Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

By Mormon Readers

Q: Why would you discourage Latter-day Saints from striving towards perfection, telling us that it is impossible?

A: There is nothing wrong with striving towards perfection, and seeking to be like Jesus in your character, yet it truly is impossible, and it contributes nothing towards our salvation. The Bible says that man is born with a sinful or carnal nature. You and I have weaknesses, and our hearts are tainted with sin such as selfishness, pride, impurity, envy, unkindness, etc. We certainly can improve ourselves, but perfection is a concept that is related to infinity. We can never reach it. Sin is like a deadly poison or virus tainting our bowl of stew. It can be diluted, but it is impossible to totally remove it, no matter how much good stew is added, the tiny bit of deadly virus remains--and will ultimately kill those who eat it. We can continue to add good stew, but it does nothing to prevent the stew from being deadly. We need another solution.

Let me explain with another parable: Suppose that my LDS friend, John, and I are standing on the rear deck of a ship somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. John and I are having a pleasant conversation on a pleasant, warm day with calm seas. But as we lean against the rail, it breaks, and both of us fall into the water below. The ship continues on without immediate notice, and we are left in the water as the ship steams away and over the horizon. Fortunately, we can both tread water and even swim a little. The water is warm and calm, so we are not in any immediate danger. Nevertheless, we are in grave trouble since the nearest land is thousands of miles away. There is little to do, but swim, so we swim east. John was not the best swimmer, but I notice that with this forced practice, his swim stroke is actually improving, however futile it may be. Eventually, our ship learns what has happened, and radios for a rescue ship. The rescue ship actually finds us in time to throw us a life-ring. I grab hold of the life-ring and they pull me up on deck. Next, they throw a life-ring to John, landing right in front of him. I shout, "John, grab the life-ring!" But oddly, John brushes the life-ring aside and continues swimming east. He is pleased with the way his stroke has improved, and declares that he thinks he is making progress. Again the life-ring is thrown to him and I shout, "John, grab the life-ring or you are going to die." But John calls back, "Stop discouraging me. I'm improving my stroke. Besides, you can't deny that I'm getting closer to land with each stroke I take. I can do it!" So I try to reason with him, "No, I can't deny it, but, John, it's too far. Grab the life-ring now, and then we can work on your stroke in the pool back home."

The water is our sin, and the life-ring is Jesus. Heaven is on the opposite shore. Swimming is our way of doing good works, yet we are lost in the ocean of our sin. Actually, the ocean between our righteousness and God's righteousness is greater than the Pacific Ocean, isn't it. Swimming is a wonderful thing. It is good to learn to swim and to try to perfect our stroke. I encourage it. But not for the purpose of crossing the Pacific Ocean! So it is with our good works in the sight of God. We need to do good works, but not for the purpose of contributing something towards our own salvation. Salvation based upon the forgiveness of all our sins through the blood of the cross must come first, then our works will actually means something--thanksgiving to God for what He has already done for us.

Yes, swimming across the Pacific Ocean is impossible, but keep working on that stroke for other reasons!

Your friend,

Mark Champneys