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Mormon Beliefs Articles
by Jan
Across the globe, interest in genealogy has increased in the past few years, but for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often referred to as Mormons or LDS) this type of research has gone on for generations. As a result, millions of records—including birth, marriage, and death certificates, land documents and census reports—have become digitized and are readily available worldwide. Genealogical research has become a lucrative industry for some, but LDS resources and sites such as Familysearch.com, are free to the public. Family History Centers (Mormon genealogy centers) are located in some Latter-day Saint meetinghouses and genealogical and Church-related information is maintained in permanent storage in the Granite Mountain vault in the Wasatch Range of Utah.
As people begin researching their family lines, they often feel a strong connection to their own roots and find it hard to stop unraveling the mystery. Mormons... Read the rest of this article »
Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes nicknamed the “Mormon Church”), was a young man during a period of religious revival known as the “Great Awakening.” He was confused by the many different interpretations of the Bible preached to him, and could not tell what was true from what was false. Reading in the New Testament one night, he decided he must ask of God after reading James 1:5.
I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible. (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith History 12)
Anyone who has studied geometry knows that it takes at least... Read the rest of this article »
Throughout history, God’s children have gone through cycles of faithfulness and unrighteousness. In His dealings with His followers, the Lord called prophets to bring the people to repentance and to usher in a new period of enlightenment. Each of these periods is called a dispensation. Dispensations were led by Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Moses. The pivotal dispensation on the earth was led by Jesus Christ Himself and His apostles.
When the apostles led the Church, they did so through revelation from Jesus Christ. They were constantly inspired by the Holy Ghost, had the authority to perform miracles, and received visions, as recorded in the New Testament. The church was not static during this time. Instead, policy changes (NOT doctrinal changes) were effected as the result of revelation. These changes included the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles, changes to the Mosaic dietary laws, and doing away with the requirement of... Read the rest of this article »
By Richard.
God is powerful. He created the heavens and the earth by the power of His Word. By the same power He controls and governs all His creations. He delegates a portion of His power and authority to man to enable him to act in His name and to govern His Church on the earth. This delegated authority also acts as a channel or medium through which God the Father provides continuing revelation to communicate light, intelligence, gifts, powers, and spiritual and temporal salvation for His children in every generation. God’s power and authority is called the Priesthood.
What is the Priesthood?
Priesthood is no less than the power and authority of God delegated to man for the furtherance of His work on the earth and for the salvation of the human family. It is the same power and authority Jesus Christ gave to Peter and the rest His apostles while he was on the earth, with a promise that whatsoever they should bind on earth should be bound in heaven;... Read the rest of this article »
by Terrie
A visit to a Mormon congregation on any given Sunday will show a building filled with very busy women. “Mormon” is a nickname sometimes used for the religion of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both the opening and closing prayers in the worship service, known as Sacrament Meeting can be given by Mormon women. In addition, Mormons do not use a paid clergy and so, instead of having the bishop (a lay pastor) giving the weekly sermon, any member of the church may be asked to do so. In most meetings there is one or two teenage speakers and two adult speakers. Women and girls are as likely to be asked to speak in these meetings as are men.
After the service, Mormons attend classes. The first set of classes is Sunday School for adults and teens, and Primary for children. Women are frequently seen teaching any of these classes. After Sunday School, men meet for Priesthood meeting and women attend Relief Society, a woman’s auxiliary... Read the rest of this article »
by Terrie
What Are Mormon Garments?
Mormons (a nickname for people who belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) wear religiously significant clothing beneath their street clothes. Some people refer to this as Mormon underwear, but Mormons simply refer to them as garments. Despite disrespectful names that suggest otherwise, they are not magic in any way, nor are they considered so by those who wear them. Instead, Mormon garments serve the same purpose as religious clothing worn by other religious people. They are a private reminder of religious covenants Mormons make with God in Mormon temples. Mormon underwear serves to protect modesty, since they should be covered at all times, and are not to be adjusted in order to keep them hidden. This means that clothing should be adjusted to the garment, and not the other way around. Garments also serve as constant reminders that those who wear them have taken on themselves the name of Jesus... Read the rest of this article »
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormon Church is officially called, was organized on April 6, 1830. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or just Latter-day Saints for short) believe that this church was restored to the earth by God through a man named Joseph Smith. Latter-day Saints believe that the modern church today is the same church that Jesus Christ organized when He was on the earth.
When Joseph Smith was a young boy of 14, he was confused about all the religious commotion in his New York area. Many denominations were claiming they had the truth and that all others were condemned. When he appealed to the Bible for help, he was still confused because each denomination seemed to interpret the same passage of scripture so differently. He came across James 1:5 in his study of the scriptures, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and... Read the rest of this article »
In 1842, John Wentworth, the editor of the Chicago Democrat, wrote to Joseph Smith and asked him about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith responded with what came to be known as the Wentworth Letter. In this letter, he described his First Vision, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the history of the Church and the members’ persecution, and thirteen of the Church’s most basic doctrines. These thirteen articles, though never published by Wentworth, came to be canonized as scripture in the LDS Church and are now known as the Articles of Faith. They are listed below. Following is a brief explanation of each doctrine.
We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.
We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances... Read the rest of this article »
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormon Church is officially known, wants all the world to know about God’s wonderful plan for all of us. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or just Latter-day Saints or Mormons) learn from a young age the Plan of Salvation, also called the Plan of Happiness.
The Plan of Salvation is a beautiful, simple piece of Mormon doctrine that answers age-old questions which have been discussed for millennia by the world’s philosophers: Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? These are questions which simply cannot be answered philosophically. There are eternal truths which answer them.
Who am I and where did I come from?
Mormon doctrine teaches that each person who will ever live upon this earth is a spirit son or daughter of God. This means that each of us has divine potential, as children of God. Mormons believe that each of us existed in the... Read the rest of this article »
Personal thoughts on finding peace in the House of the Lord, temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon temples).
Chasing Peace in the World….
vs.
Finding Peace in the Gospel & Mormon Temples
The adversary, Satan, would have us be as he is: running to and fro in the earth, going through the motions but missing the mark.
Ever see yourself as Adda in A Bug’s Life? The up-and-coming queen bee–frenetic, anxious, and breathless–trying to be in control of your destiny and never quite feeling so? Or how about Rabbit in Pooh Party? Let’s rewind the tape on that one for a moment. Here’s Rabbit, preparing for a party, following a predetermined schedule–an air-tight list of things to do which he believes to be the guarantee to a successful party. He seems to be stressing over his lengthy list, tacked up by the bathroom mirror, as he pours over it while brushing his teeth! Poor Rabbit. In the... Read the rest of this article »
