Letter to Peter Beers, April 2003

I’m writing in response to Peter Beers answer (4/21/03) to a letter written by Paul Allen regarding his (Paul’s) conversion to the “Mormon” church, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). Peter was very concerned about Paul’s sincere, but seemingly misguided conversion to a “non-Christian church”. I can’t say that I know who Paul Allen is, but I’d like to encourage him in an on-going search for a greater truth and deeper understanding. Theology is not a simple thing and he has only just begun to scratch the surface.
Unlike Paul, I’ve been a member all my life and my family connections to the church go back to pre-pioneer days. I’ve always ignored letters that criticize my beliefs. My experience has been that the typical LDS critic is either misinformed or willfully ignorant of the facts, often more interested in tearing down than really trying to understand the LDS faith. But the tone of Peter’s letter wasn’t the typical strident rant. He seems to have a genuine concern and good will, but he is unfamiliar with the real LDS position on faith and works, so I’d like to clarify a few points.
The discussion about the relation of faith and works is not new and definitely not limited to a difference of opinion between the LDS and some other Christian churches.
The famous Christian writer C. S. Lewis, in discussing faith and works in his book “Mere Christianity”, pages 131-132 said, “Christians have often disputed as to whether what leads the Christian home is good actions, or faith in Christ. I have no right really to speak on such a difficult question, but it does seem to me like asking which blade in a pair of scissors is most necessary….You see, we are now trying to understand, and to separate into water-tight compartments, what exactly God does and what man does when God and man are working together.” I like the scissors analogy. You can’t have one without the other. In his General Epistle, James takes the early church members to task for not conducting their lives in a Christian manner, teaching them very explicitly… “Faith without works is dead…” (James, Chapters 1 & 2, especially 2:14-20 and 24, King James Translation.)
Peter actually touched very closely on LDS belief on the relation of works and faith with his quote from St. Matthew 7:21, which reads in it’s entirety, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (KJT. It reads the same in the Luther German translation). Christ puts the emphasis on doing His Father’s will, or keeping the commandments, which is work. He also said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15). Loving those who despitefully use you is work. Repentance is work. Anyone who has tried to overcome a bad character trait can tell you what hard work it can be. There are many other such Biblical passages with the same message. Just a few are: Revelation 3:15-17, 20:12&13; Psalm 62:12; Proverbs 24:12; James 1:21-25; Matt. 7: 24-28; Luke 6: 46-49; John 7:17.
As to the LDS position on Grace, Peter quotes from the LDS Articles of Faith, Article Three, “We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel” Note that the first condition for salvation is the Atonement of Christ. The fourth article which was not quoted, explains further, “We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are; first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Note again that the first and most critical principle of salvation, the one upon which all others hang, is Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not faith in Joseph Smith, as some people would believe the LDS church teaches, nor in any one else. Christ only.
Additionally, the following comes from Robert L. Millet, dean of Religious Education and professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University in a symposium address found in “C. S. Lewis, The Man and His Message”, Bookcraft Press, pages148-149. This was written more for church members than non-LDS, and is an internal, rather than external confirmation of our beliefs.
“We believe that the gospel is, in fact, a gospel covenant. The Lord agrees to do for us what we could never do for ourselves- to forgive our sins, to lift our burdens, to renew our souls and re-create our nature, to raise us from the dead and to qualify us for glory hereafter. Where upon we strive to do what we can do: have faith in Christ, repent of our sins, be baptized, love and serve one another, and do all in our power to put off the natural man and deny ourselves of ungodliness. In short, we believe that more is required of men and women than a verbal expression of faith in the Lord, more than a confession with the lips that we have received Christ into our hearts. Without question, the power to save us, to change us, to renew our souls, is in Christ. True faith, however, always manifests itself in faithfulness. Thus, the real question is not whether one is saved by grace or works but rather, In whom do we trust? On whom do we rely?
“For us, few things would be more sinister than encouraging lip service to God while discouraging obedience and faithful discipleship. On the other hand, surely nothing could be more offensive to God than a smug self-assurance that comes from trusting in one’s own works or relying on one’s own strength.”
Our belief concerning the relationship between faith and works is stated most clearly from a passage in the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, 2 Nephi 25:23, “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.” (Italics mine)
This brings me to touch on Peter’s automatic rejection of other scripture (The Book of Mormon) when he wonders why Paul feels another testament is even needed, and quotes Revelation 22:18. John wrote the Book of Revelation during the reign of Domitian (81-96 A.D.) He then wrote the Gospel of John about 110 A. D. Did John nullify his own testament with his prior warning? The Bible as we know it wasn’t canonized, or put into a comprehensive scriptural collection until much, much later. Clearly John was referring only to his Book of Revelation. This same warning appears in Deuteronomy 4:2. Does this warning cancel out all following scripture?
I think it’s a curious thing that the definition of who is Christian is sometimes so narrow that only a few, often the ones creating that definition, would qualify. The Catholic Church includes the Apocrypha in their canon. The Pseudepigrapha have been passed on in Western, Eastern, Ethiopian, and Egyptian Coptic churches and often exist only in the languages of those churches, i.e., Latin, Greek, Syriac, Georgian, Armenian, Coptic, and Ethiopic, though originally composed in Hebrew or Aramaic. Does this belief in other scriptures make these churches non-Christian, following a false Christ? How is the rejection of other possible existing scriptures be justified with John 10:16; Ezekiel 37:15-20; Numbers 21:14; Joshua10:13; 2 Chronicles 12:15, 13:22, 20:34; I Corinthians 5:9, and especially John 21:25. Based on that last one alone, wouldn’t an earnest Christian want to read all those things Christ said?
Peter touches on several other things, such as the nature of God, the Trinity and our relation to the Father, things that have been the subject of hot debate among the Christian denominations, and a serious split between the Western and Eastern Orthodox Churches since the Nicene Creed. Not just since the appearance of the LDS church. Time and space doesn’t allow me to go into these, and I don’t think it would serve any purpose.
If the LDS church is truly a cult and has strange doctrines and bizarre beliefs as some people would have us believe, why is it the fastest growing church in the US? Why do intelligent people from all walks of life come to it? Charles Dickens, upon observing Mormon converts boarding a ship to leave England for America in the 1850’s wrote that they were not to dregs and outcasts as he had been told, but the cream of British of society. The church in this valley has grown from the approximately 100 members when I first moved here as a boy in 1964, to two Stakes (Diocese) with, I think now, 14 congregations and thousands of members. It now numbers around thirteen million members worldwide, from just over a million members in the 1960’s.
Anyone who has seen or read the Anti-Mormon literature and/or movies and would like to hear the other side, covered much more deeply and intelligently than I can, can find direct answers at www.fairlds.com, www.farms.byu.edu, www.lds.org, or you can stop the young men in the white shirts and ties on the street. Peter, I hope you try it out.

Gordon Risser Jr.
Santa Clarita