The LDS Doctrine of Sin and Salvation Compared to Biblical Christianity

In this episode, Bryan, Bo and KD talk through the second and third Articles of Faith.

Find the official LDS Article of Faith at their website here.

What Mormons Believe about Sin:

LDS:“We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.”

At first glance this seems much more fair than the Christian take. But as we dig deeper we see that this LDS concept creates a pattern of judgment and works based behavior/religion

• AC: We believe God created mankind in His own image. At the beginning of human history, however, man chose to disobey the sovereign God and so brought sin onto the earth. All people everywhere have since been born into this sinful nature and are subject to God’s righteous judgment: death and eternal separation from Himself. (Gen. 1:26; Gen. 3; Rom. 3:23; 6:23; Jer. 17:9; John 3:18; Eph. 2:1-3).

What Mormons Believe about Salvation:

LDS:“We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”

• AC: We believe God’s plan from the beginning of time was to be in relationship with all people. Since sin makes that relationship impossible for everyone, God established a way to credit righteousness. He accepts Jesus Christ’s death on the cross as a payment for the sin of humanity. Those who repent of their sin and believe in God’s work are forgiven and restored to relationship with God. This is salvation, and it is God’s work from beginning to end, so that we are saved purely by grace. (Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:4-7; John 3:16-17; Rom. 3:24-26; 2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 8:1; 1 John 5:11-13; John 1:12).
• Ephesians 2:8-10 (NLT) 8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

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