Mormon Church

On January 22, 2010, the leadership of the Mormons appealed to their members around the world to assist in the humanitarian work in Haiti. The church has been an active participant in the work being done there, but they expect to be working there for at least a year, and more funding will be needed.

“Our hearts are filled with sadness as we have watched the suffering in Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake. We turn to the example of Jesus Christ, who reached out to “lift up the hands which hang down” and “strengthen the feeble knees.”  We are keenly aware that many in America are dealing with economic challenges caused by the recession. However, we are appealing to members to donate to Church Humanitarian Services as their means allow in order to help our Haitian brothers and sisters.  Many have already contributed and others are anxious to do so.” (First Presidency Statement on Haiti)

Funds for humanitarian work come from a separate department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints known as LDS Philanthropies. Some aspects of this department cover LDS-specific programs. Others are non-sectarian. The Humanitarian Aid program is non-sectarian. Money donated to this fund is used entirely to help others. The Church pays administrative costs out of regular church funds, making it fairly unique in the non-profit world. Help is given to people regardless of religion or even lack of religion. It is a non-sectarian humanitarian effort. No missionary work is involved in the humanitarian efforts.

In Haiti, the church is again partnering with Islamic Relief  and other organizations, including CARE and American Airlines, to bring much needed supplies to Haiti. Supplies include food, medical supplies, tents, water filtration bottles, blankets, newborn kits, wheelchairs, and first aid kits. The church also arranged for LDS volunteer doctors and social workers to go to Haiti to provide treatment to anyone who needed it, regardless of religion or nationality. Nine LDS chapels have been turned into shelters, and some of the doctors are treating those who are staying in those shelters. The shelters were opened to non-LDS people as well as members. Missionaries who are serving there have turned to humanitarian work instead of missionary work.

The Humanitarian Services program is most often in the news for its emergency response program, but it involves many other programs as well. Since 2003, the Church has donated a million dollars per year to the Measles Initiative, a program carried out by American Red Cross, the United Nations World Health Organization, UNICEF, the UN Foundation, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They also provide manpower for this program, helping with canvassing neighborhoods and assisting in clinics.

Humanitarian Services provides volunteer doctors and nurses to train workers in developing nations in neonatal resuscitation training. In some areas, a baby that isn’t breathing is left to die while workers focus their attention on helping the mother. This program has trained more than 80,000 birth assistants in how to save the baby as well. These trained aids are then expected to train others, which allows an area to become self-sufficient, and allows the Church to move on to another area.

The Mormon’s Clean Water Initiative has helped more than 4500 communities obtain clean water. Local community members help with the planning and also assist in the work. They are trained to maintain their own system after it is in place, creating both employment and self-sufficiency.

The Church also assists people in obtaining wheelchairs. They have provided more than 300,000 wheelchairs in 101 countries. The Church provides wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, cushions, and other assistive devices, as requested by other charitable organizations in the areas, and they also provide training to these partner organizations if they are asked to do so.

The Mormons have a vision care program using volunteer medical personnel in twelve countries. They provide materials and training to local organizations and professionals.

In addition to these organized programs, church members world-wide donate time and materials for countless other projects, including making quilts, teddy bears, quiet books for orphanages, hygiene kits, and other projects which are distributed by Humanitarian Aid. Local congregations and auxiliaries volunteer time in their own communities and select projects of specific interest or need on their own. Many congregations have a literacy specialist who assists members and non-members alike in learning to read, learning to speak English, and other literacy needs. Church organizations help members move, care for children, and obtain food. There are a multitude of service programs going on at any given time throughout the world, wherever Mormons live. And of course, countless Church members volunteer in their own communities as individuals.

The Mormons—a nickname for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—have released a new edition of Gospel Principles. This lesson manual is designed for both classroom and personal study. Adults who are visiting a Mormon Church in order to learn more about Mormons and those who are new members use this as a Sunday School textbook to learn the basics of Mormon beliefs before moving into the regular, more advanced Sunday School class. It can be read online at no cost and without registration, making it an inexpensive and organized way to learn the essential teachings of the Mormons as taught to their own members.

