why do people believe mormon beliefs?

Question

i am so non religious, dont believe in god at all.
my friend is a mormon so i decided to read up about it. why would anyone believe all that rubbish. they pay 10% of their earnings to the church. why should you have to pay to go to church. its not right. they also abstain from coffee alcohol and tobacco to live a healthy life. my friend has many illnessess and one of her children has severe learning difficulties. so obviously abstaining from all these to live a healthy life hasnt done them any good. i drink a bottle of wine a night and smoke like a chimney and i am healthier then her. when they get married they agree to obey their husbands. i dont obey anyone. if i dont want to do it i wont do it simple as. she was bullied as a child cos of her religion now her son is going through the same thing. they say they are believers in family commitments etc but who would put their child through that. i just find it really hard to comprehend. thanks for listening.

Answer 1

A child will believe anything he or she is told, especially if it is repeated ad nauseam over the next eighteen years.

As for converts to Mormonism, people can become vulnerable to Mormon missionaries at various times in their lives and as a Mormon missionary, I was instructed to seek out people when they were vulnerable and susceptible to my teachings. Most people were too smart to fall for it, but we did manage to hoodwink some.

Answer 2

You have become VERY confused about our faith.

Tithing is a choice. No one is prevented from going to church if they don't pay their tithe.

Also, why is it so bad to live a healthy life. We believe that our bodies are sacred. Sometimes people have health problems. That's part of being human.

We only agree to "obey" our husbands in so much as they "obey the Lord". As long as he is honoring God and following His teachings, then he will only ask us to do things that are righteous.

There always have been and always will be bullies in the world. Remember, what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger. The person bullied the most at my school was Baptist and I was the ONLY Mormon besides my siblings, go figure....

Answer 3

Mormons invite everyone do to the following:

Invite the Missionaries over and learn about the basic beliefs.
Read part or all of the Book of Mormon.
Ponder it all
Pray to God and ask him if it is true or not.

If God tells you it's true, act on it. If He tells you it's not true, then move on. If you don't believe in God, they help you discover him.

Simple as that. However, if the Mormons are right (ie, their teachings are true) it means that:

there is life after death
Families can be together eternally
God has created a plan for us to return to live with him and share with him in all that he has
Truth exists on the earth and can be accessed by man.
There is a distinct purpose for this life
a plan for happiness can be learned and followed.
God speaks through a prophet today and shares his will and teaches us what we can do to be happy.

Approach her and and ask her why she's Mormon. Most of us are very open to such conversations. ....and 10% is a small price to pay for what we get in return. ......and that 10% is completly voluntary. You don't HAVE to pay it.

Answer 4

I was an atheist for 11 years and I was not raised Mormon, so I'll explain why I believe.

All Christians believe Malachi 3 (in the Old Testament) tells us that if we tithe, God will open the windows of Heaven and pour out a blesing so big that we can't receive all of it.
On an October Monday after a tithe (I was a spotty tithe payer), I prayed and was guided to change my travel roue heading out of state. I ended up passing a computer store that was about to have all of its' wooden fixtures demolished by chainsaw. Instead, I signed a lease and I now have a computer store. :-)

According to the National Institute of Health, Latter-Day Saints who follow the Word of Wisdom live 8-11 years longer than the national average. Faulty genetics or poor nutrition will still mess you up, but avoiding stimulants and depressants doesn't hurt anyone.

All Christians agree to obey *each other* in marriage, not cringing submission to a dominant husband! In a traditional Christian marriage, there are several kinds of submission for both parties, but they are more about division of labor to allow for specialization. There are many non-traditional Christian marriages that work fine when they still remember that compromise and a mutual urge to avoid dominance works wonders. :-) The first 10 chapters of 1 Corinthians will ive you a good idea what it's all about.

Since I've been going to church, the teachings of Christ have completyely changed not only myself, but my daughter in every way. "Putting my daughter through that" has resulted in her GPA raising by a point, becoming a captain on her soccer team, more quality time together, better health, more appreciation and respect for others, and a better relationship as a family.

