Beliefs > Question & Answer > Questions about Jesus Christ

Question

I am a Christian and was raised to believe that certain 'religions' were cults; Mormonism being one of them. Within the last couple of months I have found myself really searching and wondering. Are all who believe and have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior regardless of their differences in belief going to spend eternity in Heaven, are the differences between Christianity and Mormonism so vastly different that one or the other may or may not be there? It says in the bible that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness." -2Timothy 3:16 It doesn't say anything about any other book that we must live by, ie. the Book of Mormon. Many Christians would say that the Book of Mormon is a book added by Mormons and not of God. Donny, I am searching because I have these continuous thoughts nudging at me to search and ask questions; I want to continue to grow in my relationship with the Lord.

Response

You asked if all who believe and have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, regardless of their differences in belief, are going to spend eternity in heaven. We believe that all who accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, try as best they can to live clean and worthy lives, keep His commandments, and strive to be kind, charitable individuals towards all who they come in contact with, will live with Him eternally. The difficulty for much of the Christian world is that we believe what the scriptures say about doing the will of the Lord as a condition to receiving His grace. We believe that it is not enough to only confess our belief in Him and accept Him as our Savior, but we must also show Him how much we accept His wonderful gift to us by the quality of our lives. Therefore, we subscribe to the principle that we are saved by grace, after all that we can do. From there, I would refer you to James chapter 2, verses 14 through 20, the essence of which says: if we claim to have faith in Christ, we prove it by the quality of that which we do to bless the lives of others and to keep God’s commandments. In other words, we believe that knowing and believing are not enough, but it is what we do that is vital. I would refer you to Matthew chapter 7 verse 21, which says, "Not everyone that sayeth unto me ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." There are other scriptures, but those two certainly make the point. One can imagine how wrong it would be if a person could confess Christ as His personal Savior, and turn around thereafter to commit murder, rape, mayhem, and all kinds of personal destruction, and then expect to be numbered among the faithful sons and daughters of God who have inherited the Kingdom of God by living righteous lives. You asked if the differences between Christianity and Mormonism differ so vastly that one or the other may not be there. Presumably, by "there", you mean the Kingdom of God. Just to clarify, we do believe that we are part of Christianity, but I understand what you mean, which would be those of other Christian faiths. We believe that all faiths do good and bless the lives of their members to the extent that they teach Christ, preach Christ, and invite all men to strive to become more like Him. We know that we will all one day stand before our Savior and be judged by Him according to the things that we have done on this earth. That judgment will be tempered by the light and knowledge that we had. Where much has been given, much will be expected. Those who had an opportunity to hear and understand the message of the gospel in their lifetime, and who lived faithful to it, will inherit that kingdom. Those who did not have that opportunity will receive it in the spirit world before their judgment. We learn this from 1 Peter chapter 3, verses eighteen and nineteen; and 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 6. You referred to 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16, which says, "All scripture is given by inspiration and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." I absolutely agree with this, but you are concerned because this particular verse does not say anything about any other book that we must live by, such as the Book of Mormon. True enough, but you must consider it in this light, that when the second epistle to Timothy was written, the Bible did not exist in book form. All of the writings of the prophets and apostles were recorded on papyrus scrolls and handed down over the centuries, until 900 AD when the Bible was compiled into book form for the very first time. My reason for mentioning this is because 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 also didn’t say anything about any other book which would be compiled into the Bible, nor did it mention the Book of Mormon, but this does not make any of those other books less valuable in their part of the Bible. It has been my experience that those who have difficulty accepting the Book of Mormon as the word of God have not read it. I invite you to learn whether the Book of Mormon is true by reading it. Don’t take the opinion of those who don’t believe it, but have not read it. The proof of the Book of Mormon is found by reading it. If an individual will read it with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, then Christ will manifest the truth of it unto them by the power of the Holy Ghost. I also, by experience have learned that by the power of the Holy Ghost we can come to know the truth of all things. I congratulate you for wanting to continue to grow in your relationship with the Lord. You are on the right track. In your quest to know more details about the LDS faith, I would be more than happy to send two representatives from our church to teach you more about the doctrine of the church. They can better explain what it is that we believe and why, and help you understand the Plan of Salvation which was given by our Heavenly Father. I promise that you will come to know the truth of all things. Please let me know if you would like for me to do that. Sincerely, Donny Osmond See related multimedia presentations

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