JOSHUA - When is one truly an apostate in the lds church?
Someone who will have a body and reign with satan as
sons of perdition?
JOEL - There are various degrees of apostasy that a person
can find himself in. But the kind of apostate that
might get excommunicated from the Church, unless he
repents, is someone who would do one or all of the
following three things:
1. Repeatedly act in clear, open, and deliberate
public opposition to the Church or its leaders.
2. Persist in teaching as Church doctrine information
that is not Church doctrine after they have been
corrected by their bishops or higher authority.
3. Continue to follow the teachings of apostate sects
(such as those that advocate plural marriage) after
being corrected by their bishop or higher authority.
But even most of these individuals would not fall
under the category as sons of perdition. Sons of
perdition include all those spirits who followed Satan
in the pre-earth life and were cast out to earth
without receiving bodies. They are also the few
mortals who have committed the unpardonable sin
against the Holy Ghost.
According to Joseph Smith the only people living on
this earth who will end up as sons of perdition are
those who have "received the Holy Ghost, have the
heavens opened unto him, and know God, and then sin
against him. After a man has sinned against the Holy
Ghost, there is no repentance for him. He has got to
say that the sun does not shine while he sees it; he
has got to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens have
been opened unto him, and to deny the plan of
salvation with his eyes open to the truth of it;"
(Joseph Smith, King Follett Discourse)
Few individuals have been identified as sons of
perdition. For example, although Judas is often so
regarded, there is a question whether he had received
the Holy Ghost sufficiently to sin against it at the
time of his betrayal of Christ.
Only God can make a judgment on who these people are.
Return to top