In a class I attended, Christian beliefs were being presented “in contrast” to Mormon beliefs, which gets kind of confusing when they believe the same thing, but they’re trying to make it sound like it’s different and Christians are better.
Mormons: the gift of the Holy Ghost makes it so you can always have the Spirit with you.
Christians: you always have the Spirit with you.
also Christians: Mormons think you need to earn the Spirit.
No, they both believe it can always be with you.
So then why do I not always feel the fruits of the Spirit?
Christians: well, you have it with you, but you can’t really feel it.
Right, so then what’s the point of “having it with you”?
Mormons: maybe you need to repent, or change your environment, or ask God go give you the Spirit again.
Christians: Gasp! Mormons think you need to earn the Spirit.
Come on.
Like, this is the biggest eye roll ever.
We are talking in circles.
They both believe you can access the spirit. They both know it’s been promised to you. They both know in real life, a lot of times we don’t have the fruits of the Spirit with us.
Humans get angry. Humans get worried. Humans get stressed.
All they need to say is, Pray and ask God to bring you that peace back.
Maybe God will give it to you right away. You might feel immediate, complete relief.
Or maybe you’ll have a small portion and then He will ask you to do something. Like take a walk in nature, call someone to talk, work on your swearing habit, repent for gossiping, or stop listening to heavy metal music.
Yeah, God might direct you to live with higher holiness.
Mike Winger talks about that here
Christians know that when you stop reading your Bible regularly, you’re going to feel farther away from God. The solution? To read your Bible.
But if a Mormon says that same thing, they’ll say “You’re trying to earn the Holy Spirit!”
We all have life experience. We all know how this works.
No, it’s not “earning the Spirit.” In 40 years of being a Mormon, nobody has ever told me I needed to earn the Spirit.
But trust what the non-Mormons say. They know what Mormons believe better than they themselves do. 🙄
Anyone who wants to represent LDS doctrine (say, like in a class marketed for Christians to learn what their LDS neighbors believe) should probably ask an actual Mormon to explain it to you.
Jeff knows how this works. Kudos to him.
I also like this little reel from Mike Winger…
All I Possess 