😔 After all we can do¶
Estimated time to read: 20 minutes
For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.
Disclaimer: Most of these notes came from an episode of some podcast; I didn't take note of which one, assuring myself "nah, I'll remember which one." I did not. Once I dig through my backlog, I'll give credit where it's due.
What are we being saved from?¶
God, I guess 🤷♂️
I am not God, and can only rely on words from those who speak in God's behalf to understand His how's and why's. One question that remains in my mind is why God settled on this methodology with its astronomically low success rate. We are entirely at the mercy of the success criteria that God Himself imposed on us.
- God wants us to return to Him
- No unclean thing can be with God (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
- We, being mortals, will inevitably become unclean
- We need someone to save us from our fallen state after God made us fall
- Unless we do what God & Jesus say, we're pretty well fucked
- We agreed to all of this before being physically born
I have some feedback notes on this plan. Why can't God tolerate uncleanliness? Is He not omnipotent? Why would God create something that He cannot tolerate? Why would God say that He loves us if He cannot tolerate us in our fallen state? Why would God inflict intolerable attributes upon someone / something He loves? Why are we so susceptible to Satan's influence that our disqualification is practically guaranteed? Requiring a savior sounds reactionary—it is a response to a 0% success rate, necessitating some other divine being to intervene with God's perfect plan. You did what God said by agreeing to mortality, but since you became mortal, God won't let you come back. But He wants you back. He just has to send His son to be tortured to death first. What the hell, God?
This is all to illustrate the point that God needs you to be saved from God. He won't let you come back because you did what He said, and He's got rules to follow or else He wouldn't be God anymore.
What do we need to do to be saved?¶
I don't think I could find an LDS teaching that suggests Jesus' grace is not a critical factor in our salvation, but I can point to conflicting accounts of what "after all we can do" looks like.
The LDS church's foundational text, the Book of Mormon, in pretty explicit terms teaches salvation by grace. As shown in the above quote, we're advised that Jesus' grace only takes effect after we put in some effort—not token effort, but after exhausting every other resource and avenue possible to us.
However, the Book of Mormon does not teach that we, as mortals, really have to do much of anything other than ask Jesus to do us a real solid. There simply aren't specific examples of working out our own salvation before relying on Jesus after the fact. I'll show some accounts in the Book of Mormon of simply asking for divine intervention, and the subject is addressed immediately with salvation, having not really done anything. Some examples are of being saved from sin and iniquity, and others are more pedestrian.
Some passages argue semantics over being saved "in" versus "from" sins. Either way, sins disqualify us from salvation, so prayer & divine intervention are the common points in the following stories. God's grace is given without asking anything in return, which pretty heavily implies that "all we can do" could just mean praying once.
Alma the Younger¶
Classic story in Book of Mormon lore. Broadly speaking, Alma Junior is the son of Alma Senior, the acting prophet in 🇺🇸America🇺🇸. Junior's age isn't specified, but has a rebellious, contrarian streak that I might ascribe to a teenager. Junior is actively trying to destroy the church by "stealing away the hearts of the people", causing much dissension among them.
Alma the Younger's story appears second-hand in Mosiah 27 and first-person in Alma 36. Here's a brief summary of the redemption process, with links to relevant passages:
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Alma is struck down by the angel, rendered motionless for three days. Mosiah 27:19, 23, Alma 36:10
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Alma recognizes his helplessness, and calls on God for mercy, and is instantly saved by the grace of God. Mosiah 27:24-31, Alma 36:17-18, Alma 36:23-27
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Upon arising after being struck down, Alma proclaims being "redeemed of the Lord," past tense. It's happened. The process took place and completed. Mosiah 27:24-25
Alma was saved by grace, and all he had to do was ask. No works needed! In fact, one could argue that the works he had done up to that point were evil up until being struck down. Alma was not saved because of anything he did. In fact, the opposite, he is saved by grace despite everything he did. Once again, I'll point to the semantic exploration of being saved in sins, and from sins.
Alma got struck down and immobilized. The text emphasizes in very clear terms that it is by grace that he was saved. After he wakes up and stands, Alma says in no uncertain terms he is redeemed of the Lord and born of the spirit. Read through Mosiah 27:24-25 and tell me if I'm misunderstanding something.
To me, it sounds pretty definitive. To be saved, we need to be born again, and/or redeemed. Alma was redeemed instantly by asking for it. No works needed!
King Lamoni¶
After Alma the Younger's unconditional forgiveness and conversion, he along with the sons of Mosiah go to the Lamanites to spread the good word. One King Lamoni hears about these missionaries, and meets with Ammon.
40 And it came to pass that after he (Ammon) had said all these things, and expounded them to the king, that the king believed all his words.
41 And he began to cry unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, have mercy; according to thy abundant mercy which thou hast had upon the people of Nephi, have upon me, and my people.
