I recently came across a document called MORMONISM: SAVED BY GRACE OR WORKS? that claims to debunk Evangelical claims that Latter-day Saints do not believe in being saved by grace. The document consists of a number of verses from the Book of Mormon (which does not reflect and in many places contradicts modern Mormon doctrine) and cherry-picked quotes from General Authorities.

But its use of general authority quotes badly distorts Mormon teachings. How badly? So badly that just reading the full context of most of the quotes fully debunks its argument. Let me show you

1) Elder Oaks 

The document quotes the following from Elder Dallin H. Oaks 

“​​The Book of Mormon puts us right. It teaches that ‘salvation doth not come by the law..’ (Mosiah 13:28); that is, salvation does not come by keeping the commandments… ‘By the law no flesh is justified.’ (2 Nephi 2:5.).. Man cannot earn his own salvation.. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account.”

Dallin H. Oaks– The Challenge to Become Oct 2000

The document quotes these parts of Elder Oaks’s talk to say that “salvation does not come by keeping the commandments” suggesting that we are saved by grace rather than by works. But is that what Elder Oaks is saying in this talk? Absolutely not. 

In the same talk Elder Oaks makes it clear that to inherit eternal life with God we need Grace AND Works AND Ordinances AND Covenants AND the Right Intentions. 

“The gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan by which we can become what children of God are supposed to become. This spotless and perfected state will result from a steady succession of covenants, ordinances, and actions, an accumulation of right choices, and from continuing repentance. “This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God” (Alma 34:32).

Now is the time for each of us to work toward our personal conversion, toward becoming what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.

We are challenged to move through a process of conversion toward that status and condition called eternal life. This is achieved not just by doing what is right, but by doing it for the right reason—for the pure love of Christ.

In other words, for Elder Oaks neither our faith nor our works are enough. We must have a “steady succession” of works. And not only that, but those works must be done “for the right reason.”

2) Elder Ballard 

The next example is a quote from Elder M. Russell Ballard. 

 “No matter how hard we work, no matter how much we obey, no matter how many good things we do in this life.. we cannot earn the kingdom of God … no matter what we do. Unfortunately, there are some within the Church who have become so preoccupied with performing good works that they forget that those works–as good as they may be–are hollow..” 

M. Russell Ballard — Building Bridges of Understanding – June 1998 Ensign

The document implies that Elder Ballard is saying that all our works do not earn us heaven and that it is grace alone that does it. But is that what Elder Ballard taught? Hardly

In fact in this quote there are some key omissions that already undermine his argument. This is the full version of the portion that the document relies on:

“No matter how hard we work, no matter how much we obey, no matter how many good things we do in this life, it would not be enough were it not for Jesus Christ and His loving grace. On our own we cannot earn the kingdom of God — no matter what we do. Unfortunately, there are some within the Church who have become so preoccupied with performing good works that they forget that those works — as good as they may be — are hollow unless they are accompanied by a complete dependence on Christ.” 

Those omitted words change the meaning of this passage significantly. Elder Ballard is emphasizing that all of the good we do is not “enough.” In other words, we need to do all of those things and have them be “accompanied by a complete dependence on Christ.” Grace and faith must be added upon all of our good works, they are not in themselves sufficient. 

This is even clearer elsewhere in the very same talk. Elder Ballard very clearly and repeatedly emphasizes the need for not just faith but repentance, ordinances, keeping covenants, and trusting fully in Christ. Reading this talk, we learn that:

• To gain eternal life, we must “exercise faith in Him, repent, and [be] faithful to the gospel covenants we make in the ordinances of salvation.”
• Both “grace and works … are core doctrines” for Latter-day Saints 
• “[O]ur works of faith in Christ, personal repentance, and receiving saving ordinances are required for eternal life in God’s presence.”
• “Our works consist of placing our full confidence and trust in Jesus Christ and then exercising our desire and willingness to live by His teachings. We do this by repenting of all our sins and obeying the laws and ordinances of Christ’s gospel.” We must “do this faithfully over our lifetime”
• Just as Jesus grew from “grace to grace,” “obeyed His Heavenly Father’s will,” and “increased in the divine attributes of godliness until He was perfect in virtue and holiness,” we must likewise follow “the path of holiness” in order to be “glorified.”   
• Elder Ballard forthrightly describes the Church’s “doctrine … regarding grace” as being that no individual can receive eternal life solely on the merits of his or her own effort.” We must therefore not only work, but also “as we rely on the Savior’s grace and demonstrate our changed nature through obedience to His laws and ordinances.” It is only if we do all of those things that we “may we receive eternal life.”

