How to Witness to a Mormon With Truth and Grace
A Latter-day Saint can speak sincerely about loving Jesus, depending on His grace, and believing the Bible while meaning something quite different from what I mean by those words. Before I agree or disagree, I need to hear what the person actually believes. Then we can open Scripture and examine who Jesus is and how a sinner receives eternal life. My responsibility is to explain the gospel faithfully and care about the person hearing it, even when the disagreement is substantial.
Begin With Prayer, Listening, and Accurate Definitions
Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
Paul asked believers to pray that God would open a door for him to speak the Word clearly. He was in chains, yet his request concerned the opportunity to make Christ known. If Paul depended on God for that opportunity, I should not approach someone as though a prepared argument were all I needed. Prayer also reminds me that bringing a person to repentance requires more than getting him to concede a point.
Paul’s instruction about gracious speech does not require us to avoid disagreement. Two people can say they believe in one God while understanding His identity very differently. They can also agree that salvation comes through Christ without agreeing about what salvation includes or how it is received. If I rush past those differences because the conversation sounds friendly, I may leave the other person thinking I affirm a gospel I actually reject.
I will normally use Latter-day Saint for a person and LDS teaching for the institution’s doctrine. The word Mormon in the title is familiar to many readers, but I have no reason to use a name someone dislikes as a way of provoking him. Being considerate about how I address someone does not prevent me from examining his beliefs frankly.
And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
Peter joined readiness to defend our hope with meekness, reverence, and a good conscience. I need to understand the passages I cite and answer honestly, including admitting when a question needs more research. Insulting someone or misrepresenting his beliefs may provoke hostility, but that hostility does not prove I have defended Christ well. Peter expressly distinguishes suffering for doing good from suffering for doing evil.
An individual may not know or accept every explanation found in official LDS material. Ask what he means instead of assigning him a whole set of beliefs before he has spoken. Does he understand the Father to have always been God? In what sense does he believe the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one? When the discussion reaches salvation, ask what he believes is necessary to receive eternal life. Give him time to answer one question before moving to another.
Listening keeps me from spending the conversation refuting something the other person never said. It also gives him a fair opportunity to understand what I believe. He is made in God’s image, and a conversation about the Savior should never become an opportunity to humiliate him.
But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
Paul told the Lord’s servant to correct those who oppose the truth, so patience does not mean treating contradictory claims as equally sound. We should explain where a teaching conflicts with Scripture without becoming quarrelsome. When we need to establish what the LDS Church teaches, its own official publications are better evidence than a sensational quotation circulated without its context. Reading the source together also gives the other person an opportunity to correct a misunderstanding before I build an argument on it.
The Bible Reveals One Eternal God, Not a Chain of Exalted Gods
The LDS Church’s official Godhead overview describes the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as three separate beings united in purpose and doctrine. It says the Father and Son have tangible bodies of flesh and bones, while the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit. Although we use the same names for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we need to establish what we each mean before assuming we agree about God. Moses’ words in Deuteronomy 6 give us a starting point for that comparison.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Moses instructed Israel to worship the LORD as they prepared to enter a land whose peoples worshiped many gods. Biblical monotheism means that only one God exists. Israel was not being told to choose its own deity from a family of genuine gods and leave the others to their own worshipers. The LORD alone is God, and their worship and everyday obedience belonged to Him.
When I speak of the Trinity, I mean that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons who fully and eternally share the one undivided divine being. Person identifies who we are speaking about: the Father is not the Son, and the Holy Spirit is distinct from both. Being identifies what they are. Each is fully God, equal in deity and without beginning. Three separate gods cooperating perfectly would still be three gods, whereas Scripture reveals only one.
“You are My witnesses,” says the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the LORD, And besides Me there is no savior. I have declared and saved, I have proclaimed, And there was no foreign god among you; Therefore you are My witnesses,” Says the LORD, “that I am God. Indeed before the day was, I am He; And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?”
Through Isaiah, God called Israel to testify to who He is. No God was formed before Him, and none would come afterward. He alone is Savior, and no one can reverse His work. I cannot reconcile those claims with the idea that He advanced into deity or that human beings will eventually join a succession of gods. He has always been God; His existence and authority do not depend on an earlier deity.
“Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God. And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, Since I appointed the ancient people. And the things that are coming and shall come, Let them show these to them. Do not fear, nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.'”
Isaiah 44 continues God’s answer to idolatry. The LORD calls Himself the First and the Last, then asks whether another God exists and answers that He knows none. His claim reaches beyond the question of whom Israel should worship. He denies that another true God exists at all.
The official Becoming Like God essay teaches that human beings can progress to exaltation and godliness. It also discusses Lorenzo Snow’s teaching that God was once like man and that man can become like God. The essay says little has been revealed about the first claim, so little is taught about it. It also says exalted people will continue to worship God, without replacing Him or competing with Him. I disagree with its teaching about human divinity, but I need to include those qualifications when explaining it.
Those qualifications do not resolve the disagreement over whether people can become gods. Scripture promises redeemed people a glorious future: God adopts them into His family, raises them bodily, frees them from sin, and conforms them to Christ. They will inherit with Christ and enjoy unbroken fellowship with God. I should gladly explain those promises, because Scripture does call believers to become like Him in holiness.
Being made holy, however, does not turn a creature into another god. Believers receive life from God and will always depend on Him for it. They never acquire His uncreated divine nature or a right to receive worship. When I compare exaltation teaching with Isaiah, I am asking whether it preserves the difference between the eternal Creator and the people He redeems.
Jesus Is the Eternal Creator and Son
That difference also governs how we understand Jesus. The LDS premortality overview describes Him as the Father’s Firstborn spirit Son and Lucifer as another spirit son who rebelled. Latter-day Saints distinguish Jesus sharply from Satan in character and authority; saying that they regard the two as equals would misrepresent them. The question is whether their account of shared premortal parentage agrees with what John says about the Son’s eternal identity.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'” And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
John begins before creation and says the Word already existed. The Word was with God, so He is personally distinct from the Father, and the Word was God. Everything that came into being was made through Him. Jesus cannot belong among the creatures when every creature owes its existence to Him.
Only after establishing His eternal deity does John explain that the Word became flesh. Jesus did not begin to exist at Bethlehem or progress toward becoming God. The eternal Son took on true humanity while remaining fully God. His humanity does not diminish His deity, and His deity does not make His humanity any less real.
Latter-day Saints also speak of Jesus as Creator, so agreeing on that title is only the beginning of the discussion. John’s explanation identifies the Creator as the eternal God, through whom everything was made. Lucifer belongs to the creation over which Jesus is Lord. They do not share the same divine nature.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
Paul explains what he means by “firstborn over all creation” in the sentence that follows: Christ created everything in heaven and on earth. That includes the entire invisible order, however exalted a spiritual being might appear. Everything was made through Him and for Him; He existed before it and continues to hold it together. Reading firstborn as though Paul meant the first creature would contradict Paul’s own explanation.
Firstborn can describe the position of the principal heir rather than someone’s order of birth. Here Paul explains Christ’s supremacy over creation and His headship of the church. As firstborn from the dead, Christ also has preeminence in resurrection: He rose to a life death can never take from Him, and His people will share in that resurrection life. Read those surrounding sentences with the other person so you can discuss what Paul means, rather than argue over an isolated word.
Paul develops the Son’s distinction from the angels throughout Hebrews 1.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son”? But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.” But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.” And: “You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail.” But to which of the angels has He ever said: “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?
The Son made the worlds, upholds everything by His powerful word, and perfectly expresses God’s nature. The Father addresses Him as God and applies to Him words about the LORD who founded the earth. Creation will wear out, but He remains unchanged. The angels are servants whom God sends, and they are commanded to worship the Son. Worshiping Him is appropriate because He is God, not because an exalted creature has been promoted above his companions.
The chapter’s references to the Son’s inheritance and exaltation cannot mean He became God, because Paul has already identified Him as the eternal Creator. He receives honor as the incarnate Son who accomplished His work. That honor recognizes what He has done; it does not supply a divine nature He previously lacked.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus Himself speaks about His eternal identity during a confrontation concerning Abraham.
