Simple Mormon Beliefs??

Question

Can some one just tell me some of the Mormon beliefs. I dont want long paragraphs or websites to look at. I just want to know the basic stuff.

Also, how are they different from Christians? I know SOME say they are Christians but are they?

And what is the "death pact"?

Please be simple and brief, I just want some straight answers...

Thank You?

Answer 1

God loves us and wants us to come back and live with Him again.
This must be done by our free choice.
Since even the best of us will from time to time choose the wrong things and thus we are barred from Heaven; God sent His only Begotten Son Jesus Christ to pay for our sins.
We must then choose Christ through repentance and baptism. Then Christ will forgive our sins through His Sacrifice (Atonement).

We believe the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price to be the word of God.

We believe families can live together as families with God in Heaven. We "seal" our marriages in temples so that if we live worthily we will be a family in Heaven.

Some Christians belittle our worship of Christ because they do not like that we believe in a Godhead consisting of -- God the Father, The divine Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. We believe they are 3 separate entities with one purpose -- not unlike a husband and wife are one. So They are one God in purpose having separate spirits and bodies (although the Holy Ghost has no Physical body).

Death pact -- I have never heard of it -- it is NOT part of LDS Doctrine.

YW
D

Answer 2

Read the articles of faith. It will take you 1 minute and answer a lot of your questions.

People go 120 years back, pull out some obscure quote by a church leader, give it a name, and act like we go around "preaching" things like the "death pact".

I've been Mormon my whole life and I have no idea what he's talking about. If someone says "Mormons believe in the death pact", us Mormons will scratch our heads and say "What is he talking about".

Mormons are different from Christians in similar ways that Catholics are different from Christians, or Baptists are different from Christians. MORMONS ARE CHRISTIANS. None of the "Christian" churches agree with each other.

Now, lots of em don't like Mormons, so they slander em as much as they can.

Answer 3

We are Christians, therefore we do not differ. We use the KJV of the Holy Bible and pray to our Father in Heaven (God) in the name of Jesus Christ.

I have no idea what you are talking about when you say "death pact". I've been LDS (Mormon is just a nick name) all my life and have never heard that one before.

Why are you asking what we believe to the whole world? You should ask one of us directly.

We have what is call the Articles of Faith. You can look at them if you want, or don't. (I have provided the link.) When Joseph Smith was asked the question of "What do you believe as Mormons?", that is how he answered.

The first article of faith says: We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

Can't get much more basic than that.

Answer 4

There are 13 statements called the Articles of Faith - they are a basic belief outline you can view at www.lds.org.

Do you have specific questions?

By the way - LDS all my life and never heard of a Death Pact ... sorry...


We are Christians in the very same way that any Christian is a Christian - We follow the teachings of Christ.

We are different primarily becuase we believe that God still speaks to us through prophets today. We believe that there has been additional revelation regarding our lives and how we should live, and about what life is like after death.

The reason that many people say we're not "Christian" is because we follow the additional doctrines of the Book of Mormon. Many people believe that the Bible states that nothing will ever be added to God's word - And that because we have additional testimonies of God and Christ, and because of what we believe happens after death, that we don't believe in the same Christ.

There was one Christ, the Son of the Eternal God - That's the Christ we exemplify and teach of.

Answer 5

Basic beliefs are the 13 Articles of Faith, sorry but to avoid a long paragraph, you'll have to read them, don't worry their short.
http://scriptures.lds.org/en/a_of_f/1

Different from other Christian Denominations because Mormons believe the Heavens are open and that Revelation exists in that God still has a Prophet today to whom he speaks & guides his Church through him. Mormons believe you have to have Authority given from God through the laying on of hands in order to preach, baptize, or to administrate in His Church. Mormons believe their Church was organized by Christ the same way His Church was in the New Testament Times and the reason it needed to be organized is because the chain of authority through the laying on of hands was broken with the death of the Apostles.
There are more differences, but I'm trying to keep it short.

Mormons say they are Christian because they believe Christ is their Savior, Redeemer & they try to follow & live by His teachings. Many Christian Denominations say they are not Christian because Mormon Doctrine of the Nature of God is different than Protestant & Catholic beliefs. Mormons believe that God the Father, Jesus Christ & the Holy Ghost are ONE but only in Purpose, or one like a team is works together as One. Mormons believe they are 3 separate distinct individuals, with God the Father possessing a body & a spirit, Jesus Christ possessing a body & a spirit & the Holy Spirit just being a Spirit.

"Death Pact" does refer to a part of the Temple Ritual in which members vow that they'd rather die than reveal the SACRED things taught there in order to keep those things sacred. It still exists today but it was never a "death pact" but more a solemn conviction to keep things sacred and not cast pearls before swine.

