Billy Graham wrote: “Only God knows our hearts, and only He knows whether this person has sincerely put his faith in Christ as his Lord and Savior. Jesus warned, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1).”
“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”
a few of the mormon church’s articles of faith:
“We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.”
“We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
You then went on to cite Articles 1, 3, and 4.
Here's a quick review of those articles compared to the "Technical Uninspired" version of them...ya know, ya gotta read the parenthetical explanations...:
| Articles of Faith Lds Mainstream Version | The 'Technical Uninspired’ version |
| LDS Article 1: “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.” | (We say we believe in God, the Eternal Father – but it's actually more accurate to say 'We believe in Gods plural which includes an infinite chain of Heavenly Fathers) |
| Article 3: “We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.” | (Well, technically, per Lds doctrine, the atonement’s all already ‘kicked in for all’ – so to speak. So what we’re really sayin’ is that we’re all @ ground zero due to the atonement. So everything’s now decided upon our obedience to the laws and us twisting the Gospel into yet another law by calling it ‘ordinances’!) As our one-time ‘prophet’ Joseph F. Smith once declared: "I Know that I can find [salvation] ONLY in obedience to the laws of God, in keeping the commandments, in performing works of righteousness, following the footsteps of our file leader, Jesus the Exemplar..." {Gospel Doctrine, p. 262}. And he got this direct from Joseph Smith himself: ”…by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins…” {Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, p. 220}. So essentially: we are saved by grace only AFTER all WE can do). |
| Article 4: “We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.” | (See article 5 – then read: “About that baptism…for the remission of sins…we believe unbaptized Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were conferred the priesthood…meaning that whatever angel conferred upon them the priesthood ‘screwed up’ because he didn’t baptize them first…instead just telling Joseph and Oliver to baptize each other -- something we ridicule other churches doing – baptizing without having first been baptized with authority! So unbaptized Joseph baptized Oliver, making Oliver’s baptism invalid. And then Oliver baptized Joseph, but given that Oliver’s baptism was invalid from a proper authority transfer angle, then so was Joseph’s. Then Joseph, improperly baptized, conferred the Aaronic priesthood upon Oliver…contrary to the line of authority we claim. Then improperly ordained Oliver conferred the Aaronic priesthood upon Joseph, making that worthless.) |
I've thought about posting a chart in response to the claimed that's a "10 % more disclosure" version of what the true Mormon beliefs are behind their Articles of Faith.
For example, on Article 1 you cite here, actually Lds believe in many -- as in multiple gods. But since that would have been kind of "off-putting" to 19th-century Americans, they didn't mention the "council of gods" referenced in the Pearl of Great Price -- nor does this article highlight the potential "millions" more "gods" who are "ex-mortals." (My, how convenient PR it is to present such lapses more openly to the public)