Then the Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.’ Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
Jesus did not say, “Before Abraham was, I was.” He said, “I AM.” Abraham came into existence, but Jesus spoke of His own existence in terms that reach beyond merely being older than Abraham. I understand His words as a claim to divine identity, consistent with John’s opening description of the Word. The people confronting Him responded by taking up stones.
In the same answer, Jesus distinguished Himself from the Father, who honored Him. His relationship with the Father does not cancel what He said about His own divine identity. John records both, so we need to account for both when explaining who Jesus is.
After the resurrection, Thomas addressed Jesus as his Lord and God, and John records how Jesus received that confession.
Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
Thomas had refused the other disciples’ report that Jesus was alive, so Jesus invited him to examine the wounds of crucifixion. Thomas addressed Him as “My Lord and my God!” Jesus accepted his confession and pronounced a blessing on those who would believe without seeing Him. He did not rebuke Thomas for giving Him an honor that belonged only to the Father.
John immediately explains why he recorded these signs: his readers should believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and have life in His name. We must understand Son of God in light of the whole Gospel. John begins by declaring the Word’s full deity and later records Thomas addressing the risen Jesus as God. Calling Jesus the Son does not contradict either passage or make Him less than God.
The Holy Spirit Is God, and Scripture Judges Later Claims
The Holy Spirit also acts and speaks as God. Peter’s confrontation with Ananias identifies lying to the Spirit as lying to God.
But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
Ananias and Sapphira kept part of the proceeds while presenting their gift deceitfully. Peter explained that the property had been theirs and that they could have decided what to do with the sale money. They were not being condemned for failing to donate every coin. Their sin was lying, and Peter’s description of the One they had lied to establishes the Spirit’s deity.
Elsewhere, the Spirit teaches, speaks, intercedes for believers, and distributes gifts according to His will. An impersonal force cannot explain those actions. He is a divine Person, distinct from the Father and Son, who shares their one divine being. The Trinity includes personal distinction without dividing God into three independent beings.
A Latter-day Saint may respond to these passages by appealing to later revelation that he believes clarifies the Bible. We then need to examine the authority behind that appeal. When a later teaching conflicts with Scripture, do we correct the teaching or reinterpret Scripture to accommodate it? Paul’s instructions to Timothy show why Scripture must judge the claim.
But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra–what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Paul reminded Timothy that Scripture could make him wise for salvation through faith in Christ. Because Scripture comes from God, it has authority to teach, expose error, correct us, and train us in righteousness. The church receives and teaches that revelation; it cannot place itself above the Word and excuse a contradiction by claiming authority to interpret it.
The official LDS Standard Works overview includes the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price as scripture. Its Bible overview affirms the Bible as God’s word but says errors entered through compilation, organization, translation, and transcription. It also affirms continuing revelation through living prophets and denies that the Bible is God’s final written word. The disagreement concerns the authority of these additional sources as well as the doctrines they teach.
Scripture’s inspiration does not mean every copyist reproduced every letter perfectly. We can compare manuscripts and examine their differences openly without treating God’s original Word as mistaken. A copying error, however, supplies no proof that a later religious claim is true. If someone says an LDS doctrine was lost from the Bible, he needs evidence for that particular loss.
Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jude calls believers to defend the faith already delivered to the saints. He warns about corruption within the church and tells Christians to resist it. He does not tell them to expect the apostolic gospel to disappear and await a nineteenth-century restoration. Apostasy means departure from the faith, and the New Testament’s answer is to remain in the truth already received.
That need to read passages in context also applies to our own arguments. Revelation 22 warns against adding to or taking from the prophecy of Revelation; it does not directly describe the later binding of the whole Bible into one volume. I would not make it say more than it does. Scripture’s authority and the apostolic gospel already require us to test later claims, rather than accept a new book or messenger merely because someone calls it revelation.