I believe because of the massive onslaught of reinfocement that I've received since I started stepping forward in faith.

Answer 5

I am Mormon and do so because I have prayed about it and have received revelation from God, through the power and influence of the Holy Ghost and have thus learned for myself that it is true.

Anyone else can also follow God's invitation to seek answers for yourself and learn of the truth.

This same reason is why some 12 million Mormons are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If you too, can get the "pearl of great price," you too can know why.

Answer 6

Your study of our beliefs has left you with some misconceptions. That's understandable since there's a great deal of misinformation available. I'll refer you to http://www.mormon.org for a good summary and just mention a few things about tithing here.

We are not required to pay 10% of our earnings to attend church; however, living this law of tithing is considered a commandment and a privilege. The promise is that if we live this law, we will be extremely blessed both temporarily and spiritually. Many can attest to receiving these blessings and even joke about not being able to afford not to live it. For myself, I've been blessed both temporarily and spiritually far beyond the apparent sacrifice.

I'm very grateful for the knowledge I've gained as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints aka Mormon Church. In particular, my understanding of the purpose of earth life and my relationship to God helps a great deal when faced with the trials we all face.

Answer 7

It really is a pity that you don't learn to keep your opinions to yourself.
the fact the you don't know what you are talking about, makes it even worse.
What kind of so called friend are you to gloat over the fact, that your friend has illnesses, only to try to prove your point about, The Word of Wisdom, not working, in YOUR opinion.
As for drinking and smoking like a chimney, and being healthy?? Just wait, darling. Cancer, emphysema, and a whole slew of fun things are waiting for you.
I take it you're not married? With that attitude, I can guanrantee, that you'll stay that way.
Men want a partner, not a boss!
As for the rest of what you said, well, that's BS, too.
Now, since you had a chance to spread your lies, and false comprehensions I hope that you feel much better.

Answer 8

I grew up a Baptist. The more I learned about their beliefs the more I started to doubt and essentially became an agnostic, but I kept attending the BC.

Then the LDS missionaries started to teach me the lessons. I read the Bible and the Book of Mormon, I made the necessary changes to live the Word of Wisdom (the health law of the church). The missionaries told me to pray about what I read and heard. They told me that I couldn't just believe what they said but that I should find out from God what the truth was. I prayed and prayed and as time went by the Lord answered my prayers and I KNEW that what the missionaries were teaching me was true and I received a testimony that the Book of Mormon truly was the word of God, just as the Bible was.

So, to answer your question, I believe the Mormon beliefs because God bore witness to my soul that it is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Those things that the missionaries stress when they teach people, read the scriptures, keep the commandments, attend church and pray are also those same things that we teach our children and youth. We want them to know for themself what is true by going to God and not man for the answer. We don't want them to just rely on what we tell them. Anyone who says that we don't want them to think, ask and search for themself doesn't know what they are talking about.

Answer 9

There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

Tithing, The Word of Wisdom, Eternal Marriage all have temporal and spiritual blesssings associated with them. If you never have a fullness of joy, you don't know that you are missing anything.

Answer 10

Most all Mormons are all good , moral people. Unfortunately, like many in different religions, they believe what they were taught was true. You can apply that to Catholics, Methodist, Baptist, atheist and, and evolutionist, and so on.

But---somewhere along the line, we must all look up and question what we were taught-this is a good thing. Also-but, we must be careful not to believe something other than what we were taught just because it is different or contradicts earlier beliefs. We ourselves are ultimately responsible for what we finally choose to believe, whether that be in creation or evolution, Krishna or the pope, Joseph Smith or Jesus Christ.

Answer 11

Why do people believe (fill in the blank) beliefs?
The same comments you made could be made for Fundie Christians, Orthdox Jews, Muslims etc. SOme believe for personal reasons, others because they are "forced" to.... hard to say. I am also not religious though I accept a higher power...I wish people would think a bit more for themselves.