Jodie – Page 2 – What Do Mormons Believe?

What happens after I die? Is there life after death?

Mormon.org answers this question well.

“Death is not the end. Death is really a beginning—another step forward in Heavenly Father’s plan for His children. Someday, like everyone else, your physical body will die. But your spirit does not die, it goes to the spirit world, where you will continue to learn and progress and may be with loved ones who have passed on.

Death is a necessary step in your progression, just as your birth was. Sometime after your death, your spirit and your body will be reunited—never to be separated again. This is called resurrection, and it was made possible by the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 15:20-22).”

Why do bad things happen?

Our life on Earth is just a small part of God’s plan for the happiness and eternal salvation of us, His children. He wants us to be happy and to succeed, but He will never force us to do so. We have been given agency, or the ability to choose, how to live our lives. This is one of the greatest gifts God has given us. Unfortunately, that also means that bad things might happen to us because of others’ poor choices. That doesn’t mean God doesn’t love us, though. We are held accountable for our actions and expected to repent when we do something wrong. God sent His Son to perform the great atonement so that we can be forgiven and live with Him and our families again after we die.

Question Box: Gifts of the Spirit

Q. Do Mormons Believe in Spiritual Warfare and the Gifts of the Spirit?

Thanks for your questions. I’m not sure what you mean by ‘Spiritual Warfare’, though. Sorry. If you’d like to resubmit a question and clarify, that would be great.

We do believe in spiritual gifts. Joseph Smith was once asked about the beliefs and history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He wrote them a letter and at the end included a list of some of our basic beliefs. These are now called the Thirteen Articles of Faith. The seventh states our belief in spiritual gifts.

“We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.” (Article of Faith 7)

Happy Families

“Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.” – The Family: A Proclamation to the World

“Since ‘no other success can compensate for failure [in the home]’ ( J. E. McCulloch, Home: The Savior of Civilization (1924), 42), we must place high priority on our families. We build deep and loving family relationships by doing simple things together, like family dinner and family home evening and by just having fun together. In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e, time. Taking time for each other is the key for harmony at home. We talk with, rather than about, each other. We learn from each other, and we appreciate our differences as well as our commonalities. We establish a divine bond with each other as we approach God together through family prayer, gospel study, and Sunday worship.” – Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Of Things That Matter Most,” Ensign, Nov. 2010

Question Box: The Atonement

Question Box: Do Mormons believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died on the cross and rose again? That He paid the price for our sins once and for all? And that there is no other way to the Father but through Jesus? Thank you.

Yes, we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, that He died on the cross, and that he rose again the third day. We believe that Christ’s atonement (his suffering and death/resurrection) was for our sins, making it possible for us to repent and become clean again. His perfect life provides an example for us in how to live and love others as He does. We can become like Him as we give up our sins and change our lives to follow His teachings. We believe “that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.” (Helaman 5 :9)

I know Christ loves us by the things He taught and the way He lived His life, culminating in His atonement for our sins. I’ve added a short video below that the Church has produced to help demonstrate how the atonement works.