Table of Contents
Using this Study
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Context
Dealing with Sin
I recall an exchange on the front porch of a Mormon neighbor. He was one of the High Priests who excommunicated me a decade earlier. He was a bit frosty in his demeanor, presumably due to our past incursions.
I, however, enjoyed absolute confidence in the Lord.
God made me new (2 Corinthians 5:17), so nothing said could separate me from His love (Romans 8:38-39). I enjoyed what he lacked, a full and certain assurance of salvation in Christ (1 John 5:13). After sixty years of Mormon uncertainty, I could finally defend everything I believed. My beliefs no longer rested on feelings, emotions, or religious leaders. Instead, the Word of God anchored me! I spoke with boldness because it was not I who speak, but God who moves in me (Matthew 10:20).
When I trust God to keep His word, avoiding the temptation to over-prepare, He is faithful. He gives me His words in the exact moment they become necessary (Luke 21:15). Being ever faithful, God was active when I stood before this LDS man to share the good news (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
We spoke about Jesus’ commandment that compels us all, “Be ye therefore perfect” (Matthew 5:48). He was not comfortable examining himself relative to this demanding expectation. As I watched him struggle, old memories filled my mind. As a Mormon, I labored under this commandment. It had been, for me, explicit instruction I could neither comprehend nor obey. In my complete inability to obey, I never experienced peace with God (Romans 5:1).
Achieving Mormon Perfection
When I asked about his failure to keep Jesus’ command, he ran to a Mormon fallback position.
The Mormon people believe the Bible, as we know it, is a corrupt translation. Regarding “Be ye therefore perfect“, Mormon leaders have provided an alternate interpretation. They claim their view is a better translation that grants a grace period, an extension of sorts. They do this by adding to the Word of God (Deuteronomy 4:2 & Revelation 22:18-19).
The Mormon leaders of my past taught that perfection was not required now. They insisted I would have time and opportunity after my death. My Mormon neighbor explained, perfection was not required or possible in his lifetime.
The Mormon Apostle, Jeffrey R. Holland, delivered a well-known talk titled, “Be Ye Therefore Perfect – Eventually“. In it, he suggested a doctrine never mentioned by Jesus.
I checked the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. Smith’s Bible claims to restore plain and precious truths removed by corrupt Christian priests (History of the Church. Ed. by B H Roberts. 1839, 6:57). If Joseph Smith wrote his translation by the “gift and power of God”, it would have restored every lost truth. Smith would have expanded Jesus’ commandment to include “. . . in the afterlife” or “. . . eventually”. Smith made no such correction.
Joseph Smith did, however, rewrite Matthew 5:48 with a strangely unrelated text. He then added two new verses. This is odd, because other Bible translations end with verse forty-eight. The extra verses include, “Ye are therefore commanded to be perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:50, Joseph Smith Translation). Joseph Smith added nothing to suggest compliance was unnecessary in this mortal lifetime.
Joseph Smith changed the contents of Matthew 5:48 and added two new verses.
Why does Joseph Smith’s moved and modified verse agree with Jesus and disagree with the modern teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
Another concern is that Mormon scripture rejects Holland and other leaders. One passage insists those who do not keep all the commandments continually will never enter heaven where God is (Doctrine and Covenants, 25:15). Another insists, if you procrastinate the day of your repentance until death, the devil will seal you his and the Spirit of the Lord will have no place in you (Book of Mormon, Alma 34:35).
Repentance is another doctrine changed by Mormon scripture. The Mormon variant insists repentance requires that we confess, forsake and turn permanently from our sins (Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, p 122 & Doctrine and Covenants 58:43).
With these Mormon doctrines in mind, I have a few important questions.
- Have you repented by forsaking every sin and returning to none?
- Do you keep all the commandments continually?
- If you die today, will you go where God is?
- Can you think of a Mormon who went to his or her death having permanently forsaken every sin?
The man on the porch wrestled with these questions. He was quick to confess his ongoing struggle with sin and volunteered, “I repent daily”. I thought, that makes no sense at all. If he observed Mormon repentance, he would never repeat a sin. If he systematically eliminated sin, he would remove the need for daily repentance. This doctrine originated with Joseph Smith.
Repentance is a thing that cannot be trifled with every day. Daily transgression and daily repentance is not that which is pleasing in the sight of God.
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg 148 & www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/2008/02/repentance
An additional question leapt to the forefront of my mind.
If you repent of a sin and never repeat it, why do you repent daily?
A Perfect Woman
I recall another conversation on another porch on a different occasion. A woman insisted she had reached a point in her life where she was no longer tempted to sin. Presumably, she checked sins off her list until none remained. Was she correct in assuming her perfect righteousness, or was the truth not in her?
8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John 1:8 & 10, KJV
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 3:23, KJV
A short time later, I met with the Mormon Stake President and one of his counselors. With his permission, I recorded the event. I shared the woman’s claim without revealing her identity. The following is a word-for-word excerpt from that meeting.
Stake President: To take a sister like you just spoke of and say that she said I am not tempted in some of these commandments anymore.
Excerpt, meeting with Rock Permann, American Falls, Idaho Stake President, November, 2020
Lance: All of the commandments!
Stake President: All of the commandments, great; is to me, looking at her and going, wow!
The Bible teaches of an alternate reality. As a dog returns to and laps up its vomit, so do fools return to their sin (Proverbs 26:11). You may argue, I am no fool! I would disagree. We are all, compared to the holiness of God, fools!
This leads me to ask more questions.
- If you can forsake and never return to your sins, why don’t you?
- Why do Mormon leaders affirm that a church member can please God through perfect commandment keeping?