Category: Salvation
Saved by Grace “After All We Can Do”? Nephi’s Context of Reconciliation
2 Nephi 25:23 has the statement, “for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” Does this mean that salvation is a chore in which we do much of the work, or a transaction in which we pay as much of the price as we can, and Christ only steps in after all we have done or paid to make up the difference? Or does this actually mean that salvation is completely “apart from” if not unrelated to all that we can do? Or something else? I think a plausible answer comes through considering the context.
Cherishing the Book of Mormon’s Teachings on the Fairness of God
One of the most spiritually and intellectually satisfying elements of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ the is fairness of God. Contrary to centuries of tragically misguided theology about the…
More on the Limits of “Endless” and “Eternal” in the Book of Mormon: Awaking from “Endless Sleep” and the “Eternal Band of Death”
In a recent previous post, “‘From Whence They Can No More Return’: What Lehi Teaches Us About the Book of Mormon’s Harsh Language on Hell,” I noted that a passage…
“From Whence They Can No More Return”: What Lehi Teaches Us About the Book of Mormon’s Harsh Language on Hell
The Book of Mormon’s teachings on hell sometimes sound much harsher than what we understand from modern revelation. From Joseph’s Smith’s revelations, such as his vision on the three degrees…
“Having Done All, To Stand”: Exposing a Self-Proclaimed “Christian”
Have you ever been fooled by someone who claimed to be Christian, only to find out later that they were part of a non-Christian cult which, because of a horrifically…
Maybe Obedience Isn’t a Dirty Word After All
One of the passages of scripture I’ve used frequently discussions with fellow Christians objecting to LDS beliefs comes from Deuteronomy 4:2. I’ve often used that in clarifying some Book of…
Early Christianity and the (Restored) Concept of Three Degrees of Glory
A page in Barry Bickmores’ “Mormonism and Early Christianity” site provides some information from early Christian writings that are consistent with the Latter-day Saint doctrine of three degrees of glory…
Cramming for the Eternal Salvation Quiz: One Wrong Theological Answer and You’re Doomed
Do you ever get frustrated with those who seem to say that Mormons are doomed because they’ve got some detail of theology wrong? Our failure to understand and accept Trinitarian…
Need a Little Help with that Spleen? My Discomfort with the Bicycle Analogy
The bicycle analogy of the Atonement, from Stephen Robinson’s generally praiseworthy and excellent book, Believing Christ, has become well known among Latter-day Saints. I’ve usually just thought of it as…
