Replies

Joint heirs with Christ. Hooray!!

(AMPU, just make sure that you leave it all to your dog in your will...that'll guarantee that FIDO becomes human after you die)

Sandy, you need to conduct a Bible study of not only the word "heir" but also "inherit" and "inheritance."

Here's three relevant verses:

7That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:7)

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you... (1 Peter 1:3-4)

...12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col. 1:12-14

Now why are the apostle Paul's verses especially relevant to Mormonism's misinterpretation of what being an heir is?

Mormonism says being such an heir is reserved for married temple Mormons who work their way up the highest part of heaven.

But...
*...the apostle Paul says the works-oriented never rise up above servant status; and that being an heir is reserved for sons (Gal. 4:7).
....Mormons are trying to justify themselves by their "worthiness"; the apostle Paul says we are "made" heirs by being justified by His grace (Titus 3:7)
...Mormons say this inheritance is worked for by temple rituals & other actions; but the apostle Paul says it's God who qualifies you (Col. 1:12)
...Mormons say this inheritance is deserved (God paying up what you worked for), but the apostle Peter said this "inheritance" kept in heaven is based only upon God's "great mercy" grounded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 1:3-4)
...Mormons claim this inheritance is a climbing operation, where they pull themselves up by their own bootstraps & reach the highest peaks of heaven. The apostle Paul instead talks about inheritance (Col. 1:12) as a rescue operation, where God had to send His Son into a dark world to pull us out (Col. 1:13-14).

Finally, let's go to the verse Sandy cited -- Romans 8:17...but let's properly back it up to Romans 8:15 as well for better context:

15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Mormons say EVERYBODY is God's children; the Bible says, no, only Jesus Christ is God's son -- yet God the Father has chosen to adopt many more as children. Mormons really don't know what to do with this concept of "adoption." It's completely foreign to their theology.

So being an heir is really tantamount to being an adopted child, another image the apostle Paul uses three times.
* An adopted child doesn't "work" for the highest degree of glory in his father's household. He is simply "received" into it.
* An adopted child doesn't do all of these temple rituals to qualify for heir status. No, the Father qualifies the adopted child.
* An adopted child doesn't rely upon works-worthiness to become an heir. No, he or she is completely at the "great mercy" and "grace" of his new family's father!

If Mormonism ran orphanages the way it operates religiously, all these orphans would have to jump through all kinds of hoops to get adopted...and that hoop-jumping would completely overshadow the gracious & merciful rescue operations of those who go out of their way to qualify these orphans.