We Believe in God...

As part of my Ask a Mormon series, I wanted to share with you the core beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

In 1842, Joseph Smith was asked to explain the beliefs of the Church by the editor of the Chicago Democrat newspaper, John Wentworth.  From this request we were given what is now referred to as the Articles of Faith.  A succinct overview of the core beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

There are thirteen Articles of Faith.  As we go through them here, you will, no doubt, find that my beliefs and yours (if you are not LDS) are different in many ways.  But I am confident that you will find that in several ways they are not as varied as you may have thought. 

This week lets look at the first Article of Faith. 

"We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."
 

Pretty straight forward, eh?  I could probably end it right there, and it would be understood fairly well.  But lets look at it a bit.

For those who have heard that we do not believe in Jesus Christ, there it is.  Joseph Smith, when asked what we believed, the first thing he did was express our belief in God the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.   

We refer to these three as the Godhead. 

We believe that God is the Supreme Ruler of the Universe and the Father of our spirits.

We believe that Jesus Christ is the literal Son of God and the Savior of the world.  We believe that He was perfect and sinless and that through His atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection all of us are able to return to live with our Father in Heaven and our families eternally. 

We believe that the Holy Ghost testifies of all truth.  We believe that it is his influence that leads people to choose the right and follow the example of the Savior.  We believe that it is through the influence of the Holy Ghost that we are able to receive guidance and inspiration from a loving Heavenly Father.

We believe that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are three seperate and distinct beings.  We do not subscribe to the view that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are one being.  We believe that the Father and Son have seperate, tangible, perfected, bodies.  We believe that the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit, but is in the form of a man.  (D&C 130:22).

We do believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one, but we believe that they are one in unity and purpose.

I could cite dozens of scriptural examples that lead me to this belief, but allow me to share just a couple. 

Before His crucifixion, Christ prayed to the Father.  In this intercessory prayer recorded in John 17, He talks about being one with the Father.  He says,

"...Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. "  John 17:11
 

So, unless Christ was praying that the twelve apostles all become one blob, instead of twelve seperate individuals, we believe that Christ was talking about being one in unity and purpose. 

By this we mean that the purposes of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are the same.  They all desire the same thing, that we all gain immortality and eternal life (see Moses 1:39). 

James E. Talmage, a former member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the 1900's stated in his book, Articles of Faith,

"This unity is a type of completeness; the mind of any one one member of the Trinity is the mind of the others; seeing as each of them does with the eye of perfection, they see and understand alike.  Under any given conditions each would act in the same way, guided by the same principles of unerring justice and equity."  Chapter 2, "God and the Holy Trinity"
 

In conclusion, we believe in God the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.  We believe they are one in purpose, we believe they are perfect.  We believe the Father and the Son have seperate, distinct, perfected bodies.  We worship the Father as our Eternal Father and the Ruler of the Universe.  We worship the Son as our Savior, Redeemer and the only way whereby a man may be saved (Acts 4:12). 

I hope that sharing these core beliefs of my faith will strengthen your faith, as well as increasing that understanding that you and I have about our respective faiths.  In doing so we may become better friends, neighbors, and citizens! 


As always, if you have a question about Mormons--our beliefs, culture, etc, feel free to leave it in the comments section of the Ask a Mormon page on this blog!

Please share this post with your friends if you have found value in it!

 Twitter: @Skropp2

Sunday Afternoon Session

Speakers

Elder Robert D. Hales - Quorum of the Twelve (Mormons are Christian)
Elder Richard G. Scott - Quorum of the Twelve (Work for the dead)
Brother Russell T. Osguthorpe - Sunday School President (Teaching the Gospel)
Elder Marcus B. Nash - Quorum of the Seventy (Faith)
Elder Daniel L. Johnson - Quorum of the Seveny (Being a disciple)
Elder Don R. Clarke - Quorum of the Seventy (Sacrament)
Elder David A. Bednar - Quorum of the Twelve (Testimony and Conversion)

Talk that you MUST watch

Elder Hales' talk was amazing.  He's not usually one who gives a talk that sticks out to me, but this one did!  His discussion about Mormon's being Christian is a question that is asked often.  I appreciate his suggestion that if we say that we are Christians, we dang well better make sure that we are acting as such!

Favorite Quote

"What kind of Christians are we? In other words, how are we doing in our quest to follow Christ?" Elder Robert D. Hales 

General Thoughts About the Session

This session seemed to speak a lot more about the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel.  Faith. Testimony. Being a disciple.  The Sacrament.  Basic stuff.  It's easy to get caught up in so much stuff and activity in the Church that we forget the very, very basic aspects of the Gospel.  And these foundational principles are so essential to our spiritual lives! 

