What Do Mormons Believe? – Page 11 – "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."

Does God Know Me?

One of the most amazing blessings that came to me when I was a missionary for the LDS Church was feeling an intense amount of love for perfect strangers. When I had been in one place only 3 weeks, I remember having this epiphony: “God knows everyone! He knows their problems, He helps them in their lives. Everyone is interesting. Everyone has a story and a path.” I think in my 21 year old selfish brain, I had really only considered that I and my family and friends were important to God, because that was all that I knew. I couldn’t fathom that He would know everyone in the entire world. It was enough that He took care of several dozen people in my little universe.

But as I committed to doing His work for a year and a half, meeting with people who were strangers to me, but beloved to Him, it became so clear to me that He really does know everyone. And He doesn’t just know you. He loves you. I was humbled to feel that love on many occasions, it was perfect and gentle and caring. I know that it came from God because these were people that I didn’t know–I had nothing in common with them, no ideas of becoming life-long friends–they were literally strangers. But the love that I felt for them was powerful and it made me want to hold them tightly and take away all their problems. Like a parent. Like a loving, all-powerful heavenly parent.

If you are curious to know if God knows you too, invite the LDS missionaries over for a sincere talk. Be open to them and they will be open to you. Ask them to pray with you about this question and you will know, from the source, that He does know you. You will see the love reflected in their eyes that God has for you, and you may feel the same sort of compassion and love for them. It all comes from the same source. And then you’ve got to realize that if God loves these two little 19 year old boys from southern Idaho who haven’t seen much of anything in the world yet, He loves you too.

How can I find peace and joy?

“Faith in Jesus Christ and following His teachings give us a firm hope, and this hope becomes a solid anchor to our souls. We can become steadfast and immovable. We can have lasting inner peace; we can enter into the rest of the Lord.” – Per G. Malm, “Finding Peace in Troubled Times, Ensign, Sept. ’11

“Perhaps we stray from the path which leads to peace and find it necessary to pause, to ponder, and to reflect on the teachings of the Prince of Peace and determine to incorporate them in our thoughts and actions and to live a higher law, walk a more elevated road, and be a better disciple of Christ. The ravages of hunger in Africa, the brutality of hate in the Middle East, and the ethnic struggles across the globe remind us that the peace we seek will not come without effort and determination…The famed statesman William Gladstone described the formula for peace when he declared: “We look forward to the time when the power of love will replace the love of power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.” – Thomas S. Monson, Finding Peace, Ensign, Mar. ’04

“To find peace—the peace within, the peace that passeth understanding—men must live in honesty, honoring each other, honoring obligations, working willingly, loving and cherishing loved ones, serving and considering others, with patience, with virtue, with faith and forbearance, with the assurance that life is for learning, for serving, for repenting, and improving. And God be thanked for the blessed principle of repenting and improving, which is a way that is open to us all.” – Richard L. Evans, In Conference Report, Oct. 1959, 128

How do I become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

Becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an individual choice. We become members by being taught fundamental doctrines and principles and then by being baptized. Two missionaries share short lessons covering 1) How our church came about – called the Restoration; 2) Our purpose in life – called the Plan of Salvation; 3) Basic principles – Faith, Repentance, Baptism, and the Holy Ghost; and 4) Basic Commandments: The Ten Commandments, Law of Chastity, Word of Wisdom, and Tithes and Fast Offerings. The missionaries will also give them a copy of the Book of Mormon to read and study along with the Bible on their own. At some point during the missionaries’ lessons, they will ask everyone to take the time to pray about what they’ve learned and ask God whether it is truly from Him.

After a person receives an answer to their prayers that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ’s church, they are invited to be baptized. They’ll meet with another missionary to have a ‘baptismal interview’, which just means the missionary will talk to them, make sure they’ve been taught everything in the lessons (listed above), and that they understand what they’ve been taught and are ready to be baptized.

The Restoration
Fundamentals of the Gospel
How Do You Pray?
Missionaries Knock On Your Door: What to Expect
Repentance Before Baptism
What Do Mormons Believe? – Baptism
Mormons Missionaries
Health and the Word of Wisdom
“Except a man be born of water…”
Mormon.org – Restoration
What does baptism entail?

Question Box: Why did Jesus not visit every place on earth?

Question: If you believe Jesus went to America because he died for them just as much as Peter or Mary, as you said in another post, why did he not visit every place on Earth?

One of the “why not?” reasons Mormons often give in support of our unique belief that Jesus visited the American continent after his resurrection is that Jesus loves everyone, and died for everyone, so it’s not unreasonable to think He might choose to visit other groups of his children. But, as you point out, if Jesus’ loving people were a sufficient reason for Jesus to personally visit them, then He would have visited every person on earth in every place. So the question is: why did Jesus choose the Nephites of the Book of Mormon, and did he choose to visit anywhere else?

The Book of Mormon has the answers, given by Jesus himself in the book of 3 Nephi, chapter 15. We learn that Jesus visited the Nephites because they were a branch of the House of Israel, led away from Palestine by God, and his visitation was part of a fulfillment of his covenant with the House of Israel. He also explains that the “gentiles” (those who are not of the House of Israel), will receive the gospel through the preaching of his apostles rather than through a personal apperanace. We also learn that there were other groups of the House of Israel scattered throughout the world, and in chapter 16, Jesus explains that he will visit them too:

1 And verily, verily, I say unto you that I have other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister.

3 But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall hear my voice, and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; therefore I go to show myself unto them.

The obvious next question is: if the Bible is from Palestine, and the Book of Mormon is from America, are there records of Jesus’ other personal appearances? The answer is: we don’t know. If so, God has not revealed them. One thing that makes Mormonism very unique among religions is that our canon is not closed– we expect that God is not done talking to his children.

Question Box: Do Mormons believe in Jesus?

Absolutely!

Sometimes people hear about “Mormons” but don’t realize that the actual name of the religion is “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”. Jesus Christ is our Savior, Lord and Redeemer. We believe that He was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem as described in the New Testament. As the Son of God, He came to save all mankind through his suffering in Gethsemane, death on the cross and resurrection on the third day.