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[dberrie2000;105770]And where do you find any mention of second chances? I'm referring to those who have not had an opportunity to hear the gospel. The work of salvation goes on in the hereafter, just as it does here. What about death do you believe shortens the arm of Christ to save, or somehow dilutes His Blood?
This life is their one and only chance.. The Bible is clear:
Heb 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment
God judge what each man is judged by.. What the Bible says is there is no forgiveness outside Jesus. That He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.. Each man is given his lifetime to come to Christ and that is all, after that the judgement..
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Just how many churches do you believe God has? If we look at the scriptures--we only find one true church--led by the living apostles of Jesus Christ, although there might have been others that claimed so.
There is one Church.. there are many churches that the Church gathers in.. See the Church is not a building or and organization but a living thing, the very Body of Her Lord, Jesus. yes the Church's Apostles are living just as the Patriarchs are living:
Mark 12:26-27
have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.
I agree with the words Jesus spoke here "ye therefore do greatly err" for like the Patriarchs the Apostles are His Apostles and He is the God of the living not the dead..
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If one were to reject that true church of the NT--and start their own--could they have been saved by doing so
No one can start a "True" Church".. You are right there is only one.. And only God can add members to it.
Acts 2:48
...And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Peter didn't do it. Paul didn't do it.. Only Jesus!! Smith didn't do it.. The TRUE Church has been here all alone and needed no restoration.. If it was lost then Jesus lied about being with us till the end of the age and that even the gates of hell couldn't stand against the Church.. Any church that teaches that the Church was ever lost is false..
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LDS do not believe in being a Mormon--that is your take, not the LDS. There will be only those who follow Christ, and obey Him found within the kingdom of God. There is only one church of God--and anyone who teaches there is no obedience to Jesus Christ necessary for salvation, is not that church.
I have shown you again and again from the Law that you are NOT obedient to the commandments of God. You aren't even obedient to the commandments of Jesus in the NT.. So any hope of your salvation by obedience is GONE.. Yes mormonism does teach it as the way to life but that is wrong.. Such laws are given as a schoolmaster to bring us to Jesus.. We see that we have failed to measure up to those commandments and seek shelter in His grace through faith.. Those that do so are the true Church.. The ONE TRUE CHURCH..
You are right we must be obedient but I have fail to be obedient, and worse, you have also failed but cling onto the idea that adding clean water to sewage will make it clean. There is no forgiveness of sin in obedience. Forgiveness of sin required sacrifice of the blood of the innocent. Only in the Blood of the spotless Lamb of God is it found. Only in the imputed righteousness of that Lamb on us are we righteous..
Just where does your partial obedience bring real righteousness? IT DOESN'T.. Mormonism has made up a new Jesus. A different Jesus from that God the Church has already received. The mormon Jesus is that Jesus, different in that He became a god, different in that he was a creation of another created god, different in that He cleanses his believers in water and not his blood and then demands what the flesh can not give, obedience.. This is why the Church sees mormonism as a cult and a false religion. Because the Jesus they hold to be the Jesus found in the Bible is that man made invention..That is not the Church found in the NT.. Mormonism is the three dollar bill of Christianity.. IHS jim