Contributing Author – Page 9 – What Do Mormons Believe?

To Sing a Song of Redeeming Love

There are times in my life when feelings are particularly poignant towards my Savior. I read the scriptures, I pray and and I try the best I can to do His will and I ask myself, as Alma once asked, “if [I] have experienced a change of heart, and if have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can [I] feel so now?.” (Alma 5:26) The answer at times may be yes or no. I certainly try to keep that feeling to sing a song of redeeming love concerning my Savior. It is difficult, yes, but the rewards are infinite in scope and value.

The price to pay for these rewards is ourselves. Our Heavenly Father asks us to be humble and penitent toward Him and to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. When we give ourselves, our will and our lives, to Christ, He gives them right back to us in a purer condition and also with His blessings. These might be spiritual blessings such as peace in one’s heart or also blessings of prosperity and success. It is important to realize that He allows us to retain our freedom even when we give ourselves to Him.

This is diametrically opposed to the manner the world sees it and how the world operates. Many things petition us for our time, energy and will that will enslave us and will never set us free willingly. I have seen families destroyed by abuse of alcohol and individuals reduced to nothing because of all kinds of destructive habits. There is no real freedom there.

The power to free us remains in Christ. We must choose Him to become free spiritually. “But God did call on men, in the name of his Son, (this being the plan of redemption which was laid) saying: If ye will repent, and harden not your hearts, then will I have mercy upon you, through mine Only Begotten Son.” (Alma 12:33) That mercy will allow us to break the chains that hold us down and to destroy habits that enslave.

All can be free through Christ. It truly is a glorious prospect, and not one that comes easy. It takes a sincere desire to change one’s being, from thought to action, and, more importantly, the humility to understand the powerlessness one has in a current situation. But where there is a lack of power and ability, Christ makes up the difference. “But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.” (2 Nephi 1:15) From binding chains to arms that embrace is a reality that does happen. I know it does. I have seen it, I have felt it and I can’t imagine a better way to show my appreciation for it than by sharing it.

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ

The topic of the second coming of Jesus Christ is and has been of interest to Christians since He ascended into heaven. The apostles saw Him leave and received a promise. “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11) After 1,975 years, are we in those last days? This is a lengthy subject, one that I cannot cover definitively here, but I’d like to cover the basics, the principles and major events that will lead up to Christ’s return.

Prior to the second coming, the world must be prepared thoroughly according to the Lord’s standards. He has dictated that His gospel and all revelation must be restored to the earth through angels (Rev. 14:6, Acts 3:21) and preached to the entire world (Matthew 24:14). The dispensation of the fullness of times (Eph. 1:10) opened with a heavenly visitation of the Father and the Son to a boy in 1820 (Read here for details). That boy, Joseph Smith, was called to be a prophet to God’s children on earth so that we could catch a glimpse of the mind of God and be prepared for what is to happen (Amos 3:7). Through Joseph Smith, the Lord restored His priesthood keys by sending His angels, including the prophet Elijah (Mal. 4:5-6; D&C 110:13-16)and built up His church again on the earth, which will never be destroyed (Dan. 2:44-45).

With an increase of goodness, knowledge, and light on the earth, Satan has increased his efforts in equal measure. Christ warned His apostles,

“Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: … and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. … Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you … And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Matthew 24:4-13)

This grim prophecy refers to our time. Evil in the world is bound to increase up until Christ comes. But as He said, “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” We needn’t fear what the world may do or whatever may happen, if we are faithful to the Lord, we will be spiritually safe.

There are many, many other signs given, particularly those written in the book of Revelation. The moon shall be red as blood, the sun will be blackened, the stars will fall from heaven, the earth will reel like a drunkard, the waters will be poisoned, and gigantic hail will fall from the sky. There will be death, fire, war, destruction and likely much more (lengthier lists of canonical, apocryphal, and anecdotal signs exist. Lists and articles can be found here and here). It will all lead up to what is described as the great and terrible day of the Lord; great for those who anticipated and prepared for it and terrible for the unprepared and unworthy.

The greatest events for the righteous will occur during that time. The saints of God and the 12 tribes of Israel will be gathered together spiritually (Isaiah 52:8) and physically. The Lord will then bring again Zion, the New Jerusalem, down from heaven (Rev. 21:2; Moses 7:62-63). This New Jerusalem is distinct from the old one and both will exist as places where Christ’s people will live.

The forces of evil will also gather to fight against Jerusalem and Zion. When the Jews in Jerusalem are overpowered, they will flee and find refuge at the Mount of Olives, upon which Christ will set foot and it will divide in two (Zech. 14:4). When they see Him, they will ask Him, “What are these wounds in thine hands?” to which He will answer, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” (Zech. 13:6) They will come to know that Jesus is their long awaited Messiah and will be forgiven. Christ will fight their battles and will soon publicly show Himself to the entire world in all His glory dressed in red robes (Isaiah 63:1). Once the forces of evil have been defeated and Satan bound (Rev. 20:2), Christ will reign personally on the earth in some kind of divine government based in Jerusalem and Zion (Micah 4:2) for a thousand years.

