This one does not require a detailed comment on what he has said, so I won’t be responding to any direct quotes. I will only be making some general observations.
One major difference that he will have noticed between our Sunday services is that, unlike the Evangelical churches, in our Church the Bishop (equivalent to the pastor) does not take such a prominent role in doing all the teaching and preaching. He takes a passive role in that regard, and it is the ordinary members of the congregation who are assigned to give the talks, and preach the sermons on Sundays. And the task is equally shared between men and women; and even those in the younger age groups may be assigned to give the talks. This in my opinion is the preferred way, for two reasons: Firstly, it lightens the burden of the bishop so he can attend to other important duties. Secondly, it enables ordinary members of the congregation to gain experience in teaching and preaching the gospel, which is a very great thing in my opinion.
Another interesting thing to observe with respect to our Sunday services is that once a month (usually the first week of the month) the service is dedicated to what we call a “fast and testimony meeting”. On this occasion Church members are encouraged to fast for 24 hours, and donate the money saved from abstaining from two meals to help the poor and needy in the Church. On that particular Sunday, a normal Church service is not held. Instead, Church members voluntarily come to the podium and bear their testimonies of the restored gospel, and to speak in the name of the Lord as they are inspired by the Holy Ghost. It is a spontaneous occasion. There are no previously prepared talks given, or sermons preached. His experience of our Sunday Church services will not be complete unless he visits our Church on one of those special occasions, and observes it first hand.
Another thing he will notice about our Church that makes it unique is that it is a very priesthood oriented church. All people who occupy various offices and positions of authority in the Church (or I should say, sacramental offices), high or low, need to hold the proper priesthood authority, or they can’t. And that priesthood authority is unique, and applies to, and exists only in our Church. It was restored by divine authority and ministration of angels through the Prophet Joseph Smith. That is what sets apart the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from all other churches. That is why our Church is very much also a sacramental church. All the sacred rites, rituals, and ordinances performed in our Church, including baptism, confirmation (laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost), ordination, Eucharist or Communion, the rites and ceremonies performed in our temples such as eternal marriage etc., are all true sacraments that require proper priesthood authority to be performed, otherwise they are not valid. Hence in our Articles Faith, article 5, it states, “We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.” That is also why we don’t recognize baptisms performed by other churches. In this respect, we have something in common with the Catholic Church—except that we are far more strict, and we have even more sacred ordinances and sacraments than they do.
Another thing that sets our Church apart is that it is very much a covenantal Church. We believe in making and keeping sacred covenants. Baptism for example is a sacrament in which we make a covenant with the Lord to take upon us his name, keep his commandments, and stand as a witness of him in all things, and at all times and places (Mosiah 18:8-10). The Eucharist, or Lord’s Supper, is a sacrament in which we covenant to always remember him, and keep his commandments; in which case he promises us that we will always have his Spirit to be with us (Moroni Ch. 4, 5; D&C 20:75-79). Likewise we make sacred covenants as we attend and serve the Lord in his holy temples.
Our theology is not “faith alone”. “Faith alone” is the formula for damnation, not salvation. Nothing is taught more clearly, repeatedly, and emphatically in the Bible than that we need to repent of our sins and keep the commandments of God to be saved. And that is not the same as “works,” or a “works based salvation”. We need to keep the commandments of God to be saved; and that is not the same as “saving ourselves by our own works”. Those are two different things. Calvinists and Evangelicals have completely distorted and “wrested” the writings of Paul on these topics “unto their own destruction” as Peter has said (2 Peter 3:15-16), to do away with the need for genuine repentance and the keeping of God’s commandments to be saved—contrary to everything else that is taught in the Bible, including the words of Jesus, and indeed other writings of Paul himself.
There are many more differences of course, but these are the main ones. The most important difference of all of course is the most obvious one: that it is a new dispensation of the gospel, and a restoration of God’s only true Church, complete with the priesthood, prophetic, and Apostolic keys, including the power to receive revelation and add to the scriptural Canon.
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