Taken from study journal entries dated March 30 and June2, 2006: "BE ye therefore followers of God... But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints... For this ye know, that no… unclean person… hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words..." (Ephesians 5:1-6).
Thoughts on Salvation, by Daniel Embree
Here in Southern California I see a lot of Evangelical tracts that promise salvation to those who will acknowledge their sinful disposition and verbally accept Jesus Christ as Lord. Such tracts usually will even include the prayer one should repeat to have such a saving moment. These cheesy pamphlets with such an easy solution present salvation as a cheap experience. As a Latter-day Saint this disgusts me.
Salvation is not cheap. It was purchased with the suffering and bloody agony of One who was blameless. It was purchased with the condescension of the God of Israel and the sacrifice of the Almighty. Surely such a price, though already paid, makes salvation more than the cheap experience these popular Born-Again tracts describe.
I do love the conversion experiences the tracts encourage. I have had my own nights spent on my knees wrestling with God, striving to understand the redemptive grace of Christ. I have been born again, and am a Christian believer. Personal conviction, wrought through life changing moments in which one accepts Jesus Christ, is faith. It is certainly the first principle of the gospel, what Elder Jeffrey R. Holland terms "the first step out of despair" (Broken Things to Mend, May 2006 Ensign). But, a first step means little when it is not followed by a second step. We must "turn to God, and do works meet for repentance" (Acts 6:20 emphasis added).
The key missing component from these Evangelical fliers and booklets is that second step: repentance. Though they encourage you to acknowledge your sinful nature, they don’t ask you to do anything about it. They don’t empower you with any sense of a possibility that you can change. They leave out the substance of the message of Christ who came to "call... sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9:13) and who said "except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3). These tracts do not reflect the "Jesus [who] came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God... saying, "... repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:14-15), nor do they reflect the teachings of the Apostles who "went out, and preached that men should repent" (Mark 6:12). (See also Acts 2:38; 3:19).
The problem with an incomplete approach to salvation is that the conversion is less meaningful. Just as you never appreciate having food on the table until you grow up and have to provide for yourself. You will not fully appreciate salvation if you have done nothing to achieve it. A cheap experience is easily thrown away. Conversion becomes less fulfilling when there is no change made. There is little fulfillment in learning that you are sinful if you are also told that you do not need to change your sinful state. The fulfillment comes from tackling personal weaknesses and over coming them. Overcoming sin through Jesus Christ brings lasting satisfaction.
Contrast the message of salvation most evangelical tracts relate to the message of salvation found in the Book of Mormon. The ancient American prophets left a record that presents the depth of salvation. For example, there is nothing cheap about the "glad tidings" the prophet King Benjamin spoke of in Mosiah chapter 3. He said, "[T]he time... is not far distant," he said in 124 B.C., "that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth... working mighty miracles... And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer... for behold, blood cometh from every pore... And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they… shall scourge him, and shall crucify him. [But] he sha1l rise the third day…" (Mosiah 3:3-10).
Like the Evangelical handouts, King Benjamin acknowledged the sinful disposition of man, saying, "The natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam…" (Mosiah 3:19), but unlike those tracts, King Benjamin empowers his audience with the hope that they can hearken to "the enticing of the Holy Spirit… and [become] a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord" (Mosiah 3:19).
When these people heard King Benjamin’s message, they "viewed themselves in their own carnal state… And they all cried… saying: ‘O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness…’ And… the Spirit came upon them, and they were filled with joy… having peace of conscience" (Mosiah 4:2-3). King Benjamin went on to instruct them on what to do since they had taken that first step. "If ye have known of [God’s] goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins… remember… the greatness of God," he states, "And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need" (Mosiah 4:11, 16). He knew that true faith leads to action. Sincere acceptance of Christ is always followed by Christian service.
After they had acknowledged Christ as their Savior and had exercised faith and repentance, these people were ready for the next step. They "enter[ed] into a covenant with [their] God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments" (Mosiah 5:5). They knew that the third step was to take upon themselves the name of Christ through sacred covenants, such as baptism. Knowing that such a complete conversion experience would lead to salvation, King Benjamin exclaimed, "And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ… for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name…" (Mosiah 4:7).
Their conversion was not complete until they had made that covenant, or oath, to change- to do the will of God, to keep His commandments, and to take His Son’s name upon them. It is that significant action that gives The Book of Mormon "the fullness of the gospel" (Introduction) and leaves most Evangelical tracts wanting.
I testify that Salvation is not a cheap experience. It is not easy to come by. It is not easily forgotten. I bear witness that The Book of Mormon and the Bible contain the complete message of Jesus Christ, the Author of salvation. Their word provides the lasting, meaningful solution to every problem. That you will find that salvation is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
"For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation" (2 Corinthians 7:10).
). Sincerely, Elder Embree
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