The narrow gate

I believe this is what is meant by this teaching from Jesus---- Enter through the narrow gate, for cramped is the road that leads off into life( eternal) FEW will find it. For broad and spacious the path that leads to destruction, many have entered this way.

Cramped = no stepping off left( sin) or right( sin)but looking straight ahead to Gods kingdom and living for entrance into it now by living to do Gods will( Matt 16:24,Matt 7:21)= (spiritual)= righteous

Broad and spacious path = accepting some of Gods truths but throwing others away, sinning and asking forgiveness and repeating= not repentence) having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power. Did not bother to listen to Jesus who taught--Man does not live by bread alone, but by EVERY utterance from God.( this meant daily)= a worker of iniquity)( flesh)

Jesus taught---- Go sin no more------ he meant it.

The straight gate is baptism into the true Church of the first born, in this life if you have the opportunity.

Modern revelation from the Lord:
"For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and
continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in
the world neither do ye know me" (D&C 132:22).

The vast majority reject The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which is the gate, because of false Christian teachers, unauthorized religions that satisfies people's religious needs but do not have the power to save, or any other numerous personal ideologies and philosophies. Few people find it.

“Upon the same principle do I contend that baptism is a sign ordained of God, for the believer in Christ to take upon himself in order to enter into the kingdom of God, ‘for except ye are born of water and of the Spirit ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God,’ said the Savior [see John 3:5]. It is a sign and a commandment which God has set for man to enter into His kingdom. Those who seek to enter in any other way will seek in vain; for God will not receive them, neither will the angels acknowledge their works as accepted, for they have not obeyed the ordinances, nor attended to the signs which God ordained for the salvation of man, to prepare him for, and give him a title to, a celestial glory; and God has decreed that all who will not obey His voice shall not escape the damnation of hell. What is the damnation of hell? To go with that society who have not obeyed His commands:

https://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-joseph-smith/chapter-7?lang=eng

From St. Paul:

1 Corinthians 6

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."

Sanctification is not an easy road.

Immediately after Christ states to enter in at the straight gate and that few will find it, He warns about many false Christian prophets (wolves in sheep clothing.) That is consistent with the view that few will find the gate because of the many Christian sects:

Mathew 7:
13 ¶Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

15 ¶Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21 ¶Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.


Mathew 24:

4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

The young boy Joseph Smith, confused on what church to join, and inspired by the scripture in James 1:5: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." went into the woods behind his house and prayed to know the answer. Heavenly Father and His only Begotten Son the resurrected Christ visited him:

"When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!

18 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.

19 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.”

20 He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng

If the point of life is to follow this one specific path, and most people don't follow it, then it sounds like the path and its creators did a poor job. If there really were some universal theological truth, it ought to be obvious to everyone. That there isn't even a single majority religion in the world means that no faith is so compelling.

laska said:

Immediately after Christ states to enter in at the straight gate and that few will find it, He warns about many false Christian prophets (wolves in sheep clothing.) That is consistent with the view that few will find the gate because of the many Christian sects:

Mathew 7:
13 ¶Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

15 ¶Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21 ¶Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.


Mathew 24:

4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

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Too many of these teachers( 2Cor 11:12-15)---telling workers of iniquity---you are saved or born again---for the tithe.

Paschendale said:

If the point of life is to follow this one specific path, and most people don't follow it, then it sounds like the path and its creators did a poor job. If there really were some universal theological truth, it ought to be obvious to everyone. That there isn't even a single majority religion in the world means that no faith is so compelling.

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"The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man, because it is human reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin"

CCC 1960: The precepts of natural law are not perceived by everyone clearly and immediately. In the present situation sinful man needs grace and revelation so moral and religious truths may be known "by everyone with facility, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error."12 The natural law provides revealed law and grace with a foundation prepared by God and in accordance with the work of the Spirit.

The fact that the religions of the world agree on most facts of what constitutes moral behavior shows the universality of the natural law.

phattonez said:

"The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man, because it is human reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin"

The fact that the religions of the world agree on most facts of what constitutes moral behavior shows the universality of the natural law.