Grace Saves Apart From Ordinances and Human Merit
We also need clear definitions when discussing salvation. LDS sources use salvation in more than one sense, including the resurrection they teach Christ makes available to everyone born on earth. They distinguish that from exaltation, the fullness of eternal life with God. The General Handbook lists ordinances necessary for salvation and exaltation: baptism, confirmation and the gift of the Holy Ghost, priesthood ordination for men, temple endowment, and temple sealing. It connects receiving the blessings of eternal life with keeping the covenants associated with those ordinances.
I would misrepresent a Latter-day Saint if I said he believed he could save himself without Christ. Our disagreement concerns the requirements for receiving eternal life with God. We need to compare the LDS conditions of priesthood ordinances and covenant keeping with Paul’s explanation of grace.
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Paul describes people who were spiritually dead in sin, then explains that God made them alive with Christ. They did not make themselves worthy of that rescue. Salvation is God’s gift, received through faith, and no one can boast of having earned it. Only after explaining salvation apart from works does Paul describe the good works for which believers were created in Christ.
Paul’s order helps us answer questions about obedience. Someone born again has received new life and should obey God, but obedience grows from that life. It neither earns salvation nor keeps the believer saved; Christ has already completed the saving work on which that life depends. Paul explains the same mercy to Titus.
For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Paul includes himself among people who had been foolish, disobedient, and deceived, so he is not speaking as someone who deserved better than his readers. He credits their salvation to God’s mercy. Regeneration means being born again: the Holy Spirit gives a sinner new life. Justification means that God declares the believer righteous. Neither comes from the righteous works a sinner has performed.
Water baptism publicly identifies a believer with Christ, as He commands; it does not cause the new birth. Nor can confirmation, priesthood office, temple endowment, or temple sealing add to Christ’s completed saving work. This does not excuse disobedience. In Titus 2:11-14, Paul explains that grace trains us to reject ungodliness and live rightly. Christ saves us and teaches us to obey, without making our obedience the price of His acceptance.
Because salvation rests on God’s grace, Paul refused to accommodate a message that changed the gospel, however impressive its messenger might appear.
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
Paul subjected even himself and an angel from heaven to the gospel already preached. A supernatural appearance cannot authorize a contradictory message. That applies directly to claims that an angel brought additional scripture to restore the gospel. We need to examine what the messenger teaches about God, Christ, and salvation before accepting the claimed experience as evidence of God’s approval.
To make that comparison, we need to know what the apostles preached. Paul sets out the gospel the Corinthians received in 1 Corinthians 15.
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you–unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
Christ died for our sins according to Scripture, was buried, and rose bodily on the third day. Paul names people who saw Him alive, including many who were still living when Paul wrote. Their testimony concerns events that happened to Jesus Himself, not private impressions that a later teacher could replace with a different religious experience.
Some Corinthians were denying the resurrection of the dead. In that context, I understand Paul’s warning about having “believed in vain” as exposing the emptiness of professing faith while rejecting the gospel’s bodily resurrection. He is not teaching that someone genuinely born again can later lose eternal life. We cannot affirm a gospel while denying the resurrection on which its promise depends.
When explaining Christ’s saving work, we should also address the place LDS teaching gives Gethsemane. The official atonement overview places His atoning sacrifice both in the garden and on the cross. It would be inaccurate to say LDS teaching simply rejects the cross. I disagree with its claim that Jesus began paying for sins through His agony in the garden. The apostles locate His saving sacrifice in His shed blood and death.
Jesus truly agonized in Gethsemane and willingly submitted to what lay ahead. After His arrest, wicked men tortured Him and put Him to death. He gave Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and the worth of His sacrifice rests on His own sinless perfection. His sacrifice through His shed blood and death was complete before His burial and bodily resurrection. The Father did not punish, curse, abandon, strike, bruise, or pour wrath on Jesus. Father and Son acted in unity throughout His saving work.
Paul directs us to the blood of Christ’s cross in Colossians 1:20. Christ’s burial and bodily resurrection also belong to the gospel, as the passage we have just read makes clear. I need to explain each part faithfully, without suggesting that His completed sacrifice awaits something a priesthood ordinance can supply.
