Defining Sainthood
Dictionary.com defines sainthood as "the quality or state of being a saint" and that "saints" are a "group"; and a saint is defined as "any of certain persons of exceptional holiness of life, ... a person of great holiness, virtue, or benevolence ..." Merriam-webster.com defines sainthood the same way and defines saint as "a member of any of various Christian bodies, specifically: latter-day saint" and "one eminent for piety or virtue." Thus being a saint and the path of sainthood means a life of holiness and piety. Joseph Smith was heavily influenced by the pursuit of holiness and piety in Methodism. See We Latter-day Saints are Methodists: The Influence of Methodism on Early Mormon Religiosity by Christopher C. Jones.
Sainthood as technically acting as if you're "holier than thou":
Being a saint is, if you think about it, technically speaking very much seeking to be and act "holier than thou," when those who are the "thou" in this case are thought of as those outside the saintly fold of the holy covenants made as a member of the LDS Church. So that non-Saints are seen as unholy "Gentiles," as the "worldly." So that Latter-day Saints by the very title or label are claiming the role and identity of being holier than the thou (the worldly); for the word "saint" itself means to basically be called out/seperated ones (holier-ones) by seeking the ideal of holiness and pious perfection separated from "the world."
To be a saint means to be separated from things and persons deemed unholy; with the unholy, from a biblical perspective, basically being the natural world; which is to be rejected and separated from God's holy tribe or holy people. For example, these verses cover this emphasis on being holy (emphasis added):
1 Samuel 2:2: "There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God"
Revelation 15:4: "Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy"
Leviticus 20:7: "Be holy; for I, the Lord your God, am holy"
1 Peter 1:15-16: "But be holy in all you do, just as God, the One who called you, is holy"
1 Corinthians 3:17: "For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple
In the article The Temple: A Place of Holiness, a Elder Larry Y. Wilson of the Quorum of the Seventy writes:
A Place to Become Holy
In the temple, we have one foot on earth and the other in heaven. We can feel what heaven and holiness are like. I recently heard a young man describe how when he was in the temple, he felt safe and as if he were in heaven. He testified that the temple is God’s house and that he loved being there.
This young man was experiencing the holiness of the temple. The inscription on every temple reads, “Holiness to the Lord: The House of the Lord.” We show holiness to the Lord as we keep the commandments, honor our covenants, and keep the Holy Ghost as our guide.1 The temple certainly is a place where we can do those things and invite holiness into our lives.
So the LDS temple itself acts as a constant reminder that to be a Latter-day Saint very much mean that you as a Latter-day Saint, are indeed seeking to be "holier than thou," if again the "thou" is all those who are deemed wordly and/or "unworthy" (a label given to any LDS member or non-LDS who fails to perform the covenant path of LDS piety or holiness required to enter the temple). All LDS must pass "worthiness" interviews conducted by LDS Priests before progressing in the LDS Church and entering the LDS temple.
Interestingly, the LDS Triple Combination Index for the word Unworthy or Unworthiness equates being unworthy with "See also Iniquity; Unholy; Unjust; Unrighteous; Wicked." So it's clear that being unholy is equated with some degree of wickedness and iniquity (otherwise one would repent and pursue Mormon holiness/sainthood), with a failure to do so being seen as the result of one's pride and/or inner sinful "natural man" and not obeying the commands/demands of the LDS Leaders: who, as apostles and prophets, seers and revelators, set the standards of holiness or path to sainthood. Failure to become holy in the eyes of these Brethren, means you cannot enter into LDS temples and are labeled unworthy (i.e. unholy, "unsaintly"); and thus the message is that "thou are not as holy (saintly) as us."
This stark division between the perceived righteous saintly-worthy and wickedly unworthy-unsaintly, was first profoundly felt by me when I attended one of my LDS brother's weddings in my early 20s. At the time only my one brother and I were active LDS among my many siblings, and I was not even fully active but my LDS temple recommend card was still active so I attended his temple wedding. Since my other siblings were labeled "unworthy" (i.e. unholy), i.e. impious, they could not enter the holy temple. My siblings were still good people, but as I will cover below "good-personhood" and sainthood are two very different things. After the temple ceremony was over, I can vividly recall the scene of leaving the temple to meet up with my LDS-inactive/"unworthy" siblings and the palpable yet unspoken feeling that such holiness ideology acted to cause a rift between us and our family dynamics. In other words, I remember feeling a clear feeling of division between us, an unspoken separation, with one the one brother and I being included into the holy-insiders-only temple while they were excluded and labeled unworthy by the LDS institution. This acted as an unspoken message that we were "holier than thou," holier than them (my other siblings), and thus my "unworthy" siblings were thus by default rendered definitionally, in Mormon language, as less holy outsiders.
