What is the Mormon belief?

Joseph Smith is generally creditted with putting the belief forward. I don’t get the rest of it.

Wikipedia on Mormons

Mormon.org

Do you want to know from a current Mormon’s perspective or from a former Mormon’s perspective? Those are two completely different perspectives.
This and this are web sites for ex-Mormons.

There’s also the explanation of the church’s history and structure, then there’s the explanation of their politics and methods. It’s a very complicated religion to be able to summarize very well in one short post… but to start with—- it is a Christ-based religion (belief in the Bible, Christ, etc) but they believe that Christ did not just manifest in the Middle East but came to the New World and Asia—that he manifested himself in different incarnations to spread the same message. A lot of people believe that Mormonism isn’t Chrisitan, but it is Christian, just that they have additional books they consider holy (Book of Mormon, and Doctrines and Covenants)

They believe Joseph Smith discovered a book under a rock in upstate New York written in Aramaic and translated it with the power of the Holy Spirit- – that’s the Book of Mormon.

They don’t believe in Heaven and Hell, but levels of Heaven/reward. They believe marriage is eternal and that “worthy” people can move up in rank or honor towards Godhood. They believe that baptism in the Mormon name gives eternal life, that you can be baptized after death by proxy. If you ask them about the church, every single one is supposed to recite the exact same passage about how the Church is the one true church of Jesus Christ… etc.

There are a lot of web sites that will explain what the structure and beliefs are, but what you will not find is how the politics, marketing and psychology of the church works. That’s where the ex-Mormons come in. The psychology of the church is quite scary, IMHO, extremely scary.

Being a religion, and like any other religion, they have off-shoots—fundamentalist LDS, reorganized LDS, etc.

Found this on my status feed on Facebook… felt it might be an appropriate contribution to this thread since it does discuss an aspect of Mormonism.

The short version of what I’ve been told by some Mormon people is: If you’ve been a “good” Mormon, you’ll get your own planet to rule when you die, like a god. The better life you lead on Earth, the bigger your reward planet will be. The more children you have on Earth, the more people inhabiting your planet for you to rule over.

Which is why I see Mormonism as more of a cult than a religion- the belief that you, yourself, can become a god is part of the cult mindset.

Weird Mormon beliefs

“If you ask them about the church, every single one is supposed to recite the exact same passage about how the Church is the one true church of Jesus Christ… etc.”
This is not true.

“The better life you lead on Earth, the bigger your reward planet will be. The more children you have on Earth, the more people inhabiting your planet for you to rule over.
This is not doctrine either.

I hope anybody who investigates any religion recognizes the difference between opinion and doctrine. As far as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints goes, not every utterance by every general authority (church leader) constitutes “official” doctrine. “There are many subjects about which the scriptures are not clear and about which the Church has made no official pronouncements. In such matters, one can find differences of opinion among Church members and leaders. Until the truth of these matters is made known by revelation, there is room for different levels of understanding and interpretation of unsettled issues.” When you investigate a religion, you need to recognize this difference, and make sure the information you’re getting is describing doctrine, not the opinions of others, whether or not they are members, non-members, or ex-members (although I’m not saying information from many sources should not be considered when thinking about joining a religion).

“What is the Mormon belief” is a very broad question. Mormon.org is a good place to look. The central doctrine of the LDS Church is that Jesus Christ was the only begotten son of God, and that he came to Earth as our Savior and atoned for the sins of all mankind and rose from the dead, allowing all the opportunity to return to live with God if they have faith in Him, repent, are baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. Every other doctrine is just an appendage to that belief.

@LostInParadise I watched the video. Some of those things are true, but a lot of them are false. Definitely a lot of misunderstanding there.

One of the simplest ways that I know of to give you information about our religion, along with @Aqua‘s suggestion to go to Mormon.org, is to give you The Articles of Faith.

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 just want to add that every Mormon I know is wonderful. I have never met one who has ever been preachy to me or ever implied their religion is more right than mine ever. They all are well intergrated into their communities, children go to public schools. I don’t see the mainstream Mormon as cultish at all by any definition. Sure they have some bazaar sects, so do most religions, that has nothing to do with the average person in the religion though.

