December 26 – 1 Corinthians 1:18; “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”
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This verse has always been my call to arms so to speak. The Mormon cannot stand talking about the cross so the more I engage them in conversation, the more I bring up the subject of the cross. I like to show them this verse and then 1 Cor. 15:1-5; they soon see they are without excuse and besides once again, it gives them something to think about.
If you’re a Christian you worship a God not confined to a man made grave. You worship a God who raised His dead Son and brought Him back to life.
There are so many biblical references to sacrifices needing to be made for man’s sin and each of them are a foreshadowing of what was to come through God’s own sacrifice of His Son. Why would the Garden of Gethsemane qualify? And where in scripture can we see that the Garden of Gethsemane would fulfill the sacrifice God demanded for righteousness? These are the questions I would ask the Mormon.
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“GREATEST SUFFERING WAS IN GETHSEMANE. We speak of the passion of Jesus Christ. A great many people have an idea that when he was on the cross, and nails were driven into his hands and feet, that was his great suffering. His great suffering was before he ever was placed upon the cross. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that the blood oozed from the pores of his body: “Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit-and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink,” That was not when he was on the cross; that was in the garden. That is where he bled from every pore in his body.” Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3 vols. 1: 130.
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Gospel Principles, pg 241; “What happens to us after we die? Heavenly Father prepared a plan for our salvation. As part of this plan, He sent us from His presence to live on earth and receive mortal bodies of flesh and blood. Eventually our mortal bodies will die, and our spirits will go to the spirit world. The spirit world is a place of waiting, working, learning, and, for the righteous, resting from care and sorrow. Our spirits will live there until we are ready for our resurrection. Then our mortal bodies will once more unite with our spirits, and we will receive the degree of glory we have prepared for.”