Read Gospel Principles.

The book takes you systematically through the teachings of the Mormons and through life as seen by God. Readers begin by learning about God in the first lesson. They learn who He is and what our relationship to Him is. In the second lesson, they learn where they were before they were born and what amazing experiences happened there. In the third lesson, students are introduced to Jesus Christ and learn how He became our Savior. Students learn that only through the atonement of Christ can one be saved.

There are forty-seven lessons in the book, ending with our return to God after our death. Each lesson includes scripture references from the Bible and from uniquely Mormon scriptures. The online version links to each of these scriptures, so students can read them for themselves. The Bible used is the King James Translation, which is a popular Bible translation used by many religions.

The book answers many of the questions seekers of truth have asked for centuries: Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going when I die and how do I get there? The book offers great spiritual truths, and also practical advice for making the most of the gift of life we’ve been given.

Lesson 11 is on the life of the Savior. In it, students are taught the following:

His Sacrifice Showed His Love for His Father and for Us

Jesus taught: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (John 15:13–14). He willingly and humbly went through the sorrow in Gethsemane and the suffering on the cross so we could receive all the blessings of the plan of salvation. To receive these blessings, we must come unto Him, repent of our sins, and love Him with all our hearts. He said:

“And this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.

“And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me … that they may be judged according to their works. …

“For the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do. …

“Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am” (3 Nephi 27:13–15, 21, 27; italics added).

• What are your feelings as you ponder the Savior’s sacrifice for you?

In chapter 34, students learn God gave them talents and expects him to use them to build up God’s kingdom and to enrich our lives. Blended with the spiritual teachings are practical information on how to accomplish this. Students learn how to turn weaknesses into talents and are given advice for developing new talents or improving the ones we already have.

A person who prayerfully and thoughtfully studies the book, whether in a class or in the privacy of his own home, will have a solid, basic understanding of the teachings of the Mormons. This is a reliable way to learn about a religion—to study what they teach their own members. After all, there is no point in teaching members false ideas, since people believe what they are taught. Once a reader has completed this book, he is ready to move on to more advanced materials found on the same website, or to simply improve his understanding of a religion found in his culture.

Recently, Elder Russell M. Ballard spoke to graduating students at Brigham Young University, a school owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Members of this church are often informally known as Mormons. He counseled them in ways to discuss their religion with others, pointing out

that most topics of greatest interest to detractors are not critical elements of the current religion, but are fringe elements or practices no longer carried out. He advised them to keep the discussions focused on the core of the religion, the elements that affect salvation, rather than those that are merely interesting intellectual discussion points.

“When all is said and done, the most important thing about you and your testimony is that you base your beliefs on what Jesus Christ taught, and you try to follow Him by living your life in a way acceptable to our Heavenly Father and to the Lord.

This is your foundation. It was Joseph Smith’s foundation. He said: “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, he 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.”

(See Elder M. Russell Ballard: Engaging Without Being Defensive.)

Every religion has information or writings that cover a wide spectrum of information. Some of this information is essential to the salvation of the believer, but much of it is not. For instance, we must know who created the world and believe that, but we don’t have to know exactly how long it took. That is merely interesting fodder for debate or curiosity, but has nothing to do with our salvation. It’s interesting to read the genealogy in the Old Testament, but there won’t be a test on it when we stand before the Savior in judgment. Some stories in the Bible are curious and we don’t really understand why a Biblical prophet made the choices he did, but most of the time, we don’t need to know.

What we do need to know is that God is our loving Father in Heaven, and Jesus Christ is His only begotten Son. Jesus died for us and is the only path through which we may return to God someday. We need to learn how to identify truth by communicating directly with God to learn it.

It is these things the Mormons focus on in their daily spiritual life. They work to build a loving relationship with God and Jesus Christ and to understand how They would have us live from day to day. They strive to be good family members and good citizens. They study the Savior’s life and then try to understand how to live that way themselves.

