On October 22nd (2024) Seventy Jörg Klebingat of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints presented a devotional address at the Marriott Center on Utah’s BYU campus. He told his audience he desired to “speak to you today about how the atonement of Jesus Christ can make us confident to stand before God both today and at the day of judgment.”
As the Bible describes it, a final judgment before God awaits us all. Every person who has ever lived will stand before God to give an account of his or her lifetime of deeds, words, thoughts, and desires. Those who have received justification through faith in Christ alone (Romans 3:21-26), whose names are therefore written in the Book of Life, face no condemnation (Romans 8:1). But those who have chosen to go their own way, who have rejected the gift of redemption offered by Christ, who are relying on their own inadequate righteousness, will be condemned forever (Revelation 20:15); because in ourselves, “None is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). While most people are familiar with the concept of Judgment Day, many do not know — or agree with — what God says about it.
In his devotional, Mr. Klebingat began by noting some common attitudes regarding Judgment Day’s “ultimate reckoning” with God, ranging from those who don’t believe there will really be a Judgment Day, to those who are striving to please God and therefore feel they can have confidence regarding their eventual audience with Him. Drawing attention to an attitude that falls between these two, Mr. Klebingat pointed to Jonathan Edwards, a Christian pastor, philosopher, and scholar who lived long ago. In 1741 Pastor Edwards preached a sermon called, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” which graphically warned unrepentant sinners of their precarious position before a holy God. It is from this sermon that Mr. Klebingat quoted in his devotional. He said,
“Some espouse a rather depressive view of our final judgment as expressed by Jonathan Edwards, considered one of the greatest theologians in the early 1700s, in which ‘The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, abhors you. His wrath towards you burns like fire. He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in His sight.’”
Following the quote, to the delight of his audience, Mr. Klebingat joked, “That was uplifting.”
A few minutes later he looked again at Pastor Edwards’ words, stating that the attitude in the sermon “reflects the catastrophic misunderstanding of the character of God by ignoring that the very purpose for His existence is to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life…”
I must admit that, in its audacity, Mr. Klebingat’s statement that mankind’s betterment is “the very purpose of God’s existence” took my breath away. But I suspect he misspoke as this is not the position of other LDS leaders. Yet his statement that Pastor Edwards’ view misunderstands the character of God is consistent with established LDS doctrine. Herein lies a vast chasm between Mormonism and biblical Christianity, one that allows Mormons to turn Jonathan Edwards’ dire warning into a joke.
You see, Mormonism presents a god who is of the same species as man. He was once a human being who was able to achieve godhood through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the LDS gospel system. In Mormon thought, as an exalted man, God is closely aligned in His character to human beings but perfected in his attributes (see supporting quotes). As such, Latter-day Saints tend to imagine their Heavenly Father is very much like a kindly earthly father, willing to overlook “shortcomings” as long as you’re trying to do better. Mormonism’s God will grant even wicked, unrepentant, rebellious people an eternal “kingdom of glory” that far surpasses any earthy pleasures. But this is not how God reveals Himself in the Bible. Nor is it how Jonathan Edwards preached about Him.
The Bible tells us that God is not like us. He is inherently holy. He will not tolerate any sin. He is just and promises to judge and punish both sin and sinner. It is only God’s mercy and forbearance that delays His inescapable and eternal judgment against us, but this patience will eventually run out. All of us, guilty of the sin of rebellion against God, are in deep trouble. Judgment Day is coming.
Pastor Edwards painted a very graphic picture of the alarming position of unrepentant sinners:
“The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight…O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in…”
Mr. Klebingat joked that this is a depressing view of Judgment Day, and it is. It’s meant to be. This is no laughing matter for “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).
Pastor Edwards spoke in a manner that’s shocking to our 21st century ears, but his sermon was biblical. God hates (“abhors”) the wicked (Psalm 5:4-5). God’s fiery wrath toward sinners is real (Isaiah 9:19). His holiness (“purer eyes”) cannot look at sin and tolerate what He sees (Habakkuk 1:13). Jonathan Edwards implored people to recognize the spiritual danger they’re in due to their rebellion against God – and to find their rescue in Christ.
Christian author Tim Challies writes,
“We will all face judgment and we will all approach that judgment with a long record of wicked thoughts and wicked deeds. Yet some will be welcomed by God into his everlasting kingdom. This will not be on the basis of any righteousness we have earned, but only on the basis of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. There is hope for wicked people if only they will turn to Christ in repentance and faith.” (“God Hates Wicked People”)
Mormonism’s answer to the coming Judgment Day is to “stay on the covenant path.” Receive all of Mormonism’s so-called saving ordinances. Make and keep LDS temple covenants. Obey every commandment with exactness (Preach My Gospel, 10). Be a little better every day (Russell M. Nelson, “We Can Do Better and Be Better,” April 2019 General Conference). As Mr. Klebingat said, “It’s all about trajectory, your trajectory, about our desires and our real intent.”
But in fact, facing Judgment Day without fear is all about Jesus. Another Christian pastor preached long ago,
“If you are at peace to-day through a belief that you are righteous in yourself, you are not at peace with God. If you are wrapping yourself up in your own righteousness and saying, ‘I am as good as other people, I have kept God’s law, and have no need for mercy,’ you are not at peace with God. You are treasuring up in your impenitent heart wrath against the day of wrath; and you will as surely be lost if you trust to your good works, as if you had trusted to your sins. There is a clean path to hell as well as a dirty one. There is as sure a road to perdition along the highway of morality, as down the slough of vice. Take heed that you build on nothing else but Christ; for if you do, your house will tumble about your ears, when most you need its protection.” (Charles Spurgeon, “A Blast of the Trumpet Against False Peace,” 1860)
O striving Latter-day Saint, consider the fearful danger you are in! Your peace with God will never be achieved by your “trajectory” of “being a little better each day.” There is one way, and one way only, to be reconciled to God. Turn to Jesus and trust in His perfect righteousness; whosoever does “does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24).
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” -Romans 5:1
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