As interesting as all this may be, it seems to have little application to the daily life of a Christian. How it all connects to the individual, however, is in Christ’s statement, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” (Matt. 24:44) We do not know when the end will be nor do we know when our individual lives will end. It is our responsibility to be ready for either eventuality so that He doesn’t find us unprepared to meet Him. But don’t take my understanding of the sign of the times just as it is. Study it our for yourself and pray to God for understanding. Read scriptures in the Old and New Testaments and compare them for a broader view. As you begin to see fulfillment of prophecy, let it add to your faith in Christ to better endure to up and coming trials.

A FAIR Perspective on Critical Claims

Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who don’t like us Mormons.

I can understand why. We aren’t like most break-off sects, based on our peculiar interpretation of scripture. People are more or less comfortable with these groups. After all, if Martin Luther said something you don’t agree with, you can rest assured that his foundation is firmly rooted in the Bible. He might be mistaken on some things, but by and large he agrees with mainline protestantism. He never claimed to be a prophet.

But Mormons are new and different. It’s all or nothing. It can’t be swallowed half-way.

Joseph Smith described in detail a visitation from God the Father and Jesus Christ. Either Joseph Smith was honest about his first encounter with God or he lied about it. He was visited frequently by angels or he wasn’t visited at all. He was a prophet or a hoaxer. If one is not Mormon and will not be baptized, “Joseph Smith was a fraud” is the stance one is required to take. The middle ground is removed.

This polarization has energized detractors to produce mountains of criticism to discredit Mormonism, which if seen by itself makes our religion look plain silly, or worse. The criticisms range from sophomoric name-calling and laughably-inconsistent retelling of our beliefs to historical documentation and intellectual DNA analysis. Most of this is aimed not at Mormons (these kinds of attacks rarely have the gravitas to significantly shake LDS faith), but primarily at potential investigators of Mormonism. They are designed to damage the Church’s reputation enough that you’ll dismiss anything we might offer.

The criticism, in turn, has prompted Latter-day Saints for years to rebut the arguments and point out evidences in our favor. This rebuttal in defense of faith is called apologetics from the Greek apologia, meaning “defense.”

The leading body defending Mormon doctrine from critical arguments is the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR). It is an independent, non-profit group of Latter-day Saints dedicated to “providing well-documented answers to criticisms of LDS (Mormon) doctrine, belief and practice.” They have a website and a wiki full of every piece of anti-Mormon material you could ask for and a confident, clear response to each.

oval01

A few weeks ago I attended their annual conference in Sandy, UT. They had speakers from a variety of professional backgrounds. A lawyer-economist spoke on the failed Kirtland Safety Society, a banking endeavor that Joseph Smith initiated (and according to critics, caused to fail in order to steal parishioners’ money). A physicist (a former member of the federal government’s — and no, this isn’t a joke — Dark Energy Task Force) gave a lecture on Joseph’s cosmology compared with a modern physics account of the creation of the universe. There were talks with titles like, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Plural Marriage (but were afraid to ask),” “Haplogroup X in Light of Recent Book of Mormon Claims,” and “Joseph the Seer, or Why Joseph Translated with a Rock in His Hat.” I came away impressed with their professionalism and their ability to make the topics accessible, interesting, and relevant.

Dr. Daniel C. Peterson, the face of modern Mormon intellectualism

My favorite FAIR contributor is a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic named Daniel C. Peterson. I became a fan through watching his FAIR presentations on YouTube. (Click here to see Dr. Peterson’s review of Christopher Hitchens’ infamous book god is Not Great).

Members of FAIR look into the criticisms in their spare time and on their own dime; the Church doesn’t fund their research. There are important reasons for that. One of the key reasons is that Father has a different method for teaching us, which the Church favors. It doesn’t require advanced degrees or superior reasoning capacity, and the objective isn’t merely knowledge. The objective is goodness, even Godliness. He created this whole world as a sort of school. A proving ground. What is required is a humble heart and a will to follow Jesus Christ. Learning how to pray is much more vital to this kind of education than writing a thesis.

So, if you are investigating the Church, and you’ve been bombarded with defamatory information in anti-Mormon pamphlets or movies, first go to God. You can learn a lot through prayerful revelation. This should be your first step. Always. If it still bothers you, poke around FAIR’s website. They’ve heard it all. You may find peace in knowing that when you don’t have all the answers, some smart, faith-filled people have blazed the trail ahead of you. It certainly helps me.

A Book of Mormon Synopsis: Anno Domini

This is the final part in summarizing the Book of Mormon. Part 1 and Part 2 are also available to read.

By 1AD, most of the people described in the Book of Mormon did not believe in Jesus Christ nor His prophets. One of those prophets named Samuel prophesied boldly on the city walls of the signs of Christ’s birth and death (Helaman 14). On the night that Christ was born into the world, an irrefutable sign was given. A day, a night, and a day became one continuous day without darkness. This was to the relief of the believers and utter astonishment to the rest.