While groups who work to oppose the church often focus on unimportant intellectual games, the Mormons are busy trying to be like Jesus. When talking with a Mormon, it is important to remember they aren’t generally very interested in those fringe topics. Their testimony isn’t based on history or science, but on faith. This faith came about after developing a close and personal relationship with God and then trusting Him to answer their questions in ways they could understand. They worked to know God so well they easily recognize Him when He communicates with them.

There is little purpose in presenting a Mormon who really knows Christ with the teachings of men, which are unreliable and changing. They aren’t interested in using those teachings as a foundation for their eternal salvation. They know the Creator, and it is only His words that matter.

This question is often asked by evangelicals, and is, in general, a misunderstanding of the Mormon teachings on what happens after death and how we control that.

Many evangelicals teach that a person gets to heaven by being “saved.” This involves the act of accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. At the same time, they teach that acts cannot get you into Heaven. The Mormons also believe that a person must accept Jesus Christ as His Savior in order to return to God’s presence after death. Both groups agree that at least one act is required of all of us in order to be with God.

The confusion over the number of acts required to be saved comes from the differences in terminology used by Mormons. Mormons believe everyone is saved through the atonement of Jesus Christ, even if they never accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. However, grace and eternal life, to a Mormon, are not the same thing. To understand this complex issue, let’s look at several essential points.

Mormons are rather known for being a meeting people. They have meetings and they have meetings to plan meetings. But what do they do at all these meetings?

The most important meeting is Sacrament Meeting. This is held each Sunday and is the primary worship service. Because Mormons are run by a lay clergy, the bishop, who is the equivalent of a pastor, does not give the sermon each week. Every part of the meeting is done by someone donating his time and talents.

The meeting is held in the chapel, which is very simply designed. There are no statues, and newer buildings don’t have pictures. There is a “stand” which is a raised area at the front of the room. This contains seating for the choir, leadership, and speakers, and usually also contains a piano and an organ. There is a podium which sometimes has flowers and always has tissues because Mormons tend to cry when they feel the spirit strongly.

As worshippers arrive, prelude music is played by a volunteer. The meeting opens with a member of the bishopric-the bishop or one of his two counselors-welcoming everyone and conducting any necessary business. There is an opening song led by a chorister and a prayer given by any adult or teenaged member of the congregation who is invited to do so. Women are allowed to pray and preach in Mormon meetings. The prayer is given in the member’s own words.

Sometimes a person is confirmed a new member of the church or a baby is blessed (similar to a christening.)

After these preliminaries, and when announcements and information about who has been invited to fill church positions recently has been handled, the sacrament portion of the meeting begins. This is the primary reason for the meeting to be held. At this time, the members of the congregation sing a song about the death or resurrection of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Then the Sacrament is blessed and passed to the congregation.

The Sacrament is blessed by boys or men who hold the priesthood. The priesthood holder must be at least sixteen years old. They stand in one corner of the stand at the front of the room at an alter. One priesthood holder says the prayer, which is one of the few prescribed prayers in the church, to bless the bread. Boys or men who are at least twelve years old take the trays from the people who blessed the sacrament and take it out into the congregation. These prayers can be read in the Doctrine and Covenants. This is followed by the blessing and passing of the water. The trays are taken to the ends of rows. Members take their portion and then hold the tray for the person sitting beside them as he or she takes it. A person who is not a member of the church can simply take the tray and hold it for the next person, without partaking.

The taking of the Sacrament allows members to renew promises they made to God at baptism and reminds them of the atonement of Jesus Christ. As the sacrament is passed, members sit quietly and think about Jesus or read their scriptures. Young children often look at pictures of Jesus during this time.

When this is finished, several members of the congregation give talks or brief sermons. This time often begins with five minute talks by one or two teenagers, followed by longer talks given by adults. Both men and women are invited by a leader to speak and are assigned a topic. The meeting is generally focused on a single theme chosen by leaders for that week. In this way, the speakers have been given an opportunity to study a topic for a week and then to share their insights, favorite scriptures, and meaningful quotes related to the topic. The congregation gains the insights of many different people over the course of a year.

