Author: Jan

What do Mormons Really Believe?

While not an actual question someone left in the question box, it is a top entry in Google’s autocomplete for “What do Mormons…”

Mormons really believe in God, our Eternal, Heavenly Father, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and our Savior and Redeemer, and in the Holy Ghost, who testifies of both the Father and the Son.

We really believe in the power of the Atonement of Christ in daily life.

We really believe that God still communicates His will to people on earth directly and prophets exist in the same way they did in biblical times to teach God’s will to the people generally.

Besides revelation and prophecy, we really believe in miracles and in the power of God on earth, and that the priesthood, the authority to act in God’s name, has been restored to the earth.

We really believe the true gospel that has been taught since the days of Adam.

We really believe the Bible and the Book of Mormon to be the word of God and that further words from God will be given to us as He deems necessary.

We really believe in being good people and serving our fellow man.

We really believe that by following the commandments, we can live fuller, better lives because they are given by a loving God who has our best interests first.

Fourth Article of Faith

We believe in the first principles of the gospel, which are faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, second, repentance, third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sin, fourth, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

This article of faith is a very important one as it involves the most basic actions that we do to follow Christ. Having faith in Christ gives us a starting point and a drive to continue. Our failures and weakness can be remedied by repentance with faith. After repentance, we can be baptized to complete the process. Finally, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost seals the covenant we have made with God in baptism. That covenant includes the promise of having God’s spirit to be with us which will guide us throughout our lives.

This process is repeated thoughout our lives, with baptism renewed through the sacrament, in order to improves our lives and become more like God.

See: Fundamentals of the Gospel

The Third Article of Faith

We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the central tenet of our faith. The word ‘atonement’ or ‘at-one-ment’ was done to bring us to be “at one” with God. In other words, we can be reconciled with God through the atonement. The reason we are estranged from Him in the first place is because of our mortality. Because we are mortal, we will all die because our bodies are imperfect. Not only that, our spirits are imperfect. No matter what we do, on our own, we cannot remove past disobedience from our heart. These imperfections of body and spirit bring on physical and spiritual death. Physical death is a separation from our body and spiritual death is a separation from God.

Through the atonement, our bodies will be made perfect after this life, that much is guaranteed to us. In order to perfect our spirits, we must accept the terms and conditions set by Jesus Christ. The atonement was accomplished by Jesus Christ by His suffering for our sins in Gethsemane and on the cross and through His resurrection.

See also:

What do Mormons believe about the Atonement of Jesus Christ?

Was Jesus an American?

Q. Don’t you find it stupid that Mormons think Jesus was American?

Thank you for providing us with an opportunity to teach our readers a short lesson in rhetoric! Your question is an example of a loaded question, a question which contains controversial assumptions and that limits direct replies to those that serve the questioner’s agenda. The most famous example is:

“Have you stopped beating your wife?”

To answer either “yes” or “no” is to implicitly admit that I did beat my wife at some point in the past, which is an assumption that (in my case) is thoroughly false.

So, we first need to address your hidden assumption: Do Mormons think Jesus was American?

No. We believe He was born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth, and limited most of his traveling during his mortal life to the region of Palestine (he made a brief trip to Egypt when he was very young). He was thoroughly Jewish in ethnicity, culture, and nationality.

Mormons do believe that following his crucifixion (Matthew 27), resurrection (John 20), and ascension (Acts 1) in Jerusalem, Jesus visited the peoples living in the Americas (Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 11). He descended from heaven, lighted upon their temple and said,

Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.

Jesus did visit the American people because he died for them as much as for Peter or Mary. He loved them all, despite nationality. You can read about his teachings and miracles among them in the Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi chapters 9 through 28.

He loves you, too. He will visit you through the Holy Ghost and he will show you that he is the God of the whole earth. He has been slain for your sins. Search diligently for His hand in your life and you will find it.