The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints + What Mormons Believe
"Mormons" do things a little differently than most and it's because of their beliefs.
Julia Tebbs via @pexels The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS is a church unlike any other. Mormons have unique spiritual practices that define their beliefs.
Yes, they are Christians. They believe in God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, which is referred to as the Godhead.
What do Mormons believe?
“Mormons” believe these three beings to be just that, three separate beings.
God and Jesus Christ have bodies of flesh and blood and the Holy Ghost is the holy spirit that guides individuals as long as they remain worthy to have the spirit with them.
"Mormons" do their best to live their lives in the best ways to become better people.
There are 13 Basic Articles of Faith that members of the church believe in and live by.
These Articles of Faith clearly explain their beliefs, things like the Godhead, people being responsible for their own sins, the gift of revelation, the Bible and the Book of Mormon, being honest, chaste and virtuous and many other things.
However, the basic principles and truths of the gospel are different. Now this might all sound like a bunch of gibberish, but don’t worry, I’m going to expand.
Here's what Mormons believe and why The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints is different from others:
1. The priesthood.
The priesthood is the power of God that has been bestowed upon the men of the church. As it says on churchofjesuschrist.org, “priesthood is the power and authority that God gives to man to act in all things necessary for the salvation of God’s children.
The blessings of the priesthood are available to all who receive the gospel.” So basically, it’s God’s power dispersed to the worthy men in the church to help others here on earth in a more direct way.
2. The Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon. So, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe in the Bible like most other Christian religions. However, they also believe in another book of scripture called The Book of Mormon.
This book is another testament of Jesus Christ. It tells stories of his life and the lives of other prophets who have led the church in the past and their experiences with God and the gospel.
Often times, some of the stories are about their conversion stories or the way that they taught the gospel to others or realized the truth. The Book of Mormon is a book that was lost for many years and was revealed to Joseph Smith, a prophet in the 1830s.
He was told by God, through an angel, to transcribe The Book of Mormon from this set of gold plates into English so that it could be returned to the world to have that truth and those stories and experiences in our day.
Joseph Smith restored the gospel on the earth and is the reason that “Mormons” exist today.
Joseph Smith was a prophet back then and ever since him, the church has not stopped having prophets. The priesthood has been passed down from Joseph Smith.
3. Faith
“Mormons” have a current prophet nowadays that leads and guides them with revelation from God.
The prophet, or president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is, Faith.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a faith-based church. It is something that is difficult to always comprehend.
Faith is believing without seeing. So, knowing that something is there without having physical proof of it.
It’s like any other religion that believes in God, not every single Christian has actually seen God, in fact, most people haven’t, but they still believe and trust that he is there.
They can see his presence in their lives in the blessings they receive from him and the miracles that happen.
It is the same thing with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but they extend their faith to every aspect of their religion and lives.
4. Repentance
This is an amazing concept and blessing. Obviously, nobody on earth is perfect.
We all make mistakes and do things wrong every day. But the good thing about the church is that they believe that your sins aren’t held against you forever.
You can go through the repentance process to be forgiven for your sins and to get another chance every time you mess up.
God is a loving and forgiving God and wants nothing more than for us, his children, on this earth, to be able to make good choices and get back to him after this life.
He gives us chance after chance as long as we recognize what we’ve done wrong and apologize for it and ask for forgiveness and make sure to strive to be better and not do things like that again.
It’s an amazing and loving concept that is available to us because Jesus Christ, the savior, died on the cross for us.
He felt all of our pains in the garden of Gethsemane so that we could eventually repent and be given more chances.
That’s how much God and Jesus Christ love us.
5. Baptism
A lot of churches use baptism as a way to convert people to become members of their church officially.
It typically represents washing away all of their sins and giving them a fresh start. For The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the process tends to be a little different.
They make sure to dunk the person being baptized entirely underwater where other religions might just sprinkle the water on their heads or dunk their head in the water.
They also wait until the person is at least 8 years old because, at that age, the person can make the decision for themselves and figure out whether or not they want to be a member of the church.
They can know a little bit better what they are committing to rather than a baby just being baptized because the parents want them to.
It puts the responsibility on the child to own up to their own sins at that point.
But the biggest difference is that while being baptized, they are blessed and baptized by a priesthood holder which makes the world of difference.
6. Confirmation by the gift of the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Ghost, as mentioned before, is part of the Godhead and is a spirit that is given to every new member of the church after they’re baptized as a gift to them.
The Holy Ghost is there to influence us to do good, but we have to remain worthy to keep the holy spirit with us.
It is something that can only be around to help you make good decisions and let you know what God wants from you if you are making the effort to choose the right.
You always want the spirit with you and can tell when it’s not because you don’t have that happy, light, good, warm feeling inside you anymore.
That’s how “Mormons” are able to discern between good and evil. It is truly a major blessing.
7. Enduring to the end
Everyone goes through trials and hard times. The key is holding on for dear life and trusting that if you rely on the Lord, you can make it through.
“Mormons” understand the importance of enduring and putting up with the hard times to learn and grow and become better so that they can make it to the end and be better off than they were when they went in.
It’s hard and scary and nobody ever said life was easy, but that’s why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints exists, to reassure and provide happiness and be a reason to keep pushing and trying and to never give up.
Rely on God and his love for us, that’s how you’ll get through the hard times to make it to the good ones.
These are the basic principles of the gospel that “Mormons” believe in. It’s not everything. There’s too much for this to be everything. But hopefully, this explains a little bit more.
Hayley Small is a writer who focuses on pop culture, religion and relationship topics.