Doctrinal Comparisons of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Many modern Christian teachers and theologians claim a doctrine of salvation by grace that disregards any effort on the part of the person to be saved.  The discussion often involves the concept of faith without works being dead and yet any works that do happen to come about as a result of our faith have no bearing on our salvation.   Latter-day Saints do hold to doctrines of grace.  There is no action or series of actions we can perform on our own that will save us from our sins without the atonement of Jesus Christ. Salvation is therefore only by his grace and its accompanying virtue of mercy. The acts of making and keeping covenants with ordinances to confirm them are gifts of God's love. Faith in Jesus Christ saves us. Our willingness to enter into a covenant relationship with the Father and the Son is the evidence of our faith. If God tells us, or even commands us to do something, what is the effect? Consider the following example. We have been given an abundanc...

Taking quotes out of context and comments made a century or more apart under different circumstances by church leaders is one strategy of church critics to try and fabricate contradictions in church teachings to confuse uniformed people. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practiced polygamy in the early days of the church and changed that policy after some 70 years.  It has not been practiced in since about 1905. Brigham Young and Gordon B Hinckley made statements that critics of the church like to use to sow seeds of misunderstanding regarding the subject.  Brigham Young taught it as a doctrine and Gordon B. Hinckley said it was not taught as a doctrine. People that view marriage and fidelity as an important part of a good life and living in a culture of monogamy will usually have a natural bias against the practice of polygamy under any circumstance.  The idea of a man having more than one wife has been viewed in polite society for centuries as an immoral...

As an ongoing effort to inform myself about my own faith and that of other Christian believers I evaluate some of the discussions that take place online in forums.  This post comes from  Mormons and Biblical Discussion  Group  https://www.facebook.com/groups/659429537470202 Here is the post as written by a person that says they were a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for over 40 years. "I wonder if any of our Mormon friends can shed some light on the reasons behind this.... Here are my observations. More ways the #Mormon church aka #TheChurchOfJesusChristOfLatterDaySaints is working to rebrand itself (spending some of it BILLIONS of dollars). Why? Say you were a church with a fraudulent history and a body of scripture written by a conman; a history you need to bury under the rug, what do you do?  1. Rebrand. Tell members of said church and the whole world to stop referring to it by a nickname that refers back to a false book. Direct them...

A few days ago I was listening to a Christian radio station talk show and one of the callers asked the host about life on other planets. Out of curiosity I also looked at some discussions online by other modern biblical theologians.  As to life forms other than angels, it seems they don't want to rule out the possibility.    Since space is endless, and we see that planets abound as scientists explore the universe, it does seem reasonable to not say there is nothing out there. The host didn't answer the question specifically but gave his opinion on the subject.  He prefaced his thought by saying the Bible doesn't tell us about it, and if there was life anywhere in the universe, it would be from God, and information would come on a need to know basis.  This doesn't really fit well with the orthodox or mainstream biblical teachers because say the Bible is the only word of God and it is a closed canon.  In other words, no new information would be forthcoming. D...

I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when I was seventeen.  As I have studied the church's doctrines for about 47 years I have also compared them to other Christian teachings. What are the differences and similarities as to how Christians understand their faith and Latter-day Saint teachings? In the modern world, there are online forums with average believers. There are essays and videos provided by biblical professors and teachers.  These websites and youtube channels give ample examples of mainstream Christian teachings and also provide erroneous narratives about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  One topic in particular that distinguishes Latter-day Saint theology from doctrines of traditional or mainstream Christianity is how we understand the Fall of Adam and Eve.  We also teach and believe that the doctrine of Christ is eternal in nature which I will explain.  We also believe that Adam and Eve and all the prophets of God ...