Thanks, sister.

Mike, thanks for the comment. The standard (although not uniform) evangelical position is that children who die go to heaven.

Also, notice that I made zero appeal in my original post to the idea of something being "official" doctrine. I don't buy the idea that evangelical engagement of Mormonism has to be limited to that which is considered "official." I have a forthcoming blog post on my reasoning for this. For now you can read my related article on the matter:
http://mrm.org/official-doctrine

Grace and peace,

Aaron

Violet, perhaps you're thinking about what Mormons have said about the Father. Very, very rarely do I ever hear a Mormon say they believe Jesus perhaps sinned. That Jesus has never sinned (in both pre-mortality and mortality, etc.) is standard belief in Mormonism.

f_melo, God has been so good to you. That you wanted to be free from the lies, such a miracle of the Spirit. My post obviously has more relevance to those who don't have the kind of resolve that you had.

"I asked a family member once - if the church is false, would you want to know? He answered only after i die."

That is chilling.

Love you brother, in Jesus,

Aaron

"speaking with ultimacy", I meant

In the end, f_melo, you're right that there is no hope in Mormonism. It will only bring deathly sorrow and disappointment. But when I wrote,

"Mormonism has a lot of truth in it, and it has some beautiful and moral things about it that reflect many attributes of Jesus. It provides a lot of meaning and structure, hope and direction."
... I was not spending with ultimacy. Rather, for Mormons this is still the common way they experience and know their religion. And when standing on the precipice of uncertainty, not convinced that they should be so committed to pursuing truth when it might mean having to reject Mormonism, the good they see in their religion feels real to them. I want them to consider the good they have in their religion, and yet ask themselves frankly if they think such good (as they know it) is enough to justify turning down a high-stakes search for truth. To ask themselves if they find Jesus more precious than all the preciousness they have known in Mormonism.

When a person finds Jesus, everything else becomes as rubbish. The precious half-truths, known once as full-truths, become better known as filthy lies. Or even in some cases, are rightly seen as shadowy stepping stones that God ordained for the way to help a person along. But I think it's important for us to look Mormons in the eye and acknowledge that they really have known good in their religion. I think that kind of honest admission puts us on a much better ground to more directly and starkly address the lies and evil Mormonism plagues people with. Knowing how precious a person's treasure is to them puts us on a better ground to essentially say, "Even so, there is greater treasure in Jesus."

Ultimately, for hope and direction and meaning and structure and beauty and morality and comprehensive truth and Truth himself, one must come to the real Jesus.

One minute after achieving full exaltation and Godhood, do you think it would be appropriate to say of yourself, "I have been the Almighty God, the Holy of Holies, the Most High, unchangeably so from all eternity to all eternity"?

That'd be like winning the Super Bowl, and then in your after-game speech saying, "I have always been a Super Bowl champion, from all eternity to all eternity... And now I'm going to Disney Land."

Sharon, sorry, that might have been my fault. I often schedule ready posts at random future dates, assuming they'll be re-scheduled.

I just added Keith Walker's video and quote to the post:

“The only way to reconcile the 1844 Joseph Smith with the 1830 Joseph Smith is if the definition of ‘unchangeable’ has changed.” (Keith Walker)

On a related note, even the entry for "virgin" at LDS.org's "Guide to the Scriptures" says,

"A man or woman of marriageable age who has never had sexual intercourse. In the scriptures, a virgin may represent someone who is morally clean (Rev. 14:4)."

Mormons in general seem to already understand that the New Testament concept of "virgin" usually entails someone not yet having had sexual intercourse. Even Pratt & McConkie's attempt at redefinition (not having had sex with a mortal man) betrays this underlying assumption.