Misunderestimating Mormonism

June 22, 2012 By 8 Comments

This is one of those times where one probably ought to announce one’s biases up front so as to avoid any misunderstanding: I do not believe Mormonism to be metaphysically true because I accept a different and competing set of metaphysical truths.

While I cannot claim to have given the Latter-Day religion every possible consideration, I have a) had Mormon missionaries over to my house for several weeks running; b) read parts of the Book of Mormon; c) read articles and books on Mormonism by Mormon and non-Mormon experts; and d) visited a Mormon house of worship.

That means Mormon proselytizers are probably wasting their time. It also means that I find lazy anti-Mormon caricatures incredibly irksome.

To wit, reader Ken Dahl writes in comments, “The Mormon god has willingly allowed 99.99% of humanity to pass through life without knowing the principals of salvation as put forward by the LDS church in Salt Lake City. One must wonder about this marvelous ‘plan of salvation’ espoused by Mormonism — living a principled life on earth as the Mormon god intended. It isn’t a plan at all. It’s an epic failure in concept and execution. Further evidence that their ‘loving’ god doesn’t exist.”

This comment evinces an utter failure to understand Mormonism on its own terms. Let us count out a few of the ways:

1) Mormons do believe in hell but it’s pretty damned hard to get there. So the Latter-Day “plan of salvation” has not consigned “99.99% of humanity” to eternal torment in outer darkness.

2) Mormons believe in different levels of heaven or “degrees of glory,” designated as the Telestial, Terrestrial, and Celestial Kingdoms.

3) They also believe in a post-mortal existence in the “spirit world” before we’re sorted into those kingdoms.

4) Mormons believe that the highest heaven, the Celestial Kingdom, is reserved to believing Mormons in this world or in our post-mortal existence.

5) They believe that their actions in this world affect the spirit world, in two ways. First, their proselytizing efforts send people into the spirit world as believing Mormons likely to migrate up thereafter.

6) Second, Mormons believe that their religious rituals in this world affect what goes on in that spirit world. Thus the baptisms, by proxy, for the dead.

7) You know what, let me just include a handy chart here from Wikipedia to help y’all out:

Mormon heavens

Indeed, you can get almost all of the above on the Mormon hereafter from the content of the Wikipedia article on the subject. If you accept the premises of Mormonism, this is a credible “plan of salvation” for at least a pretty good chunk of humanity, and not an awful fate for the rest of us. If a good plan is evidence of a good planner then a certain reader might want to rethink the existence of a certain deity.

Filed Under: Sermons and Soda Water Tagged With: , 8 Comments
  • Dandini

    Funny, but the entire “Plan of Salvation” can be substantiated by numerous Bible scriptures….

    Since I was raised Lutheran (Missouri Synod), was a Sunday School teacher and youth group leader, it seems that most of my understanding comes from years of studying the Bible, without any other books…. amazing….

    I converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, after studying the Bible and the Book of Mormon, praying and fasting, then receiving a confirmation of the Holy Ghost….

  • http://www.researchonreligion.org Tony Gill

    Three cheers for handy charts! However, somewhere in the faculty lounge of a divinity school, there is a fierce argument raging about whether the shade of the terrestial kingdom is more of a forest green as compared to a lime green. Scholars careers and government funding are being determined by the outcome of this debate.

  • LMA

    Jeremy, thanks for this. There’s a little copy editor inside my head that makes me want to change Latter-Day to Latter-day (see the style manual in the Newsroom of lds.org) but that’s minor compared to the clear and fair picture you present. Your article illustrates the eternal importance of baptism for the dead (1 Cor. 15:29) among other ordinances that may be bound in heaven because bound on earth. (Matt. 16:19, 18:18.) That’s important because of the response (often sincere, sometimes feigned) that Mormons receive over proxy baptism. Because of those reactions, the Church has spoken firmly (even to the point of imposing excommunication) against those in the Church who have been motivated by good intentions to baptize by proxy those who are not their own ancestors. But the idea is not, as often claimed by critics, to covert the dead through baptism, as though against their will, but to provide access (as your article notes) to the blessings of baptism for those who desire those blessings in the spirit world, despite the lack of opportunity here. Even so, there is no Mormon or institutional desire to offend or to fail to respect the beliefs and traditions of others. One of the very nice aspects of Mormon belief is the idea that everything gets sorted out on the other side of the veil; the important thing is that we seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33; 3 Nephi 13:33) in this life, so that all those things may be added unto us.

