In the Book of Mormon, Moroni chapter ten verse 32 says "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ..." 

The words sound familiar, but do Moroni's references to "grace" and "Christ" really speak of the same grace and of the same Christ found in the New Testament? No. Note that Moroni says God's grace is only sufficient if you deny yourself of all ungodliness first. But how is that to be done? According to Romans 7, not even the Apostle Paul could do that! 

But according to Moroni, you must deny yourself of all ungodliness before Christ bestows sufficent grace upon you. Then and only then does God's grace "kick in." The second book of Nephi, chapter 25, verse 23 says for example that "it is by grace we are saved" however grace comes only "after all we can do." 

Clearly this is not in accordance with what the New Testament teaches. It is indeed by grace we are saved, but not by works of our own. We can't simply do stuff in church to make ourselves right with God. We cannot earn our salvation. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9, NASB). 

On part two of our conversation with former LDS Sandra Tanner, we explore in more detail the LDS concept of grace, works, and salvation. We also discuss the problematic LDS scripture known as the Book of Abraham.

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