Click here to view video of individual talks and entire sessions.  This link will also have transcripts of the talks within the week.

Thanks so much for following me throughout this Conference weekend!  Please continue to follow my blog in the coming weeks and months!  Every weekend I answer questions about Mormons that people ask.  If you want to submit a question to be answered, please visit the Ask a Mormon page of this blog and submit it in the comment section! 

During the week I blog about leadership and business topics.  Also please follow me on Twitter @Skropp2, I'd love to get to know you better!

In the words of MoTab, "God be with you 'till we meet again!"

General Conference

This week's weekend post is going to be a little different. Here's why.

Photo of the LDS Conference Center, where General Conference is held.



This weekend is a very special weekend for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Twice a year members of the Church have the opportunity to hear from the Church leaders via satellite. Speakers include the President and Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, his two counselors, members of The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, members of the Quorums of Seventy, as well as other general officers of the Church.

These leaders will speak Saturday and Sunday in five separate 2 hour sessions.

General Sessions are 10 am and 2 pm both Saturday and Sunday MST and are broadcast on BYU TV, www.byutv.org, www.lds.org, as well as at any LDS Chapel.

There is also a General Priesthood Meeting Saturday night at 6pm MST. This session is open to men and boys age 12 and up and is only broadcast to LDS chapels.

General Conference occurs twice a year, the first weekends of April and October.

Those who speak will counsel, teach, testify and encourage the members of the worldwide church. Their intent will be to bear testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of the fullness of the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

They will also provide answers and solutions to the most pressing questions and challenges facing the world today.

If you want to know what Mormons believe, flip on the TV, go to www.byutv.org, www.lds.org, come on into one of our chapels or ask an LDS friend if you can watch it with them.

Follow Me

Throughout the conference I will be tweeting my thoughts, favorite quotes, and impressions on twitter using the hash tag #ldsconf. Follow me @Skropp2 to see what I am learning!

I am also going to try to post a summary of each session on this blog through the weekend. Please feel free to read these summaries and comment on what was said in each session!

Please share this post with all those who you think may be interested! Thanks for reading!

As always, please visit the Ask a Mormon page of this blog to submit questions about Mormons and I will do my best to answer them in an upcoming post!


Twitter: @Skropp2

What is The Book of Mormon?

This week's question is probably one that is asked as often as any other question I've got.  I believe it's probably a question that you have asked yourself, even if you haven't asked it out loud:

"What is the Book of Mormon? Does it replace the Bible?"
 

So in this post, I'll give you a brief overview of what the Book of Mormon is, and what it is to Mormons. 

What is the Book of Mormon



Here's the opening paragraph of the Introduction to the Book of Mormon:

"The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It is a record of God’s dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel." -Introduction to the Book of Mormon
 

I'd recommend reading the entire Introduction if you want to have a great overview of what the Book of Mormon is, and what it contains. 

To answer the question of what the Book of Mormon is, let me respond to a few things you've probably heard about the Book of Mormon.

Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon

Many people believe that the Book of Mormon was written by the Prophet Joseph Smith.  This is not true.  We can get into the whole story another time of how the record containing the Book of Mormon was found, but for now, suffice it to say that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon from a record of the ancient inhabitants of the American continents.  This record was written by several different prophets on this continent and those records were compiled and abridged by a prophet named Mormon.  Hence, the name, The Book of Mormon, because he abridged it. 

Again, Joseph Smith translated the record through the gift and power of God, he did not write it.

The Book of Mormon replaces the Bible

This is patently false.  We LOVE the Bible and constantly use it for study, teaching, etc.  The reason that you see our missionaries only talking about the Book of Mormon can probably be simplified into about two reasons: #1 The majority of people already have the Bible and are familiar with it, so we don't have to offer one to you (incidentally, if you ask missionaries for a Bible, they do have Bibles they can give to you...) and #2 The Book of Mormon is one of the evidences of our message, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in its entirety, has been restored and there is, again, a prophet of God on the earth today.

The Articles of Faith is a list of our basic beliefs.  The Eighth Article of Faith states:

"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 the Bible to be the word of God.  The Bible is an indispensable part of our scriptural canon.  It is only in the Bible that we find the account of Christ's life. 

