By John Carson
What do they believe?
I will give brief descriptions of what Mormons call "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (LDS Church) teaches about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. They will be titled as follows...
The Act of the Atonement
The Unconditional Provisions of the Atonement
The Conditional Provisions of the Atonement
The Veil
Under those descriptions I provided some quotations taken from their LDS website for documentation purposes. Many other LDS official quotations could have been added, but I provided the quotes below for space purposes and clarity.
The Act of the Atonement
The LDS Church teaches it includes:
From their LDS website:
Note: When Mormons talk about Jesus’ suffering, they are speaking mainly of His experience in the Garden of Gethsemane.
[Does the Bible teach Jesus suffered for the payment of sins in the Garden of Gethsemane? Go to: ‘Atonement for Sin - Where Was It Paid?’]
The Unconditional Provisions of the Atonement
The LDS Church teaches they include:
Note: Mormons do not believe Adam sinned when he disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. In Mormonism, original sin does not exist. Mormons do not believe we inherited Adam’s sin nature (since they do not believe he had one). They believe everyone has the innate capacity to choose to do good rather than evil, as Mormon Elder Delbert L. Stapley - Of the Council of the Twelve, stated: “We have built-in powers of conscience sufficient to develop our free agency in right choices and to acquire qualities of goodness, humility, and integrity of purpose.”(From: ‘Ensign (1975) - Using Our Free Agency’). Therefore, it is important not to confuse this particular LDS doctrine of ‘Free Agency’ as if they teach Christ’s Atonement was efficacious for automatically ridding everyone on earth of sin (known as ‘universal salvation’). They do not believe this, but rather, that the Atonement paid for Adam’s own transgression, and that no one else is responsible for his disobedience.
[For more information about this LDS doctrine about Adam’s Transgression, see: ‘The Fall (Part 1’). For a Christian response, see: ‘The Fall (Part 2)’.]
From their LDS website:
[Mormons will say they believe in salvation by grace. Yet what they mean by this, is that every person will be resurrected. This is called ‘Unconditional Salvation’, or ‘Immortality’. Being saved by grace does not mean a person enters into an eternal relationship with God. Go to: ‘Mormon Salvation - What Does It Mean?’]
The Conditional Provisions of the Atonement
The LDS Church teaches they include:
From their LDS website:
[Worthiness is a central teaching of the LDS Church. Only those who are judged worthy through following the Mormon Church’s ordinances, may enter Mormon Temples where they learn how to progress and dwell in the Celestial Kingdom. Does the Bible teach this? Go to: ‘Worthy to Enter’. Is faithfulness in following the commands and ordinances of the Mormon Church necessary to enjoy God’s presence in His Kingdom? Go to ‘Mormon Salvation - What Does It Mean?’]
The Veil
The final teaching I’ll briefly touch on about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, has to do with Mormonism’s doctrine of ‘going through the veil’. Once a Mormon is worthy to enter a Mormon Temple, a temple worker can teach the Mormon sacred tokens and special handshakes. Mormons are taught these can be used in the afterlife in their process of becoming gods.
[Special note to the Mormon reading this: The details of how these rituals are conducted inside Mormon Temples cannot be retrieved through the LDS website. This is because they are sworn to secrecy for reasons that the rituals are considered too sacred to share with heathens. Mormons are not permitted to read any articles that reveal their sacred rituals outside their Temples. Therefore, I will not expose any details of those rituals here, or from the links provided on this page. Also, I am not an Ex-Mormon. I had never been a member of the Mormon Church. I share this information so the Mormon reading this may continue to research here with a clear conscience.]
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Boyd K. Packer taught that “the promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Atonement” is “....to take anyone who comes, anyone who will join, and put them through an experience so that at the end of their life, they can go through the veil having repented of their sins and having been washed clean through the blood of Christ.” (From: ‘General Conference (October, 2012) - The Atonement’)
‘Going through the veil’ is a sacred teaching of the Mormon Church. They define ‘veil’ as... “A word used in the scriptures to mean (1) a divider separating areas of the tabernacle or temple, (2) a symbol for a separation between God and man.” (From: ‘Guide to the Scriptures - Veil’)
This is a definition I agree with wholeheartedly; and it’s a great place to end this study on what Mormons believe. Why do I say that? Because there is a connection between Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and the tearing of the temple veil recorded in the Bible. The separation between God and man has been dealt with, and it’s God’s doing! Scripture reveals some wonderful truths about this that you don’t want to miss. There’s a life-changing reason why the veil was torn by God, and you should know why.
Find out in: ‘The Veil Is Torn!’
Latest comments
14.09 | 00:17
Is it your intent to share your faith with me? I'm a devout Latter-day Saint.
30.06 | 17:21
Let's add, the keys to Death and Hades (Revelation 1:18) the key of David (Rev. 3:7) the key of knowledge (Luke 11:52) and the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt.16:19) only given to Simon/Peter.
24.05 | 06:04
Intuitive
10.02 | 23:31
Checked out the great video. 👍 Thumbs up!
The Mormon Religion was officially founded by Joseph Smith Jr. on April 6. 1830 after the Book of Mormon (BOM) was published in that same year.
Joseph Smith Jr. was born in Vermont on December 23, 1805. He claimed that when he was 14, he received a vision from God the Father and Jesus Christ in a grove of trees near his home where he received instructions not to join any of the Christian churches because they were all wrong.
Three years later, Smith claimed that an angel named Moroni (a character found in the BOM) appeared to him in his bedroom whom he said revealed to him that he was selected to translate "Reformed Egyptian" (a language that does not exist) from gold plates into old English. These plates were supposedly hidden near Palmyra, New York and are said to be written around the 4th century. The BOM was named after Moroni’s father, Mormon. Mormons view the BOM as sacred. No one is able to study the original plates because Joseph Smith claimed the angel took them back on May 2, 1838 (History of the Church 1:60).
Smith had a scribe named Cowdery. Smith did not actually translate directly from any plates. Rather, in his writings, he said he placed a "seer stone" in a hat and covered any light from entering it as he placed his face in the hat. According to Martin Harris, “By aid of the seer stone, sentences would appear and were read by the Prophet . . . , and when finished he would say, ‘Written,’ and if correctly written, that sentence would disappear and another appear in its place, but if not written correctly it remained until corrected,” Smith said, “By the power of God I translated the Book of Mormon from hieroglyphics".
Despite such methods of translation, there have been at least 3,913 changes made in the BOM from the time it was first published. Joseph Smith stated, “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” Smith also claimed that John the Baptist appeared to him on May 15, 1829 while he was translating the BOM, and instructed him to restore the church by preaching the only true gospel.
Mormons regard the BOM as sacred writings, and view it in higher standing than that of the Holy Bible. Mormon Missionaries will ask you to pray that it is true. (See our page Pray to Know)