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This is a point we can actually agree on, though it is engraved in our DNA and biology, not a disembodied soul. Human beings, regardless of culture or myths, including ones that don't have myths at all, generally know what's right and what's wrong. And most people live according to that, without any influence from supernatural beings or religious. This is how we know that most religious sexual mores are simply culture specific and not universal morals. This is how we know that xenophobia and bigotry are wrong, because literally no one doesn't feel wronged when they suffer it.

Your contention that most people fail to live up to this standard seems false. Most people live decent lives and are kind to one another. Most people follow that universal, biological morality. It is a rare person who completely fails to do so. The gate seems pretty wide to me. And if it is not, then it the fault lies in the designer for designing poorly. Either designing people to not meet the standards that we generally all want to meet, or for designing the supposed method to get through the gate (religion), since it's largely failing to get people onto the right path.

Either way, I think people are doing pretty okay. Certainly better than past societies, and there certainly seems to be a correlation between increased human morality and societies being irreligious. Especially when it comes to the treatment of women.

Paschendale said:

This is a point we can actually agree on, though it is engraved in our DNA and biology, not a disembodied soul. Human beings, regardless of culture or myths, including ones that don't have myths at all, generally know what's right and what's wrong. And most people live according to that, without any influence from supernatural beings or religious. This is how we know that most religious sexual mores are simply culture specific and not universal morals. This is how we know that xenophobia and bigotry are wrong, because literally no one doesn't feel wronged when they suffer it.

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Sure, but the fact that most religions agree about (at least until recently) most aspects of sexual ethics reveals that this natural law extends to sex as well.

Your contention that most people fail to live up to this standard seems false. Most people live decent lives and are kind to one another. Most people follow that universal, biological morality. It is a rare person who completely fails to do so. The gate seems pretty wide to me. And if it is not, then it the fault lies in the designer for designing poorly. Either designing people to not meet the standards that we generally all want to meet, or for designing the supposed method to get through the gate (religion), since it's largely failing to get people onto the right path.

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No, this seems to be a particularly modern problem (though I cannot speak to the ancients).

Either way, I think people are doing pretty okay. Certainly better than past societies, and there certainly seems to be a correlation between increased human morality and societies being irreligious. Especially when it comes to the treatment of women.

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Our attitudes toward race have become better, though I sometimes wonder if we are now at the point that we are so tolerant that we are afraid to address facts. The same problem is seen with women. Our attitude toward sex, however, has been completely destroyed, and this has had terrible societal effects. As for general morality, you tell me whether we were better off 100 years ago or not. Outside of institutional things like racism and the like, are we really better in our interpersonal relationships than we were before? From what I can tell, our relationships have become nasty, brute, and devoid of any respect.

phattonez said:

Sure, but the fact that most religions agree about (at least until recently) most aspects of sexual ethics reveals that this natural law extends to sex as well.

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Most don't. Judaism was big about sexual mores, and its descendants continued this idea. Plenty of societies and cultures throughout history have had different sexual mores than Judaism and its children, and didn't condemn homosexuality. This particular set of mores just happened to conquer the world through violence better than its contemporaries.

No, this seems to be a particularly modern problem (though I cannot speak to the ancients).

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What does marrying to have children have to do with morality? Also, by "ancients", I hope you're referring to the 1800s, since there has never been a time in our history where unmarried parenting was uncommon. But again, who cares? Lots of people are opting for a new model besides marriage, especially given the tremendous inequality that a lot of our marriage traditions have within the union, mainly placing a whole lot of restrictions and responsibilities on women. Since women no longer need to marry men in order to obtain economic security, they don't seem as keen on subordinating themselves to men. And this inequality violates the fundamental right and wrong we were talking about, since literally no one likes to be discriminated against to that degree. Your particular religious view of marriage violates the natural law that you're so keen on.

