The Works of Grace

I stumbled upon a topic in the "Church Newspaper" (Mormon) website. The article was published on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2000. It's short, but is packed with irrational and false statements concerning grace.

"Applying the Scriptures: Grace given through Christ's mercy, love

Latter-day Saints are known as a people with a strong work ethic - both temporally and spiritually. However, as believers in Jesus Christ as their Redeemer, they also know that without His grace, their efforts are in vain.
During the April 1993 general conference, Elder Gene R. Cook of the Seventy explained: "Grace is a 'divine means of help or strength given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ.' It is 'an enabling power.' (Bible Dictionary, p. 697.) The doctrine of the grace of the Father and the Son and how it affects us is so significant that it is mentioned more than 200 times in the standard works. If we can obtain the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that divine enabling power, to assist us, we will triumph in this life and be exalted in the life to come."
Elder Cook then shared five principles that "may help us obtain that divine intervention....The first principle is faith. It is evident that this grace, or enabling power, is accessed by faith. No wonder faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel.
"Repentance is the second principle. The grace of the Lord through the Atonement can both cleanse us of sin and assist us in perfecting ourselves through our trials, sicknesses, and even 'character defects.'
"The third principle is humility," Elder Cook said. He then referred to Ether 12:27: "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me."
He continued: "Doing all in your own power is the fourth principle. Yes, works alone cannot bring that divine gift, but they are a key condition upon which the gift is received.
"The fifth principle, keeping the commandments, surely is a condition for receiving the grace of the Lord. To obtain grace, one does not have to be perfect he does have to be trying to keep the commandments the best that he can. Then the Lord may allow him to receive that power."

Here is a quote from the book, "Mormon Doctrine" by Bruce R. McConkie that is just as irrational. This is under the heading, "Grace of God" on page 338-339; "Grace is granted to men proportionately as they conform to the standards of personal righteousness that are part of the gospel plan. Thus the saints are commanded to "grow in grace" (D&C 50:4o), until they are sanctified and justified [Looks like ya gotta 'work' at justification too!], "through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (D&C 20:30-32.) Grace is an attribute of perfection possessed by Deity (D&C 66:12; 84:102), and Christ himself "received grace for grace" until finally he gained
the fullness of the Father. [So....Jesus wasn't perfect on earth? He needed the grace of the Father, even though He was sinless and incapable of sinning, and He is God?!] The same path to perfection is offered to man. "If you keep my commandments," the Lord says, "you shall receive of his fullness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace.: (D&C 93:6-20)---(Brackets added with my thoughts)

My Harper's Bible Dictionary states this about grace: "grace, a favorable disposition on the part of God, usually without reference to any merit or desert in the object of the favor, and, especially in the N.T. even when the object is entirely lacking in merit or desert. The grace of God is therefore that quality of God's nature which is the source of mans undeserved blessings, in particular those blessings which have to do with their salvation from sin...To be in "a state of grace" is to know that one's relation to God is determined not by merit- "by works of the law" -but by faith in Christ as the revealer of God's merciful love. This is the burden of Paul's testimony in Rom. 5 and 6. The gospel is "good news," because it is the assurance of the grace of God (see Acts 20:24; cf. Luke 4: 16-19). Men, says Paul, are "justified freely, "or brought to forgiveness and reconciliation, "through God's grace" (Rom. 3:24). It is a fundamental Christian teaching that salvation is a free gift, whose source is the undeserved favor, or grace, of God."

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

What happened to FREE??...Mormons do not believe in FREE....That is, after they say, "Go ahead, feel free to join our cult, then see where your freedom goes...Out the window! Christ IS freedom. Grace IS given for FREE!!

Faith, repentance, humility, doing all in your own power, and keeping the commandments are not GRACE!!