My prior post, “Do You Know What You Believe,” talked about a couple of statements I heard from people who, although not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, presumed to explain Latter-day Saint beliefs. This post contains a couple more statements that I have heard. If you haven’t read the first post, I’d suggest you do that before reading this one, because it won’t make as much sense without the introduction contained in the prior post.
To be clear, these statements (including the ones from the prior post), are an amalgamation of various things I’ve heard. I’m also not intending to debate doctrine, but just want to respond to presumptions made about my faith by people who are not of my faith.
Misunderstanding 3: “The Latter-day Saint paradigm is a very performance-based religion. There’s this sort of ‘let’s check the boxes, make sure we’re doing everything right.’ There’s a prosperity gospel to Mormonism. They have to perform, and always do good, and always try a little harder to remain temple worthy, so that constantly compels Latter-day Saints to always strive toward excellence. The Latter-day Saints believe in a performative box-checking experience.”
To be honest, I can see why people might think this about members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I think there are a lot of members of the Church who, although they might not realize it, also believe this. But I am confident in saying this is not the doctrine of the Church. This is not consistent with my personal beliefs.
Works-based doctrine
Let’s start with doctrine that might make it look like this is what we believe. There are many scriptures that state we will receive rewards or judgment according to our works.
- “They that have done good shall have everlasting life; and they that have done evil shall have everlasting damnation.”1
- “And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper . . . And inasmuch as thy brethren shall rebel against thee, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.”2
- “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.”3
- “[I]t is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good. And if their works are evil they shall be restored unto them for evil.”4
- “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”5
Certainly, we believe that we should keep God’s commandments. Why else would He give us commandments? These scriptures indicate that our blessings are predicated on keeping the commandments. However, there are many scriptures that teach that it is solely by the grace of Jesus Christ that we are saved.
Grace-based doctrine
- “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.”6
- “[T]here is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah.”7
- “[H]e doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever.”8
- “[R]econcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved.”9
- “Whereas mercy is focused on withholding a punishment we deserve, grace typically refers to God giving us blessings we do not deserve and without regard to merit.”10
The grace of Jesus Christ is a fundamental aspect of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and Redeemer. It is only by His grace that we are saved. So, how do we reconcile the works v. grace debate? How is it that we are saved?
Example – the redemption of little children
A personal experience as a primary teacher helped me have a greater understanding of this. Several years ago, I was serving as a primary teacher. During a primary meeting, the children were restless, and it was incredibly irreverent. I remember thinking, “[H]ow am I supposed to feel the Spirit in this meeting with all this chaos?”
In that moment, a series of scriptures came to my mind. Moroni 8 contains a letter from the prophet Mormon to his son Moroni. He said, “little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; . . . little children need no repentance, . . . little children are alive in Christ, . . . Little children cannot repent; . . . 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.”11
This doctrine is also taught in the Doctrine and Covenants: “[L]ittle children are redeemed from the foundation of the world through mine Only Begotten; Wherefore, they cannot sin.”12
As I thought about these scriptures, I thought about my own children. I knew, firsthand, that little children can do things they know are wrong. I’ve seen that look in the eyes of small children after they’ve done something you’ve told them not to do. So I thought, “What does it mean that they can’t sin?”
And the answer? It’s quite simply the love, and merits, and grace of Jesus Christ. He has decreed that sin will not be charged to little children, “until they begin to become accountable before me.”13 It’s not because of what they’ve done, but because of the Savior’s redemptive power. He chooses to redeem them from the foundation of the world.
So it is not because of their merits, or anything they’ve done. It’s entirely due to the Savior’s grace. How, then, do we reconcile that for us?
The middle ground – conditions of repentance
The answer, I believe, is found in the commandment to repent.
- “[E]very man must repent or suffer . . . I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent.”14
- “Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.”15
- “And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls.”16
- “[W]hen Jesus asks you and me to “repent,” He is inviting us to change our mind, our knowledge, our spirit—even the way we breathe. He is asking us to change the way we love, think, serve, spend our time, treat our wives, teach our children, and even care for our bodies. . . . When we choose to repent, we choose to change! We allow the Savior to transform us into the best version of ourselves. We choose to grow spiritually and receive joy—the joy of redemption in Him. When we choose to repent, we choose to become more like Jesus Christ! . . . Repentance is the key to avoiding misery inflicted by traps of the adversary. The Lord does not expect perfection from us at this point in our eternal progression. But He does expect us to become increasingly pure. Daily repentance is the pathway to purity, and purity brings power.”17
The Savior establishes conditions, and as we satisfy those conditions, we receive His grace. For example, I love this intercessory prayer: “Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.”18 In that prayer, the condition is that we believe. As we believe, we receive His grace which helps us to come unto Him.
So, it is my belief that our works do not save us. It is solely the grace of Jesus Christ. And yet, He establishes conditions that we must satisfy to receive His grace. Repentance is the key, because in our mortal weakness we fail. But as we repent, and make an effort to change and come unto Him, His grace is sufficient for us.19 No matter what we do, it is only through the grace of Jesus Christ that we are saved.
Misunderstanding 4: “The Latter-day Saint tradition is very emotional. There’s a high sentimentality, and the way they try and discern truth is through a ‘burning in the bosom.’ They don’t want to have real conversations, they just say, ‘I know in my heart it’s true.’ They make decisions more based on their feelings than on their mind.”