There is sometimes an intermediate hymn midway through the talks.

At the end of the meeting, there is a song and a prayer, again given by a member of the congregation, and members are dismissed to go to classes.

It’s important to note that children attend the Sacrament Service with their families. There is no nursery for this portion of the day. This means Mormon services are sometimes a bit noisy, but members feel it is important for children to attend this service and to have lifelong memories of worshipping with their children. Many parents bring quiet books or toys for the youngest children. Despite this, there can be a fair amount of noise and even the occasional escapee, a toddler who gets away from his parents and decides to go visit the bishop up on the stand. However, the Savior made it very clear during his ministry that children matter to the Lord and that we must not turn them away. Mormons are accepting of the necessary distractions of children in meetings, even as they strive to teach their children to behave.

After the Sacrament meeting, people move on to various classes. Children who are eighteen months to age three attend a nursery class, which is not just a playtime, but is an actual class with lessons, music, and educational activities. Children ages three to twelve attend Primary. During half of Primary, they are in classes divided by age. The other half, they are in Sharing Time, where they are with all the children in Primary or half of them, divided by age. Here they have a participatory lesson and a music time.

Teenagers attend Sunday School with students their own age, and then split into two groups, one for boys and one for girls. They attend a class that helps them learn the practical aspects of the gospel-how to take the doctrine and apply it to everyday life. During the week, they will have a week day activity once a week, and those fourteen and older will attend a daily scripture study class.

Adults begin with Sunday School, and then they too split into groups according to gender. Men attend a priesthood lesson, even if they don’t yet have the priesthood, and women attend Relief Society, an auxiliary that focuses on service and gospel education. Although the two groups study much the same thing, they do so from the perspective of their roles in life.

This entire process of three meetings takes three hours. Because the Sabbath is set aside for worship, this does not in any way impact the day for members. Even when they return home, they will keep the Sabbath Day holy, as God commanded, and continue with family or private worship, study, and contemplation.

Mormon meetings tend to be very simple. They are run by volunteers and are focused on the mission of the church, which is to bring people to Christ.

In the Catholic faith, canonization is the official recognition that someone is a saint and was so even prior to the

official recognition. A process is followed to allow the church to determine who is a saint.

Mormons (the nickname for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) do not follow this process. The term saint is used in the official name of the church and denotes, as used in the Bible, a community of people who followed God.

Stations of the Cross is a Catholic tradition that grew out of a desire to replicate pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Today, they help Catholics remember the final days of the life of Jesus Christ as they move through a series of wooden crosses that have been blessed by a person with the authority to do so and pray. Some consider it reparation for the suffering and loneliness of the Savior’s personal Via Dolorosa. Pope Pius XI considered it an obligation for Catholics and John Paul II praised those who make an effort to stand by the endless crosses the Savior endures even today through abuse and mistreatment from those who do not honor the Sacrifices He made for them.

Although Mormons don’t participate in a formal ceremony, they do teach the principle behind it. As Pope John Paul II said, we must stand beside the Savior.

Mormons are sometimes known as belonging to a church with a lot of rules. While it might seem like there are a great many of them, they are generally very basic rules of decent life. They were taught by the Savior during His ministry on earth, and those that were revealed in the latter-days are those that keep us safe, happy, and mora

The Book of Mormon teaches that men are that they might have joy. (See 2 Nephi 2:25.) The Savior, Jesus Christ, gave us commandments that, when practiced for the right reasons in the right spirit, would allow us to live a joyful life even in times of trials.

Mormons see Adam and Eve very differently than most of the Christian world. Rather than blaming Eve for all our problems, we celebrate her as the mother of all living and honor her for making the hardest choices. Through the scriptures of the restoration and modern revelation, we have learned more about these two first ancestors.

<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;”>Mormons do not pray to Mary. Statues are art, and, as with any other form of art, might be found in an individual building or home, usually in a nativity setting.

There are several aspects of Mormon beliefs that must be understood before this question can be

answered. The first is that Mormon beliefs do not include the trinity. While they believe in God, Jesus, and in the Holy Ghost, they do not teach that they are the same being. They are three very distinct beings, wholly unified in purpose. For more on this, please read:

How Could Jesus Pray to Himself?