Saints as Holy Ones
In the New Testament, the term saint in the King James Bible means a "holy one," meaning one set-apart or separated from the natural world as a living sacrifice per Romans 12:1, which I will discuss in more detail below. So a saint and the path of sainthood is literally one who denies the natural world and their natural drives and instincts and basically rejects biological life for a saintly life of holiness and/or piety. I will go into more detail below, but in the New Testament, this world of biological life is controlled by Satan, demons, and a literal Sin virus that Paul believes is controlling his body and infecting all humanity. This is why one sacrifices their life to holiness, separating oneself from their biological drives and human desires for property, wealth, and status which are drives allegedly influenced by a Sin-force. This is why their are so many verses on denying one's self (or selfhood) for sainthood and escaping the natural world via voluntary martyrdom. The term martyr comes from the Greek word for witness. For the first Christians, the path of sainthood was both a path of literal self-denial and also a way to describe their fellow believers who were persecuted by the Roman government in the first century; to be a saint was to accept the path that they might be called upon to deny their professed faith in Jesus as Lord by instead professing Caesar is Lord, which in that time and context, refusal to do so (i.e. swearing allegiance to Lord Caesar instead of Lord Jesus) meant risking death. Martyrdom was a real possibility for early Christians. They were willing to die because they saw this world as being literally controlled by Satan, Demons, and Sin. So they really believed this mortal world of "fallen materiality" was soon going to end (be destroyed) and a new celestial or Platonic realm (of pure immaterial Forms) would replace the "fallen" world of flesh and matter. So denying one's own life, one's desires and passions which was seen as hostile to the Platonic realm of the Spirit per Galatians 5:17, was to be holy. Because of this mentality of hostility to life in the body, seeking death in first century Rome through voluntary martyrdom was not seen as a loss, for to die was gain. For this world was evil, corrupt, "bad," and pious sainthood and martyrdom was an escape from this contaminated world. So seeking sainthood meant seeking to be like an immaterial holy deity and holy angels who reside in a non-fleshly Platonic realm. This is why there are so many New Testament verses that describes holiness as escaping from the material world controlled by evil forces.
Joseph Smith began to depart from this anti-flesh point of view in the 1840s (which I discuss in my other blog), but most LDS scriptures were produced before the 1840s by Joseph Smith; and thus they support this anti-materiality worldview which Joseph Smith held prior to his pro-materiality worldview which developed in the Nauvoo era of the 1840s. For example, the LDS Index to the Triple Combination provides specific meanings for the term Saint, with references to LDS scripture verses with the following wording:
[the] natural man is enemy to God unless he becomes [a] Saint through [the] Atonement, Mosiah 3:19
Satan makes war with Saints, D&C 76:29
Saints shall be filled with the Lord’s glory, D&C 88:107.
[the Devil] shall not have power over Saints, D&C 88:114.
These verses were produced in the early 1830s. The LDS Index also provides a list of LDS scripture verses for the terms Holy, Unholy, and Holiness, which all show that Joseph Smith's theology was very much in line with the New Testament concept of sainthood and a literal belief in Satan and evil forces possessing the body and the need for escaping the world of flesh and the Devil.
I believe that Joseph Smith's theology evolved over time and he moved toward a more pro-materiality worldview by the 1840s; yet the core of the scriptures he himself produced retained the anti-materiality of the first century Pauline worldview. This is why there are so many Latter Day Saint Restoration branches, sects and schisms, because many of those in the Smith-Rigdon Restoration Movement reject the post-1840s LDS scriptures and instead stick to the core anti-materiality sainthood theology contained in most of LDS scripture (which was produced prior to the 1840s). The LDS Church itself can be split up between the post-1900 Brighamite Church and the post-1900 Brighamite Church which I discuss in my other blog.
