You’re saying that same Jesus,’ God’s only Son’s torture and death on the cross, isn’t necessary - at least not to Mormons?
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It’s my understanding and I could be wrong, that the cross was not that important to mormons but rather the tears Jesus shed in the garden.
Colofornian, correct this if I’m off base.
Not only do Mormon leaders stress the garden as the place of atonement (vs. Calvary)...but they treat the cross as if they were vampires...as if it was anathema to them!
Here's the specifics, so that ALL can conduct a care-filled comparison between Christianity and its open counterfeit:
Note: For documentation as to showing "proof" for these answers below, see the next (last) chart.
| a. Is Jesus but one 'savior'-'redeemer' among many? | YES and NO (Lds contradicts themselves) | LDS: NO: D&C 76:1, 1832; changed 1834 in D&C 103:9 & expanded to save the dead in 1841-1842 (D&C 124; D&C 128:1-3, 17-18...esp. v. 18); also Lds cite Obadiah 21 in the Old Testament as some sort of "justification" for applying "saviors" (plural) to themselves -- alleged "saviors" of mankind via baptisms for the dead! | NO | "THE Savior" in 1 John 4:14 and John 4:42, not saviors plural; also, in 1 Cor. 15:29 which Mormons have hijacked as their own -- the apostle Paul says "they" -- not "we" -- practiced baptism for the dead; also Obadiah 21 has NOTHING to do with baptizing the dead! |
| b. Were our sins 'atoned' for in the Garden of Gethesemane? | Lds say YES | Lds misinterpret blood sweat in garden of Gethsemane as Jesus was praying as having "effect of atonement" (see official Lds magazine Ensign, for example: June 2007, p. 15) | NO | Col. 1:20; also Jesus never said "pick up your 'garden' and follow me" but said, "pick up your 'CROSS' and follow me" |
Note: For documentation as to showing "proof" for these answers below, see the next (last) chart.
| a. Is Jesus but one 'savior'-'redeemer' among many? | YES: The "Jesus" of Brigham Young is one redeemer-savior among who knows how many? "He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. On every earth. How many earths are there?... Consequently every earth has its redeemer..." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 14, p. 71, 1870); cf. how Mormons name themselves as "saviors" -- numerous citations: Are Mormon people LITERAL saviors of dead Jews, others? | NO: "And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be THE Savior of the world." (1 John 4:14); "They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is THE Savior of the world.” (John 4:42) |
| b. Were our sins 'atoned' for in the Garden of Gethesemane? | YES: * "It was in Gethsemane, on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, that Jesus made his perfect atonement by the shedding of his blood more so than on the cross." (BYU Professor Robert J. Matthews, A Bible! ABible! p. 282) * "It was there [Gethsemane] that the Savior paid the price for all the sorrows, sins and transgressions of every human being who ever lives or ever will live." (Seventy -- Second Quorum -- Wolfgang H. Paul, "Gratitude for the Atonement," Ensign, June 2007, p. 15) | NO: This Jesus didn't atone for sins by sweating blood in the garden; He did it on Calvary as the Bible proclaims in Col. 1:20: "And, having made peace through the blood of the cross..." |