Demonstrating Enough Faith to Come unto the Savior

Ensign, Nov. 2006, 113; “We long to be close to the Lord, for we know that He loves each of us and desires to encircle us ‘eternally in the arms of his love’ (2 Nephi 1:15). His touch can heal ailments spiritual, emotional, or physical. He is our Advocate, Exemplar, Good Shepherd, and Redeemer. Where else would we look, where else would we reach, where else would we come but to Jesus Christ, ‘the author and finisher of our faith?’ (Hebrews 12:2).

“He pronounced: ‘Yea, verily . . . , if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive’ (3 Nephi 9:14). His promise invites us not only to reach towards Him but also to take the all-important next step: to come unto Him.” – Anne C. Pingree, “To Look, Reach, and Come unto Christ”

Mormon Doctrine, pg 66; “Christ is not the Author of Salvation in the sense that he created the plan of salvation, nor in the sense that he supposedly presented a plan of his own in the councils in heaven, which plan the Father supposedly adopted in preference to a less desirable one formulated by Lucifer. Rather the Father is the Author of the plan of salvation, a plan which began to operate long before Christ was ever chosen to be the Redeemer.”

Hebrews 12:2; “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Hebrews 1:3; “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 on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Genesis 3:8; “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.”

Because the LDS quote we used here today didn’t come from a prophet, members will try and tell the public at large her words don’t carry the weight of those who “officially speak for the Church” and that she’s only using her own opinion.  Or they’ll try to rationalize her words to fit the Mormon ideal of what they think this is supposed to mean.

Our point in using this quote is to illustrate that her words were purposefully put in the Ensign and it didn’t get there by any oversight.  The Ensign is looked upon as the words of God and they’re told to put it on their nightstand and read it and rely upon it (the Ensign) until the next edition is published.

With that in mind I’m wondering how or why they’d contradict themselves in something so important.  And the reason we do this is because we know how important it is to follow God’s words and instructions to us.  We’ve been told by God to follow Him (Mark 1:17).  If we’re to do that we need a reliable standard we can trust and something that doesn’t change from one person to another or from week to week.

Hebrews specifically names Jesus as the author of our faith.  Again the Church is trying to take away the truth that Jesus IS God.  Reading the text of the Ensign carefully you’ll notice that nowhere in her words does it say Jesus is her God.

The two verses I’ve listed at the end are theophanies; it’s the realization that the presence around us is God.

Adam and Eve experienced this in the Garden of Eden right after they sinned and God Himself came down to have a chat with them.  The author of Hebrews was obviously made aware that He did this again through putting on flesh and coming here to earth to sacrifice Himself for us.

The word express in Greek is charakteôr, meaning an exact copy.  In Hebrews 12:2 it becomes clear to us what was done.  “…the author and finisher of our faith…” 

Author in the Greek is archeôgos meaning a chief leader, author, captain, prince; and finisher is teleioteôs meaning completeness or perfection.

Who but Jesus fits this description?  God!  Who but God can be an exact replica?  It only stands to reason that Jesus is in fact God.

And to proclaim what Anne Pingree couldn’t, we see in Hebrews 4:16 that we can come to the throne of GRACE boldly because we know we have an advocate who understands and sympathizes with us!   The title of this LDS Gem I found was called “Demonstrating Enough Faith to Come unto the Savior”. Honey, nobody has that much faith unless it’s given to us and nobody can perform enough good works to walk our way into heaven on our own.  The throne of grace is just that – it’s a gift that can’t be rewrapped.

This God of the Bible isn’t like the god in the Book of Mormon we’ve all read about and fear.  The god in the Book of Mormon can only offer a conditional love for the people.  He’ll only save you if you obey; you’ll only survive if you obey…the God of the Bible doesn’t operate that way because He already knows we’re incapable of performing such a feat.  This is why He sent His Son – it’s the whole reason we celebrate Christmas!

These are the things that I want for the Mormons to know!  If you don’t believe me, believe His words that are in the Bible – it’s all right there at your fingertips!