  • http://www.conservativemormonmom.blogspot.com E B

    The one thing missing from the handy chart (I’m a Mormon) is Christ. It is through Christ that we can repent, that we are resurrected, and ultimately the only way by which we may stand cleansed and pure before God at Judgement Day. But yes, thanks for noticing and defending Mormon beliefs about salvation, which are more inclusive than any other religion of which I am aware.

  • Bumpjon

    Hmmm, it’s interesting that Mr. Dahl apparently believes that any religion that limits salvation to less than everyone who has ever lived if patently false. By that standard (as far as I know) Mormonism is the only religion that is not false. Through genealogy, temple baptisms, and other temple ordinance, Mormons believe that all men, i.e., everyone who has ever lived, will have access to Christ’s atonement and eternal life. I do not know of any religion that offers salvation so widely.

  • Dan Maloy

    Agreed. It’s a pretty good article. LOVED the diagram. However, it could be more clear on the main claim of the poster, Ken Dahl:

    Ken falsely said that Mormonism dooms “99.99%” of mankind to damnation when nothing could be further from the truth! Yes, the author, Jeremy Lott, mentions what is known as “baptism for the dead” but does not fully explain what that is, and why and how that takes place.

    Jesus Christ himself said that EVERY person must be baptized by water AND by the continued reception of the Holy Ghost in order to be saved. (Go read John 3:3-5 yourself. There’s no wiggle room there.) So, how does God give EVERYONE a fair shot at that? Indeed, what about those who live and die (of which there have been BILLIONS) who never even heard of Jesus Christ, let alone Mormonism? How can they be baptized as followers of Christ if they’ve never even heard of Christ? Yes, what about those people? Simple. Jesus Christ, when He died and temporarily left His body on the cross and in the tomb, sent representatives to visit the wicked, as well as the (spiritually speaking) ignorant, who temporarily reside in what is known as “spirit prison” so that they, too, might hear the glorious news of the mission of Jesus Christ and His offered redemption of their sinful souls. (See 1 Peter 4:6) EVERYONE, whether in mortality, or in the world of spirits beyond the veil of death, will have the opportunity to learn of, and to follow, Jesus. “Opportunity” being the key word; Christ will force no man or woman to heaven. This missionary work among the ignorant who have left mortality continues in earnest to this very day. But what of Christ’s unyielding command that everyone must be baptized? How is a spirit baptized?

    This is where the proxy baptisms, performed by the living for those who have died, comes into play. God recognizes their desire to be baptized (for those who truly WANT to be baptized) and acknowledges/sanctions the work done by the living on behalf of those who cannot do it themselves (the dead), thereby satisfying the Savior’s command that all true followers must be baptized just as he was baptized. Now, before any reader ridicules the idea that what one person does for someone else has no bearing to the other’s salvation, I would ask such a reader to ponder Christ’s atonement: was not His gift of offering to pay for our sins a gift that we ourselves could not do or achieve on our own?

    The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the ‘Mormons’) is the ONLY church in the world who teaches this simple and glorious doctrine of equal opportunity of salvation.

    I value my knowledge of what is known in Latter-day Saint theology as the ‘Plan of Salvation’ more than life itself. It is beautifully simple and simply beautiful. Indeed, it was planned by the ‘Ultimate Planner’.

    Cheers!

  • Jeremy Pearson

    It makes me feel really good to see someone who is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS that has the respect to at least try to understand and fairly represent our beliefs. Thank you Jeremy Lott.

  • Dale Wight

    Jeremy, you’ve done a good job correcting that error and your explanation is accurate. Two things to add:
    1. As noted already, the entire plan of salvation/happiness is based upon Christ’s atonement.
    2. You noted your study, discussions, and attendance without accepting that what you well described actually is true. I didn’t either until I asked God whether it is. His answer was my conversion. Have you tried it?
    ————————————————-
    The Book of Mormon, Moroni 10
    3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your chearts.
    4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
    5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.