven is different. Mormon men may still marry a number of women for eternity in the temple. In that case, they are to be his wives and have many children when they all get to heaven. In this point Mormon teaching is contrary to that of the Bible, which states: "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven" (Matthew 22:29-30). Mormons can hardly blame their difference with the Bible in this point on a bad translation of the Bible because the same teaching is also found in two other places in the Bible, Mark 12:25, and Luke 20:35. To conclude our discussion of plural wives, when polygamy is mentioned in the Old Testament it is often to point out the problems it caused. The New Testament allows only one wife to church leaders: "A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach" (1 Timothy 3:2). The Book of Mormon, which was called "the fulness of my everlasting Gospel" (Doctrine and Covenants 26:5) prohibits plural marriages completely. 37 In this it is similar to the New Testament which prohibits plural marriages for church leaders. It is, however, diametrically opposed to the "new and everlasting covenant" which requires plural marriage to avoid damnation. 38 Are we to believe that the "fulness of my everlasting Gospel" which opposed polygamy was abrogated by the "everlasting covenant" which introduced multiple wives to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? The everlasting covenant only lasted forty seven years before the United States government, and Wilford Woodruff, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, brought it to an end. If either the everlasting Gospel which says, "One wife!" or the everlasting covenant which says, "many wives!" was not really everlasting, the system is wrong, and you submit yourself to it at the risk of your soul.
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