General Conference, April 2015, “Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet”; “I express my gratitude for the Atonement and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and acknowledge events in the divine plan of God that led up to and give meaning to the “love Jesus offers [us]”…
We cannot fully comprehend the Atonement and Resurrection of Christ and we will not adequately appreciate the unique purpose of His birth or His death—in other words there is no way to truly celebrate Christmas or Easter—without understanding that there was an actual Adam and Eve who fell from Eden, with all the consequences that fall carried with it. …
… That Atonement would achieve complete victory over physical death, unconditionally granting resurrection to every person who has been or ever will be born into this world. Mercifully it would also provide forgiveness for the personal sins of all, from Adam to the end of the world, conditioned upon repentance and obedience to divine commandments. …
So today we celebrate the gift of victory over every fall we have ever experienced, every sorrow we have ever known, every discouragement we have ever had, every fear we have ever faced—to say nothing of our resurrection from death and forgiveness for our sins. That victory is available to us because of events that transpired on a weekend like this more than two millennia ago in Jerusalem.” – Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles [emphasis mine]
Genesis 3:15; “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Ephesians 2:15; “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.”
This speech given by Mr. Holland at the last General Conference is crammed with filler words which, as we know by now, is done for the purpose of confusing people. Let’s take a look at a few important items he brought up and compare them with the precious words of our Lord!
1.As you may have noticed I emphasized the word atonement. I did this once again to bring attention to the way they misuse this word. Speaking of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross in such a manner reveals his detachment of why Jesus had to do this, and what purpose it ultimately served.
Another example of this problem is what Melissa shared on the phone with me yesterday. She was telling me about an experience she had when she was still heavily involved in the Church. You’ll see how an everyday, temple worthy Mormon comprehends Jesus’ sacrifice for us. Here in part is what she said –
“I was at one of my home-school support group meetings and asked one of the moms if she believed in the atonement, and she just kind of looked at me funny then said yes. She also said something like “you mean that Jesus died for our sins””
2.We want to take note of something vitally important this guy said because the words he used are a complete contradiction of what the LDS Church believes. When he said ‘all the consequences that fall carried with it’, he’s preaching against Mormon dogma.
Articles of Faith 1:2; “We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.”
We must ask – what consequences?
3.Mormons don’t believe all sins are forgiven.
4.Jesus’ sacrifice for sins did not guarantee a resurrection for all people. The Bible tells us that unbelievers will stand before the Great White Throne – Revelation 20 – but it doesn’t say if that’s in bodily or spirit form. After that, they’ll be thrown into the Lake of Fire. Believers go on to live eternally with Jesus. Mormons believe everyone will be resurrected and are then sent to one of three levels of heaven, and this is unbiblical to the core.
I know that in general conversations with other Christians, we speak of Christ’s death of the cross and paying for our sins; however, we don’t say that he “atoned” for our sins or that the ‘atonement’ was at the cross that often, though we know that is what Jesus did.
You are correct in saying that the LDS over-uses the word “atonement”.
I did notice that he spoke of the Fall in contradiction to the LDS doctrine. Does this mean they are trying to change more and more to sound more like Christianity? If they don’t refute their doctrines on any of their changes, it creates even more confusion and grounds for people calling out their lies.
As a Christian, I can go to the Bible to check out what a speaker or pastor says to see if it aligns with the Word. Mormons, cannot do this. They are told to listen to these leaders, prophets, etc. The leaders give out ‘revelations’ of their doctrine.
The changeableness of their doctrines by whoever is leading for the moment, provides no solid ground for the Mormons. They cannot check because if they do, they’ll find something else entirely.
“On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”
I found their talks to be a mixed bag of messages this time around. One minute they’re sounding Mormon through and through with all the reproducing dogma they can’t let go of. The next guy on the stand starts in with the deceitful manner of trying to fit in w/ other Christians. To me, this is how they keep reeling people back in or cementing their feet even deeper in the pit.
One of the biggest problems in the life of an everyday Mormon is that they don’t stop to think of opening their Bibles to check it against what their prophet says. They’re given one or two cherry picked biblical verses to read that seemingly backs up their claim and then they’ll close them again.