Obviously, modern day saints in both Mormonism, as well as Protestantism and Catholicism, are not like the New Testament saints risking their life as potential martyrs by first century "Caesarean" Rome. So modern day latter days saints (holy ones), including most mainstream Christians, have adapted to a post-Caesar world where one is not being called on to declare Caesar is Lord in a first century Roman court. So today's Paganized Christianity has invented a post New Testament piety that expands upon Pauline ideology but removes the emphasis on martyrdom, with instead a more Augustinian mentality of piety through a further despising of the body. Early 1830s Mormonism (and most LDS scripture and theology) follows this Augustinian path, mixing it with the theologies of Jonathan Edwards, the Campbellite Restoration Movement, and the Methodist Holiness Movement.
This pursuit of perfect holiness or sainthood is not just taught in the bulk of LDS scripture, but is repeatedly emphasized by the top LDS Leaders. For example, in the April 1987, LDS Church Conference, Elder Grant Bangerter of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy, gave a talk titled What It Means to Be a Saint, where he states the following (emphasis added):
... A saint is one who follows Christ in holiness ... A saint is one who follows Christ in holiness and devotion. This is the commitment of a Latter-day Saint. ... Few members of the Church would claim to be perfect, although it should always be our goal. What we do is to strive with faith and devotion onward toward perfection in order to obtain eternal life.
There are many ways to be imperfect. After a long sermon of admonition, King Benjamin said: “I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.
“But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not” (Mosiah 4:29–30, italics added).
The many imperfections which trouble our daily lives require us to be a repenting as well as a repentant people. ...
... So this mortal part of our eternal life is a time of probation.
... This is far different from “confessing Christ” as the one single requirement for salvation. Saints take literally the parable in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew about the Judgment Day (see Matt. 25:31–46). ...
Saints go beyond the required righteous living to enter into the covenants and receive the ordinances of the gospel. These are taught and administered through his authorized servants by the power of the holy priesthood. Holy priesthood is not man-made. The ordinances and covenants belong to this priesthood. Beyond baptism, without which the Lord said we “cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5), are further gifts and blessings which are received in the temple. There we enter into solemn covenants with God. Through the priesthood we receive the ordinances which direct us toward the veil, that we may enter again into his presence. ...
... Some who have made the covenant do not take it seriously. Having received baptism as a form and not as a covenant, they scarcely advance to the sacrament table. Saints will take it seriously. The ordinances of the priesthood and the covenants entered into in the temple direct us toward the consecrated life God expects of those who have taken the name of Jesus Christ.
This brief coverage of the definition and meaning of a saint and sainthood provides a clear meaning for what I mean by a saint and sainthood. This is the core of this this blog regarding why I choose not to be a "Latter-day Saint."
The Manipulation of the Priestly Caste in Most Religions
[The philosopher] Nietzsche holds [that] when the Jews were “faced with the question of being or nonbeing, they showed an absolutely uncanny awareness and chose being at any price: ...This price was the radical falsification of all nature. … For the type of person who wields power inside Judaism and Christianity, a priestly type … has a life-interest in making humanity sick.” But notice that even here, at his most virulent, Nietzsche’s criticism is not of the Jewish race as such, but of the priestly nature: a psychological type realized not only by the Jews but one that can also be found among Christians.
Sin is a Space Alien!
The following website explains succinctly the Glad Tidings of Paul which is really about the good news of, through the Pauline cult, being able to escape the body and the space alien called Sin permanently dwelling in our mortal bodies (as long we are alive). In other words, an actual invasion of the body snatchers! The way Paul’s god removes the enslavement to this alien force called Sin is by killing his Son as a blood sacrifice (blood magic!), and then the ghost of the deceased Jewish Rabbi (Christ) then literally spirit possesses the Pauline follower. For details see these articles below:
- 1 Corinthians 11:3-16: Spirit Possession and Authority in a Non-Pauline Interpolation by Christopher Mount
A Christian congregation, in the original Pauline context, was an actual body of individuals literally spirit possessed and aminated by a deceased Messiah. To understand how the Pauline cult originated, see Spirit Possession and the Origins of Christianity by Stevan L. Davies. Christianity was originally all about being possessed and animated either by evil space aliens (Sin, demons, etc.) or a good space alien named the Messiah. For example, one alien force (let's call him Mr. Sin) is overcome by another alien force (the ghost of a dead Jewish Rabbi). Here is how the website for Total Life Ministry explains it in theological language (words in bold my own for emphasis):
The seventh chapter of Romans makes it clear that not only have all sinned, but also, all have a principle of sin dwelling within them. This principle of sin is present from conception. It is an inheritance from Adam. It works in the fleshly body and mind (Ephesians 2:3) to bring forth sinful thought, speech, and deeds, and to produce the fruit of sin, which is death. Paul describes it as "a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my [redeemed] mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members" (Romans 7:23 NASV). ... With Paul, they cry out, "Wretched man that I am!" (Romans 7:24 NASV).