@Aqua , Which things in the video were incorrect?

@Aqua “If you ask them about the church, every single one is supposed to recite the exact same passage about how the Church is the one true church of Jesus Christ… etc.”
This is not true.

Every Mormon I have met has eventually given me @dubsrayboo‘s list. That’s the recitation I was referring to.

Some people have had positive experiences with Mormons, some neutral, some negative. Mine has not been positive and I know many people who have had similar experiences as mine. But, that’s my experience and I respect and acknowledge others have had positive experiences.

@linguaphile That link you gave about masturbation, I don’t see how that is different than Christianity in general?

@JLeslie It was from a Mormon pamphlet. How’s that different? Depends on the denomination.

@linguaphile I was not trying to say all Christians think that way, but I think Christianity in general has a problem with maturbation at the what is written down level. We fired a Surgeon General of the United States because she recommended maturbation for teenagers. Sherry on The View said her church tells her to not masturbate, because it will make staying celibate more difficult. That sexuality should not be part of her life without a husband. I’m sure some Christian sects never touch the topic in any sort of public way, but I just kind of shy away from what specifically is written, and take each person for how they actually practice and live their live. I am still trying to wrap my head around some Christian sects don’t dance. Don’t dance at all. Not even separated sexes in circle dances or line dances. I just cannot understand it. That had to be decided by a very uncoordinated man with a lot of power in the religion at one time.

@JLeslie That had to be decided by a very uncoordinated man with a lot of power in the religion at one time. That is funny!

I lived in Northeast Alabama for a long time where there are many (what I consider) extremist Christians- no card playing, no paid entertainment, women don’t cut their hair, no dancing, no bodily adornments (jewelry, hair dye, etc) and many more. Most, of course, applied to women because we’re supposedly the evil temptresses. The only answer I got from them when I asked was that there were specific scriptures banning those activities. The hair cutting one came from a part of the Bible where it says prostitutes had their heads shorn and that dancing was a form of temptation, the ‘devil’s work.’ I’m sure you see these folks around where you live, too.

I agree that most Christian religions ban masturbation—I have heard it’s because the little swimmers are intended for procreation and nothing else, not for pleasure. The Mormons told me same thing, but added that it was our duty to procreate and deplete the number of souls awaiting birth. The Mormons believe that when all the souls in Heaven are born and have received a body (like Christ), then Christ will come again, so each swimmer is a valuable possible human being.

From what I’ve read, it seems to me that the general attitude in America against masturbation also is a leftover from our Puritan ancestors, not just the revivalists/Mormons from the 1910s. I don’t know how other countries perceive it.

@linguaphile Ok, so I don’t see why Mormons would be seen any differently than any other religion, in fact they seem to get most of their beliefs from the bible, with their own twist I guess, and a few additions. They accept Jesus as their savior. It’s kind of like they are another sect of Chrisianity in my mind. Although, I would generally separate them out like I would Catholics if I were making generalizations, but still all Christians.

@JLeslie But the “twist” in Mormonism is relatively difficult to swallow: that a known con man finds golden tablets in a forest, printed in Egyptian symbols, which only he can translate with a seeing stone in a hat (a stunt he had used in other contexts before), and which purport to tell of Jesus’s visit to North America. Add to that Mormonism’s basis in polygamy and the outright racism in their early texts, both of which were later expunged because they were legally and morally inconvenient for the times (and often flat out denied by current members). It’s all just so unlikely – in my mind, it ranks with Scientology for exceptionally odd beliefs.

And then, of course, there’s the magic underwear – embroidered with symbols Joseph Smith borrowed from the Masons, just as he borrowed so much else. Come on.

@dappled_leaves Well, since I am a Jewish atheist the Christian twist of Mary being a virgin, and other magical things is hard to swallow also. I say, as long as someone’s beliefs don’t harm anyone, and overall they live in a safe productive way, I’m ok with it. I don’t have to believe or accept everything they believe, I only care that they are good neighbors, and will live in peace with me.