Dang this still got too long. Sorry.

Answer 6

There are significant differences in the beliefs on the nature of God and salvation.
If you want further information, have a look at a question I answered earlier today asking the same thing. I am in a rush and cant find the reference right now.

Answer 7

I take my honest share of photographs on R&S on the sanctimoniousness of many LDS and their obvious unwillingness to tell the finished fact approximately issues, yet for the existence of me i don't get this new hangup Christian fundies have approximately Jesus and Lucifer being brothers. As Evan and Brent have pronounced, we are all babies of God and so we are all brothers and sisters. Lucifer replaced into created with the aid of God as replaced into Jesus so in that experience they're brothers, albeit very diverse in nature like brothers oftentimes are. With Christ and devil, one is the superb in righteousness and the different the superb in evil. Why Gov. Huckabee and others look so freaked out with the aid of that concept is previous me. sure, early Mormon leaders taught that we've a Heavenly mom and there is even a verse contained in the properly-everyday Mormon hymn 'O My Father' with the aid of Eliza R. Snow (a plural spouse of the two Joseph Smith and Brigham youthful) that celebrates it. God knows of what the LDS church teaches at present - there, my old self - of their rush under Hinkley to grow to be purely yet another fundie Christian denomination. in spite of the fact that it fairly is smart and suits completely with classic Mormon doctrine.

Answer 8

Since you already have some good answers (including the articles of faith) about the "basic doctrines" of the Church, let me explain your question about the "death pact."

C M, jdancy, marcia, Mare W, & Dionysus: don't feel bad, you're not the only ones. About 80% of the membership of the Church have never heard of the Temple death penalty signs (included in the Temple Endowment until 1990), and about 99% have never heard of the oath of vengeance, or blood oath (included in the Endowment until 1927). Both of these have been described as the "death pact", although the first is probably more commonly described as such.

The Signs and Tokens of the Aaronic and Melchizadek Priesthoods are key parts of the Temple Endowment and are guarded by 'sacred covenants', "the violation of which will bring upon you the judgments of God". Well, previous to 1990, that last little phrase didn't exist in the endowment. Instead, the first three signs, tokens, and names were guarded by individual "penalty signs," describing what God would do to those who divulged them.

The first was to slit your throat from ear to ear. The penalty sign was made by putting your right palm down, your fingers close together, and your thumb extended. Then you drew your thumb swiftly across your neck from just under your left ear to just under your right, then dropping your hand to your side.

The second was to have your heart torn out of your chest and your insides fall upon the ground to be devoured by the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air. The penalty sign was made by cupping your right hand, placing it on your left breast, and swiftly drawing it across to your right breast in a scooping motion, then dropping your hand to the side.

The third was to have your body cut asunder and your bowels gush out. The penalty sign was made by doing the same thing as for your throat, but on your lower abdomen, just below the belly button, from side to side, then dropping your hand to the side.

See: http://youtube.com/watch?v=1sDDHwV4n20


The "oath of vengeance" is much older, and luckily enough for us, many of the old apostles and prophets wrote about it in their journals and testified about it in a court of law, because otherwise, the membership of the Church today would have absolutely no way of "finding out" about it and would think that it was "another lie invented by anti-mormons to draw people out of the Church"...

The oath of vengeance was a blood oath taken on by Temple patrons to avenge the blood of Joseph and Hyrum Smith against the government of "this country" (the United States). It was first instituted in the Endowment House, and then in the St. George Temple by Brigham Young. The oath was so severe that it almost kept Mormon Apostle Reed Smoot from becoming a congressman. In 1927, however, the leadership decided to strike this line from the everlasting, unchangeable endowment decreed of God.

Answer 9

simple and brief. They are Christians. They believe in Jesus Christ, the son of God. The name of their church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Mormon is a nickname.

There is no death pact.

Answer 10

I will try to be brief, a death pack is were they make the motion of slitting their throat in the temple ritiual, if they told the sacred/secret things that went on in the temple, but that was concidered offensive so they took it out.
Beliefs, you can go to their site and go to the anti-mormon sites to make a comparison. They believe that satan and Jesus are brothers, that they evolve into Gods and goddesses, this is a darwinism belief, that the bible has been tranlated so many times that things were takin out of it (atheist idea) so they have their own KJV version which Joseph Smith put stuff back into it thru the urim and thummim. In their KJV bible, Cain's Mark is black skin, Ham's wife is black.
They do not drink, smoke or take drugs, no sex before marriage, this is found in their other scriptures, the Doctrine and Covenants.
They have two differant theologies, the one for temple goers and the one for those who have not been int he temple.