Once again, Elder Ballard makes clear that in the LDS Church grace and faith are not enough. And indeed, works are not enough either. We must successfully obey, repent, and follow Christ’s “path of holiness” or we can have no hope of eternal life. 

3) Elder McConkie 

But the most misused quote from the document has to go to its abuse of a quote from Elder Bruce R. McConkie. This is the quote it uses: 

“Now, there is a true doctrine of salvation by grace—a salvation by grace alone and without works, as the scriptures say.. Does salvation come by grace without works? It surely does, without any question in all its parts, types, kinds, and degrees. We are saved by grace, without works; it is a gift of God. How else could it come? … No works on our part were required… In his goodness and grace—and this above all—he gave his Only Begotten Son to ransom man and all life from the temporal and spiritual death brought into the world by the Fall of Adam. He sent his Son to redeem mankind, to atone for the sins of the world, ‘to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man’. And again all this comes to us as a free gift and without works. Will all our good works save us? Will we be rewarded for all our righteousness? Most assuredly we will not. We are not saved by works.. no matter how good; we are saved because God sent his Son to shed his blood in Gethsemane and on Calvary that all through him might ransomed be. We are saved by the blood of Christ.” 

Bruce R.McConkie — What Think Ye of Salvation by Grace? BYU Speech Jan. 1984

Standing alone this paragraph sounds almost protestant. That is until you read the rest of the talk. In fact, this whole talk from top to bottom is a critique of the concept of being saved by faith through grace and not on the basis of works. The whole rest of the talk!

Cherry-picking the one paragraph that the document does and reading it out of context is an egregious misreading of McConkie’s talk. It is a misreading so egregious that I cannot believe that it is anything but a deliberate decision to distort McConkie’s message. 

  Here are some of the highlights (or lowlights or McConkie’s talk)

• “[T]he doctrine that we are justified by faith alone, without the works of the law” is a “heresy originating in the …courts of darkness” that almost “destroyed that very atonement of God’s only son.” It is a “delusion and mania.” 
• He equates “salvation by grace alone and without works” as “taught in large segments of Christendom today” with Satan’s proposal in the prexistence.

McConkie’s position against salvation by grace alone could not be more explicit than in this talk. He does not want anyone to mistake what he is saying:

“Let us now come to the matter of whether we must do something to gain the blessings of the atonement in our lives. And we find the answer written in words of fire and emblazoned across the whole heavens; we hear a voice speaking with the sound of ten thousand trumpets; the very heavens and the earth are moved out of their place so powerful is the word that goes forth. It is the message that neither men, nor angels, nor the Gods themselves can proclaim with an undue emphasis.

This is the word: Man cannot be saved by grace alone; as the Lord lives, he must keep the commandments; he must work the works of righteousness; he must work out his salvation with fear and trembling before the Lord; he must have faith like the ancients—the faith that brings with it gifts and signs and miracles.”

Bruce R. McConkie was candid about what he believed. He did not want anyone to confuse Mormon and Evangelical doctrine on this point.  He thought that the Mormon empahsis on the need for works and ordinances could not be proclaimed “with an undue emphasis.” So why are modern-day apologists quoting selected parts of his talk to suggest that their view on grace is no very different from what Evangelicals believe? Why the sleight of hand?

All three of these talks have a common thread. Each of these LDS Apostles emphasizes that our works cannot and do not save us alone. Instead, we must not only work but do so unceasingly with the right intentions and with perfect faith. All those efforts and more are needed if we are to inherit eternal life. 

This is a drastically different picture than what the Bible offers: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9.

We need to have an honest conversation about the very real and pronounced differences between Mormonism and Evangelical Christianity. But that honest conversation is not possible when Mormon apologists try to hide or obscure our differences as this document.