Quick Thought: Redeemed by blood of Jesus Christ?

29 October

thinkingimageIn response to our article “Why do you love the Book of Mormon” one our Mormon readers had this to say –

“If you left the Mormon church because you “discovered” the power of the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ outside of the LDS church, I’m sorry you never understood that before you left. But plenty of people do.” – Lynda

“the power …of the redeeming blood ….of Jesus Christ… “

As I think about those words I think back to the many years I spent as a faithful member of the Mormon Church, and I can’t recall ever hearing His blood spoken of in this context.  As a Mormon I believed through the Atonement Jesus paid the price of my sins, but I never believed He completed the work for my salvation on the cross.

For my salvation to be complete I had to do some of the work myself in the form of temple works. The third article of the Mormon faith makes this very clear, it states:

“We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”

Obedience to the prophet, obedience to Mormon laws and commandments, and temple rituals are just part of the laws and ordinances spoken of in this article of faith.

What she said is true I did “discover” what grace really and truly is, and I did discover has she put it the power of the redeeming blood of Jesus outside the Mormon Church. Why, because those things are nonexistent within Mormonism. As far as Mormons are concerned the Atonement goes hand in hand with temple works. They can’t have one without the other.

It’s hard for them to fathom that they’re required to do nothing for their salvation. The idea of just repenting, then believing and trusting in the work Jesus did on the cross is appalling to them. They feel like if something isn’trequired of them, if they don’t have the Mormon rules to keep them in line they’ll slip into sin.

On the many Mormon blogs and forums I’ve read they seem to have this misconception that Christians think we can just repent and then sin as we please because after all we’re “saved by grace”. Which is why I think one of the most quoted and favored verses in Mormonism is found in 2 Nephi 25:23. It reads:

“For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”

If Mormons sincerely believed in the power of the redeeming blood of Jesus why do they feel they must do temple works not only for themselves but for the dead?

One of the things I encourage Mormons to do is to get into their Bibles and read what God has said about a topic. I’ve found this very helpful even as a Christian when I question what I’ve heard someone say. So let’s take a look at what God has said about the blood of Jesus:

Ephesians 1:7 – In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

1 John 1:7 – But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Hebrews 9:14 – How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead worksto serve the living God?

Romans 5:9 – Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Revelation 1:5 – And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

I looked on lds.org for quotes I could use that spoke of the power of the blood of Jesus or the redeeming blood of Jesus, but I couldn’t find any. If what she said is true there should’ve been many quotes from the Mormon leaders of how we’re redeemed through His blood and sacrifice.

The very sad reality is they don’t believe it. As much as they want to sound Christian and use Christian terminology they never will fully understand it until they let go of the notion they must do some kind of work for their salvation.

Until they’re ready to do that they sound more like a child trying to be like a grown-up using “big words” they don’t understand than they do a Christian who fully trusts and believes in Jesus and Jesus alone to save them.

In Christ,

Melissa Grimes (melissa@lifeafter.org)

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