42 And now, when he had said this, he fell unto the earth, as if he were dead.
43 And it came to pass that his servants took him and carried him in unto his wife, and laid him upon a bed; and he lay as if he were dead for the space of two days and two nights; and his wife, and his sons, and his daughters mourned over him, after the manner of the Lamanites, greatly lamenting his loss.
Idk man, but if the king over a tribe of violent barbarians falls over "as if he were dead," I imagine that the denizens' response would not be to simply mourn the king's passing. The king was fine until this religious clown showed up and said some fancy words! Why did they not react with "seize and imprison this outsider who just harmed our king, who is visibly unwell and unresponsive." Ammon is presumably sticking around, freely mingling and meandering for the duration of King Lamoni's torpor. This story presumably was told from Ammon's perspective, having not been chased out of town for two days before the king wakes up again.
The context around this interaction is that it bridges a cultural gap, as the Lamanites and Nephites have a strained relationship at best. We're several generations in to a longstanding rivalry that regularly escalates to war. A missionary shows up, talks to the king, and now the king is dead. Missionary guy is still there, standing around. No one thought that was suspicious?
I'm getting off-topic.
Verses 40 and 41 describe Lamoni believing everything that Alma says, and immediately "cries unto the Lord" for mercy. He is then rendered immobile, incapacitated for... wait for it... three days. Sounds a lot like what happened to Alma.
A cliffhanger brings us to chapter 19. Lamoni's wife, the queen over this group of Lamanites says "Some of my people say that he smells bad, but I kind of like it, you know?" . This fits nicely into the category of "strange details to leave into an abridgment."
For whatever reason, despite being dead by all accounts, Lamoni isn't given burial ceremony or a funeral. He's laying in bed for three days, long enough to smell bad. In this interim where people who have known Lamoni all his life believe him to be irreversibly dead, Ammon diagnoses that Lamoni "sleepeth in God," which... is a thing, I guess. Lamoni stands up and begins testifying of Christ and His redeeming power. Ammon gets so stoked that he falls to the earth, too, and all the king's court gets hyped up that they also fall to the earth.
Abish, one of remarkably few women who has a name, gathers people to witness this event, and the crowd sees that the entire court (and Ammon) seems to be dead. After some disagreement of if this is good or not, the queen stands up and immediately starts speaking in tongues in the manner one might imagine a 19th century American revivalist sermon. Queen says "O blessed Jesus, who has saved me from an awful hell!" which sure sounds to me like it's past tense, as in this process has both taken place and completed in the duration of time that she was immobilized and incapacitated. Verse 33, everyone's hearts are changed, past tense, and then everyone stood up and clapped and lived happily ever after. No works needed! Neat to see entire groups acting and behaving homogeneously. Adds a real depth of realism to the tale.
Don't think I've mentioned here, but in case it wasn't fresh in your mind, this book was written for our day. If you don't see literary value, you must have a problem with porn.
Lamoni's Father¶
A-a-ron, one of the other sons of Mosiah, is freed from prison, and now teaches King Lamoni's father, saying in no uncertain terms that "man could not merit anything of himself." Off to a good start, teaching that we're only saved by grace and nothing else.
Aaron advises Lamoni's father that he will be freed from spiritual captivity if he will "bow down before God and call on His name in faith." The king does this, aaaand was struck as if he were dead. Aaron then raises the king back up (btw this is not a 19th century American revivalist sermon) and the king then ministers to his household, and everyone is converted to the Lord. No works needed! And then everyone stood up and clapped.
Nephi & Lehi¶
Not the original ones, but descendants ~550 years after their namesakes.
N&L are imprisoned for reminding the Lamanites about King Benjamin's teaching that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. I guess the Lamanites insisted that they would only be saved after all they could do?
N&L are protected by a pillar of fire to prevent execution, but the Lamanite captors are rendered immovable by the intensity of the divine intervention. Not quite unconscious for three days, but the central theme in these observations is being rendered unable to act, unable to do works, and still being saved. The immobilized captors get spooked into "crying unto the voice of him who had shaken the earth," until "angels came down out of heaven and ministered unto them." Not as grandiose as being knocked unconscious and then granted unconditional salvation, but all they needed to do was praise the Lord and they get angels ministering to them. That in itself is a remarkable experience, I suppose. No works needed!
In each of the above stories, those redeemed were struck down or rendered immobile, incapacitated, such that no physical actions (attending church, reading scriptures, kneeling in prayer, paying tithing, going to temple) could be performed. Those redeemed were redeemed purely, solely, exclusively through the grace and mercy of God. All they had to do was ask for it&mdashand immediately, grace was given abundantly, lavishly, mercifully. To further contrast how they did nothing to merit God's grace, in each example the redeemed were wicked and sinful up until the very moment of salvation. They repented by asking for grace, God didn't impose a probation period to prove worthiness or measure restitution. They were saved, born again, made new creatures.