… A common science fiction theme illustrates the problem of sin dwelling in us. Sin is like an evil alien being that has taken up residence in a human body, working evil and destruction through it. Once the alien enters the person's body, no power can remove it. The alien and the human become one entity whose works are evil. The only remedy is death. Kill the host organism and thus render the invader harmless by removing the body through which it operates.
God never intended for sin to dwell in humans. But Adam opened the door to sin by his choice to disobey God (Romans 5:12,19). Sin entered in and has subsequently been passed down to each generation. …
… Because we deserve death anyhow, God's easiest solution to the problem of sin dwelling in us would be to simply kill off each of us as soon as we first commit sin. This would accomplish two things: (1) justice would be served; (2) the alien principle of sin would be rendered powerless, at least in regards to the potential destruction it would have worked through the now dead individual if he had continued living.
But, God be praised!, this was not the solution He chose. Rather, In His wisdom, according to His purposes, and because of His love, He instead sent His Son, Jesus, to die in our place. … Thus we are justified in God's sight through the blood of His Son, … But the alien doesn't go away; it still lives in us. Sin still dwells in our bodies. … Remember, the alien can only be rendered powerless by killing the body it works through. We will not be rid of the principle of sin dwelling in our members until either our earthly body dies and goes into the grave, or Jesus returns and changes our mortal body "into conformity with the body of His glory" (Philippians 3:20-21). …
So what do we do while we still dwell in our mortal bodies? … He pronounces: "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3 KJV). No matter that we still live in a body infected with sin. God says that we were "in Christ" when he hung on the cross and died. … Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death....we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death..." (Rom 6:3-5 NASV). ….If I am dead, it follows that the alien, i.e., the principle of sin, cannot work through me. I am not available to be used by it, and therefore, the alien's power--its ability to stir up lusts and passions within--is broken. Paul says we were crucified in Christ for this purpose, "that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin." (Romans 6:6-7 NASV). It was my old self that lived according to the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). But now, in Christ, my old self is dead, and being dead, I am unavailable to sin.
But God did not stop here…. "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4 NASV). My body has a new occupant, God Himself,...."I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me" (Galatians 2:20 NASV).
... Next Paul says, "For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him..." (Romans 6:6 NASV). ….Paul exhorts, "Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11 NASV)....."Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts..." (Romans 6:12 NASV). …."...And do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness..." (Romans 6:13 NASV). ...
"...But present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead..." (Romans 6:13 NASV).
… "But present...your members as instruments of righteousness to God" (Romans 6:13 NASV). …. "slaves of righteousness, resulting in sanctification" (Romans 6:19).
Source: http://www.totallifeministries.org/Articles/Sin_In_Us.htm Retrieved 2/15/19
- The various articles by Paul Middleton on the subject here
(Source)
It occurred to me listening to this that to a certain degree this is entering the psychological state of the imagined sacred, being separated from the profane world, which all religions do to some degree. The problem with is though is that it also sets up a dynamic of always playing the role of a pure and holy vessel as a priest. This means putting on a mask of piety, for you can never fully repress your natural instincts and proclivity to error as a human being, so you always feel inadequate before the "holy" ideal. Well not all of us want to sign up for that impossible task of always being or at least appearing perfectly pure and saintly!
Most non-LDS Christians do not put that kind of pressure on themselves to be perfectly saintly because through the doctrine of being saved by grace alone, they believe they are already perfected in Christ (which ironically is what the Book of Mormon actually teaches as well). Most Christians do not want to be, nor consider themselves, to be ministers or priests. Instead, for them Christ was the last "high priest"; and the Protestant minister is the minister, the Catholic priest is the Catholic priest; and most Christians are happy just being a lay member of a church (who are not ordained as clergy). In contrast, in Mormonism every male is a priest and given that role of striving to be perfectly pure and holy vessel as a religious minister or administrator of the laws and ordinances of the Mormon gospel.
