What Do Mormons Believe? – Page 20 – "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."

How Can A Belief in Jesus Christ Help Me?

Faith, or a belief, in Jesus Christ gives purpose to our lives: “Our purpose in this life is to have joy and prepare to return to God’s presence.” (A Guide to Missionary Service – Preach My Gospel, pg. 50) We do this by following Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our great Exemplar. His words and actions teach us how to have happy, productive lives. As we learn and keep His commandments, we become more like Him and prepare to return to God’s presence and enjoy eternal happiness. “One cannot study about Jesus Christ and His teachings without being affected and changed for good. As you develop a testimony of the Savior, you want to become like Him and to follow Him.” (Ronald T. Halverson, Ensign, Nov. ’04, 33)

Question box: Can a Mormon marry a Christian?

Question: Can a Mormon marry a Christian?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: First of all, Mormons are Christians, but I’ll respond to the question: can a Mormon marry a non-Mormon?. The answer is yes, but that’s not the whole story. Mormons can marry whomever they please in a legally-binding ceremony, and it will be recognized by the church as as valid marriage. But Mormons also have a ceremony unique to Mormonism called a “sealing”, where a Mormon couple can be married “for time and all eternity” (no “till death do you part” involved). These ceremonies are performed in temples, and like all temple ceremonies are only available to active Mormons. Being sealed is a very important thing in our religion, so interfaith marriages are usually the exception rather than the rule.

More on the subject of Mormons and marriage:
I’m in love with a Mormon: what now?

Can Mormons get divorced?

Why temple marriage?

Jeff Lindsay’s Love, Dating, Marriage, and Morality: The Latter-Day Saint Way

The First Article of Faith

We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

This is a fitting first statement of our beliefs, that we believe in God. We believe that They are each separate and distinct beings from one another but that they fulfill Their work with unity of purpose.

God is our Heavenly Father and is the Father of our spirits and in this sense, Jesus is our Elder Brother. Jesus is, however, the only Son of God in the flesh. Both God, the Father, and the Son, have physical bodies. The Holy Ghost does not have a body so that He can be present with every person on Earth. His role is to testify of Christ and of the Father and to guide and comfort us in our lives.

The Mormon Secrecy Code

Question from the box: “I have a mormon friend and he doesnt like to talk about what goes on when he goes to church. Is there a secrecy code or something? Once you are a mormon can you “un-become” a mormon??”

We try to practice the teaching of Christ when he said “hold up your light that it may shine unto the world… I have commanded that none of you should go away, but rather have commanded that ye should come unto me.” Most faithful members of our church are more than willing to share their beliefs with any soul who shows even a little interest. Try letting your friend know that you really are curious, and ask specific questions. Hopefully he’ll open up.

We certainly have no secrecy code. That being said, if an experience is very sacred (e.g. temple worship), it “must be spoken with care, and by constraint of the Spirit” (D&C 63:64).

Members can be removed from the church in one of two ways. They can request that their names be removed, or they can be ex-communicated. The latter is usually due to willful disobedience of major commandments.

Does Everyone Get a Chance?

We recently had a comment here on What do Mormons Believe, that caught my eye. In the comment it asked the following questions.

What would happen to people who didn’t have the chance to hear the gospel, such as people in third world countries? Even if they’ve lived good lives, but never even heard the name of Christ, do they still end up in hell? What about small children who die?

The reason that these comments caught my eye is because I’ve asked these very same questions myself. Now in this article, I will share the answers I have learned with you.

Sadly, there are still places in the world, where the name of Christ is foreign and his teachings are not taught. Think of a tribe of people in sub-Saharan Africa, where they’ve never even heard of Jesus and where there are no scriptures to learn from. But they are still good people. They help their fellow men, they look after their families. They respect the earth and work hard to improve life for themselves and those around them. These are the types of people who would accept the Gospel of Christ if it was presented to them and would strive to follow Him. Is it fair that because they were born in Africa, instead of another part of the world, that they are doomed to Hell?

The answer to this question is No. We know that God is a just God. Where would the justice be if these people were assigned to eternal damnation by no act of their own?

But we also know that in order to return to God, we must have faith in Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost through confirmation.

How can God be fair, while having faith, repenting, baptism and confirmation are required?

In the scriptures we learn that everyone will have the chance to be taught and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. For some people, it will take place in this life. But for others, it will occur after they die.

The apostle Peter spoke of this in 1 Peter 3:18-19

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirt:

By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison”

And in 1 Peter 4:6

“For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”

These people will get a chance to learn and accept the gospel while in this “spirit prison”. They can develop faith in Christ and repent of their sins. They will also be able to receive the ordinances of baptism and confirmation by proxy. Here is a link to further explain that.

The last question was about small children who die. Some babies are born with severe conditions that only allow minutes of life to them. Other children pass away at an older age, but are still too young to have really understood who Christ was.

These children are also not punished for their brief lives, but are saved through the atonement of Jesus Christ. We learn from the scriptures that “children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven.” (D&C 137:10) What a truly comforting promise to those who have lost young loved ones.

God is a just and loving God. He loves and cares for his children. That is why he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to make it possible that we can return to live with him someday. And that is why he has given everyone a chance to learn of Christ, have faith in him, repent of their sins, be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.