@JLeslie You seem to be saying that you find the question and its answers to be uninteresting to you. But… clearly the nature of the beliefs in a particular religion are of interest to some of us. Is it wrong for us to care or be interested?

@dappled_leaves You clearly have not seen me around much. I ask dozens and dozens of questions to Christians on fluther because I am very interested. All I am saying is I find it ironic when someone holds an unlikely to occur in nature religious belief, and then looks down on someone else’s belief. Or, is ciritical of a religious ritual, but not of rituals in their own religion. Many Christians seem to think their version is the right one, some don’t even consider Mormons and Catholics to be Christians, even though they accept Christ as their savior, I don’t get that.

I don’t understand why you accused me of what you did? Did I offend you by what I said about the birth of Christ and using the word magical? That was not my intention. I only put it that way, because I was trying to point out to the outsider of many religions things within the religion can sound unlikely. I have no problem with theists or people with different beliefs. Actually, I would say I am the one being accepting of the varied beliefs of others. I am not trying to say you aren’t I have no real idea how you feel overall about other religions, but you seem to not just be stating Mormon beliefs,which does interest me, but that you think some of their beliefs are ridiculous and the religion should not even maybe be seen as a legitmate religion.

I am sure there are plenty of Mormons who identify Mormon who do not believe in every little thing written down in their book, nor live by every rule. I still think it is fine they identify Mormon. Maybe that is their community, their friends, and they believe in the overall tennets put forward, their philosophy on life. That is basically the American way for people of many many faiths.

@JLeslie You clearly have not seen me around much – I’m an atheist! :)

I just meant that every time someone posted a response to the question, you seemed to be coming back to say something to the effect that no one should judge mormons. I’m just saying that answering the question (about what mormons believe, not about whether they are good or have a right to believe what they do) does not constitute “looking down on someone”.

Personally (though I’m not sure it belongs here), I do find the magical stories of the Bible unlikely. However, what I react to about Mormonism is the fact that the religion was developed so recently, that you can actually look into the backgrounds of the characters involved, and check the veracity of the claims its founders made. Given that context, yes, I find mormonism more unbelievable than other religions. I don’t think it’s less “legitimate” than other religions, whatever that might mean between two atheists.

@dappled_leaves Ok. I guess since the original question was what is the Mormon belief, I don’t think the OP was looking for negative judgement about the religion just info. I think on fluther we, I will include myself, can sometimes be too abrasive in the collective with religious questions, and then the people who know the answers best, the people from that very religion get scared off, or resign themselves to PM’s. I find that unfortunate. Hope we are ok :).

You bet. :)

@JLeslie and @dappled_leaves – I would fault myself for adding the ‘negative’ perspective, but I feel anyone who wants to learn about the Mormon religion should have both sides of the argument, then they’re free to choose what they agree/disagree with and respect/disrespect. I’m trying to stay with Mormonism here, even if there’s applications across the board to other Chrisitan religions.

I probably should have a “full disclosure” here—I converted to Mormonism when I was 18 so I am coming from the perspective of someone who lived for a short time within the religion, spent a lot of time in intense study, have many friends who still are Mormons and decided the religion wasn’t for me. I’ve gone to different types of churches and study comparative religions for fun. I shy away from most debates on the rights and wrongs of religion and have respect for most belief systems—I don’t like to decide for others what’s right or wrong about their religion, but IMO, there’s a big difference between a belief system/religion and an organization/corporate. That’s why, in my first response, I said ”There’s also the explanation of the church’s history and structure, then there’s the explanation of their politics and methods.”

Religion or not, I can not be neutral about the mind-control and guilt-enhancing methods I was exposed to while a member. It doesn’t matter if it is a religious organization or not—I can’t condone that type of “recruitment” for any organization. And… missionaries still find my name and address in their database, 4 states later to come knocking and asking me to come back. Yes, they’re nice people, yes, like many other Christians, yes, but too Borg-like for me.

Woah. Thank you for all your answers folks :)
You can always count on the jellies for some fantastic answers.

@linguaphile “The Mormons believe that when all the souls in Heaven are born and have received a body (like Christ), then Christ will come again, so each swimmer is a valuable possible human being.” Actually, the doctrine is that during the Millenium people will continue to have children as we do now.

