Mormons 101

As you probably know, I am a Mormon. You've probably heard of Mormons. You've probably heard bad things about Mormons. You probably heard those things from anti-Mormons. My job here is to try and answer ANY questions you might have about the Mormon religion. After all, if you want to learn about black people, would you rather get information from blacks themselves or from someone racist against blacks? In my mind it's very similar. If you want to learn about Mormons, ask a Mormon. So I'm opening the channels. My only rules are these: I WILL NOT fight or argue with you. I cannot prove that God exists, so don't bother asking. I will not try and convince you to join our religion, you make your own decisions. I will begin with some basics about our beliefs. If you have questions, feel free to ask. If you wish to be discreet, send me a message. I will do my best to answer your questions, but I am by no means an expert; I have plenty of learning left to do. If I can't answer, I will do my best to find someone who can.

First off, our church, most commonly known as the Mormon church, is actually called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (or LDS Church). This simply means that we believe in the same church organized by Jesus Christ and that it exists now. We are called Mormons because of the Book of Mormon, which we believe to be scripture akin to the Bible.

No, we do not practice polygamy. It was practiced before polygamy was outlawed. Anyone who practices this today and claims to be affiliated with our church is a liar.

One of our modern-day prophets, Joseph Smith, created a list of our basic beliefs in 1842 to be printed in a newspaper. These Articles of Faith, as they are called, are taught to the children in our religion. Having grown up in this church, I memorized all 13 of them a long time ago. I will list them along with my own explanations.

1. "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost." -- This if fairly straightforward. We share this belief with many Christian denominations. The emphasis here is that we do believe in Jesus Christ as a Son of God.

2. "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgressions." -- We do not believe in Original Sin. Babies are born into this world as perfect beings with no knowledge of right or wrong. When children begin to understand right and wrong, they can choose to be baptized. We pay for our own sins, not those of our ancestors.

3. "We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel." -- The atonement is Christ suffering for our sins and dying on the cross. Because he suffered for our sins, we can repent and be saved, if we follow the laws we have been given.

4. "We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are: first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance; third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost." -- These are simply some of the laws and ordinances (sacred acts) that we must follow in order to be saved. We must have faith in Jesus Christ. We must have repented of our sins. We must have been baptized by immersion (all in and out of the water, as Christ was). And we must be blessed with the Holy Ghost as our constant companion.

5. "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." -- We believe in a priesthood (the power of God used through man) and that there are certain rules in order to receive this priesthood. It must be given to a man through a blessing by one who already has that priesthood. This is one of the few cases where "man" is literally only men. Women do not have the priesthood.

6. "We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth." -- We do have apostles and prophets that govern and lead our church, just as in Biblical times. Our current Prophet (also President of the Church) is Thomas S. Monson. He has 12 Apostles that help and advise him.

Thomas S. Monson

7. "We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth." -- These are gifts of the Holy Spirit, often mentioned in the Bible and Book of Mormon. While visions, gift of tongues and visions tend to be rare, the gift of healing is a fairly common, albeit complicated, happening.

8. "We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God." -- We do believe in the Bible. We, as a church, focus on the King James versions, as we feel it is the most correctly translated. We hold the Book of Mormon on the same level, if not a higher level, of scripture. It is a narrative of happenings in the Americas during the same time period as the Bible.

9, "We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." -- We believe that God still speaks to us today, mostly through our beloved Prophet. We still receive warnings, laws and other scripture.

10. "We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory." --  When Christ returns to the earth, the ten lost tribes of Israel will be found and gathered. Zion (a holy city of perfection) will be built. Christ will be our King. The earth will be perfected and made a paradise.

11. "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may." -- We have the freedom of religion and claim it our right to worship how we please. We do not condemn other religions. People can worship however they choose, within reason, of course. It's not like we allow killing, or anything like that, even if in the name of religion.

12. "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." -- We follow the laws and rules of the land in which we live. We support leaders in concept, if not in specifics.

13. "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul -- we believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." -- Simply put, we try to be honest and good. The reference to the "admonition of Paul" implies that our beliefs are congruent with his.

Please, please, please ask questions if you have them. I would much rather you understand our beliefs and disagree than believe the lies about Mormons and think badly of us based on those lies. Like I said, I'm not interested in converting anyone, I simply wish to set the record straight.

Thank you.

P.S. If you don't want to ask questions, but wish more information you can visit mormon.org or lds.org.