What Do "Mormons" Believe?

When people find out that I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (often called by a nickname: "Mormons") they usually don't know very much about what that means. Maybe they've heard of the Book of Mormon or have some vague idea that Mormons are Christian. Some of them have watched television programmes about aspects of Mormon culture or lifestyle that have - quite frankly - only confused them more. 

It's a difficult question to answer because I've spent twenty-five years of my life attending 3 hour meetings every week; I spent four years going to daily hour-long classes; and I even read more about what we believe in my spare time. It's a pretty complex subject to boil down to a five minute conversation. 

That's why I thought I would write this blog - it's a point of reference for people who are wondering what Mormons believe, because sometimes a five minute conversation just can't answer enough questions! 

The Articles of Faith 

Firstly, and very helpfully, the first Prophet of our church in this dispensation wrote down thirteen statements of belief that outline the core doctrines of the church. They're concise, and we often learn to quote them before we get baptised at the age of 8 years. Useful, huh?

1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.
3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
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; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
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.
6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.
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.
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.
10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in 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, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
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.
12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
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. 

I mentioned that the man who wrote the statements above was a Prophet - so let me explain a bit more: 

Prophets and the Priesthood Power

The Priesthood is the authority to act in God's name and being someone who "holds" the Priesthood means that when guided by the Holy Ghost you can access and call down the powers of heaven. In a practical sense, it's used to prepare the sacrament and to heal the sick. Miracles happen through God's power!

Just as there were certain groups of people who held the Priesthood in the Bible, nowadays it's the men who have the opportunity to hold the Priesthood and use the power of God. They have to be keeping the commandments in order to have it. It's like maintaining your driving license and not getting too many points! 

The Prophet is the one who holds all the keys of the Priesthood. He is in charge of running the church and ensuring that the Priesthood is delegated to those who need to use it. 

God speaks to His Prophets and directs His church through them. Knowing this explains why "Mormons" are so willing to follow what the Prophet says - including commandments outside of the Ten Commandments from the Old Testament. One of these commandments has to do with our health and which substances we should take into our bodies; we call it the Word of Wisdom. 

So, where did this power and authority come from?

We believe it is the exact same power and authority given to Peter in the New Testament by Jesus Christ; and that is was restored to the earth through the first Prophet of this dispensation. We believe that Joseph Smith saw God, the Father, and His son, Jesus Christ, after praying to know which church to join. He received the answer that none of them had the complete fullness of Christ's gospel. He was then directed about how the church was to be restored.

Though the Prophet is the only one who receives direction for the whole church, we can all receive revelation and guidance from God for our own lives. 

The Book of Mormon

One of the essential things that came from the restoration of the gospel was an additional book of scripture called "The Book of Mormon". Now can you understand where we get our nickname?

The Book of Mormon is like the Bible, in that it teaches about God's dealings with His people. Instead of following the history of Ancient Israel, it records the journeys of the group of people who went over from Israel to the Americas - the ancestors of the Native Americans.

Though Mormons love reading the Bible, we often place more emphasis on the Book of Mormon because we believe it was translated directly from the language in which it was written to english by the power of God. Joseph Smith was directed to find the Book of Mormon by an angel. It lay buried where it had been placed by the last author of the Book of Mormon, Mormon's son, Moroni. (Mur-own-eye).  Joseph translated the record using a seer-stone.

We love the Book of Mormon. Ask a Mormon what their favourite story is from it and they will undoubtedly get excited and babble! We are encouraged to read it constantly - it's a book you can study again and again and find new truths in it, just like the Bible.

Like the Bible, it testifies of Christ and teaches us more about the plan God has for us.

The Plan of Salvation
(or The Great Plan of Happiness!)

Life, and the fact of existence, throws up a lot of fundamental questions. 

Where did I come from? 

Why am I here? 

Where do I go when I die? 

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have answers to these questions. We believe that the answer to all of them stems from the fact that God's intention is to bring us back to live with Him; having learned the things we need to know in this life to progress us. 

We believe our spirits are eternal in nature and that we are God's children. We lived with Him before this life, but we didn't have bodies. He loved us enough to send us here to gain experience and become physical beings! 

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is central to God's plan for us because we were bound to get things wrong when given the freedom to act; and we needed freedom to progress. God is perfect and all actions have consequences - so we would all come up short and therefore reap the punishment for the things we get wrong. Jesus Christ takes our debts and gives us new conditions when we go to Him. He was perfect so could take upon Him our sins. He asks in return that we keep the commandments and follow Him. 

Baptism is the gateway - our first step down the path back to Heavenly Father. Through it we are cleansed of our sins, and we take the Sacrament each week to renew the promises we made when we were baptised. 

We want to make progress in this life so that when we die we can return to live with God. 

The Temple

Because keeping promises to God and receiving blessings through promises He makes in return is the way to live with Him again, it is easy to see why our temples are so important to us.

It is in temples that we make further promises to God like the ones made at baptism. It is so sacred that we don't discuss the exact detail of those promises outside the temple; we give our hearts and our devotion to God. We worship Him in the temple.