Also, would you mind expounding on the “mind-control and guilt-enhancing methods” you were exposed to? Personally, I’ve never felt coerced, tricked, or anything like that. You can PM me if you feel so inclined. This might be getting a little off topic.

@LostInParadise As soon as I have time I’ll listen to the video again and list what’s doctrine and what isn’t.

Here’s my analysis of that video. I’d like to preface this by saying that the beliefs of most religions can/do sound very odd when taken out of context or phrased in certain ways.

1. Mormons believe that wearing “magic underwear” will prevent them from being physically harmed and they believe lots of stories about people surviving accidents because they were wearing this magic underwear. False. The purpose of the temple garments is to serve as a reminder of the covenants you have made with God. The church website says, “When worn properly, the garment provides protection against temptation and evil”, but there’s nothing about physical protection.

2. After you die, you will become the God of your own planet and you will have your own children to populate this planet. True, but it sounds odd when taken out of context. We believe that we are literal children of God, and as such we have the potential to become like Him. Rather than debasing God by relating him so closely to us (fallen man), this elevates mankind and helps us realize our great potential in every aspect of our lives. Exaltation is eternal life, which is the kind of life God lives. God’s greatest desire is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Those who receive the gift of exaltation will receive all that the Father has (D&C 132:20–23).

3. You can’t get into heaven without knowing this secret ritual, this handshake, password. Brigham Young said, “Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation.” One of the current apostles said, “The blessing of the endowment is required for full exaltation.”

4. The Mountain Meadow Massacre. Supposedly perpetuated my Mormons on a native American tribe. See this article for the background and details.

5. God lives on a planet named Kolob. Not doctrine. Kolob is the name of a star, cited in the scriptures as being nearest to the throne of God (Abraham 3:2–3,9). That’s as far as the doctrine goes.

6. You can find out the name of everyone who has lived on the planet and baptize them even though they are dead. This article provides a good explanation. As far as finding out the names of every single person, the doctrine is that during the millenium resurrected beings will help correct mistakes made doing family history research and help find the information to complete the records.

7. The Garden of Eden was in Missouri. Without getting into too much detail, yes.

8. The Curse of Cain: Blacks and other dark-skinned people were less valiant in the pre-existence. No, this is not true, nor is it doctrine.

9. God was once a man, just like us, but then he became God. This is doctrine, but there is very little revealed about it. Joseph Smith taught: “It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God…. He was once a man like us; .... God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did.” That’s still pretty vague, and any guesses of details or implications of that is just speculation.

10. God actually engaged in physical sex with Mary. Not true whatsoever.

11. There is no Trinity. Right. God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are separate, distinct persons, but they are united in purpose.

12. The Flood story and the tower of babel story are absolutely true, evolution is not. Not true. Many things not pertinent to salvation are not revealed but are left up to us to decide. I won’t express my personal beliefs right now, but there’s no doctrine about evolution being true or false.

13. Dinosaur fossils were formed by Satan to deceive us. False.

14. Satan can’t enter the temple. Temple are believed to be the most holy of any place of worship on the earth, but the idea that Satan can’t enter the temple isn’t doctrine.

15. Satan has control of the water. False, not doctrine.

16. Christ will establish the new Zion in Missouri. Pretty much. New Jerusalem (Zion) is the place where the Saints will gather and Christ will personally reign with them during the Millennium. It will be built on the American continent.

17. Select priesthood holders will be called to a secret meeting to prepare for the imminent return of Christ. Probably, but nobody’s told me about it (not doctrine).

18. Each Child will become a God of another planet and there will be no such thing as the parent-child relationship as we have today. Nope. One of the great things about exaltation is being able to have family relationships.

19. The Golden Plates were written by Jews who had fled to the American sub-continent and spoken and wrote in reformed Egyptian fluently and were skilled linguists and gold smiths. The plates were hidden in a hill called Cumorah and an angel later took them back to Kolob. Not quite. See the introduction to the Book of Mormon and this page for information about it.

