F: Well at least we believe in the same God.
M: No we don’t.
F: What do you mean? Of course we do.
M: No, barely even similar. The God I believe in has eyes He can see me with, ears to hear me with, hands to pick me up with when I am weak, and feet with which He can walk beside me…
F: Yeah, that’s the God I believe in. (Perhaps he didn’t realise Mormons believe God and Jesus are two separate beings.)
M: Hang on, I haven’t finished yet.
F: Oh.
M: And the God I believe in, in the spring of 1820 appeared to a young farm-boy in a grove of trees near Palmyra, New York, and introduced His Son Jesus the Christ, whereafter the Church as it was in the time of Christ was restored.
F: Well I don’t believe in that God.
M: Exactly.

See how the ‘Mormon God’ and the ‘Real God’ are quite different? Jesus is a different matter. Most if not all differing opinions of Jesus come from different interpretations in scripture. Usually when ‘learned men’ try to interpret scripture themselves without aid of the Holy Spirit. All I can say to such learned men is what Nephi said in 2 Nephi 9:28:
“O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.”

Not saying that being learned is necessarily a bad thing, far from it, but the fruits of being learned certainly do make it harder to listen to God. I mean, how many learned men have been chosen as prophets or apostles? Moses was slow of speech, Peter was a fisherman, and Enoch was the village idiot (Not to mention those such as Joseph Smith who had never had an education). Great is the learned man that walks solely by the Spirit. For it is the Spirit that interprets scripture. Not the minds of men, nor other scriptures. Scriptures are writings inspired of the Spirit, thus should they be interpreted. It’s a pity so many people don’t realise you can’t understand the Word of God without the Spirit, even the plain and simple things.

P.S. Are there any scriptures that support the Trinity yet refute Mormon rejection? All ‘pro-Trinity’ scriptures I can find still work perfectly in accordance with LDS theology. Well, except where it says God is -a- spirit, but there is no indefinite article in the original Greek and no linguistic reason to suggest why there should be so that one hardly counts.
P.P.S. Is there any truth to what I’ve heard about a catechism (CCC) erasing the Second Commandment? I would be highly disturbed to find it true, I mean, I thought the Decalogue was the one thing -everyone- agreed on.

And as you illustrated above, perfect righteousness should be our goal. And I believe we should always be striving for it. Not so we don’t need Christ anymore, but because we are so grateful to Him for His sacrifice that we want to do all we can for Him. Of course we will fall short. So we recommit, repent, and accept Christ’s sacrifice again.

Just like in your last paragraph, Jesus said “Come!” And thanks to His love he stretches his arms out to even a wretch like me.

Please acknowlege that Mormons are not trying to “pick the lock” of salvation. Works alone are dead. We all need Christ.

So you see, we are saying the same thing. Christ will intercede to provide salvation for all. Mormon’s believe that we need to accept that salvation wholeheartedly. And whether it was at the beginning of the day or in the 11th hour, those wholeheartedly converted to Christ will be saved. Works are used only as a measure of our faith.

Then who can be saved?
The disciples asked Jesus this same question (Matthew 19:25). His answer? “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (v. 26). In other words, our salvation is not something we can accomplish. It is something God must do for us.

What if I stopped sinning now and never sinned again?
We are hopelessly in bondage to sin and could not cease sinning no matter how hard we tried. Scripture says even our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). In other words, we are sinful to the core. Furthermore, a single sin would be enough to destroy us forever: “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). But even if we never sinned from now on, we still bear the guilt of our past sins. And “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

Is there any way to be free from the guilt of sin?
The Bible says, “The blood of Jesus … cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

How can Jesus’ blood cleanse our sins?
When God forgives, He doesn’t merely overlook sin. Atonement must be made. Christ’s death made full atonement for those who trust Him. His dying counts in our stead if we believe. However, that only erases the guilt of our sin. Remember, we still need perfect righteousness in order to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20).

Where do we get that perfect righteousness?
The full merit of Jesus’ righteousness is imputed, or credited, to those who trust Him alone for salvation. Scripture teaches that God “justifies the ungodly” by reckoning Christ’s righteousness to them (Romans 4:5). They are clothed in His righteousness, and God accepts believers solely and exclusively on that basis. That’s why Paul was willing to discard all his own efforts to earn God’s favor, preferring instead to stand before God robed in a righteousness that was not his own (Philippians 3:8-9).

If you are not a Christian, you need to lay hold of this truth by faith: the sin that will keep you out of heaven has no cure but the blood of Christ. If you are weary of your sin and exhausted from the load of your guilt, He tenderly holds forth the offer of life and forgiveness and eternal rest to you: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

How can I be sure Christ will save me?
No one will be turned away: “The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). All are invited: “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).

How about David with his sin with Bathsheba? He wouldn’t have made it to the celestial kingdom either? Sounds to me like you have a works doctrine. So how many sins or how great of sin does it take to out sin grace?

Rusty has promised to provide an explanation of the Mormon view of the afterlife, so I won’t go into much detail here. But the bottom line is that after death but before judgment there is a chance to repent again, but the Lord is the judge and He knows our hearts. If we sin knowingly thinking that we can procrastinate the day of our repentance, then that repentance isn’t as meaningful. I have faith that we will be judged according to our committment to our faith. And luckily it’s not in or out–there are varying degrees of glory and what awaits us is what will suit us most.

So lets say I do 1, 2, 3, but after a while I fall back into being led by my flesh and let’s say I died on my way back from a adult book store in a car accident, before I had a chance to repent and start over. Am I going to Mormon heaven?

Or answer this, how does one get to the highest Mormon heaven?

Although it’s been hashed out many times before, here it is again. Jesus taught, “No man cometh to the Father but by me (John 14).” Nephi added it in another way, “No unclean thing can enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus Christ’s sacrifice gave every human a chance to become clean again. His atonement meets the demands of justice for every being on earth. But in order to make the atonement personally effective, I need to 1) have faith, 2) repent, 3) receive baptism for the remission of sins, and 4) live worthy of the Holy Ghost’s promptings. Numbers 3 and 4 determine how sincere I am with numbers 1 and 2. If I fail (we all do) I rededicate myself to numbers 1 and 2, and try again.

In other words, works are necessary to show your true conversion to Christ and are never used to bypass Christ.