Mormons and Grace

One of the reasons many think that Latter-day Saints are not Christian is because, they say, we don't believe we are saved by grace, but by works.  Latter-day Saints will usually correct them saying that we need both to be saved.  However, even this isn't completely accurate:  we really are saved by grace.

We emphasize works often enough in the church, it is easy to see how anyone can come to that conclusion.  Our 3rd Article of Faith says, "We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."  Nephi in The Book of Mormon says, "we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."  And we will also cite James 2 supporting the need for both, for "faith without works is dead."

What doesn't get emphasized in the church often enough is Ephesians 2: "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."  We do believe in the Bible, don't we?  So what about this verse?  Clearly James and Paul had two different audiences; I don't think Paul is saying that "by grace are ye saved through dead faith."

But the message is clear:  It's what Christ did that saves us, not us.  Nephi's message would be entirely different if he said, "we know that it is by all that we can do that we are saved, after receiving grace."  But if works don't save us, what are they good for?  We are saved by the grace of Christ, but we are judged and rewarded by our works.

This concept is described wonderfully in a BYU devotional I was recently shown given last year by Brad Wilcox: His Grace is Sufficient

My favorite line has got to be:

“Jesus doesn’t make up the difference. Jesus makes all the difference. Grace is not about filling gaps. It is about filling us.”

He says a lot about works, and basically says that there's still plenty for us  to do, but it is for a totally different reason than salvation.  It is to show our gratitude for Christ, to change ourselves and to prepare for life in heaven.

Lying for the Lord?

One common argument against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that Mormons are encouraged to deceive others if it is for a good cause.  The claim is that we are taught to protect the image of the church, even if it means we need to resort to lies and deceit, a practice called "lying for the Lord."

The truth is that we are regularly taught to be honest, and have integrity in all that we do.  If enemies of the church can convince others that we are all liars, then they will have convinced them to automatically dismiss anything that we say, no matter what.  However, Mormons are still human, and anyone looking for examples of lying will be able to find them.  Those against the church use these examples and remove the context and circumstances that led to the lie, or misunderstand the statement and treat it as a lie, and at the same time ignore similar examples of deceit in their own beliefs.

I was recently shown a video that gives many common and more obscure examples of "Lying for the Lord."  I will be discussing my opinions on the statements in the video, point-by-point.

Follow-up to Yesterday's Post

My commentary yesterday may have been jumbled.  In this entry, I'm going to cover the same content as yesterday's post, except instead of an analysis, this will only be what we believe, in the language that we would explain it, and the emphasis on the things we actually care about.

God Makers Cartoon Analysis

In 1982, a film was created by two evangelical Christians (one an ex-Mormon) with the purpose to warn people away from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The God Makers distorts our beliefs to make them appear ridiculous.  Things that are insignificant to our doctrine are made to seem very important, while anything we believe about Jesus Christ being the Savior of the world is completely removed.

It is for this last reason that I care about this.  Yes, we do believe some crazy things.  But at least think we are crazy for the things we actually believe in.  And at least recognize that we see Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer.

Recently, thanks to video-sharing websites like YouTube, this video is more available to the public than it otherwise would be, especially the cartoon segment purporting to portray our beliefs.  The Fair Mormon wiki does not yet have an in-depth Analysis of this, so I decided to create my own.  As best I can, I will give a line-by-line analysis of the claims made, and as I go, I'll try to describe what we really believe.  I also made a post covering the same topics but only telling what we believe instead of the analysis in case that is more what you are looking for.

City Creek Mall

There exists some misunderstandings about the City Creek Mall built next to the Salt Lake Temple.  The most common question is:  Why are we building this?

In a 2010 Forbes article, Mark Gibbons, The president of City Creek Reserve says, "The church's primary notion is to protect the Temple Square and the headquarters of the Church, that's first and foremost. This development would not have been done just on a financial basis, I can tell you that."

Another answer comes from an article in the Dec. 2006 ensign, which says, "The Church first announced three years ago it was planning to redevelop the downtown area to energize the economy of the city that houses its headquarters and to bolster the area near Temple Square. No tithing funds will be used in the redevelopment."

 Prior to the 2002 Olympics, the Church did another project with the Main Street Plaza for the similar reason to protect the area around the Temple. At that same time, there were many public and private projects for the other similar reason to revitalize downtown.

Some sites I have seen say without citation a large $3 billion figure or more.  However, recent news articles from Deseret News says $1.5 billion and The Salt Lake Tribune says $2 billion. KSL was saying $5 billion, but that was clearly meaning all of the various public and private downtown revitalization efforts combined. In any case, it's more than just a mall -- it's 2.5 city blocks of retail, office, and residential. It's pretty fancy and LEED certified. I'm not at all surprised at its cost.

But I suppose what they are really getting at is why we aren't pumping this kind of money for humanitarian aid. (Since that's the only reason anyone cares besides worrying about tithing money.) I want to argue that Haitians don't need an expensive mall, so we've donated over 350 tons of food and supplies last year worldwide that the impoverished do need. Or that over 230,000 hours of volunteer labor given to humanitarian aid last year makes things cheaper than paid mall-building labor.

But you know what?  Perhaps they have a point. Making excuses isn't the right answer. We only spent $22 million in emergency aid last year. I'll do my part and increase my donations to the humanitarian aid fund.