any mormons out there....?

Question

Please explain why your religion is correct and tell me a little bit about it...

Answer 1

I am not a Mormon, but I do have a friend (yes, originally from Utah), who practices. The following are the tenets of the religion (from the Mormon.org website):

Joseph Smith [founder of Mormonism] was asked about the basic beliefs of the Church. He summarized the teachings and doctrines in 13 basic points which are known as The Articles of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

1.We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.
3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.
8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon this the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

From my experience and conversations with my friend, Mormonism appears to have well-defined beliefs, most of which do not harm society. They try not to curse, not to use caffeine, and not to use alcohol. They believe that the person you marry is the person with whom you are supposed to live the rest of your life on earth and the life following earth. Family is embraced and given lots of time, and the Church also gets lots of time and money through its members.

And they put on a heck of an Xmas display in wintertime in the Washington DC Mormon Temple!

(Anyone remember their family-oriented PSAs from the 1980s?)

Answer 2

As most members of churches, we believe our church is correct because we've tried to follow the teachings of Christ, and have found them to be true. All these experiences (relating to religious beliefs,) help us to feel that continuing to follow those teachings will bring us more happiness, or at least more help as we sometimes go through the normal troubles of life.

As for specific beliefs, one answer you received from someone else has what we call our 13 Articles of Faith. They're a good place to start. The first one says 'We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.' We believe that they are 3 individuals, not 3 different manifestations of the same individual. That's different from most other Christian churches. We also believe that revelation from God to man, (through a prophet,) still happens. We believe there was an apostasy from the church Christ established when he was on the earth, and for many hundred years there was no revelation. Many other Christian churches agree with the 'no revelation' belief. They believe that the information in the Bible is sufficient, and we don't need anything more, like modern prophets or additional scriptures. We believe that since the world is constantly changing, God still wants to guide us and help us make good decisions. And many of the guidance he's recently offered have been collected by recent prophets and are part of our scriptures.
Speaking of scriptures, we believe in the Bible, and for English-speaking congregations we use the King James Version. We also study from the Book of Mormon (which is where we get the nickname 'Mormons'). This book deals with a group of people that possibly lived somewhere in the area of central-America and which was visited by Jesus Christ shortly after He was resurrected in Jerusalem. Since it also tells that He WAS resurrected, it means that we consider it to be additional evidence that He did live, and that He is the Messiah who was prophesied to have come.
Many of our beliefs are viewed as odd, in comparison to other Christian churches. We pay tithing (10% of our income) instead of just making donations when a plate is passed. We are taught to not use alcoholic drinks or tobacco for smoking/chewing, because the revelation is that they are harmful for our bodies. We are taught to not have pre-marital sex, and to dress modestly. The young men are taught to earn money so they can be missionaries for 2 years when they reach 19. Some of the young ladies also go, although not quite as many.
We also believe that we lived with God before we were born here on this earth, that we are here for specific reasons, and that if we are obedient to God's commandments, we can return to be with him after we die. We believe that God is fair, and that He loves us and wants us to succeed in this life, so He'll tell us what we need to do and what paths to choose, but He'll still let us do the choosing.
I'm getting a bit long here, it looks like. Do you have any specific questions?

Answer 3

Yes, Salt Lake City has lots. Of all the Mormans I've met I'd say on the whole they are decent folks. Belief is a strong thing.
Mormans belief system is very clearly defined. I do not agree with them 100% but you have to give them credit for living upright lifestyles. I'm sure there are some bad eggs in their community
but on average they are above average. Good luck and God bless!

Answer 4

oh man my dad is. its wierd. #1 Caffiene isnt allowed lol not tea no coffee no soda with caffiene (stopped being mormon when I was 5 becuase of this lol) the mormon religion is centered around one guy who god speaks too and tells him there are tablets under a rock in the woods that tell a continuation of the bible and how the Indians skin turned red becuase god turned them that way beucase they stopped worshipping god and worshiped idols instead. If you ask me, the Mormon religion my not have started out very, ummm creditable, See south Parks all about mormons episode to understand what I mean. But the church pretty much centers its self more around the family now. It tries to teach us to be closer to one another and to listen to one another and to care about one another now. do admire the teachings of the Mormon church about family and sadly that may be the only part I do.

Answer 5

I went to a morman church when I was very young. I didn't completely understand what it was. I knew that the teachers at the church were very nice and friendly, but their beliefs about some things seemed different from common Christians and a little confusing. I have a copy of the Morman copy of the bible. I never read it, but its interesting to me how I still have it. I guess I found the people generally nice, but slightly strange.

Answer 6

i think they believe their religion is correct because their god is from another planet.

am i the only one who thinkgs mormonism is the middleground between christianity and scientology?

kelly...check out youtube (www.youtube.com) and search for mormonism, theres a video there thats animated that explains mormonism and its beleifs.

i watched it and finally understand WHY mormons are so strange.

Answer 7

Do you really want to know? It's not a simplistic answer. Typically I find people want me to prove it to them, or have a hidden agenda. If you're truly interested, feel free to email me.

-- addendum: Wow. Reading some of the other answers shows me people are pretty far out there, have a -way- wrong understanding about us, or are pretty darn angry people. Again, email or IM me, and we can chat.

Answer 8

The correct term is Latter Day Saints (LDS) the biggest misconception is that they still practice polygamy. They haven't for hundreds of years.

Answer 9

They think there are other prophets beyond the bible. The book of mormon is written by one of those prophets and is pretty bizarre.

Answer 10

Go to mormon.org. It's the official Mormon website.

Answer 11

its not correct wach the south park episode were they discuss there actuall beliefes and ull see why its almost as bad as scientoligy