At 15 minutes into the video above, Tanner basically says that any LDS leader who says he's never disfellowshipped or excommunicated anyone and doesn't plan to, has the wrong attitude and they need to repent. Basically arguing that part of the role of being a priest in the role of Bishop or Stake President is to be a punisher and shamer. This is further evidence that the LDS system is a purity cult with the constant talk of being worthy and shaming and religiously punishing those who are all too human.
Tanner then engages in cultish phobia induction, saying that if you don't punish them you'll be responsible for their alleged transgression in the afterlife. So the leaders are shamed for not being shamers. He even emphasizes that being a Mormon Priest means honoring a woman's virtue, i.e. virginity, and never being guilty of lusting after a woman. This is more puritanical despising of the body.
Tanner then says that only if you can look in the eye of your priesthood leaders and say I am doing my best to magnify my priesthood, can you then feel safe. In other words, only if the internalized shame and pressure to perform perfectly as a pious "saint," can you feel more secure; but only after you're doing your best to act perfectly saintly, and only then are you basically saved or you can hope for heavenly exaltation (which is never fully assured).
This is actually the exact opposite of most of Christianity where you are again saved by grace alone through the merits of Christ not your own pious performance and haughty piety, lest you boast with pride lacking humility. What this talk of "pious performing" does is not only lead to some "faking piety" to appear holier than thou; but it also puts pressure on a Mormon Priest to be just like the high priests of the Tabernacle in the Old Testament, with their constant obsessive compulsive purifying rituals, and pressure to be holier than everyone else.
In this video, LDS Church President Nelson says around 2015, that you basically need to qualify for having the ability to instantly know what to say during a priesthood blessing. He says in your personal grooming follow the example of the living Prophets as a Mormon Priest. More pious performing. He then talks about how as a Mormon priest, when you put your hands on someone as an LDS Priest, that you're not just saying a prayer but you are authorized to set apart, to ordain, to bless, and to speak in the name of the Lord. In other words, you become an alleged conduit of God's will and energy, which in my view puts a lot of pressure on you to speak in the name of the Lord. He then says, remember the scripture that says "whoever you bless, I will bless." Setting aside the arrogance of such a claim (that only Mormons have the priesthood authoriTy), as well the the potential for delusions of grandeur. This puts pressure on you to seek to feel like a perfectly “worthy” vessel and conduit of this alleged divine energy, just like a Catholic Priest claiming to be pure to bless the eucharist during Catholic Mass.
I don't think most LDS young men would voluntarily choose that path and want that pious priestly responsibility if they were given true "free will" to decide for themselves (without the social repercussions of bowing out), and were not indoctrinated culturally into that role of priestly sainthood from a young age.
This lifelong indoctrination into priestly sainthood, basically forfeits your right to truly choose to just be a regular normal human being with evolved instincts without the pressure to be a pure and holy priest. So that while you are actually an imperfect and fallible evolved human being, and even Paul says in so many words that basically everyone sins (errors) and will fail to live up to the Holy ideal; you are, in Mormonism, nevertheless burdened with the impossible demand of being a perfectly pure vessel; which places a massive amount of stress on those who take this stuff seriously and literally, as I did when I was a Mormon growing up in the LDS Church.
Even if a Mormon were to begin to see it all as imaginary make-believe and he were to just pretend to play the role of a Priest as a non-literal-believing Cultural Mormon, think of the subconscious stress of acting in that role of believing that you are the actual conduit of the Architect of the Universe! Would that not still play upon your subconscious, causing at least some degree of superstition, nocebo affects and scrupulosity by pretending to believe to fit in yet still being surrounded by true believers and a cultural atmosphere of pious perfectionism and superstition? I concluded that I was not shallow enough to ward off such an atmosphere nor was I amoral enough to fake true belief. Thus the path of being a New Order Mormon became impossible for me personally.
Nelson then talks about never looking at pornography, but that word pornography is not defined at all. For the magoo type of Mormons, an R-rated movie is pornographic. A Playboy magazine or a nude sculpture in a museum might be considered pornographic. Heck, the Egyptian god Min in the Book of Abraham could be considered pornographic. Nelson then talked about not engaging in lewd speech which again is ambiguous and kind of controlling because what is exactly lewd? In other words, you are to be no different than a Catholic priest in your demeanor.
