Some traditional Christian churches offer you this:
Their motives are good. They ask you to bring at least one serious seeker of salvation to their church to qualify to win one of those TVs. Mind you, salvation's not a bad thing...it means you don't follow Satan into the unorganized universe, or outer darkness, for eternity. You don't become a son of perdition.
But the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers you this:
This picks up where salvation leaves off. This can lead you to exaltation.
What exactly does that mean? It depends upon the type of eternal future you want. If you're willing to be merely a citizen of one of our Heavenly Father's innumerable kingdoms in the future, so be it; that is a completely honorable decision. We know that both the terrestrial and the telestial kingdoms are glorious far beyond what we can imagine. Why, the Prophet Joseph Smith himself was believed to have once said that if the veil came down and we could glimpse the telestial kingdom, we would commit mass suicide just to get there faster.
But if you want to be more than just a mere citizen of the Father's realms, and actually become a FULL HEIR of the Father and a JOINT HEIR with Jesus Christ, then salvation is merely the beginning. One must progress to exaltation in order to qualify to become a full heir to the Father. And if you persevere, the payoff is Godhood. The power to create and populate worlds. As Jesus Christ Himself has said, "...worlds without number have I created" (Moses 1:33).
Salvation is comparatively easy; exaltation is hard. Exaltation goes beyond faith; one must also keep commandments. Many of these commandments will distinguish you from your peers, particularly the Word of Wisdom and the Sabbath. You may have to accept apparent and obvious inequities on the surface, such as formal Priesthood being limited only to men, with only your faith that the Lord will balance the scales in the future. You may have to wrestle with the seeming paradoxes of Mormon history from time to time, and even wonder just where in heck Zarahemla really was, and accept the fact that the answer simply may not be forthcoming in this life -- not because the Lord wants to keep you ignorant, but because He might just be merciful enough not to want to burden you with that information before you're ready. But those who have been willing to strive for exaltation have always been a patient and peculiar people.
So how about it? Are you willing to settle for salvation, or do you want to take that next step -- towards exaltation. Yes, straight is the gate, narrow is the way, and few there'll be that find it. But the rewards are incalculable. Mormonism may NOT be for everyone -- but it could be for YOU! If you think you have what it takes to become one of the Few, the Proud, the Exalted, take that first step today. Go to Mormon.org and start a chat with a missionary who's ready to help you begin the journey back to the Father.
The Bible says in Romans that eternal life is a gift from God by faith in His only Son, and The Bible also says "The just shall live by faith." which for a true believer means that salvation is soley based upon trusting in Christ's life death and resurrection, not in part, but in whole; Christ's blood is the payment for to completely save us, honors Him only for our salvation. such is the payment! it is not based upon our own sense of good works equals acceptance...as Paul writes "not of by works of rightiousness which we have done, but by his love and mercy He saved us..." (Titus 3:5) . Christ's blood is to take away our sins from us, should we come to God,
ReplyDeletefor forgiveness, this is something given to us by grace, and His forgivness cannot be earned by good works, only by humble prayer asking for God's forgiveness and guidence, saves a lost soul from all his sins forever. The condition is faith in God alone and in trusting in the redemptive work of the cross via the ministry and life and blood of Christ, and knowing the teaching of the gospel and His apostles, again, not in part but in whole, which is: that if you, a sinner, should repent and believe by faith in His only Son, by faith God will justify and santify your soul and you will be declared saved, yes, its that simple...hence the right fruit and the perfection of holiness and God himself teaches us how to live in this world, because His spirit is greater than our works to save ourselves. It is therefore the power of God which can and will completely saves us through the spirit, which enjoins in the battle to keep us from falling away. We can only be saved by His grace and mercy. All others who are working to be forgiven and accepted by God, IMO, have not yet come to the reality of such a gift of the Holy Ghost, and are walking on "another" path, I would even venture to say are "working" against His grace love and eternal mercy. and are going about preaching "another testament, "another" gospel thus becoming another...however, the message in the New Testment is clear, simply believe and repent, and God will deliver you. "O ye of little faith?"