One of the most incredible blessings we have through the temple is the blessing of being able to be sealed to our families forever. Now, I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty miffed if I spent my whole life with someone and then got to heaven and realised I was on my own again. Through the temple we have the promise that we can be with our loved ones forever.

This blessing is for everyone - so we extend it to our ancestors and stand in on their behalf to seal them to their families. That's why we're so keen on genealogy. It's also why we're keen on missionary work - we are not a special group of people who should keep these things for ourselves. We want everyone to have the chance to be with those they love throughout eternity. So, we might seem like we're out to "convert" the world. The reality is, we want everyone in the world to have an opportunity to find out whether what we're talking about has any merit.

One of my favourite books says: "beware of people who are anxious to tell you how you ought to live. Instead, test everything, including what is said in this book, against your own thoughtfully considered experience. If you are honest about that experience, what is true will ring true - you will not have to rely on my say-so or anybody else's."

The temple is one of my favourite places. It was in Preston Temple that I married Ben - and if we keep the promises we made to God and one another there, I know we'll get everything we dream of.

Families

Families are important to most people, probably, and believing we can all be together forever means that we have a special urgency to make sure that we actually want to!

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we have a very traditional view of families. It's a view that we believe in and defend.

Overall, we believe families are best when they are built on the teachings of Jesus. That doesn't mean things are always easy and straightforward - we have tests and trials as people within our families struggle. But, it's worth the fight if we know that at the end of it we can all be happy and eternally united. I want to be with all of those I love!

Obviously, that doesn't tell you everything there is to know about "Mormons" - but it's definitely better than me trying to explain in 5 seconds what we believe. 

For more information there's a great website: 

www.mormon.org 

Feel free to share what you believe in the comments below. 

Job and all the jobs

This blog could easily be called "What to do when you can't get it right" because that's honestly how I'm feeling right now.

I'm in a moment of self-reflection that's actually making me feel like I don't want to share so many of my thoughts. However, I'm inspired to keep typing this week by a friend who I was speaking to on Sunday who said she reads my blog.

Thanks for those of you who read - I hope you feel like you're not alone in some of the craziness in your life when you read some of the musings I share. I always love to talk to women with whom I have shared experiences. I guess this week speaking to that friend I got a reminder that I'm not alone. It meant a lot!

We all really need each other.

{Job 1: Family member}

Sometimes we're so deep in our own trials that we don't realise we share so many things in common with the people around us.

This year has been a particularly difficult one for me & mine so far. Trouble has come from all angles: relationships, sickness, finances. I feel a real kinship with Job - despite the fact that none of my trials are as big as his. The challenge has been that they just keep coming.

I'm not going to lie - I've been angry. I've been upset. I've felt hurt and abandoned at times. For me, it's been challenging to see those around me being hurt. I personally haven't been unwell or had hardship placed on me but when those I love face trials it's still incredibly personal and just as much of a test of my faith. It almost feels more difficult because you have to stand back and trust that things will be ok without being able to influence that course sometimes. And as a control-freak, that's hard.

Mostly, I want to hide in a big hole and come out when things are better. I'm a wimp when it comes to weathering the storm!

Conversely, I've seen a lot of love. Particularly as our family has rallied together. It takes away some of the temptation to assign blame to God or other people when I know my family are being so supported.

I'm trying to get it right but sometimes I feel like I'm so inadequate. I have this awkward teenager inside me who tries to hide behind what I'm striving to be; often not succeeding.

{Job 2: My Job!}

One of the easiest places to hide is at work. There, I'm a doctor and I generally know what I'm doing. I know how to succeed and I can easily make people happier as I get on with what I'm supposed to do. It's prescribed, it's people-oriented and there's a definite right-and-wrong.

I didn't know how I would feel about working. As a woman in the church (and a woman who personally does want a family when the time is right) I wondered if this doctoring business was really a good thing for me. Now I'm here and I'm doing it and work is such a blessing in my life. I'm doing this for me - for my personal growth - and I'm benefitting from it. I love my associations with colleagues and patients - I love being productive and useful - I love earning money for my family.

{Job 3: Wife}

Family is vital. Sometimes it's the biggest challenge of all - to give your best to the people you're around 24/7. It is easy to be your 'best self' at work and get lazy at home. That's sometimes something I can feel myself slipping into.

There's nothing as satisfying in the world as being happy at home. At home, you're unmasked. Unmakeupped! My mother-in-law describes the stage before you really know someone as the "too-damn-polite" stage. The defences come down when you really know someone well and you lose a certain amount of that etiquette. But it's important that we try not to be coarse at home. We need to put effort in to maintaining some of that politeness with everyone, everywhere. Our character when we're comfortable shouldn't be slobby!

It's interesting to look over these three 'jobs' and my 'Job'-like struggles in each of them (some more than others) and evaluate how I'm doing. The answer is that I'm not a brilliant juggler. But I do love all of these aspects and I want to improve in all of these areas. So, if all I can do is hang on in there right now then that's what I'll do.

There's a painting by James C. Christensen that sums up some of how I feel (only I feel like I'm dropping most of these items - I might be a little self-critical!):

All my love to all the other jugglers (however successful!!!).

xxx