Our attitudes toward race have become better, though I sometimes wonder if we are now at the point that we are so tolerant that we are afraid to address facts. The same problem is seen with women. Our attitude toward sex, however, has been completely destroyed, and this has had terrible societal effects. As for general morality, you tell me whether we were better off 100 years ago or not. Outside of institutional things like racism and the like, are we really better in our interpersonal relationships than we were before? From what I can tell, our relationships have become nasty, brute, and devoid of any respect.

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Our attitudes about sex are better than past generations in just about every way. We do more and more to decouple it from economic security. We are much better than we were 100 years ago. Children being chewed up in machines in factories was normal a century ago. Husbands beating their wives was normal a century ago. Marital rape only became a crime in the 1970s, for crying out loud! I don't know about your personal relationships, but pretty much the only relationships that are nasty, brutish, and devoid of respect are the ones that try to force women into a subservient role for religious reasons. These are both anecdotes, so they're not conclusive data, but there is certainly no great harm suffered by our society by no longer marrying young and having lots of babies and women being forced to be housewives. Modern sexual choices between people have provided a much healthier and more prosperous environment, especially for women.

This is all a bit of a tangent, though, isn't it? Or is male-dominant marriage the criteria for getting through this narrow gate? As opposed to my contention, which is to be respectful and kind to other people.

Paschendale said:

Most don't. Judaism was big about sexual mores, and its descendants continued this idea. Plenty of societies and cultures throughout history have had different sexual mores than Judaism and its children, and didn't condemn homosexuality. This particular set of mores just happened to conquer the world through violence better than its contemporaries.

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That's dubious without qualification.

What does marrying to have children have to do with morality?

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The point isn't marrying to have children, but rather having children without marriage.

Also, by "ancients", I hope you're referring to the 1800s, since there has never been a time in our history where unmarried parenting was uncommon. But again, who cares? Lots of people are opting for a new model besides marriage, especially given the tremendous inequality that a lot of our marriage traditions have within the union, mainly placing a whole lot of restrictions and responsibilities on women. Since women no longer need to marry men in order to obtain economic security, they don't seem as keen on subordinating themselves to men. And this inequality violates the fundamental right and wrong we were talking about, since literally no one likes to be discriminated against to that degree. Your particular religious view of marriage violates the natural law that you're so keen on.

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How does my religious view of marriage violate the natural law, exactly?

Our attitudes about sex are better than past generations in just about every way. We do more and more to decouple it from economic security. We are much better than we were 100 years ago. Children being chewed up in machines in factories was normal a century ago. Husbands beating their wives was normal a century ago. Marital rape only became a crime in the 1970s, for crying out loud!

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What do these things have to do with sexual license?

I don't know about your personal relationships, but pretty much the only relationships that are nasty, brutish, and devoid of respect are the ones that try to force women into a subservient role for religious reasons. These are both anecdotes, so they're not conclusive data, but there is certainly no great harm suffered by our society by no longer marrying young and having lots of babies and women being forced to be housewives. Modern sexual choices between people have provided a much healthier and more prosperous environment, especially for women.

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You seem to have this idea that women were slaves to their husbands. Wherever you're getting that idea, it's far from reality.

The point that I was trying to make in reference to interpersonal relationship would be best exemplified would be the triumph of the "bro" culture against chivalrous attitudes. The Art of Manliness has an excellent series on this:

What is Honor? | The Art of Manliness

This is all a bit of a tangent, though, isn't it? Or is male-dominant marriage the criteria for getting through this narrow gate? As opposed to my contention, which is to be respectful and kind to other people.

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An ethics consisting solely of being "respectful and kind to other people" is shallow and devoid of any real meaning.

Christ said I am the way the truth and the light and no man comes to the Father but through me.
Christ is the door and the way to enternal life.

There are few that find it because there are few people that truely believe in Christ and who He was.

The OP thinks that Jesus is a created being and not part of God even though scripture and Christ himself says otherwise.
the Mormons think that Jesus was created as well again false.

Christ is God and is a part of God. As He claims He is the Alpha and Omega.