I will never cease to be amazed at all the scriptures in the Book of Mormon that preach against Mormons.
It’s like God planned it all out in advance, and made sure these truths were in the book they would be holding.
I can’t believe I’ve read this book several times, and taught from it, but never saw it. But it’s been an incredible blessing and tool for me (and many “numos” like me) to wake up.
I honestly think there’s some kind of curse keeping most Mormons from seeing what’s in their own scriptures.
I’ve already covered heaven and hell, trinity, and becoming children of God.
Today let’s talk about temple work for the dead.
“For behold that all little children are alive in Christ, and also all they that are without the law. For the power of redemption cometh on all them that have no law; wherefore, he that is not condemned, or he that is under no condemnation, cannot repent; and unto such baptism availeth nothing—But it is mockery before God, denying the mercies of Christ, and the power of his Holy Spirit, and putting trust in dead works.” (Moroni 8:22-23)
You almost have to read it again and really turn your brain on.
We get so used to reading scriptures and just saying the words without even taking them in.
This is first talking about how little children don’t need baptism, but then it goes on to talk about adults who died without the law.
That is, people who didn’t know about Jesus.
•They are under no law
•They are not condemned
•They don’t need baptism
But the best part is what comes next: Baptising them is mockery before God.
And putting trust in dead works.
This isn’t the only place the Book of Mormon tells us the ignorant are already saved.
King Benjamin preached, “Also his blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgressions of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned.” (Mosiah 3:11)
And then Jacob lays this out in a very logical, step-by-step, legalistic approach:
“He has given a law; and where there is no law given there is no punishment; and where there is no punishment there is no condemnation;
and where there is no condemnation the mercies of the Holy One of Israel have claim upon them, because of the atonement; for they are delivered by the power of him.
For the atonement satisfied the demands of his justice upon all those who have not the law given to them, that they are delivered from that awful monster, death and hell, and the devil…and they are restored to that God who gave them breath, which is the Holy One of Israel.” (2 Nephi 9:25-26)
And in the Bible:
“Sin is not charged to anyone’s account where there is no law.” (Romans 5:13)
See also Romans 7:7-25 where Paul expounds further, that he was innocent before he had the law: “Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.” (v.9)
Now let’s see what the D&C says about this.
“All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God…For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.” (D&C 137:7-10)
Same thing.
Except maybe there’s a distinction between those who would have accepted it and just all people generally.
(This makes Mormonism super confusing when there are contradictions everywhere. Who revealed D&C 137? Not the same person who revealed baptisms for the dead apparently. Brigham Young contradicted, and even threw out, a lot of Joseph Smith’s teachings. More on that later, if I ever feel like getting into that mud again.)
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Okay now that we’ve established what the Book of Mormon teaches about baptism for the dead, I’d like to discuss this whole idea of salvation for the dead.
Because Christians don’t believe this.
But I’m gonna have to side with the Book of Mormon on this one. I’m in the Christian camp on so many issues. But with this one, I’m a Numo.
(a Numo is a nuanced Mormon who thinks the current church is corrupt and false, but the roots are good, or there are still some truths)
This is where I am, currently, on this issue.
Because I haven’t found any teaching in the Bible that contradicts this. Please inform me if I’m wrong.
Christians believe that you have to accept Jesus in this life or you’re going to hell. But this leaves no answers for the billions of people in Islam, Hindu, Buddhism, and tribal countries who have never even heard the name Jesus. Not to mention the billions of people who lived all over the world before Christ. Who weren’t of the House of Israel and didn’t know.
So either we have a vengeful God who gives no mercy (and we know that’s not true) and the majority of earth’s population is going to hell, or there’s some sort of way that the grace of Jesus Christ is available for all of the world’s inhabitants.
Perhaps there is some way that spirits in the afterlife can still repent, once they realize this is an option.
1 Peter 3:19 says that Jesus preached to spirits in prison. (Also 1 Peter 4:6)*
Maybe that prison is a temporary holding place before the final judgment, a home to spirits who would have accepted Jesus in this life if they had had the chance.
Maybe there’s still a chance for them to be partakers of His glory.
Or, are they already saved because they came to God as they knew Him, and lived according to the truth they understood?
“Anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
Maybe “the ignorant” are saved based on their diligence on the level of understanding they had. God rewards that!
That feels right, because I know that He is so merciful and also just—giving everybody a chance.
And I know there are so many good people who abided by the precepts of what they knew, and followed their conscience. They genuinely followed the truths they knew. They would have accepted Jesus if they had the chance.
Secondly, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t have sin.” This is what Jesus says in John 9:41. We know that he’s talking about spiritual blindness—those who are ignorant of Christ. So that’s interesting that this may also imply the ignorant have no sin.
A third biblical example of this is Romans 5:13. “…Sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.”
Knowledge of law is necessary in order to be accountable for breaking the law.
In the end, even if there is no gospel preached to the dead, I believe we will be judged by our hearts, how we followed our conscience, how we felt when we messed up, and how we turned to our understanding of God for Grace and assistance.
Everybody has the truth written on their hearts to some extent—
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)
—and they will choose if they are abiding by that Spirit or not.
“The New Testament makes it clear that people will be judged according to the light that they have. All the elements of the Old Testament Law are not known by people living in remote parts of the world. But we read that they do have a law “written on their hearts” (Romans 2:15). They are judged by the law they do not know and are found wanting. No one keeps the ethic he has even if he invents it himself….
“Thus if a person in a remote area has never heard of Christ, he will not be punished for that. What he will be punished for is the rejection of the Father of whom he has heard and for the disobedience to the law that is written on his heart. Again, we must remember that people are not rejected for what they haven’t heard but for what they have heard.”
R.C. Sproul
All I Possess 