Establish it for Christ’s Doctrine

Christ establishes His doctrine again and again throughout scripture, and miraculously, I find that this doctrine remains consistent throughout all the standard works.

Referencing the doctrine Christ has laid out (as faith in Christ, offering the broken heart & contrite spirit, being baptized in water, receiving the baptism of Fire & the Holy Ghost, becoming as a child led by our Father, and inheriting the kingdom of God), He says:

3 Nephi 11
39 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.

40 And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them.

41 Therefore, go forth unto this people, and declare the words which I have spoken, unto the ends of the earth.

 

 

"Actual Knowledge"

Below, I'll be sharing some infographics I've been working on for a long time.  My prayer nearly 10 years ago was that God would help me find in scripture the way to Him that would truly make us like Him and would bring us to the promise of Eternal Life.  Wanting to honour this doctrine, I began to see how the LDS church was teaching the way to the promise of Eternal Life differently than the unchanging teaching of scripture.  I saw this often enough that I wanted to find a way to illustrate what I have been seeing, because as explained so well in the Lectures on Faith,

Lectures on Faith, Lecture 3
2 Let us here observe, that three things are necessary, in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation.

3 First, The idea that he actually exists.

4 Secondly, A correct idea of his character, perfections and attributes.

5 Thirdly, An actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing, is according to his will.—For without an acquaintance with these three important facts, the faith of every rational being must be imperfect and unproductive; but with this understanding, it can become perfect and fruitful, abounding in righteousness unto the praise and glory of God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So many of us are doing good things with our lives, hoping it will bring us to this moment where we will have an "actual knowledge that the course of life [we have pursued] is according to [God's] will".  Please note that this quote above is not future tense.  We can seek this "actual knowledge" here and now in this life that our course is according to God's will, because apparently it's not uncommon to realize that our offering was only partially what God wanted from us.

None of us want to be...

-The tree that produced so much fruit that the tree was cumbered with it, but none of it was good, or

-the man who invested his resources and time into building his home on sand, or

-the foolish virgins who were certain they were sufficiently ready for the feast, or

-those who prophesied in His name and cast out devils, yet were informed they had no relationship with Christ, and had been workers of iniquity.

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With something as important as our life's investment into seeking the salvation Christ's offers, how important is it for us to know we truly are on our way to Him?  And how important to know this way to Him is having the effect on us that it's meant to?

Especially when the scriptures,

1. teach this doctrine so regularly, and

2. warn that the doctrine will be changed, and

3. call us to discern changes made to the doctrine, and

4. declares that no changes are inspired by Him,

...then it's of utmost importance to learn the doctrine as it's taught, and discern how it's taught. I've brought many of these related scriptures into one video, take a look!

Also, if you would like to listen to what scripture teaches about this doctrine, I'll refer you to this series of six lessons, looking at scripture on the Way to Christ.

 

Declaring more or less than this

I made this series of infographics to illustrate ways I feel the church has added-to the doctrine and taken-away-from the doctrine.  These are my personal observations, and do not exclude the possibility that sometimes the church might also teach the doctrine well. These also do not exclude the possibility that Christ could redeem any member of the church who offers Him the broken heart and contrite spirit.  What I am suggesting is that we have falsehoods mixed with the truth, and since we're called to discern any changes made to this one true way to Christ, these are worth considering, repenting of, and then realigning with truth.

Follow this link to see a printable and enlargeable version of the file (here's what all the information looks like together but I'll be showing it as 6 images below).

 

3 Nephi 9
3 Nephi 11
2 Nephi 31

This first page is meant to give a quick overview of the doctrine, and point out the warnings about changes.

These passages and many others give us instructions to be diligent about honouring the true doctrine and being unwelcome to any and all changes.
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Then, pages 3-6 are sharing my personal observations of ways we are guilty of declaring more AND less than this doctrine. Additions are above the doctrine and subtractions are below.

The changes are in an order, from changes related to Turning to Christ, (red) through to the last, (blue) Receiving the promise of Eternal Life. Some are less serious than others, and you might not agree with them all, which is fine. But I hope you take some time to read through these next four images, and contemplate these proposed changes.

 

 

(Regarding Exaltation, here's a post on why I feel our current understanding of Exaltation is potentially an addition to an unchangeable doctrine.)

My thoughts

Personally, this list of changes is devastating to me.  I've grieved over this list.  I cannot believe all the changes we have made, while continuing to feel we're exactly who God wants us to be. Do we think we're incapable of offending God?  Do we know any other churches who have made this many changes to the doctrine? About 22 additions, and 26 subtractions, from mild, perhaps justifiable tweaks to drastic and spiritually violent changes?

I see how some of these added ideas have become idols to us, and how the Doctrine does not get the attention it must.  I grieve alongside Moroni, and feel these sharp words are for the LDS and likely also other Restoration branches.

Mormon 8
33 O ye wicked and perverse and stiffnecked people, why have ye built up churches unto yourselves to get gain? Why have ye transfigured the holy word of God, that ye might bring damnation upon your souls? Behold, look ye unto the revelations of God; for behold, the time cometh at that day when all these things must be fulfilled.

34 Behold, the Lord hath shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must shortly come, at that day when these things shall come forth among you.

35 Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.

(these are views of the additions all together, and the subtractions all together but it's the same information that's already been shared )

I see how the original doctrine has been diminished and we LDS have all-new indicators of a righteous and effectual path to life with God.  Maybe one could argue the Covenant Path is exactly the same as the Doctrine of Christ, and some do, but I believe it's equally as important to consider how they might not be the same, so follow this link to a post on the Covenant Path Comparison.

 

What does this mean for the church?

The best way I know to manage these changing goal posts doesn't include writing the church off.  I see how Christ is still redeeming people there and revealing truth to the sincere-hearted seekers.  Though I believe He will not tolerate falsehood, He will make the most of the good that's there.  Christ looks on the heart, and He's reached out to me while I still believed falsehoods, so I believe He does this for all of us.

Romans 8
27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

So, my family is rejoicing in the godly and the truth that's there, divorcing ourselves from the falsehoods, and clinging more tightly to the word of God.

The True Doctrine

I'd really love to hear your thoughts here.  How do we honour the true doctrine?

For me, a desire to honour the true doctrine has helped me understand the many instructions to "preach nothing but repentance".
It's brought up questions about how to properly prepare for baptism.
It's made me interested in how much we're meant to rely on the spirit.
It's make me interested in what a healthy relationship with church leaders and prophets can look like.
It's brought me to a scripture study on authority.
And it's made me interested in what Christ's redeeming work looks like outside the LDS church.

I'm not sure if I have complete answers for any of these, but I do love the answers that are coming as I study.

I'd like to hear what questions the information in this post brings up for you.

 

House of the World, by Minerva Teichert