This one is difficult for me. Personally, for much of my life, I struggled to understand the Holy Ghost. I had a friend who left the Church, and he said as part of his reasoning for leaving that he didn’t believe that the Holy Ghost was real, but that instead the Church used “emotional manipulation” to make people feel things and think it was the Holy Ghost. I don’t have a lot of resources to cite for this one, just my own personal experiences. However, I did write about this in a prior post, called, “How Can I Recognize the Holy Ghost?” In that, I said, “If we want to recognize and understand the Holy Ghost, we need to study the principles of revelation and live them.” Recognizing the Holy Ghost is a challenge, so we should focus our efforts on doing those things that invite the Spirit into our lives, and trust that by so doing, we will “grow into the principle of revelation.”20
There was an old video that I used a few times on my mission. Back then, we had to take a filmstrip projector, and the audio was played from a cassette tape. There would be a “beep” every time we needed to advance the film strip. The film we showed was called “Families are Forever.” It was about a family who had a baby, but when the baby was a young boy, the mother died of cancer. The point of the film strip is to testify that “families are forever,” or that through the sealing power we can be sealed together eternally as families. The film had a song called, “I’ll Build You a Rainbow.”21 The couple of times I showed that on my mission, the people were crying at the end. We would say, “what are you feeling,” and they would exclaim, “it’s so sad!” Were they feeling the Holy Ghost testifying to them of the eternal nature of families, or were they just feeling an emotional sadness?
Frankly, I have no idea. I struggled with that for a long time, and my worry about how to recognize the Holy Ghost caused me such concerns that in my late-30s I began to struggle with my testimony. I acknowledge that I have problems recognizing my emotions. So I have had to learn to recognize the Holy Ghost by ways other than my emotions, or my feelings. Through my study and work to invite the Holy Ghost into my life, I have gained a conviction that the Holy Ghost is real. I believe it is the doctrine of my Church that it is through the Holy Ghost that we receive a testimony of all truth. The promptings from the Holy Ghost are closely linked to our feelings, but they are separate from emotion. The Holy Ghost may cause a strong emotional response, but I believe that our leaders have taught us to be cautious about conflating emotions with the Holy Ghost. So while people who experience the Holy Ghost may feel strong emotions, it is not accurate to say that we just rely on our feelings. What we experience through the Holy Ghost is so personal to each individual that it is hard to describe. But as we study authoritative sources that teach us how to recognize the Holy Ghost, we do see that we are cautioned about distinguishing reactions to the Holy Ghost from those promptings that come to us through the Holy Ghost.
I have written about this in two posts, the first called, “How Can I Recognize the Holy Ghost?” and the second called, “Principles of Revelation.” These two posts contain a lot more information about my experiences, and they contain teachings from church leaders who have addressed the question of emotion. I believe these two posts contain answers and responses to this misunderstanding, and what I believe about how to recognize the Holy Ghost, or how to discover and discern truth.
Do you know what you believe?
The Lord said that we must “seek diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”22 Personally, I believe this could (perhaps simplisticly) be explained by saying we need to learn by study, and we need to learn by experience (or by doing). These statements, these “misunderstandings” as I have called them, made by people who are not members of my faith, are contrary to what I have learned in my studies, and what I have experienced.
In my study of Church History, I read a lot by people who professed to state doctrine or beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But in their criticisms, I found their arguments weak, and their facts inaccurate. As I heard these “misunderstandings,” I thought about how important it is to learn about a faith from members of that faith. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims that we have priesthood authority and priesthood keys. True doctrine needs to be learned by studying authoritative sources, which, for us, means we need to learn from the prophets and apostles.
If you are not sure of your beliefs, I would encourage you to learn by studying authorized sources of the Church, because learning from anyone else poses a risk that what we’re hearing is quite simply not accurate.
References
- Helaman 12:26. ↩︎
- 1 Nephi 2:20-21. ↩︎
- Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21. ↩︎
- Alma 41:3-4. ↩︎
- Revelation 22:12. ↩︎
- 2 Nephi 25:23. ↩︎
- 2 Nephi 2:8. ↩︎
- Mosiah 2:24. ↩︎
- 2 Nephi 10:24. ↩︎
- Elder James R. Rasband, “The Plan of Mercy,” April 2025, note 11, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/04/33rasband?lang=eng. ↩︎
- Moroni 8:8-22. ↩︎
- Doctrine and Covenants 29:46-47. ↩︎
- Doctrine and Covenants 29:47. ↩︎
- Doctrine and Covenants 19:4, 16. ↩︎
- 3 Nephi 27:20. ↩︎
- Helaman 5:11. ↩︎
- Russell M. Nelson, “We Can Do Better and Be Better,” April 2019 General Conference, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/04/36nelson?lang=eng. ↩︎
- Doctrine and Covenants 45:3-5. ↩︎
- Ether 12:27. ↩︎
- Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, Chapter 10: Prayer and Personal Revelation, 132, “A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-joseph-smith/chapter-10?lang=eng&id=p24#p24. ↩︎
- “I’ll Build You a Rainbow,” which is just a clip from the whole video program, “Eternal Families,” https://youtu.be/tuKDNb9pbYU?si=daT3RokZJf8rha0B. ↩︎
- Doctrine and Covenants 88:118. ↩︎