It didn’t take long for people to forget about the sign and continue life normally. More wars happened, particularly against the now very large society of robbers, and around 30AD, just as Christ was beginning His earthly ministry among the Jews, the entire Nephite government was overthrown and the people divided into tribal states. Then, three years later, one the greatest events of the Book of Mormon began to occur. At the time of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross of Calvary, Samuel’s prophecy of storms, earthquakes and destruction did indeed happen. Cities were leveled, burned, buried, and sunk into the ocean. Darkness covered the land for three whole days (3 Nephi 8).

After the three days, Christ’s voice was heard by the survivors. He was calling them to Him and lamenting their destruction. Of all events told in this book, what happened next far outshines the rest. Christ, Himself, descended from Heaven and proclaimed His divinity. He had drunk the bitter cup and glorified the Father. He taught the people, blessed them and healed them. For several days, He did so. I would encourage all to read even just a few of these passages from 3 Nephi 11 to 28. Before He left, He chose twelve men to teach and guide the people in His absence.

Then, for two hundred years, there was peace. After three hundred years, however, the people had digressed so far from Jesus Christ and his Gospel, that civilization had degenerated to a state of total war. The final prophets of God among the people, Mormon and his son Moroni, were left to witness the decay of their once great civilization into war and disorder. It was during this time that Mormon took all the historical records of his people and compiled them into a single history so that it could be available to us.

A final battle between Nephites and Lamanites took place. During this battle nearly all of the Nephites were killed. The only Nephite we know of surviving, other than those that joined the Lamanites, was Moroni. For many years, Moroni carried the record his father had made and wandered. During this time, Moroni completed his father’s work by summarizing the record of the Jaredite people whose records had been found early in Nephite history. The Jaredites were brought to the same land as the Nephites by the Lord somewhere around 2500BC, when the language of the people was corrupted at the tower of Babel. They crossed the ocean and lived for many centuries of alternating periods of righteousness and wickedness until finally they refused to repent and were destroyed as a society.

After finishing the story of the Jaredites, Moroni then buried the record, written on plates made of gold, on a small hill in upstate New York, now called the Hill Cumorah. 1500 years later, he appeared as an angel to the boy Joseph Smith and directed him to where the plates were buried. They were found, translated, published and have been printed for the past 179 years as the Book of Mormon–Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

The Book of Mormon continues to be a guide to everyone who reads it. Just before Moroni buried the plates in the ground, he wrote a promise to anyone who would read the book. He promised us that when we read and ponder on the things of the book, and ask God in the name of Christ, then we will know the truth of it by the power of the Holy Ghost. This is an extraordinary promise and one that has been tested and tried by millions of people. It is my invitation that you do the same. Read a portion of the Book of Mormon and ask God to know for yourself. I know of myself the truth of this book and know that you can know as well.

Survey: Reading the Scriptures

Q. Survey question for all authors: How does reading the scriptures help you? Haven’t you read them several times by now?

Thaddeus: Reading the scriptures is like eating breakfast. It gives me the spiritual nutrition I need for that day. Some people are overwhelmed by the volume of verses in our canon, but you don’t look in your fridge and say, “Oh man! I couldn’t possibly eat all that food!” Somehow you do, but it isn’t really a chore. In fact, it’s more of a disappointment when the food is gone. Reading through all the scripture stories just once gave me a cursory superficial glance at the treasures that are available. That first read-through was essential to understanding the basic plots and doctrines, but I see it as the primer coat to learning much deeper truths. Each time I read the Book of Mormon or the New Testament, etc. I keep a study journal to record new insights I receive along the way. Sometimes the insights are answers to prayer unrelated to the topics I read, but reading puts me in a mindset to receive revelation.

Jan: Scripture study is totally vital to my day. It helps me in every way because when I study the scriptures, I am letting Heavenly Father know that I would like His help that day in whatever I am going to be doing. So even if the words from the book of Isaiah (where I’m reading right now) aren’t explicitly applicable to my day, the Spirit that accompanies me throughout the day is. I have found that the more I am involved in reading, thinking and discussing the scriptures, the more they come together in my mind and give me the perspective that I need to live my life well. And yes, I’ve gone through them several times already but each time through I have noticed more beauty and depth. Again, I would attribute that to the Spirit.

scripture (1)

Bret: For one thing, just because I’ve read the scriptures several times, doesn’t mean I won’t learn anything new from them. Every time I read through a passage, not only is my memory refreshed, but different points that I passed over previously are brought to my attention. Often times that is because that particular point is relevant to my life here and now. Sure I knew that Jesus loves us, but until I read the words, “Jesus wept” while I struggled in my own life, I didn’t realize how individual and how deep that love goes. Scripture reading also tends to calm a person down and invoke reflection when taken seriously.

Bus: Interesting, we just talked as a family yesterday about how many times we had read each of the standard works; our reading of the Bible is lacking. What do I get out of reading scriptures? A broader perspective of the daily tasks I have before me and a comfort in knowing that there is an ultimate truth and a loving father that wants what’s best for me.

Dave: There are currently 3.1 million good things in the scriptures. Guidance, doctrine, advice, inspiration. There’s no way I could pick them all up from one, two, or a hundred reads (much less remember them). I also find that reading the scriptures opens my heart to the personal inspiration that God is constantly trying to give me.