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From: stout@uiucdcsb.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Re: Mormons are not Christians.
Message-ID: <11900033@uiucdcsb.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 18-Feb-85 09:38:00 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcsb.11900033
Posted: Mon Feb 18 09:38:00 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 21-Feb-85 07:24:40 EST
References: <319@gargoyle.UUCP>
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Nf-From: uiucdcsb!stout    Feb 18 08:38:00 1985


>>   For the record, Mormon's believe everyone will make it to heaven.
>>Indeed, there is no hell. But, my friends, there are three sections
>>to the afterlife.

>Almost right.  There's also a possibility for hard-core types to get
>expelled into the outer darkness, where there is wailing and gnashing
>of teeth.  My understanding is that it takes a heinous crime such as
>becoming an Elder and then becoming an apostate and denying the truth
>of the religion ... perhaps some current LDS member could describe other
>ways of making it?
>	Jim Gillogly

	Almost right.  Here is the most pertinent quote (Teachings of the
Prophet Joseph Smith, p.358):  "What must a man do to commit the unpardonable
sin?  He must receive the Holy Ghost, have the heavens opened unto him, and
know God, and then sin against Him.  After a man has sinned against the Holy
Ghost, there is no repentence for him.  He has got to say that the sun does
not shine while he sees it; he has got to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens
have been opened unto him, and to deny the plan of salvation with his eyes
open to the truth of it; and from that time he begins to be an enemy.  This
is the case with many apostates of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints."
	Instead of thinking that anyone who leaves and denies the church has
committed the unpardonable sin, most Mormons tend to think that this is a
rare occurrence, reasoning that very few have had the depth of knowledge--
"the heavens opened unto them," etc.--to be capable of that great a sin.  Most
LDS members I know hesitate to accuse anyone of being a "son of perdition,"
however bitter he is.
	Those interested in the LDS concept of the afterlife should read
section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants as the prime source.
		Bryan Stout
		ihnp4!uiucdcs!stout