Many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) sincerely desire to please God. They attend church faithfully, serve in callings, keep the Word of Wisdom, pay tithing, and strive to live moral lives. But an honest question every Latter-day Saint should consider is this:
Have you done “all you can do” by completely forsaking all sin?
Mormon Scripture teaches:
“For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”—2 Nephi 25:23
“For the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.”—Alma 45:16
“By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them.”—Doctrine and Covenants 58:43
This raises a few important questions:
- If the Lord cannot look upon sin with the “least degree of allowance,” how can you be confident you’ve fully repented of all your sins?
- If repentance requires forsaking all sin, at what point can you be confident you’ve stopped sinning and are truly forgiven?
Regarding repentance, the LDS Prophet Joseph Smith stated:
“Repentance is a thing that cannot be trifled with every day. Daily transgression and daily repentance is not that which is pleasing in the sight of God.” —Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, Chapter 5, page 73.
If “daily repentance” is not pleasing to God, how can a person expect to maintain forgiveness?
Mormon scripture explains:
“And now, verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, will not lay any sin to your charge; go your ways and sin no more; but unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God.”—Doctrine and Covenants 82:7
If repeated sin causes a person to lose forgiveness, how can you be confident you will dwell with Christ after you die?
“Keep my commandments continually, and a crown of righteousness thou shalt receive. And except thou do this, where I am you cannot come.” —Doctrine and Covenants 25:15
How many commandments can you “continually” break before “grace” no longer applies?
“Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ.”—Moroni 10:32
If you cannot receive “grace” until you have denied yourself of “all ungodliness,” how can Christ’s atonement “save” you?
“And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins.” —Alma 11:37
So as you can see, forgiveness is impossible by these standards because they claim that forgiveness requires:
- Denying all ungodliness before grace
- Refusing to repeat a sin after repentance
- Eliminating the need for daily repentance
- Keeping God’s commandments continually
If you still have unrepentant sin in your life, have you “procrastinated the day of your repentance”?
“And now… I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end… for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world. For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked.”—Alma 34:33-35
If you have “procrastinated the day of your repentance,” how can you avoid the devil’s “seal” when you die?
The Book of Mormon asks this hard question:
“Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? … Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God.” —Alma 5:27
Ask yourself honestly:
- Have you truly denied all ungodliness?
- Have you repented by stopping every sin?
- Are you walking blameless before God, being sufficiently humble, and keeping the commandments continually?
If you were to die tonight…
Could you honestly say you are prepared to meet God?
“For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.” —Alma 34:32
This raises an important question.
What if forgiveness does not come from our efforts at all?
The Bible explains how repentance is given when it says that we are to approach people with kindness so that “God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth.”—2 Timothy 2:25 (NIV)
If repentance is something God grants, what role do our efforts really play?
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”—1 John 1:9 (KJV)
Clearly, confessing our sins brings God’s forgiveness which ultimately cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
Yet Mormonism teaches that forgiveness can be lost through our own failures. But if that were true and we have to “deny ourselves of all ungodliness” and keep God’s commandments “continually” to keep from losing forgiveness, how could God promise complete and lasting forgiveness?
“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” —Psalm 103:12 (KJV)
If forgiveness depends on our ability to stop sinning completely, then no one can be sure they are forgiven.
The Problem We All Face
The Bible explains why the Mormon standard of perfecting oneself before grace is an impossible standard for any human being to achieve.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”—Romans 3:23 (KJV)
Even our best efforts fall short of God’s perfect standard. Isaiah wrote:
“All our righteousness are as filthy rags.”—Isaiah 64:6 (KJV)
James explains the seriousness of breaking God’s law when he says:
“Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” —James 2:10 (KJV)
As you can see, if salvation depended on keeping God’s commandments “continually,” no one could be saved. This is why Jesus came.
Why Jesus came
The Bible teaches that Jesus did what we could never do ourselves. He lived the perfect life we could not live. Then He took our sins upon Himself and paid the full price for them.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”—Romans 5:8 (KJV)
When Jesus died on the cross, He declared: “It is finished.”—John 19:30 (KJV)
The debt of sin was fully paid and offered freely as a gift even “while we were yet sinners.” So you don’t have to wait to clean your life up—you can come to Jesus today and receive the gift of His forgiveness and righteousness.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”—Ephesians 2:8–9 (KJV)
“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” —Philippians 3:9 (KJV)
