Devotional trends over the years

At 11:05 a.m. on September 11, 2001 — just hours after terrorists intentionally crashed planes into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon — Merrill J. Bateman, BYU’s president at the time, stood to address the student body.

“The world’s peace is on your shoulders because you have the only message that gives hope for eternal peace,” he said.

Elder Bateman told BYU students they had the responsibility to lead the world to righteousness. “The world depends on you,” he said.

Over the past 10 years, BYU has welcomed prophets, apostles, general authorities and other well-known members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to impart their wisdom during Tuesday Devotional.

In reviewing many of the talks given in the past decade, The Daily Universe identified three common themes as favorites for speakers to address: missionary work, learning and love

In his 2008 devotional, Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve taught students what it means to “establish a secure foundation for life.”

To be better students — to be better people — students at BYU need to have a goal to better understand the Atonement, Elder Scott said.

“I testify that your understanding of the Atonement and the insight it provides for your life will greatly enhance your productive use of all the knowledge, experience and skills you acquire at this university,” Elder Scott said. “It will become the secure foundation upon which to build the balance of your life.”

Well, the article only dealt with BYU devotionals over the past decade...but if they wanted to include the three decades, they could have excerpted this one from an Lds "apostle":

Our Relationship with the Lord - Mormon Open

In this devotional, McConkie said Mormons didn't worship Jesus; weren't to pray directly Jesus, and criticized those who sought a "special relationship with Jesus."

[Wonder if that devotional made the Mormon Hall of Fame?]

From the article: your understanding of the Atonement...

Yeah, well the literal meaning of that word, especially the English version, is at-one-ment...reconciliation...harmony...it's a relationship word to describe that formerly men who were at enmity with God are not reconciled.

Of course, while the Mormon "understanding of the atonement" applies to all...the fact is...when you check under the hood, they'll tell you that this "reconciliation" only goes so far...

For anybody other than temple Mormons, the atonement will supposedly get them into a "degree" of glory, but NO everlasting relationship in the presence of God; even for the worst, Mormons tend to rave how the atonement brings "resurrection" to all...seemingly playing down this "resurrection" they believe in is a "resurrection of damnation" (John 5:29)

"To understand the Atonement — to feel worth it and worthy of it — we must love ourselves, Sister Lant said."

Without really realizing it, Sister Lant expressed the spirit of the Anti-Christ.

As others have said on this thread, Christianity is all about dying to one's self and living to Christ.

There is no loving yourself if you have truly repented which is a requirement before you can believe into salvation through Christ.

Without repentence, there is no faith. Without faith, there is no born-again experience. Without the born-again experience, there is no reconciliation or communion with God. Without reconciliation and communion with God, there is no access to heavan.

Repentence is the acceptance by the sinner of his/her total depravity, his/her acceptance that he/she can do nothing to chance his total depravity, and finally, his/her acceptance that without Christ's help, they are totally lost and undone.

Contrast that with Christianity which requires you to die to self.

Yes

"To understand the Atonement — to feel worth it...

To the Mormon, way too much is feelings based...which is ultimately, no determiner of truth. Feelings mislead too often.

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!

The campaign says God's truth is "the concept of free and full forgiveness through Christ" rather than the "earned forgiveness taught in Mormonism."

I found this and it seems to say it well:

To take up our cross and follow Christ sounds horrific, until we discover that following Jesus takes us not only to crucifixion but to resurrection; not only to the death of self but to a gloriously new and superior life.

It is only the spiritually corrupt part of us that we are asked to let die.

‘Self’ refers to everything within us that is weak and ignorant and ugly. It is all that would ultimately darken us with shame and misery – the foolish choices that seemed a smart move at the time; the sweet things that turn sour. This, and only this, is what your loving Lord wants to die, so that a new you can burst onto the scene. Like (and through) Jesus risen from the dead, the new you will be a person brimming with life; glowing with purity, honor and a thrilling future.

I pinged both of you because you both made similar statements. As an apostate mormon, can you please explain this?

For the best scriptural reference, please see Romans Chapter 7: it explains the process by which a man becomes self-aware of his sinful nature, struggles against it, and then realizes he has no control over his nature or his sinning and finally calls out to God for Salvation.

Chapter 8 of Romans then describes the state of a Man who has not only reached the point of salvation, but has believed into Christ whereby God reconciles that sinner to himself, forgives him of his sins, witnesses to his heart that he is a child of God, and changes his heart so that he can now live above the sin that had him chained originally.

For some really good sermons that further explore the role of Repentence and Faith, see John Wesley's sermons as linked below:

1. The Almost Christian
2. Awake, Thou That Sleepest
3. The Righteousness of Faith
4. The Scripture Way of Salvation
5. Self-Denial
6. Scriptural Christianity
7. The New Birth

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