Offsetting Sin

Today is Good Friday, the day when Christians celebrate Jesus Christ's death on the cross for the forgiveness of the world's sins.  And today is also Earth Day, the day when neo-pagans celebrate Mother Earth by laying their offerings of compact fluorescent light bulbs at her altar.

So, as you'd expect from two different theologies, there's a bit of competition in the air today.  Obviously Christians have sided with the Cross and Hippies have sided with Gaia.  No big surprise there.  But it seems that many who bathe on a regular basis have also lined up behind the unwashed masses.  Yahoo's home page has a cute multiracial pair of children kissing a globe today.  Google's has a slightly less barftastic mural of pandas and penguins and waterfalls.  So why is that?  Why would the average, "uncommitted" person rather side with streams of water than stream of blood?  To answer that question, let's look at these two very different religions competing for today's status as a holy day.

At the heart of Earth Day is the doctrine of the carbon offset.  A carbon offset is where you offset, or nullify, an emission of carbon or some other environmentally unfriendly act through a reduction in carbon emissions or some other environmentally friendly act elsewhere.  For example, if you burn fossil fuels by driving your 1993 Mercury Sable to Bonnaroo, you can undo that action's impact on the environment by planting a couple of trees or taking lukewarm showers for a month. So the system of righteousness that Earth Day offers is this: if you can balance out your sins (carbon emissions) with good works (carbon reductions), they you will be considered righteous.

But at the heart of Christianity is the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement.  So "atonement" quite simply means "at-one-ment."  It refers to how a person is made one with God, how one's sins are taken away so that he can be returned into the arms of his Father in Heaven.  But since only sinless blood can take away mankind's sins, then it is only through a sinless substitute, one who takes our place, that atonement can be made.  And, of course, that substitute is Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, who is condemned in mankind's place upon the cross, who sheds His own blood to forgive our sins and make us at one with God.  So the system of righteousness that Christianity offers is this: Because your sins have been erased through the blood of Jesus, then you are considered righteous.

And when you look at these two systems of righteousness side by side, it becomes quite clear why the masses have lined up behind Earth Day, why Bing's homepage is celebrating trees (or possibly broccoli) today and why anyone would ever consider it news when Sheryl Crow suggests we all use less toilet paper (public health notice: never shake hands with Sheryl Crow).

You see, when it comes to Christianity, when it comes to believing that the blood of Jesus killed your sins, that also requires believing that your sins are dead things that you ought not play with, dead things of which you ought to disavow yourself.  You know, that whole "how can we who died to sin still live in it?" thing.  And that's not fun to do when you really like sinning.

So if you don't particularly want to stop having premarital sex, if you're really quite fond of getting drunk or stoned, if you happen to be really good at amassing treasures for yourself on earth or if it makes your tummy feel all happy inside when you speak hatefully about your neighbor, then that Earth Day system of righteousness becomes quite attractive.  Because within that system, you can keep fornicating as long as you offset it with a few hours at a soup kitchen.  You can keep worshiping mammon as long as you nullify it by buying a pair of Toms.  You can keep hating your neighbor as long as you balance it out by spaying or neutering your labradoodle.

But as enjoyable a system of righteousness as sin offsets may be, it's only a delusion.  True righteousness is never won when sin remains.  Atonement with God is never accomplished when sin is balanced, but only when sin is destroyed.  And only the sinless blood of Jesus can accomplish that.

So when it comes to Earth Day vs. Good Friday, I'll take Good Friday.  I'll take the day where God erases my sin through the blood of His Son over the day where I hide my sins underneath a thin layer of free trade coffee grounds.  Because on Earth Melts Day, on the Day when I stand before God in judgement, I'd rather tell Him that I deserve eternal life because the blood of Jesus has annihilated my murderous heart rather than telling Him I deserve eternal life because I planted a bed of roses atop the bodies I buried in my backyard.

My name is Pastor Hans Fiene.  Thanks for reading.

Christian Heads at the Feet of ISIS' King

Once upon a time there was a king who had a treasury filled with precious gemstones. And in order to glorify himself, the king promised his subjects that, if they worked hard enough, he might one day give them something from his vault as a reward for their obedience.

There was a man in this kingdom who desperately wanted to hold one of those gemstones in his hand and know that he had earned the king's favor. So for years, he tried his hardest to impress the king. He broke his back tilling the earth and hunting game to put delicious food on the king's table. He wore out his fingers sewing fine clothing for him. He bowed in the king's direction several times a day and sang his praises until his voice went hoarse. He fought the king's wars, expanded the king's borders, and hoisted the king's flag on mountaintops so that the other nations of the world would cower at his name. But despite all his hard work, the king never called the man into his presence and never gave him any of his treasure.

