Mormon Beliefs Archive
The Mormon Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland spoke on March 20, 2012 to students of the Harvard University Law School as part of the school’s annual “Mormonism 101″ series. Elder Holland (Mormon leaders are traditionally addressed by the title, “Elder”) explained about the history and beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are often called “Mormons.” He then engaged in a question-and-answer session with members of the audience. Elder Holland’s remarks helped shed some light on the Church, which has received a lot of media attention lately due to the presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney.
Elder Holland began his remarks by congratulating the students on their openness to discussions of religious belief. ”In the western world religion has historically been the basis of civil society as we have known it, and if I am not mistaken, men and women of the law are committed to the... Read the rest of this entry »
William Tapscott Gillman was named after the ship upon which he was born, the S.S. William Tapscott. Alice Wickham, William’s mother, was crossing the Atlantic from England to America as a newly baptized Mormon. It was 1860. Over seven hundred new members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the “Mormon Church” by the media) were crowded into tiny berths on the refitted cargo ship. They were travelling to join the body of the Church in Zion, which is what they called the newly settled Utah territory where the rest of the Saints had gone to escape religious persecution. The crossing was long, thirty-five days, and the passengers were plagued by seasickness, measles, and smallpox. Four babies were born onboard, and five weddings were performed. Alice, who was unmarried, arrived in the Salt Lake with her new baby in the fall of that year, after months of travel by ship, steamboat, rail, and wagon. She married... Read the rest of this entry »
On December 5,2011, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are sometimes called Mormons, announced a new website devoted to free online videos about Jesus Christ. The first videos are now available and teach the Christmas story in the exact words of the King James Bible.
The project is the first of many films to be produced on a film set near Goshen, Utah. 830 acres have been turned into a replica of ancient Jerusalem and other New Testament locations. It is not a re-creation of the city of Jerusalem. It is a collection of settings that can be used and re-used for the needed scenes. Digital imaging will create some aspects of the city, such as the temple, that are not being built. Researchers went to Jerusalem, studied it, and photographed it. They also studied the scriptures to understand how things needed to look. The goal was to create as authentic a set as possible. Months of searching finally led them to a large piece of land... Read the rest of this entry »
In the Book of John, we learn, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (See John 1:3.)
It is clear, then, that anything that exists was created by God, and so God made Satan. However, he wasn’t Satan at his creation and he was not created evil. The prophet Isaiah helps us to understand what turned Lucifer into Satan and demonstrates that he is not the being God created him to be: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” (See Isaiah 14:12.)
In other words, Satan, as created, was not evil. God does not create anything that is evil. The creation accounts in Genesis consistently remind us that everything God creates is good. How did Satan go from being a good creation of God to being the source of evil?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are sometimes called Mormons, teach that agency... Read the rest of this entry »
There have been black Mormons since the 1830s. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the true name of the church commonly called the Mormon Church) accepted black people as members and did not segregate their congregations. They were officially opposed to slavery, which upset Missouri when they lived there. The newspapers published complaints that Mormons had a plan to convert and bring to Missouri free blacks at a time Missouri was trying to enter the United States as a slave state. Missouri, which beat free blacks entering the state, saw the Mormon plan to increase the black population as justification for increased persecution of Mormons.
There have been black Mormons since the earliest days of Mormonism.
The Mormon Church was organized in 1830 and the first black Mormon was baptized in 1832. His name was Elijah Abel. He would also receive the priesthood and become a seventy, a high-ranking church leader. Abel is believed to have escaped... Read the rest of this entry »
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who are often called Mormons by others, believe that Jesus Christ will return to earth one day. Mormons focus on what we know about that time and leave the rest to God.
Jesus Christ will return to Earth.
“Four matters are indisputable to Latter-day Saints: (1) The Savior will return to the earth in power and great glory to reign personally during a millennium of righteousness and peace. (2) At the time of His coming there will be a destruction of the wicked and a resurrection of the righteous. (3) No one knows the time of His coming, but (4) the faithful are taught to study the signs of it and to be prepared for it. (See Dallin H. Oaks, “Preparation for the Second Coming,” Liahona, May 2004, 7–10)
Let’s look first at the first and second principles Elder Oaks mentioned. Mormons believe in the Second Coming. We can over cover what will happen briefly in this article. For a more detailed... Read the rest of this entry »
The media has spent a lot of time on the Book of Mormon Musical, a Broadway production people either love or hate. The reviews have often demonstrated the biases of the reviewers. One rejoiced that the musical showed that religion believes in a lot of silly things (not just Mormonism, but all religion). Another suggested the message was that blind faith is a sin, with his unspoken message being that religious faith is always blind. A Jewish writer argued that Jewish people, with their great knowledge of the dangers of religious persecution, should speak out loudly against the musical. Other writers have noted that the musical attacks all religions, even though it focused on only one. Some have noticed it is an inherently vicious portrayal of Africans, mocking their poverty and suffering.
The official statement of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a single sentence:
“The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening,... Read the rest of this entry »
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are sometimes called Mormons, recently held its semi-annual General Conference. In this conference, Mormon leaders instruct members and other listeners in ways to better live Christ’s teachings.
In the April 2011 General Conference, Paul V. Johnson answered the question, “Why is life so hard?” He taught that trials often come to us because Jesus loves us. It might not seem, at first glance to be much of a gift, but when we understand why we came to earth, the reasoning behind this becomes clear.
Mormon beliefs teach that God created our spirits. As spirits—meaning we had no body—we lived with God, getting to know Him and becoming the people we are today. Eventually, of course, every child needs to leave home and so God prepared the earth for us. When we came to earth we would take with us our own personalities but we would forget who we had been and where we had come from. We’d... Read the rest of this entry »
When people talk about Mormonism, they often focus in on small things that are not important, aren’t taught currently, aren’t even practiced today. By doing so they miss an opportunity to understand Mormonism as it lives today and even as it was originally taught.
The atonement of Jesus Christ is central to Mormonism.
To understand Mormonism, you must focus on core doctrines, those things which are canonized as official doctrine and taught consistently. While church practices sometimes change, truth does not.
There are a few guidelines that can help you evaluate whether or not a teaching is a core doctrine—or even a true doctrine of Mormonism.
First, it is important to understand that every word spoken by a prophet is not necessarily doctrine, particularly in the earliest days of the church. In the beginnings, the church was run much more informally. People talked among themselves and sometimes others took notes and published those conversations... Read the rest of this entry »
Brigham Young University, also called BYU, is a university in Provo, Utah. It is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are also known as Mormons.
BYU Honor Code helps students live a Christ-like life.
Although a student does not have to be Mormon to attend BYU, most students are LDS (Mormon.) Any student, whether or not they are Mormon, must sign the honor code and then live what it says. For BYU, unlike some universities, the honor code is not a PR tool or a suggestion, but a serious way of life. Students know about the honor code before agreeing to come to the university and they have given their word to live it. Not doing so results in suspension. The university puts this code above all other considerations and will enforce it even when the person who violates it is the star of a sports team. Some newspapers have noted that most schools who suspend a student for violating an honor code or even for breaking a law... Read the rest of this entry »