Huh. I remember being taught as a child and as a teenager that sects of Christianity who taught that principle were misguided apostates. Is it any wonder that evangelical Christians don't really count Mormonism as being part of their in-group?
King Benjamin¶
A central tenant in this story is that we can do nothing to be saved. Instead, we are saved through no work of our own.
King Benjamin's followers were not "wicked" when they were saved. Alma the Younger was. King Lamoni was. Lamoni's dad was. The Lamanite captors in Helaman were all wicked up until they weren't anymore. King Benjamin's followers are already "righteous," known for being obedient to God's commandments. This righteousness does not make them right with God. They're missing something, and according to the BoM, that something is Jesus! How were they obedient to God's commandments without knowing Jesus? ... Shut up that's how
After Benjamin's very humbling sermon, the followers fell to the earth, because that's what you do when you're having a conversion experience... in 19th century American revivalist sermons, at least. Feeling that they are "less than the dust of the earth..."
2 ... they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men.
3 And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them.
Sounds like this passage is telling us that even the righteous commandment-keeping faithful are not saved by their works, either. Only the grace of God can do it. Good works seem to have nothing to do with salvation.
Less Literal examples¶
If we assume a broader definition of the word "saved," we've got more examples of being extricated from "between a rock and a hard place."
Lehi's Dream¶
Lehi's retelling of his dream focuses so heavily on others pressing their way to the tree of life along the irod rod that it's easy to overlook the point of Lehi arriving by a different route. In fact, Lehi doesn't even realize that the iron rod is there until he is already at the tree. Lehi doesn't get there by the narrow path and rod of iron. Instead, Lehi is following a luminous guide, an angel presumably, through a dark and dreary wilderness. After many hours, Lehi began to pray to the Lord for mercy. Sounds like the white robe fellow abandoned Lehi? He was a guide, but isn't mentioned after this point. Should I assume that somehow they get separated?
After praying, Lehi sees "a large and spacious field," featuring a fruitful tree. Lehi approaches, takes the fruit, and finds it very sweet and also very white. After beckoning to his family, Lehi only then realizes that there is a rod of iron and a strait and narrow path. Later on, when we get an interpretation of the dream do we find that the fruit represents the love of God, and could extrapolate that it's the blessings of the atonement of Jesus. Lehi does not get the fruit (love of God) by the iron rod, nor the straight and narrow path, he gets it by grace, immediately given to Lehi when he calls on God for mercy.
Is that too much of a stretch? Lehi prays for mercy, and is saved. It all takes place within his subconscious, so... we can argue that it's all symbolic? Maybe if there was a third retelling of this dream, we could find more info on it.
Nephi's Shenanigans¶
Nephi & friends go back to Jerusalem to go find some wives. Nephi provokes his older brothers by preaching to them, and so L&L "did bind me with cords." Nephi, unable to do works on his own in this bound state, prayed unto the Lord for strength to burst these bands. The response is that "the bands were loosed from off my hands and feet," answering Nephi's prayer in an indirect way, not as requested. In this example, God's hand in redemption is what makes the difference. God just grants Nephi freedom from bondage without requiring any kind of works or actions at all. In fact, Nephi had asked explicitly to be empowered to perform acts to free himself, but instead, his bindings were simply loosed. There's no room for misinterpretation, nor for Nephi to second guess that maybe he actually had done this himself, or that he was granted the strength to burst these bands as he prayed for the capacity to do. Nephi was freed from bondage solely by the grace of God, and God wanted to make sure that Nephi knew that.
This is a strange observation compared to Nephi being later commanded to build a ship, and saying "I've got no tools, tell me where to get ore so I can make tools so I can do what you asked." In that example of a technological anachronism, God was very hands-off, letting Nephi do all the manual labor as his brothers were "desirous that they might not labor". Could have really used some divine intervention. I guess they didn't pray enough.
It also stands in contrast to the time when L&L bind Nephi again while aboard the ship he built. I guess they had forgotten how poorly that ended for them in the previous attempt, but this time while the entirety of Lehi's cohort is in danger of their ship being overwhelmed by a tempestuous storm, God doesn't loose Nephi's bindings. The account doesn't explicitly say if Nephi prayed this time, but I imagine that after three days, he would have at least tried it. But, no, this time L&L have to untie Nephi themselves.
Lesson to be learned¶
The common thread through all of these stories is God intervening when we are physically unable to, and ask Him to. Salvation by grace is a strong presence in the Book of Mormon, while attending LDS church meetings & lessons today sure does suggest that it's up to us as individuals- we do all we can, and Jesus will help fill in gaps and make our effort sufficient. Scriptural precedent, particularly in Mormonism's foundational text, shows the exact opposite. We pray to God, and we're saved, be it spiritually or physically, or sometimes both. We're taught that being "born again" is a process, not an event. This is even taught explicitly as a gradual process in General Conference.