Then, one night, the man was walking home from a hard day of labor and saw a young thief sneaking out of the king's palace, his hands filled with countless rubies and diamonds and emeralds. The man approached the child to ask what he was doing.

"I'm going to give these gemstones to everyone I can find," the little thief said. "I'm going to make sure that everyone in the kingdom has a share of the royal wealth."

So the man took out his sword, cut off the thief's head, carried it into the king's chambers, and dropped it at his feet. When the king asked what this was all about, the man told the king, "this thief broke into your vault and was trying to give away for free what you've insisted we work hard to earn. But don't worry. I stopped him. The treasury is safe and your glory is preserved."

The king looked at the man, smiled, and placed an enormous gemstone in his hands. "Well done, good and faithful servant," he said. "Here's a little something for your trouble."

As incomprehensible as their actions seem, this is why ISIS is beheading Christian children in Iraq. Muslims teach that we must earn the love of Allah through our obedience and submission to him. Christians teach that Jesus has already earned the love of God and freely given us every piece of that heavenly treasure. To the radical Muslim, Christians are the little thief raiding the king's vault. And surely there can be no greater way to attain the love of the king than to offer him the heads of those who tried to give away for free the love we all must earn.

"They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.  And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me." 

~John 16:2

May God turn the hearts of all who are abusing, raping, terrorizing, and killing our brothers and sisters throughout the world. May God bring them to faith in Christ, who has put away their murderous sins and

won every gemstone of His Father's love for them. May God fill our enemies with the Holy Spirit, that they may put down their swords and share the treasure of Christ's kingdom with those whom they once sought to destroy.

Zach Wahls is messed up. Here's how.

I've seen this video floating around facebook quite a bit the past day or so.  If you haven't seen the video, watch it.  If you already have, just to refresh your memory, the YouTube video summary says exactly this: Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old University of Iowa student spoke about the strength of his family during a public forum on House Joint Resolution 6 in the Iowa House of Representatives. Wahls has two mothers, and came to oppose House Joint Resolution 6 which would end civil unions in Iowa.

In many of the facebook threads I've seen linking this video, those sympathetic to his cause have asked the same question. How can you possibly disagree with him?  People want to know.  After watching this, how can you possibly believe that being raised by a gay couple is harmful to children?

Easy.  By hearing what Mr. Wahls says.  By merely listening to the words that come out of his lips.  Because when I do that, it's quite clear that being raised by two women has, for lack of a better phrase, really messed him up.  Here's how:

30 seconds into his speech, Mr. Wahls informs us that he and his younger sister are full blooded siblings because his biological mother was artificially inseminated twice with sperm from the same anonymous donor.  And how does he feel about that?  That's something which is really cool for me, he states.

So, to dial things back a bit, Mr. Wahls' biological mother wanted to be fruitful and multiply and raise her children with another woman.  This, however, was problematic for her because, per the natural laws of the God who made the heavens and the earth, it takes man parts and lady parts in order to make a baby, and neither she nor her lesbian partner had such man parts.

So to remedy that problem, what did Mr. Wahls' biological mother do?  She went to a sperm bank.  And by doing so, however indirectly it may have been, she encouraged a man to take the precious gift of life that God put into his loins and spill it into a cup.  She took the gift of fatherhood, the sacred title that our Father in Heaven blesses men to share with Him, and she mocked it.  She looked at the titles husband and father, and said,  I don't want your love.  I don't want your sacrifice.  I don't want your guidance or your courage or your care or your forgiveness, and I don't want to cherish you as one flesh with me.  All I want is something very specific from your sexual organs.  And I'll give you money for it, if you'll agree to just go away once we're done.

That's what Mr. Wahls' biological mother did.  She paid money to sexually humiliate another human being.  She paid a man made in God's image to give her what God Himself had told her she could not have as long as she lived contrary to His law.  Though she never saw this man's face, and though he may have left his "donation" willingly, she treated the father of her children like a prostitute.  

And what does her son, Zach Wahls, think about all that?

That's something which is really cool for me.

The sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character, Mr. Wahls says later in his speech.  And I have no doubt that he wants that to be true.  But it's not true.  Because, in service of their sexual orientation, the two women who raised Mr. Wahls told him that men are entirely disposable once they've been harvested of their seed.  They spent 19 years proclaiming to their son that a man's faithfulness to his offspring can be purchased for nothing more than fifty bucks and a pornographic magazine.  In every day of his life, Mr. Wahls two "mommies" taught him that women have every right to humiliate men, to pimp them out, to demean and shame them if it suits their purposes.

And in the end, he believed them.

