It is also too bad that Jesus apparently did not die on the cross to atone for all your sins - but only to give you eternal life and NOT exaltation, that his sacrifice did not grant you the gift of dwelling in the presence of God (whom you call Father-in-Heaven.) It's too bad also that you will recieve exaltation from your own works (temple attendance, tithing, word of wisdom, meeting attendance, ward teaching, babtism, fast offerings, family home evening etc. etc. - which the Bible calls filthy rags.
Hmmm . . . Joseph Smith murdered by a lynch mob - your kind of justice? Amazing. No wonder many of us saints keep our powder dry as well as our preparations for emergencies up to date.
It's too bad also that you will recieve exaltation from your own works (temple attendance, tithing, word of wisdom, meeting attendance, ward teaching, babtism, fast offerings, family home evening etc. etc. - which the Bible calls filthy rags.
Please read this for clarification.
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/answers/filtyrags.htm
Only the Atonement of Christ can save us, and we know that and acknowledge our total indebtedness to Him. What you call our "filthy rags" is just us doing the best we can to follow Him to the best of our ability.
The Book of Mormon tells us that "we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do." (2 Nephi 25:23) That doesn't mean we can make it 99% of the way on our own -- on the contrary, it means that "if [we] should serve him who has created [us] from the beginning, and is preserving [us] from day to day, by lending [us] breath, that [we] may live and move and do according to [our] own will, and even supporting [us] from one moment to another—I say, if [[we] should serve him with all [our] whole souls yet [we] would be unprofitable servants." (Mosiah 2:21) The bracketed words, BTW, are just changing the third person, as in the original of King Benjamin’s sermon, to the first person. The Savious gives us everything we need, and all he asks in return is that we accept Him, love Him, and keep His commandments. See John 14:15 for His statement on that subject.
Our works do not save us -- they demonstrate our love for Christ and bring us closer to Him, who is the Only One who can cleanse us from our sins and make it possible for us to return to the presence of God, if that is our desire.