Gah. Don't have time to answer you right now, and of course you don't feel like debating it, but just let me say that:
1) *No* teaching we believe in as Latter-day Saints is compeletely, or even partially founded on the Bible. Every single thing we believe in traces its roots to Joseph Smith and modern revelation. We love the Bible, it teaches of God and Christ. But you know and I know that it is interpreted so differently even in mainstream Christendom that quoting chapter and verse does not necessarily mean that everyone, or even anyone, will agree with your interpretation. Now, I don't expect you to believe my church's intepretation of those verses in 1 Peter-- if you did, you'd be a Mormon, wouldn't you? :) But just know where I'm coming from when I say that a doctrine doesn't need Biblical proof for me to believe it.
2) We believe in the importance of accepting Christ in this life and spreading the gospel as well. Of course we do! Good grief, we ask every worthy young man to give up 2 years of his life to serve an unpaid mission in order to get the word out! D&C 88:81 says that "it becometh every man who hath beem warned to warn his neighbor," and Alma (in the Book of Mormon) says that "This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." So how can I say that missionary work is important and that this life is the time to prepare to meet God and in the same breath say that repentance is possible in the life to come?
Simple. There is no possible way that we can reach everyone. Even if we were to preach every day for the rest of our lives, there is no way we can tell every soul who has ever lived on the earth about the gospel. Those who have the opportunity in this life to accept the gospel, and yet reject it, have no second chances. They may accept the gospel in the next life and repent, but they can never receive the fulness of the blessings they might have had if they had accepted it here. Only those who, through no fault of their own, never had the opportunity to hear the gospel *and would have accepted it if they had* will become the heirs of salvation. So really, it isn't a second chance for them. It's a first chance. Only God can judge the thoughts and intents of their hearts, and only God can decide if they would have accepted it. Only God can decide if they were given a fair opportunity in this life. So we preach, and we teach, and we do missionary work in more than 150 countries. We want people to be happy in *this* life. We want them to have joy *now*. As happy as knowing that people can still be saved in the next life makes us, we want people to know the joy of the gospel here and now.
God's justice is perfect, and so is His mercy. A God who would allow a child to be born and die without a knowledge of Him, and then consign her to everlasting misery because of the accident of her birth, is neither a just nor a merciful God. On the other hand, a God who gives every person, no matter where or when they were born, the opportunity to learn of Christ and to accept Him as their Savior, is both just and merciful.
no subject
1) *No* teaching we believe in as Latter-day Saints is compeletely, or even partially founded on the Bible. Every single thing we believe in traces its roots to Joseph Smith and modern revelation. We love the Bible, it teaches of God and Christ. But you know and I know that it is interpreted so differently even in mainstream Christendom that quoting chapter and verse does not necessarily mean that everyone, or even anyone, will agree with your interpretation. Now, I don't expect you to believe my church's intepretation of those verses in 1 Peter-- if you did, you'd be a Mormon, wouldn't you? :) But just know where I'm coming from when I say that a doctrine doesn't need Biblical proof for me to believe it.
2) We believe in the importance of accepting Christ in this life and spreading the gospel as well. Of course we do! Good grief, we ask every worthy young man to give up 2 years of his life to serve an unpaid mission in order to get the word out! D&C 88:81 says that "it becometh every man who hath beem warned to warn his neighbor," and Alma (in the Book of Mormon) says that "This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." So how can I say that missionary work is important and that this life is the time to prepare to meet God and in the same breath say that repentance is possible in the life to come?
Simple. There is no possible way that we can reach everyone. Even if we were to preach every day for the rest of our lives, there is no way we can tell every soul who has ever lived on the earth about the gospel. Those who have the opportunity in this life to accept the gospel, and yet reject it, have no second chances. They may accept the gospel in the next life and repent, but they can never receive the fulness of the blessings they might have had if they had accepted it here. Only those who, through no fault of their own, never had the opportunity to hear the gospel *and would have accepted it if they had* will become the heirs of salvation. So really, it isn't a second chance for them. It's a first chance. Only God can judge the thoughts and intents of their hearts, and only God can decide if they would have accepted it. Only God can decide if they were given a fair opportunity in this life. So we preach, and we teach, and we do missionary work in more than 150 countries. We want people to be happy in *this* life. We want them to have joy *now*. As happy as knowing that people can still be saved in the next life makes us, we want people to know the joy of the gospel here and now.
God's justice is perfect, and so is His mercy. A God who would allow a child to be born and die without a knowledge of Him, and then consign her to everlasting misery because of the accident of her birth, is neither a just nor a merciful God. On the other hand, a God who gives every person, no matter where or when they were born, the opportunity to learn of Christ and to accept Him as their Savior, is both just and merciful.
Alright, I'm done. Thanks for reading.