So, while Mr. Wahls may be very polite and articulate, while he may be intelligent and dignified and a million other things that nobody has ever said that children of gay couples can't be, he doesn't respect men.  He doesn't value fatherhood.  And he doesn't understand the horrors of glorifying yourself by shaming your neighbor.  And he doesn't do those things precisely because he was raised by two women.

Of Websurfers and Creeds

Despite the gaggle of issues that causes disagreement in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, I think it's probably perhaps somewhat relatively maybe safe to delicately assert that most of us agree that a congregation's website is an evangelistic tool. I don't know if anyone has done research on this, but I would be very surprised if the majority of IP addresses that look up a church's domain name could be traced to computers owned by members. For the most part, I would presume that your average viewer is either someone interested in attending your church or someone who recently has attended. But, in either case, he or she is someone looking for a bit more information about all y'alls.

So if this is the case...if, in fact, a congregation's website is an evangelistic tool, then it really ought to be used as one, in particular with regard to the evangel part of the word. If a congregation's website exists for the purpose of bringing people into the actual, physical congregation where the Word is preached and the Sacraments are administered, then the website ought to do the one thing that has actually accomplished that goal long before websites were even invented-that one thing being proclaiming the Gospel.

Now, to be fair, almost every church website that I've ever come across does, in fact, have a section dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel, or at least to proclaiming what whoever wrote the content of the website thinks the Gospel is. It's often found in the What We Believe section.  But, as I've come to notice while doing much ecclesiastical web surfing lately, the What We Believe section of many websites is often better hidden than the Easter Eggs on a DVD.

Creedal statements declaring who God is, what He has done for us and how He works among us in His Church are generally there. Links informing people of what we confess concerning God's reconciling of the world to Himself in Jesus Christ are often present.  But they are frequently buried underneath the mountain of shell-casings that were shed when the writers of the website blasted off a thousand rounds of ammo telling people how they can get involved in their congregation.  And once you finally discover them after clicking Spiritual Journeys then Faith Walk then Holy Experiences then Moments of Reflection then Other then Miscellaneous Information, you come to discover that the What We Believe section often feels like a last minute tag on.  It reads as though we wrote it with no energy or pride.  It's brief and lifeless, effectively giving people the impression that we're just fulfilling a requirement here and that we fully expect them to be far more interested in knowing how to get their kids involved in the 'Lil Praizers Youth Group than knowing how salvation works.

And, from the young to the old, from the unbeliever to the retired pastor who spent 168 faithful years in the ministry, all those looking for a congregation to call their own deserves better than this.  When the devil breathes on their throats every day of their lives, seeking to devour them in the jaws of unbelief and despair, they deserve to know exactly what we teach that can seal shut the mouth of the beast forever.  When the world is daily telling them that eternal life must be achieved through the works of their hands, they shouldn't have to work their hands to the bone by navigating our web content for an hour before we finally tell them what it means to be justified by grace through faith.  When their sinful flesh is pulling them a thousand steps backward every time they try to take a single step forward on their faith walk, they deserve to have us proclaim to them that the Church isn't just the Rec Center with pictures of Jesus on the walls, that Christ didn't die on the cross and rise from the grave to gather His people around casseroles and puppet shows, but that Christ will always breath faith into them through the Word and Sacraments given within our walls, that He will forever pick them up and place them right where they should be, right beside Him, through the forgiveness that He gives at our precise geographical location every single time we meet.  Those searching for a church to call their own deserve to know, and deserve to know immediately, that if they want to find Heaven on Earth, they can find it by sticking our address in Mapquest and hitting enter.

Or, to summarize the entire contents of this post a bit more precisely:

Look at our websites.  Is it easier for people to find our mission statement than our creed?  If the answer is yes, fail.  Let's try again.

My name is Pastor Hans Fiene.  Thanks for reading.

Church Buildings and Children

The LCMS corners of facebook have been blowing up today with the revelation that the Minnesota South District has plans to sell two pieces of property.  Sitting atop both of those pieces of property are the church buildings of two campus churches.  The rationale behind this sale is that the funds from the property could be used to create an endowment fund.  And then the endowment fund could be used to pay for a new position at the district, the new position of Campus Ministry Guru Extraordinaire (that may or may not be the actual title).  And then the CMGE could oversee the expansion of the district's campus ministry presence into previously untapped colleges and universities.  That part would also be funded by the endowment.  For more information, click here. So, in a nutshell, the district is saying to these two campus congregations, "you need to give up your church buildings so that we can maybe one day sort of do something that might be church at other colleges."