Christ died for the sins of the whole world, so I can offer His salvation sincerely to the person in front of me. He can resist God’s grace, but if he repents and truly believes in Jesus, God forgives him, declares him righteous, and gives him new life. The Holy Spirit indwells and seals him, and his eternal life is secure in Christ. That assurance gives him no permission for lawlessness. Calling himself a Christian is not the same as being born again, and genuine new life should show itself in his conduct.
Keep the Conversation Centered on Jesus and Care for the Person
A Latter-day Saint may describe a powerful conviction received through prayer about the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith. I would not ridicule that experience or try to outweigh it with a stronger feeling of my own. We need a way to judge whether such convictions are true, and John tells believers how to assess spiritual claims.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
John wrote against false teaching that denied the true Christ. He required believers to test what a spirit said about Jesus and whether it agreed with the apostolic message. Someone can repeat Jesus’ name and acknowledge that He had a body while contradicting what the apostles taught about Him. We need to consider what he actually says about Christ, because the Holy Spirit does not reveal the Son in Scripture and then endorse a conflicting description through a private impression.
We need to apply that test to ourselves as well. Sincerity, a peaceful feeling, or a striking experience cannot make my interpretation true. If I ask a Latter-day Saint to let Scripture correct his beliefs, I must be willing to have mine corrected by it too. We should be able to read the same passage together and discuss what its words support.
For example, after listening to what the person believes about Jesus, ask whether he is willing to read John 1 with you. Follow John’s explanation from the Word’s eternal existence and deity through His work as Creator to His becoming flesh. Ask how that description fits the explanation of Jesus he has received. Allow him to answer instead of interrupting with another objection.
If the discussion concerns whether other gods exist, read Isaiah’s answer together. If the question is how a sinner receives eternal life, Ephesians 2 and Titus 3 explain grace, while 1 Corinthians 15 sets out Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Establish what each person means by salvation and exaltation before discussing ordinances. Stay with the question long enough to read carefully, rather than replacing that discussion with twenty disconnected proof texts.
Invite the person to continue reading John’s Gospel and meet again. If a question needs research, acknowledge it and return with primary sources that address it. I want to help him understand and trust the biblical Christ, and pressuring him for an instant admission may leave his actual questions unanswered.
When missionaries visit, be candid about the discussion you are willing to have. If you want to examine doctrine rather than receive their prepared lessons, say so respectfully and agree on the passage or question. They may be young people serving far from home, and offering ordinary hospitality need not imply agreement with their teaching. If two missionaries come, address both respectfully instead of trying to embarrass the one who seems less experienced.
Never record the conversation secretly or use their visit as material for online ridicule. Someone who offers to talk with us about religion has not thereby offered to become entertainment for an audience. I can be firm about false teaching without exploiting a person’s willingness to enter my home.
Patience also belongs in conversations with family. If every visit turns into an unexpected doctrinal challenge, relatives may stop trusting an invitation to spend time together. Ask when they are willing to talk, respect the agreement about the discussion, and continue caring for them when they disagree. Love cannot depend on how quickly someone accepts my explanation.
A person questioning LDS authority may fear harm to a marriage, family disapproval, or the loss of longstanding friendships and community. These consequences are not inevitable, but the possibility may weigh heavily on him. If I urge him to examine his beliefs, I should also listen when he explains what reconsidering them could cost. Practical help, steady friendship, and time to read the Bible should accompany doctrinal instruction.
Leaving an organization does not itself bring someone to faith in Christ. If religious leaders have disappointed him, he may also find it difficult to trust anyone who speaks about God. Help him distinguish their conduct from who Jesus is, and introduce him to a healthy local church with accountable leaders. He needs Christian fellowship with people who will know him, care for him, and make room for honest questions as he learns.
My Final Thoughts
When I speak with a Latter-day Saint, I need to take his beliefs and his welfare seriously. Let him explain what he believes, describe official teaching fairly, and read the Bible with him patiently. Being friendly cannot require me to affirm a gospel Scripture rejects, but disagreeing gives me no excuse to humiliate him. Keep returning to the eternal Son and the salvation He gives by grace through faith. If the person begins to question what he has been taught, continue helping him through the questions and possible losses. He needs to hear the truth about Christ from people who will also care for him.