“I hope I’ve done enough to get to heaven.” “I pray that I’m good enough to get to heaven.”, etc
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I have never heard my wife say such a thing. She Follows God. She wants to do all she can because of His love for her by allowing himself to take upon Himself her sins and everyone else’s. I don’t think she worries about going to Heaven, she worries about me making it there.
To Mormons there are different levels of Heaven (I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know) and they all want to sit at the highest level. For many, probably your wife included, only the best will do. For them sitting in the presence of God is all that will satisfy them. They realize that they could do less and still go to Heaven. They also believe that in Heaven there are many mansions and they want a good one. I guess the way I say that it sounds offensive, I don’t mean it to. I think their ideas are pure enough. It can’t hurt to be good. I don’t think they think of Heaven as a prize but as an opportunity to continue advancing.
They think that the promise to Abraham was to have a continuation of his seed so that his descendants would be as countless as the grains of sand on the sea shores or the stars in the sky. Mormons think they can share in that promise but only if they go to the highest degree of Heaven. The Heaven they believe in is totally different than other faiths. Their continuing to grow and progress with their spouse or spouses has a lot to desire when you think about it. If we were abducted by aliens and sent to a world where we could have every pleasure we could ever desire and never have to work at some point, perhaps after thousands of years it would seem limiting, like prison, like they were dammed. Without children to watch grow and progress life would be a lot different than it is here now.
I don’t know what we will find in Heaven, the Mormons say they do and it seems nobody else much talks about it. If my wife is right I will be there with her. While everybody talks about how they say only Mormons will be there their whole reason for Temples is to make sure that everyone can be. My wife is a Temple Worker too. She is convinced that somehow in the next life people like me will see the errors of our ways when we have a chance to fully understand “The Gospel” and we’ll come around.
I personally would love to think that I could be with my wife forever. I would hate to have to get used to somebody else. In the rest of Christendom there are no spouses in Heaven. It is a big difference but I don’t think it hurts to believe in it or hope for it.
I personally don’t worry too much about Heaven or Hell. If God is Just and He does what He says He will do in the New Testament I will be accepted by Him and when the Judgment day comes and everybody sees how bad a person I was The Lord will put His arm around me and proclaim that I am His. That He purchased me with His blood. I will not have to follow the father of lies into the pit prepared for him and his followers. All that being said I don’t have a clue as to what to expect from that point, I just know that making it to that point will be a good thing and not making it to that point will not be a good thing.
What The Savior did was unbelievably unselfish. I could not in good faith say I believe in him and not try to follow him. In other words if I don’t have any “good works” then I simply don’t have any faith.
Any Mormons who think they will get a better seat because they went to church more often than another is sadly not understanding of Mormon teachings. My wife says we all have different abilities. We can’t all do the same thing. The important thing to her and she says The Savior is that we are moving in the right direction, that is towards The Savior and not away. She says it is like a ladder, as long as we are going up we are ok.
To her whenever a church leader asks her to do something, like work in the Temple, to her it is the same as The Savior asking. She loves the Savior, she would do anything for Him. She is not doing anything for a better seat but simply out of love. I really believe this about her.
Not all Mormons are as good or as understanding of Mormon Doctrines as my wife. She is special, but most I have met have this love of the Savior just dripping off of them. So to keep beating a dead horse, how can anyone who loves The Savior this much not be a Christian?
If being a Christian is only defined as being a “Roman” Christian then that is something different. Mormons do not accept the Apostles Creed, but then again nobody did before the 3rd century and surely we would call the early Christians, Christian. Mormons realize they are square pegs in a round world. They don’t seem to mind being called “different”, but you can really get under their skin when you call them non Christian.
There are probably Mormons around here, I apologize if I have said something that mis portrays Mormons, I don’t mean to. I would certainly not mean to make any fun of their beliefs and apologize if I have said something that offends. I really do believe that Mormons are as a rule good, God fearing people.
You won’t get an argument out of me regarding mormons being good folks. I know all that you mention and more.
I’m sorry to say, based on your current status and mormon teachings, you will not be with your wife in heaven unless she chooses to come down to your “level of heaven”. Which means she will leave the presence of “god”. It does “hurt to believe in it” in the sense that attention is given to rituals and beliefs that are not biblical.
The Bible also teaches that we will not be married in heaven. Are Jesus’ words to be dismissed because JS said otherwise? For mormons, that is the “hinge point”. One must have complete confidence and faith in JS in order to believe in what mormonism teaches/believes.
I’ve had mormons use rationalizations such as “If x then y.” or “It only makes sense, right?”. No, it doesn’t always work this way. That’s why we’re to test what we hear against the Bible. But here is where mormonism creates their “out”. AoF - “as far as it is translated correctly.”. Yet none can tell any which parts are and are not “translated correctly”. The dichotomies present within the doctrine are just too many and too much.
But for me, the entire premise of mormonism is built upon a foundation of sand. A foundation that begins with a very dubious “prophet” of extremely questionable, behavior, morals and beliefs.
The entire complex of mormonism is suspect because of him. All that aside, trying to expose mormons to facts either hidden from them or not looked for, shouldn’t be construed as “bashing”, “hate”, “antimormonjihad”, etc.
SLC sends out 52k+ missionaries a year, not counting all the ward and stake missionaries to tell their message with impunity. To tell others that Christianity was in complete apostasy for centuries and that all they hold dear is false.
Why can’t a few folks in the FR Religion forum discuss/debate/reveal what they know about mormonism without being denigrated or being accused of many vile things?
I’m recently removed from the LdS church, so many things LdS are anathema to me. When I see them, I want to correct or dispel what I see or read. At first, I was very club fisted or ham handed. Now, not so much, I hope.
I don’t want to belabour the point, or as a Catholic FReeper said to me once, give you the impression that I’m trying to “mug you” into conversion.
Blessings to you and yours,
SZ