The second important point of Mormon doctrine is that we lived with God before we were born. God created our spirits and we lived with Him for a time before coming to earth.

Read more about this:

The Purpose of Life

These two teachings are important because they explain why we don’t feel we need to pray to Mary in order to get God’s attention. It is sometimes explained that if we’re in a noisy room, we will notice, despite the din, the voice of someone we know and love. This is why some people pray to Mary-because when billions are praying, Jesus will hear His mother’s voice. However, Mormons believe God can hear their voice anyway, because we are very literally His children and He loves us and knows us.

Toddlers are taught, in their very first church class, this little rhyme:

Heavenly Father knows me
And what I like to do.
He knows my name and where I live.
I know He loves me, too.

Mormons believe this, and believe God knows them and loves them enough to recognize and notice their voices, and that He can hear and answer every prayer, no matter how many are coming through at any one time. This is a part of His divinity.

Mormons pray to God through Jesus Christ. Jesus was given the role of Intercessor by God. When Jesus Christ offered the Intercessory Prayer, we saw how He was able to pray on our behalf to the Father.

Several scriptures in the Bible promote Jesus’ role as our advocate or intercessor, including Timothy’s explanation that there is only one mediator:

5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Timothy 2)

Mary is very important in Mormon theology. Mormons believe she was chosen for her role as the mother of the Savior prior to her birth, and that her mission was foretold by prophets. Isaiah said, “14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

The Book of Mormon also foretells Mary. Both Lehi and his son Nephi, the first two Book of Mormon prophets, saw Mary in visions and knew she would be the mother of God’s only begotten Son.

“As there is only one Christ, so there is only one Mary. And as the Father chose the most noble and righteous of all his spirit sons to come into mortality as his Only Begotten in the flesh, so we may confidently conclude that he selected the most worthy and spiritually talented of all his spirit daughters to be the mortal mother of his Eternal Son.” (Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, Bookcraft, Inc., 1965, vol. 1, p. 85.)

We know that Mary had lived a highly moral life in order to be allowed to carry out this great assignment. We can presume she was intelligent and her responses to her calling tell us she knew the scriptures well.

Jesus came to earth as a baby, not a grown man. He did not begin with a full knowledge of who He was or a complete memory of His life prior to His birth. It would have been Mary’s role to train Him in the ways of life and to help Him become the type of person who could and would carry out His eternally significant mission. We can, therefore, presume she was a wise and capable parent, and that she never lost sight of her role in God’s plan for the earth.

For these reasons, and because of the tremendous sacrifices she made and the suffering she endured as she witnessed the treatment and death of her firstborn Son, Mormons honor Mary.

She is often used as an example of a woman of faith, sacrifice, and obedience. In lessons on motherhood, she is usually the first example offered. Mormons look to her to show them the way to live their own lives, but their relationship with God is a direct one. Mormons pray to God, through Jesus. They don’t feel the need to ask someone else to intervene on their behalf, because they believe God loves them enough to hear them. While they might ask friends to pray for them, this does not replace praying to God themselves. Being prayed for by others helps us to connect to one another, but even if only one person prayed for himself, that pray would be heard and answered.

Some have asked if we have statues of Mary. Mormon chapels do not have artwork of any kind in the actual chapel where the service is held. The chapels are extremely simple and free of any decoration except for occasional flowers. However, the buildings-hallways, offices, and classrooms– do have paintings, and some have statues. The statues serve only as decoration and are not used in any way in the worship services. They serve only as teaching aids or reminders of important aspects of gospel teaching.

Art plays an important part in Mormon life as a tool for teaching. Teachers are encouraged to use it to help emphasize aspects of the story or principle being taught, to hold attention, or to invoke important thoughts or feelings. Mormons do not pray to statues or make use of them as part of their services, however. They are simply decorations or teaching tools. Statues of Mary are most often shown in context with her mission on earth as Jesus’ mother.