I stumbled across a pro-Mormon YouTube channel (a Vlog) called inZionTV. On January 6th (2012) inZionTV posted a video (embedded below) in which two Mormon missionaries answer the question, “What do we need to do to live with Heavenly Father after we die?”
The 10 minute and 40 second video provides a pretty detailed answer from the missionaries as well as from the man making the video. This is how it goes:
0:25-1:39 Elder M explains people must have faith in God, repent, forsake and confess sins to God, get baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. He says, “Those are the four basic, essential things in which we need to do.”
1:39-2:19 Elder B recaps the same four essentials and adds one more: “Enduring to the end.”
2:19-5:00 Elder M states, “That enduring to the end includes commandments in which God has given us.” For the next few minutes both elders list some of those commandments (“There are many of them.”), beginning with the Ten Commandments then moving into things like the Word of Wisdom, the Law of Chastity, pure thoughts and actions, the Law of Tithing, keeping the Sabbath day holy, etc.
5:00-8:15 inZionTV asks what will happen if someone doesn’t keep one of those commandments. For the next few minutes all three men discuss the resulting consequence of missed blessings. They also talk about blessings that will be obtained by keeping specific commandments.
8:15-9:44 inZionTV thanks the elders and provides a recap of the things people need to do to live with Heavenly Father after they die (i.e., have faith, repent, get baptized, follow God’s commandments and endure to the end).
9:44-10:13 inZionTV explains what happens if people fail to “endure to the end” in keeping the commandments. He says, ““If we don’t follow all the commandments there’s no guarantee of what’s going to happen to us.” However, he explains, if people try really hard but still fail due to weakness, “I know the atonement of Jesus Christ will kick in and help us actually get that passage to a better place.” The elders agree.
10:13-10:40 inZionTV bears a testimony of the Mormon Church and the Book of Mormon and thanks the elders one last time.
I’ve provided this detailed timeline of the video for this reason: In the 10 minutes and 40 seconds dedicated to discussing how to be saved (in the celestial kingdom), approximately eight of those minutes are given to a discussion of the necessary element of keeping the commandments. Very little is said about faith; even less is said about Jesus. The discussion in this video demonstrates the heart of Mormonism’s plan of salvation: “Based on personal worthiness, we may through His grace have the glorious opportunity of entering back into the presence of God” (Quentin L. Cook, “We Follow Jesus Christ,” Ensign, May 2010, 84. Emphasis mine.).
This is so different from the answer we find in the Bible. When the apostle Paul was in jail in Philippi, he and his companion were asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:30-31). Jesus is the focus of the biblical answer.
The Mormon video is an accurate presentation of the focus of Mormonism and agrees perfectly with Mormon Prophet Joseph F. Smith’s declaration in General Conference in 1915:
“I do not believe that a man is saved in this life by believing, or professing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but that he must endure to the end and keep the commandments that are given.” (Joseph F. Smith, Conference Reports, April 1915, 119)