Saved

Recently, I have been taking a World Religions class and one of the hot topics of discussion has been PLURALISM, which is the effort of helping people from different religious and cultural backgrounds be able to live together in harmony. It goes beyond tolerance, and seeks to embrace diversity and build one community. With religion and soteriology in the mix, comes the question,

“Can pluralism exist if my neighbor thinks I am going to hell because I don’t believe what they believe?”

An interesting question to ponder, but it made me reflect even further. Do my friends think that I think they’re going to hell?

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Last summer, I was out to dinner with some family members, none of which practice the same faith as me. For those who don’t know, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, previously known as “Mormons”. So, of course, I was the only one there not drinking alcohol. To be clear, I have no problem with people drinking around me and I am happy with my choice to not drink.

(Okay, well I do hate the smell of beer breath, but only because it triggers some unpleasant memories, not for a religious reason.)

Anyways, I don’t remember exactly what was said at dinner, but then my uncle remarked,

“Oh, Taylor is probably thinking we are a bunch of sinners going to hell.”

Uh, no... I was not sitting there judging their every move. I was, however, a little offended by the comment.

I want to make this blog to clear up some of the misconceptions there are on what I believe as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and what is the actual doctrine taught by the Church.

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Are non members going to Hell? No.

We are probably one of the most liberal religions, because we believe that pretty much everyone is going to some type of heaven after this life. Everyone will inherit a glory greater than our mortal minds can even imagine.

Yup, GOD IS SO GOOD.

That might sound cool to some people, or a little blasphemous to others with stricter views of heaven and hell, but that’s what it is.

We understand “hell” when mentioned in the scriptures to not be a physical place of literal fire and brimstone, but more of a state of being. It’s the burning feeling of remorse that one feels when they recognize something they did was wrong. You can even experience hell in this life, but luckily, Christ suffered for our sins and we can find peace and overcome those negative feelings when we follow Him.

If everyone’s saved, then why do you send out missionaries to convert people?

Whew. The answer to this is really complex, but also pretty simple. If you want to hear from the missionaries why they chose to go out, you should invite them over and ask. If you’re at least polite, you’ll probably be written down in some 19 year old’s journal as the “Miracle of the Day”. So, worth it.

(Here’s what I wrote when I was leaving to serve a full-time mission: https://taylorholidayitalyromemission.blogspot.com/2015/07/why-am-i-mormon.html)

To understand this, it’s best that you understand the Plan of Salvation. This is the name we give to God’s plan for His children. Here’s a simple diagram we use to explain it:

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we believe that before our life on Earth, we lived with God, our Heavenly Father. Anyone who is here on Earth, chose to come here. We knew that life would be faced with challenges and trials, but that we needed to experience these things for our own spiritual progress and to help us prepare for the next step.

Christ is key and essential to this plan.

“All people will be saved from physical death by the grace of God, through the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Each individual can also be saved from spiritual death by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ. This faith is manifested in a life of obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel and service to Christ.” (“Salvation”, The Guide to the Scriptures)

The 3 Kingdoms on the right of the diagram all have a different amount of glory, but the ultimate goal is to reach the top kingdom. We believe that one must do their absolute best to live their lives in accordance with Christ’s teachings if they want to arrive in the Celestial Kingdom. This is the kingdom where Heavenly Father lives and where you can continue to progress to be like God for all of eternity.

Then this is what the missionaries’ special teaching manual has to say:

Honestly, this covers such a small reason of why we send missionaries out, and I’ll just have to finish it up in the next blog post, but for now I’ll answer one last question for this topic of salvation.

Hold up, what’s with this “outer darkness” business?

Yup, that’s on the diagram too. It is said that a small group of people will end up in outer darkness. I don’t know exactly what outer darkness is supposed to mean, but I know it is no glory. It is the closest thing to most Christian views on “hell”. The qualifications to get there are pretty specific:

The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which shall not be forgiven in the world nor out of the world, is in that ye commit murder wherein ye shed innocent blood, and assent unto my death, after ye have received my new and everlasting covenant, saith the Lord God; and he that abideth not this law can in nowise enter into my glory, but shall be damned, saith the Lord. (Doctrine & Covenants 132:27)

Don’t worry and try to think too hard over who could these people be going to “outer darkness”. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged (Luke 6:37).

Additional References:

The Kingdoms- Doctrine and Covenants 137, Corinthians 15:41-42