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What I mean is if I truly believe in God, good works will follow naturally. My life will change. I will want to please God-—and that over time I will put off the natural man. I do not believe that one can really believe in GOd and continue to be willfully selfish, cruel, etc.
The Bible says, “Faith without works is dead.” That is what I mean.

Ampu, why do you keep saying this?

“YOU however, hear the gospel of grace here and apparently prefer your own works of righteousness that can lead you to hell. What will you do?”

Is that not judging someone else? Are you not saying I will go to hell? I do NOT believe that my works will get me to heaven. How many times do I have to say that? To be truthful, there are issues about my religion with which I question. But that is not one of them. The LDS faith does NOT teach that works get you into heaven.

I will check out your links later. As for McConkie quotes, I don’t think he is accepted very well by the church right now.
I don’t believe or should I say agree with the quotes you provided. Like I said before, I do not believe everything that ANY Church teaches. And I certainly don’t believe that other churches are evil-—nor am I taught that.
Those quotes you provided are not considered in our canon of scripture. That means we are under no “obligation” to accept them as truth. They are personal quotes by men, whom I feel were misguided in what they said-—and wrong. They are also quite dated.
As far as the “gentiles’ reference, I have truthfully NEVER heard it said in a negative light. I have been a member for over 20 years and I have NEVER heard any mormon in a meeting or in a conference make fun of or ridicule other churches as has been done in this forum. I’m being totally honest in that.
If you look through this entire thread, you will see some who have been sincere in their disagreement with the Mormon faith-—I have no problem with that-—and many who have chosen ridicule. The latter is non-productive, unnecessary, and in my opinion. un-Godlike.

Yes I can. Laweeks said this: Anyone who follows this stuff is sure as hell destined for a very long visit to Hell. And how very sad that no mormon will listen to logical criticism of this madness.

Mormonism does NOT teach me that works will get me anything. My belief is that I am saved by GRACE after all I can do. Meaning that, even if my whole life were spent ONLY in serving my Lord, I would still not DESERVE salvation, and that comes to me only though God’s great mercy.

I read the Bible all the time. And if Joseph Smith ever said all other religions are hell-bound—something I doubt, I would reject that. I may not be the typical Mormon-—tho I do know many who believe just like I do. BUT I don’t believe ANYTHING without taking it to the Lord for confirmation. Personally, I don’t believe everything Joseph SMith said or past prophets have said because they are MORTAL beings. Even prophets can make mistakes-—remember David? So if you all wanna waste time posting everything JS ever uttered—well guess what? I don’t believe it all either. He was a man. And there are none of us who are perfect.

In my church, we DO believe other churches have some errors in their gospel-—just as Catholics believe Protestants are wrong, but we do NOT believe they are going to hell. We are NEVER taught that. We are taught to treat other faiths with utmost respect-—something I wish would catch on in this forum.
I was taught that most churches preach a portion of the truth, some more than others, but as long as they teach man to do good, they are, in essence, good. Mormons come from the standpoint that they have more truth, NOT that others are evil. If all faiths had that philosophy there would be alot more kindness in this world.

We believe that God is the final judge and that if you believe in Christ, and do your best to follow him, you will be saved.
That’s the essence of my belief.
Thank you for your prayers, Graybeard, we ALL need them-—and yes, I believe your prayers are just as good as mine.
But I do believe my Savior is as good as yours too, because He is the same one you worship.

I do not label anyone as a Pharisee simply for disagreeing or believing another religion. I think one behaves as the Pharisees when one RIDICULES another faith-—such as has been done here-—OR tells ME that I am going to hell-—which has also been done here.
Clear enough?

YOU however, hear the gospel of grace here and apparently prefer your own works of righteousness that can lead you to hell. What will you do?

Sounds very judgmental to me since you know NOTHING about me. How can you say that I prefer my own works of righteousness? Do you folks not realize how similar you sound to Islmaic radicals? Sure you don’t stoop to violence, but some of you are just as condeming.
I would never stoop to judge you in that mannner. God clearly tells us that judgment is for HIM alone.

Thank you. One of the first examples of kindness and gentleness. Two traits Jesus showed amply. I would much rather here what YOu have to say, than the Pharisees.

And Jesus once, while admonishing the Pharisees who were EVER SO SURE that the Samaritans were all going to hell, (and they of course to heaven), said, “I am able from these rocks and stones to raise up children of Israel.”
So turned off was he by the Pharisees assurance of their “godliness” that he used the example of the “GOOD Samaritan” and the Pharisee and the Publican—another group the “godly” despised to turn the tables on them. You don’t earn your salvation folks-—you get it through God’s mercy. SOme of you sound a bit too convinced of yourselves for my tastes. In fact,I would dare say some of you sound to me just like modern-day Pharisees.

If you loved them, you would treat them with respect. Even if we/they are in error, your approach hurts them and turns them off. Jesus did not behave like you. He taught out of love.
I am a convert to the church. I admit, there are times when religion still confuses me. Am I right? Are you right? It’s hard to discern sometimes.
But I know this. No Mormom EVER made fun of other churches or doctrines like I have seen here.
That tells me a lot right there. If God were truly in your heart, you would reach out in love, not derision.

I don’t disagree. THere are much bigger issues right now.

I don’t disagree. THere are much bigger issues right now.

I have read the Bible over and over and over. But if its interpretation is as clear as you are making it out to be, then why are there over 1,000 Christian churches!!!...all of which argue over the tenets of their faith?

Are Catholics going to hell? Are Presbyterians? Are Muslims? What if someone in Tibet is never even exposed to Christianity? Is he/she going to hell too?
Religion can get so confusing and dogmatic. Even look at the posts here-—the tone of making fun of a religion. Even if it were false, I can’t see the Lord ever making fun of someone’s sincere belief. He never did. He taught with a spirit of love and understanding. Surely if the people here REALLy cared about Mormons, they would realize that making fun of someone’s faith only pushes them further away.
I don’t substitute what I want to believe; I substitute what is in my heart, when I can not understand what a scripture is telling me. I have learned more and more to listen to the still small voice and pray for inspiration. There are huge gaps in my knowledge-—and a lot of things I am not sure of. But I am sure of this: God lives, Jesus is the Christ-—and my personal savior— and He is nowhere near as unforgiving as you think He is.

I believe in Jesus Christ and I sincerely love Him. But i think your belief system is really sad. It makes Him sound almost as intolerant as the Muslim’s allah.

Your assuming, of course, that by precious things he is referring to the gold and silver he just mentioned. But how do you know that there weren’t some other ingredients he considered more precious that were included in Solomon’s temple, but not the one he is describing.

I think your conclusions that God will send all mormons to hell-—or I guess anyone else who doesn’t believe exactly what you do, is quite sad.

I’m LDS. I admit, there are things that my faith professes that I have doubts about it. But that is true with every other church I researched. There is stuff in every religion that seems a bit hard to believe.
That said, what I DO believe, with all my heart, is that God judges the heart. He has promised us that the two greatest commandments are to LOVE God and Love your neighbor. There are many mormons I know that are every bit as good and sincere in loving God and serving Him as they are in other faiths. Even if they are wrong in some things-—I dont’ believe for one minute they are going to hell. Call me a heretic, but the God I love is merciful enough to look the past the externals and judge the heart.

“ONly a short time later”-—can you give us the second scripture reference so we can check it?

Police are leeches?

Even though my husband and I will be recipients of a state pension, I will never understand the position of our unions, nor the gullibility of most union employees. We are broke, and the longer it takes to accept that and reform the pension funds, the more likely it will be that we will be living on scraps.