Mormon Musings

  30  And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto  himself ; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are  free ; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a  knowledge  and he hath made you free.   31  He hath given unto you that ye might  know  good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might  choose  life or death; and ye can do good and be  restored  unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you. Helaman 14:30

“...be kind regarding human frailty—your own as well as that of those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer, mortal men and women. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is  not  in the divinity of the work. As one gifted writer has suggested, when the infinite  fullness  is poured forth, it is not the oil’s fault if there is some loss because finite vessels can’t quite contain it all. Those finite vessels include you and me, so be patient and kind and forgiving. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland -”Lord, I Believe,”  Ensign , May 2013, 94

It is natural to have questions—the acorn of honest inquiry has often sprouted and matured into a great oak of understanding. There are few members of the Church who, at one time or another, have not wrestled with serious or sensitive questions. One of the purposes of the Church is to nurture and cultivate the seed of faith—even in the sometimes sandy soil of doubt and uncertainty. Faith is to hope for things which are not seen but which are true [see Hebrews 11:1 ;  Alma 32:21 ]. President Dieter http://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/come-join-with-us?lang=eng F. Uchtdorf, October 2013 General Conference

Heaven will not be heaven for those who have not chosen to be heavenly... The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that—miraculously—we can feel at home there.   If Christ did not require faith and repentance, then there would be no desire to change. Think of your friends and family members who have chosen to live without faith and without repentance. They don’t want to change. They are not trying to abandon sin and become comfortable with God. Rather, they are trying to abandon God and become comfortable with sin. If Jesus did not require covenants and bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost, then there would be no way to change. We would be left forever with only willpower, with no access to His power. If Jesus did not require endurance to the end, then there would be no internalization of those changes over time. They would forever be surface and cosmetic rather than sinking inside us and becoming part of us—part of who we are.  Brad Wilcox, BYU Devotional,

I have born-again Christian friends who say to me, “You Mormons are trying to  earn  your way to heaven.” I say, “No, we are not earning heaven. We are  learning  heaven. We are preparing for it (see D&C 78:7). We are practicing for it.” They ask me, “Have you been saved by grace?” I answer, “Yes. Absolutely, totally, completely, thankfully—yes!” Then I ask them a question that perhaps they have not fully considered: “Have you been  changed  by grace?” They are so excited about being saved that maybe they are not thinking enough about what comes next. They are so happy the debt is paid that they may not have considered why the debt existed in the first place. Latter-day Saints know not only what Jesus has saved us from but also what He has saved us for. As my friend Brett Sanders puts it, “A life impacted by grace eventually begins to look like Christ’s life.” As my friend Omar Canals puts it, “While many Christians view Christ’s suffering as only a huge favor He d

“The repenting sinner must suffer for his sins, but this suffering has a different purpose than punishment or payment. Its purpose is  change ”  Elder Dallin H. Oaks ( The Lord’s Way  [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1991], 223; emphasis in original). 

“The great Mediator asks for our repentance  not  because we must ‘repay’ him in exchange for his paying our debt to justice, but because repentance initiates a developmental process that, with the Savior’s help, leads us along the path to a saintly character”  Elder Bruce C. Hafen ( The Broken Heart  [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989], 149; emphasis in original).