A VERY big unspoken assumption Mormons operate on is that all blessings (except the most general ones of having life itself and “rain on the just and the unjust” and Romans 1:18-20 type things) are only available through the LDS Church organization and priesthood as gatekeepers. I can't emphasize enough how tied together the idea of eventual reward in heaven, is to membership in the LDS church.
A very insightful question was asked by another ex-Mormon to a Mormon once: “What would my congregation have to change in order to be a Mormon congregation?” The answer is, almost everything they believe about salvation, the identity of God, and what practices are necessary, both in corporate worship and individual lives. LDS believers would demand those kinds of changes.
Of course, leading a moral life would be a commonality, but what most Mormons can't get through their heads — I couldn't — is that a moral lifestyle isn't the point — nor the means — of approval from God. It's waaaaay down the food chain, because it's a result, an end of the process.
Want to read a compelling account of how people live Mormonism? See Latter-day Cipher, a novel that gives an insider's view to the struggles of remaining Mormon.
For more documentation on LDS doctrines, history, and practices, see The Mormon Mirage 3rd Edition: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today (Zondervan, 2009). Also available as an audiobook and as an expanded-text E-book for Nook, Kindle and other reading devices.
Being a Christian author means being a proxy - for the benefit of another and…
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I am not a mormon nor have I ever been one. However, one thing that has always remained in my memory is a conversation I had with a temple-going-mormon family member of mine. I had mentioned in a conversation (in honesty, though it could have been said with more compassion) that if I were to die there would be no need for that family member to use my name in a baptism for the dead. That individual quickly became angry, and stated that I would, in denying them that right, keep that individual from receiving blessings. It was said in a desperate, angry, and sad mampr, as if that person's very salvation was at stake. A lot could be said about this statement, and how antithetical it is to Christianity, but what remained in my memory was the desperate legalism that was manifested in said statement, as well as the look in that person's eye.
Mike, I remember distinctly the last year that I was at BYU, I attended a "fireside" (informal meeting) in which a high LDS official spoke of how there must be an unbroken chain in each individual's family all the way back to Adam, and that this was our responsibility to search out and see that baptisms were performed for all our ancestors. It certainly made no difference in his mind -- nor in mine at the time -- that the individuals might be opposed to Mormonism in life. Though that could disqualify someone from eventual "exaltation," it was my job to do the ordinances or see that they were done, and I'd be held responsible if I didn't.
Thank you for your story and insights.
I have to disagree with your statement about everything changing for a Christian church to become a LDS church. The only real things that set apart the Mormon Church are 1) Belief that The Book of Mormon is another Testament of Jesus Christ, 2) The Belief that there are true prophets in this modern day, 3) and that the members of the Godhead are 3 separate beings (This only applies to some Christian Churches).
Also, the Mormon faith is Christian. It does have its own unique additions to the Christian faith, but the most important parts are still God the Eternal Father and his son, Jesus Christ.
While I do see the LDS Church making moves toward more more traditional Christianity, there is a factor beyond the three you mention. That factor, the "deal breaker," is the LDS's insistence on the created nature of God the Father, and the encouragement of this fictitious example which would lead LDS members to believe they, too, can become gods.