One of the arguments in favor of the move that I've heard throughout the day is that you don't need to have a building in order to be the Church.  And technically that's true.  The Church is found wherever the Word is preached and the Sacraments are administered, whether that's in a cathedral or a mud hut or some dude's basement.  But even though that statement is true,  it's also a really horrible argument to make if you're the one closing the church building down.  Permit me to explain why through an analogy:

Doctrinal Assertion: You do not need to have children in order to have a marriage.

Scenario 1: A young married couple makes an appointment to see their pastor.  They are both very heartbroken because they have just found out that they are unable to have children.  In their despair they worry that God must not view their union as favorably as he does the union of those who are able to have children.

So their pastor sits down in front of them and tells them, "you do not need to have children in order to have a marriage.  Your marriage is not founded on a sperm and an egg.  Your union is not rooted in your ability to procreate.  Your marriage is founded on the word and blessing of God.  Your union is rooted in the Lord's promise.  So even if you can't have children, you're still just as much married as you would be if you had seven of them."

With this response, this pastor shows himself to be a good theologian because he understands that the doctrine of "you don't need to have children in order to have a marriage" is a doctrine that is meant to bring comfort to those who are heartbroken at not being given the vocation of parenthood.  He understands that the proper way to proclaim this doctrine is to apply it as a balm to hurting souls that have found themselves unable to do something that they know is God pleasing.

Scenario 2: A young married couple makes an appointment to see their pastor.  They don't like their kids anymore and want to give them away, but still want to remain married to each other.

So their pastor sits them down and tells them that this is a very missional idea.  After all, "you do not need to have children in order to have a marriage," he reminds them.  And getting rid of those pesky kids will open up all kinds of mission opportunities for them, opportunities that people with children simply don't get.  They can go build hospitals in war torn countries or hand out tracts outside of strip clubs.  And they can do this as a team, as husband and wife.  Because, after all, you don't need to have children to have a marriage.

With this response, this pastor shows himself to be a bad theologian because he thinks the proper way to apply this doctrine is to encourage this couple to abandon the vocation of parenthood.  He believes that, since children are not a requirement of marriage, that children are therefore an adiaphoron in the realm of Holy Matrimony and that God doesn't really care whether you have them or not. 

So, when it comes to the doctrinal assertion of "you don't need to have a building to have the Church," there is a right way to make this argument.  The right way is to give comfort to those whose hearts are broken over not having or not being able to keep their church building.  So you say to them, "you don't need to have a building to have the Church.  Wherever you have the Word of God, you have the Church.  Wherever you have the waters of baptism, whether they're held in a $12,000 marble font or in a 50 cent cereal bowl, you have eternal life.  Wherever you have the body and blood of Jesus, whether they are administered in a 5,000 square foot sanctuary or in a 4 x 8 prison cell, you have life and salvation.  And wherever two or three are gathered in Christ's name, you have all the love and favor of the Triune God."

But there is also a wrong way to argue that you don't need to have a building to have the Church.  And the wrong way is to encourage (or compel or coerce or force) those who have a church building to abandon the gift that God has given them for your own benefit.  So you say to them, "sure, a whole bunch of people come to this very spot to have their sins forgiven each week.  Sure, people know that if they walk in these doors, they will always, each and every time, receive the forgiveness of sins within seconds of sitting down.  But come on, you can still have the Church without all this stuff.  And besides, think of how many poor people we could feed with the money from your font!  Think of how many lost souls we could reach with the cash from your altar!  Think of how many praise bands we could finance with the pipes from your organ!"

"Surely in temples made with hands

God, the Most High, is not dwelling;

High above earth His temple stands,

All earthly temples excelling."

Those words are quite beautiful when spoken to those who have watched their spires crumble.  But those same words are also quite hideous when spoken by those who made those spires crumble in the first place.

My name is Pastor Hans Fiene.  Thanks for reading.

A Latter Day Re-Gift Quotes

Since I couldn't fit them into the YouTube video description box, here are the quotes captioned into my latest video, A Latter Day Re-Gift, where I note the striking similarities between Islam and Mormonism.

Islam and Mormonism Citation Captions:

1.      Names

a.       Muhammad

b.      Joseph Smith

2.      Alone place

a.       Cave

b.      Woods

3.      Name of angel

a.       Gabriel

b.      Moroni

4.      Reestablishing the one true religion

a.       "Abraham was not a Jew, nor yet a Christian; but he was an upright man who had surrendered (to Allah), and he was not of the idolaters."   -Surah 3.67

"There is no reproach for the Prophet in that which Allah maketh his due. That was Allah's way with those who passed away of old - and the commandment of Allah is certain destiny - Who delivered the messages of Allah and feared Him, and feared none save Allah. Allah keepeth good account. Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but he is the messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets; and Allah is ever aware of all things.  -Surah 33.38-40"

b.      "My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: 'they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.'”  -Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith-History, pars. 18-19.

