In D&C
59:5-13, we read the following:
Wherefore, I give unto them a commandment,
saying thus: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy
might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve
him. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Thou shalt not steal; neither
commit adultery, nor kill, nor do anything like unto it. Thou shalt thank the
Lord thy God in all things. Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God
in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And that
thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to
the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day; For verily
this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy
devotions unto the Most High; Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in
righteousness on all days and at all times; But remember that on this, the
Lord's day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most
High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord. And on this
day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with
singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that
thy joy may be full.
This is an
important text as the Lord, speaking through the Prophet Joseph Smith, commands
Latter-day Saints to keep the commandments, offer up spiritual sacrifices in
righteousness (e.g., a broken heart and a contrite spirit; spiritual sacrifices on
the Lord's Day, etc) and to confess sins before one another and the Lord (cf.
Matt 18:18), etc. Notice that there is absolutely no hint as an imputation of
an alien righteousness. In fact, such a theology (note: these are prescriptions,
not descriptions, of a "saved" person [a cop-out by James White et al
when confronted with similar biblical texts]) is antithetical to the concept of
forensic justification.
Such should
give pause to errant Latter-day Saints, including some who lecture at BYU, who
try to embrace the Reformed Protestant understanding of justification: it is a
blasphemous legal fiction that makes God a liar. For more, see:
Response to a Recent Attempt to Defend Imputed Righteousness
