On my mission, I came across a preacher of another faith. As my companion and I met with him, he told me that he could save me right there, on the spot if I said the sinner’s prayer. For some reason, I declined. As I think back on that experience, would it have mattered if I said the prayer or not? I remember leaving his house, and he stood at his doorway and said, “God bless these DAMNED souls!” The funny thing was that when I got back to my bike, I realized that we had left a copy of the Book of Mormon with him, but I thought, “Oh well, it might do him some good.” But he returned to the doorway and said “You forgot your book.” I told him he could keep it, but he declined.

Surely not all Christians believe this. Pastor Jerry Beaver has a PDF that asks “CAN A CHRISTIAN SIN AFTER THEY ARE SAVED?” He says that “The subject of the Christian’s relationship to sin after salvation can be a little confusing, since our sins of the past, present and future have been forgiven.” But he does go on to say “Does the Christian just continue to live in sin with no consequences, just pleading salvation, justifying sin since we are already forgiven?

NO!”

Yahoo Answers has some interesting takes on the question “What if you commit sin after being saved by Jesus, will u go to hell? & does being saved give the right to commit sin?” Here is a sampling of answers:

Chosen “Best Answer” From Wyomugs. “As for committing sin after being saved, NO, we will NOT go to hell… UNLESS we INTENTIONALLY reject Christ, deny Him, and fall away from our salvation….”

Here’s a Catholic perspective. “You can confess to a priest or ask forgiveness from God.Whichever you prefer. And just because you commited one sin doesn’t mean your going to go directly to hell. You can always go to Purgatory. And being saved does not give you the right to commit sin because, usually, when you commit sin you injury yourself or someone else and in doing so you hurt God.”

“Just dont live in a continual carnal state of sin. Also remember that salvation isnt a license to sin.”

“No, being saved does not give any one a free pass on sin. But it does mean, we now have a mediator if we do sin. Jesus Christ stands in for us.”

“99% of Christians today will say weird things here. They will say you have to in perpetuity say your repentance prayers and then misquote scripture, for they themselves sin and are sinners and don’t know either.”

I don’t know about you, but I kind of liked that last one the best. But it got me thinking. Don’t Mormons have a bit higher standard, but similar line of reasoning with the “Calling and Election Made Sure?” Bruce R. McConkie in Mormon Doctrine discusses this:

Those members of the Church who devote themselves wholly to righteousness, living by every word the proceedeth forth from the mouth of God, make their calling and election sure. That is, they receive the more sure word of prophecy, which means that the Lord seals their exaltation upon them while they are yet in this life. (emphasis in original)

… Those so favored of the Lord are sealed up against all manner of sin and blasphemy except the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and the shedding of innocent blood. That is their exaltation is assured; their calling and election is made sure, because they have obeyed the fulness of God’s laws and have overcome the world. Though such persons “shall commit any sin or transgression of the new and everlasting covenant whatever, and all manner of blasphemies, and if they commit no murder wherein they shed innocent blood, yet they shall come forth in the first resurrection, and enter into the exaltation.” (D&C 132:26)

This seems unusually similar to a Born Again Christian’s line of thinking. There are some people that say “I have accepted and trusted in God to save me. Now my salvation is up to Him, and He will not fail me. Even if I murder and/or commit suicide I cannot go to Hell.” Mormons are different because even Elder McConkie says that murder disqualifies one’s calling and election, so I am not trying to imply that these positions are equal; but they do seem to be quite similar. Tom Phillips received his Second Anointing a few years ago, and the experience actually led him to apostatize. He has posted his experience on MormonThink, (note: many consider MormonThink as an anti-Mormon website.) Sins such as apostasy or adultery are surprisingly absent from the list of disqualifications in D&C 132:26.

Do you see any problems with this line of thinking that anyone (Born Again, Mormon, or otherwise) can truly be “saved” or “exalted” in this life?