5.      Unverifiable

a.       Revelation from an angel that no one else gets to see/hear

b.      Revelation from golden plates that nobody else gets to see

6.      Christians changed the Bible

a.       "And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, Allah's messenger - they slew him not norcrucified him, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain."  -Surah 4:157

b.      John 1:1 (ESV, KJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  (Meaning: Jesus is God)

vs.

John 1:1 (Joseph Smith Translation)  In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was of God.  (Meaning: Jesus is not God)

7.      The Trinity

a.       "And when Allah saith: O Jesus, son of Mary! Didst thou say unto mankind: Take me and my mother for two gods beside Allah? He saith: Be glorified! It was not mine to utter that to which I had no right."  -Surah 5.116

b.      "We declare it is self-evident from the scriptures that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are separate persons." -The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent Jeffery R. Holland Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

8.      Justification by grace through faith

a.       "They surely disbelieve who say: Lo! Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary.  The Messiah (himself) said: O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Lo! whoso ascribeth partners unto Allah, for him Allah hath forbidden paradise. His abode is the Fire."  -Surah 5:72

b.      "The sectarian dogma of justification by faith alone has exercised an influence for evil."  -Articles of Faith, JamesTalmage, (LDS apostle, 1911-33), pg. 432

9.      Good works

a.       "To those who believe and do deeds of righteousness hath Allah promised forgiveness and a great reward."  -Surah 5.9

b.      "We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and  ordinances of the Gospel."  -Joseph Smith's 13 Articles of Faith, Art. 3

10.  Levels of Heaven

a.       Firdaus, 'Adn, Na'iim, Na'wa, Darussalaam, Daarul Muaqaamah, Al-Muqqamul, Amin, Khuldi

b.      Celestial, Terrestrial, Telestial

11.  Higher levels of heaven based on perfect obedience

a.       "Those who spend (benevolently) in ease as well as in straightness, and those who restrain (their) anger and pardon men; and Allah loves the doers of good (to others).  And those who when they commit an indecency or do injustice to their souls remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their faults-- and who forgives the faults but Allah, and (who) do not knowingly persist in what they have done.  (As for) these-- their reward is forgiveness from their Lord, and gardens beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them, and excellent is the reward of the laborers."  -Surah 3.134-136

b.      "They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given—That by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power; And who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true. They are they who are the church of the Firstborn...These are they whose bodies arecelestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as being typical." -Doctrines and Covenants 76:51-54, 70

c.       Pro-polygamy

                                                              i.      "And if ye fear that ye will not deal fairly by the orphans, marry of the women, who seem good to you, two or three or four."  -Surah 4:3

                                                            ii.      "And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthoodif any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another,  and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else."  -Doctrines and Covenants, Section 132.61

12.  Division in followers after prophet's death

a.       Sunnis/Shiites

b.      Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints/Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

13.  Change in theology based on political environment

a.       Politically weak in Mecca: Let's be friends, Christians and Jews! ("And do not argue with the People of the Scripture except in a way that is best, except for those who commit injustice among them, and say, We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you. And our God and your God is one; and we are Muslims [in submission] to Him.'"  -Surah 29.46)

Politically strong in Medina: Die, Christians and Jews, die! ("And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers."  -Surah 2.191)

b.      Before wanting statehood for Utah: God says we must practice polygamy! (1843 revelation to Joseph Smith)

After wanting statehood for Utah: God says we can't practice polygamy! (1890 Manifesto of LDS president Wilford Woodruff)

14.  Pre-eternity of souls

a.       "And when your Lord brought forth from the children of Adam, from their backs, their descendants, and made them bear witness against their own souls: Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes! we bear witness. Lest you should say on the day of resurrection: Surely we were heedless of this."-Surah 7.172

b.      "And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.  And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads forever and ever." -The Book of Abraham 4:23-26

15.  Mormonism's explanation for why some people are black:

"There is a reason why one man is born black and with other disadvantages, while another is born white with great advantages. The reason is that we once had an estate before we came here, and were obedient; more or less, to the laws that were given us there. Those who were faithful in all things there [pre-existence] received greater blessings here, and those who were not faithful received less. . . . There were no neutrals in the war in Heaven. All took sides either with Christ or with Satan. Every man had his agency there, and men receive rewards here based upon their actions there, just as they will receive rewards hereafter for deeds done in the body. The Negro, evidently, is receiving the reward he merits." -Joseph Fielding Smith, 10th LDS President, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:61, 65-66