Saturday, October 10, 2015

Rocky Foundation?

There is the idea in the Mormon church that the rock Jesus will build His church on is His doctrine and that if you go against this doctrine you will suffer destruction.

Wow. It seems so simple that at first glance it might be difficult to argue with. However, it is a sly ploy to keep you afraid and from arguing with the Mormon church. If you stop and think a moment, the Bible clearly spells out you will suffer destruction if you are not saved. So, thusly you will suffer destruction unless you follow the true way but it's not actually about the doctrine it's about the blood of Christ. You do not suffer destruction because you come against the doctrine of the Mormon church, in reality you suffer destruction because of your own sins.

That is why Jesus had to die because he was a perfect, lamb free of spot or blemish so His sacrifice was worthy. Thusly you could be forgiven because His sacrifice washes away your sin. That is the only way to heaven and what could keep you from heaven isn't doctrine necessarily but your own filthy sins that aren't under the blood of Christ. So in a way doctrine could keep you from heaven if you believe on a doctrine that causes you to believe you are okay without the blood of Christ, but your sin is the actual issue.

Also, if you read the verse in the Bible about how he builds the church it's not on doctrine. The verse in Matthew 16:16-18 says, "And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

There are two popular interpretations of this verse. One interpretation is that Jesus is actually saying he will build his church upon Peter, which seems doubtful as Peter is simply a human. It's also hard to compare him to a rock considering he denied Christ three times. Also, Jesus just got done saying he is blessed because the Father revealed unto him that Jesus was the Christ and if just that knowledge is a blessing it seems a leap for Jesus to suddenly go on to say the gates of hell won't prevail against a church founded on Peter. Besides the fact that if the Church was founded on Peter than we should worship Peter and we'd have a pretty weak foundation. Regardless, using this interpretation the Mormon church belief does not line up.

The other interpretation is that Jesus is referring to what Peter said as the foundation of the church, the proclamation, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Doctrinally that seems to make a lot more sense, plus if you read it that way then Christ is actually saying upon Himself He will build His church. God is referred to as the rock in Psalms 62:6 and Jesus is referred to as the chief cornerstone in Ephesians 2:20. This interpretation seems more likely the actual meaning. Regardless, it also does not line up with the Mormon teaching as Jesus is building His rock upon Himself, not the Mormon doctrine.


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