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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 29, 2025

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I don't think this is correct statement of Mormon theology. Mormons believe that saving ordinances (including baptism) are necessary for salvation, that only an ordained priest (in what is effectively an apostolic succession, although I don't think Mormons use the word) can validly perform them, and that the break in apostolic succession during the so-called Great Apostasy means that only the LDS Church and its offshoots have validly ordained priests. Hence the Mormon emphasis on proxy baptism for the dead - they believe that their pre-conversion ancestors are not effectively baptised, and need to be.

The point I was making is that "are Mormons Christian" fundamentally asks whether Mormons are saved, and Mormons have no equivalent question, since we believe virtually everyone will be. Yes, we believe only our baptisms are authoritative, and only our church is God's true church on the earth, but there is no equivalent "are Christians Mormon". That's just not how we view the requirements for salvation in general.

since we believe virtually everyone will be

If I don't have to become Mormon to be saved, why should I become Mormon?

That's the pretty obvious question that every religious tradition that starts endorsing soft or hard universalism has to grapple with. Becoming LDS would require an extensive set of sacrifices, like giving up hot drinks and taking on certain tithing practices, and also requires submission to a strong institution of religious authority. If that's not actually necessary to achieve the same goal that Mormons hope to achieve, why not "eat, drink [coffee], and be merry" now, and let God sort out whether the LDS are right or not?

A core LDS belief is that we should strive to grow, repent, increase in knowledge and accountability, and become more perfect through God's grace.

We believe in three kingdoms of heaven. Salvation gets you into the lowest. Higher kingdoms follow higher laws, and exaltation (the highest division of the highest kingdom) requires moral perfection, something which can only be attained through faith, repentance, and a covenant relationship with Christ that starts with baptism. The purpose of the LDS church is to facilitate that process of moral growth, and enable that covenant relationship.

Among many other things, living under covenants means living under a higher law, being more accountable for your actions and growing faster. If you fail to make these covenants, particularly if you know (or should know) that you should be making them, you won't have the same opportunity for growth in mortality; an opportunity which will never be repeated. In the end, since everyone will get access to those covenants, your literal membership in the LDS church (divorced from all other details related to that membership) is pretty irrelevant, but your moral virtue/capacity to keep those covenants determines which kingdom you end up in and which law you abide by forever.

In short, we won't be drinking coffee in heaven, and those who do so now may find themselves unable to quit later, after the opportunities of mortality are through. (Of course, coffee itself will probably be allowed there.)

I believe Mormons have different levels of heaven, with only Mormons going to the top one, a second layer for non-Mormon Christians- that may or may not include evangelicals, theres a lot of bad blood between the two communities, but generally includes practicing Catholics, Lutherans, etc- and a bottom layer for nonbelievers. Not a Mormon, could be wrong.

You can read about it here.

  • Perdition, not a kingdom of heaven, is for true monsters like Judas. People who would, with a perfect knowledge of who Christ is, choose to crucify him again.
  • The Telestial kingdom is basically for bad people
  • The Terrestrial kingdom is for good people who "weren't valiant" in their testimony of Jesus. "Blinded by the craftiness of men" does not refer to other Christians, though they may in large part end up in this kingdom.
  • The Celestial kingdom is for people who repent and receive the necessary ordinances, such as baptism. Since we believe in proxy baptisms for the dead, this is a place anyone who exercises enough faith in Christ can end up. It's also for anyone who dies before accountability (due to age or mental capacity)
  • Within the Celestial kingdom, the highest division is called Exaltation, and is limited to those who keep the "new and everlasting covenant", meaning they make and adhere to all of God's covenants. The last necessary covenant is the marriage sealing, which we also do by proxy, so anyone can end up here too.

Nobody is getting sorted into a kingdom of heaven based solely on their religion. It's all about which covenants you've made with God, or in other words, how high of a law you are prepared to keep. I've elaborated on that a bit here.