20. Joseph Smith really did not want to start polygamy, but an angel with a sword threatened him to do it. See information here on the practice of polygamy. I don’t know about the angel with a sword story, but it was a commandment from God.

21. Three Nephites are roaming the earth right now. Yep.

22. Jesus was married, had more than one wife, and had children. Nope, not doctrine. Could it be true? Who knows?

23. We are co-eternal with Elohim (God), and were born to a heavenly mother. Yeah, the idea of heavenly parents is doctrine, but specifics about a heavenly mother aren’t really mentioned.

24. The City of Enoch was a city floating around the sky. This is what the people were trying to reach when they built the tower of Babel. Nope, not true. I’ve never heard this before.

25. God never changes and priesthood keys are eternal. Yeah, the nature of God never changes, and the priesthood is the eternal power and authority of God.

26. Men and men only can perform miracles. Women can only receive these benefits from them. Nope. Anyone can perform miracles through faith. Priesthood blessings, however, can only be given by priesthood holders (males).

27. The Earth fell from its orbit around Kolob to its current orbit around the Sun. Not doctrine.

That was a lot of information to go through. I could sit here for a long time and expound on details and such. If you want more details about a specific question, please feel free to PM me. I’m not here to argue with anyone or impose my beliefs, but if you have genuine questions I’d be happy to talk.

@Aqua Wow. That was great. Thanks for writing all of that out.

I found it interesting that there is nothing specific about evolution, since one of the thinfs liberals like about Huntsman is he comes right out and says he excepts the theory of evolution. Made me wonder exactly what other Christian bibles actually say about evolution? I know the Catholic church also accepts evolution, or certainly accepts it as a valid scientific theory that should not be dismissed.

@JLeslie Yeah. The Bible itself doesn’t say anything about evolution. Scripture contains no details about how the earth and the animals were created, just that God made them. The LDS Church has issued official statements in the past asserting man’s divine origin as the direct and lineal offspring of Deity, but have emphasized that the details are unknown. The LDS scriptures also state that details regarding the origin of man will be revealed when Christ comes again (D&C 101:32–33). The idea, however, that one must either accept God or accept evolution is a false dichotomy.

@Aqua, Thanks.

@Aqua A mormon women I worked with thought the idea of man from apes was ridiculous. In fact I would say the idea was upsetting to her, meaning she seemed to feel humans are set apart from animals. Not long after this discussion had happened I was at a memorial service for someone who had passed away, and some religious person, he seemed to be a preacher of some sort, or maybe he was just a religious guy, spoke at the service. He wasn’t Mormon, he was some other sort of Christian, I would guess Baptist because of where I live, but not necessarily. Anyway, he spoke of how now the dearly departed woman was in heaven, but that animals do not go to heaven. At first I thought, WTF does he have to say that for? I mean I was really put off by his words. Later I thought back to the discussion with the Mormon woman at work, and for the first time I realized that maybe Christians reject evolution because they can’t fathom, can’t accept, van’t stomach, having come from or being related to a lower life form.

I thought the question read, “What is Mormon Beef?”

XD

I know very little about Mormon beliefs and rituals. However I have read quite a bit of the Book of Mormon (BOM) and there is a lot of problems with it. The following are just a few:

1. There is a mountain of evidence that shows that the American Indian came from N.E. Asia. (DNA and anthropological evidence). The American Indians are not of Hebrew descent as the BOM claims.

2. Before Europeans arrived in the the new world, the American Indians lived basically like stone aged people who did not manufacture fine steel swords or use steel spring bows or use metal battle armor as written in the BOM. They also didn’t use gold and silver coins prior to the arrival of Europeans to the new world as the BOM claims.

3. The American Indians did not have cattle or horses before the Spanish came to the new world as the BOM claims.

The the above problems with the BOM proves that it is entirely pure fiction and was fabricated and written by the false profit Joseph Smith.

The amazing thing here is that millions of Mormons today still believe the BOM to be true. They turn a bind eye to the facts that are there for everyone to see. Facts that any reasonable person could see the truth far beyond a reasonable doubt. Or perhaps they use convoluted false intellectual reasoning to help them cope. But the bottom line is that they are cowards always running from the truth.