Here is how the Book of Mormon fits with the Bible.  It is Another testament.  It stands next to the Bible in testifying that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  That he is the Savior of the world and that it is only through Christ that you and I can return to live with our Heavenly Father. 

The prophet Nephi in the Book of Mormon said it this way,

"...there is no other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ, of which I have spoken, whereby man can be saved." -2 Nephi 25:20
 

In Conclusion

In conclusion, We believe the Book of Mormon is scripture.  We believe the Bible is scripture.  We use them together be two witnesses of the same thing, that Jesus Christ is our Savior. 

I am sure that if you were to read the Book of Mormon, you would find that most of the things you've been told about the Book of Mormon are not true.  You may not agree that it is scripture, and you may not choose to accept it as such, and that's ok.  But if you were to read it, you would find a book that strongly testifies of the same Savior that you worship, and that it teaches what the Bible does, that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way you can be saved.   

My Offer

Here is my offer to you, my friends.  If you would like, I will personally mail you a copy of the Book of Mormon for you to read.  You can always get a free copy from the Church's commercials and website, but I know that many of you won't do that because it is brought by those "scary" missionaries we talked about last week, haha. 

My offer is I will personally mail the Book of Mormon to you if you would like to see what it says.  After I mail it, I will not bug you about it.  I won't ask you to meet with missionaries, or do anything else with it.  My only motivation is to give you the chance to look at it if you have ever had a desire to do so. 

If you want a copy of the Book of Mormon, email me your address and I'll send you a copy.  If you do not want one, I hope that this has at least answered some of your questions about what the Book of Mormon is, and why it is important to us as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Please forward this message to your friends and family if you have found value in it.  Thanks!



Twitter: @Skropp2

Do You Worship Joseph Smith?

Do You Worship Joseph Smith?

I can't tell you how many times I've been asked that question.

Short Answer: No, we do not.

Because of my sarcastic nature, my usual response is something along the lines of:

I don't know, do you worship Moses, Abraham or Isaiah?



Photo copyright Intellectual Reserve, Inc. 

I respond that way because to us, as Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith was the same as Moses, Abraham, Isaiah and every other Biblical prophet. He was a man, chosen by God to lead His Church. He received inspiration and revelation. But he was a man. He made mistakes, he was mortal, and he is certainly NOT someone to worship.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints explained it well when he said:  

"We do not worship Joseph Smith. We do not baptize in his name. We do not pray to Joseph Smith. We do not administer the Sacrament in his name. To even SAY that carries the deep offense of such a suggestion. Our faith is in Christ. And salvation is in Him only. There IS no other name given under Heaven whereby a man can be saved." (New Mission Presidents Seminar, 2004.  Provo Missionary Training Center)

We revere Joseph Smith as a prophet, but only a prophet.

The Real Question

It seems to mean that when people ask me if I worship Joseph Smith, the real question they are asking me is: Do you worship Jesus Christ?

For Mormons, as with all Christians, there is only one one man that came to earth, lived a perfect life and atoned for the sins of all mankind, and that is Jesus Christ.

Here is what Peter said about how we are saved:

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."  (Acts 4:12)
 

King Benjamin, a ruler and prophet in ancient America said this of Christ over 100 years before His birth:

"And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent." (Mosiah 3:17)
 

The Prophet Joseph Smith himself said:

"The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it." (Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, Chpt. 3)
 

Thomas S. Monson, Prophet and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today has said:

 "With all my heart and the fervency of my soul, I lift up my voice in testimony as a special witness and declare that God does live. Jesus is His Son, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. He is our Redeemer; He is our Mediator with the Father. He it was who died on the cross to atone for our sins. He became the firstfruits of the Resurrection. Because He died, all shall live again. “Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives: ‘I know that my Redeemer lives!’” May the whole world know it and live by that knowledge" (General Conference, April 2007)
 

I hope this post, as well as the quotes from the scriptures and modern day prophets will serve to explain that not only do we not worship Joseph Smith, but we very clearly worship Jesus Christ.  I know that my salvation is in and through Jesus Christ as no one else!  I am eternally grateful for His atoning sacrifice that allows me the opportunity to be forgiven of my sins and return to live with my Father in Heaven after this life with my family!





Question: Which church leaders, ministers, saints, prophets, etc do you revere for their dedication to the cause of the Gospel?



Thanks for taking the time to understand my faith and how it influences me daily. Please share these posts with others.

Also, please visit the Ask a Mormon page on this blog and submit any questions you have about Mormons. I'd love to answer them!

Twitter: @Skropp2