So what is known of Mormonism?

[Vinhos]

saki_hanajima7

Priestley

saki_hanajima7

Mormonism isn't exactly a branch off of Christianity. For one, they believe in the Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price above the Bible. Also, they believe that Jesus is the brother of Satan. And there's the whole spirit baby thing, which is why, here in Utah, there are such huge families. In order for a woman to get into the highest level of heaven, her husband has to say her secret name once he's there, and it's basically his choice whether or not to bring her there. So women have to be good wives, which means giving bodies [giving birth to] to as many "spirit babies" as they can. And if they're really good, they get to be gods and have there own world basically. According to them, our god came from the planet Kolab. It's complicated, but I think that's about the gist of it.
My family was blacklisted by the LDS church shortly after moving here because my brother visited the temple and filled out a card that said he wanted to learn more about Mormonism, so they sent a local elder over to talk to him and he and my dad were ready and waiting. Not a single Mormon has come by since then, and that was about 2 or 3 years ago.
They are very nice people though, except that sometimes they'll ambush you in parking lots here which is kind of scary when me or my mom are alone.

I've never heard of Jesus being the brother of Satan or the spirit babies thing or, in fact, much of what you've said.

Also, it's a bit cruel for your father and brother to have invited them under false pretenses to share their faith only to lay in wait for them.

It's true. There are some very odd components to their beliefs.
It's not like they were laying in wait for them. They were just as eager to share their faith. Even before we moved here I remember Mormons coming to our house and my dad talked to them for a really long time and by the time he was done one of them was crying. The next time the one who wasn't crying came alone. My dad and brother just wanted to have a discussion about the differences in their faith and of course their desired end was to make them consider the flaws in theirs and think about Christianity. They aren't evil.

What Saki said is correct.

Also, there was (and still is) the concept that to be Mormon is to be "white and delightful" (per the words of the Book of Mormon until 1981).

Lorenzo Snow, the fifth president of the church, said "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may be." They believe God was once a man, and therefore, not eternel nor omnipotent.  

[KraylorDePanthro]

I've spent a bit of time with the Mormons in the last few weeks,
according to their view by my understanding, Jesus is like the Eldest brother, and when Heavenly Father wanted to send someone to guide and bring home mankind, Lucifer said he would go and bring everyone home, by eliminating the free will option, but Jesus said he would go and be an example to them, so they could freely choose to come to Heavenly Father. God went with Jesus plan and Lucifer didn't like it. (though in that context, it's not that really surprising as who could compete with such a perfect older brother, he'd always be better. Only way to get enough attention to rebel, and be the best at being bad, something Jesus refused to be.)

They have some ...interesting views regarding the role of angels, amoungst that Michael the arch angel became Adam as a reward and that simularly Gabriel became Noah. (only way I could see that to make sense is if they retained the ability to resume the arch angel form and duties post death of human form as they appear later as angels)

Their view on Eden is that Their was a conflict set up. Two commandments.
A. Be fruitful and multiply. B. Do not eat of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of good and evil. In their view, Adam and Eve were not yet capable of A. as they had no carnal nature at that time, so they would eventually have to go against B. to fufill A. They are big on Agency, their word for free will. This conflict was the catalyst for them to be out of Eden to be able to eventually need a savior etc. They are to have been told of the plan while they were there, not yet comprehending it until later. After the fall, a comforter Angels and Holy Spirit to a degree explaining the plan that Jesus would one day come. Coming to earth and having bodies was the chance they got to become more like Jesus and Heavenly Father.

They believe they are restoring the gospel, as after the disciples died they believe a great apostasy occured. I did actually find at least up to the year 400 however, that their is indeed a line of succession from Peter, it was written in the 53rd letter of Augustine I think.: "
The successor of Peter was Linus, and his successors in unbroken continuity were these:— Clement, Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Iginus, Anicetus, Pius, Soter, Eleutherius, Victor, Zephirinus, Calixtus, Urbanus, Pontianus, Antherus, Fabianus, Cornelius, Lucius, Stephanus, Xystus, Dionysius, Felix, Eutychianus, Gaius, Marcellinus, Marcellus, Eusebius, Miltiades, Sylvester, Marcus, Julius, Liberius, Damasus, and Siricius, whose successor is the present Bishop Anastasius. "


They believe an Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith as he prayed to know the true church, it was supposed to tell him to find plates later.
And God and Jesus was to appear to him as well, saying that none of the churches on earth at that time was the true church, eventually he was to translate the plates in the Book of Mormon. The keys of binding and loosing and cealing, were to be given unto him and the Aaronic Priesthood and Melchizedek Priesthood restored. The Catholic Church is the other to claim to hold the keys.
Further they believe that their president is a phrophet and their is modern day revelation.

Instead of a Trinitarian view (3 in 1), their view is the GodHead, 3 seperate beings, united as one in purpose.
They also use water instead of wine or great juice for sacrament.
The Book of Doctrines and Covenants is the one with the "modern revelations" in it. The Book of Mormon is mostly about earlier and elsewhere.

They have full body emersion for baptism and don't have the origanol sin concept. They believe innocent until the age of accountablity age 8 I believe it is there.

It is organized in wards and stakes. Their is a Bishop and councilors, and priesthood, though it is a lay ministry and no one gets paid for these services. Missionaries or Elders are the closest thing to requiring training necisarily. People are set apart by laying on of hands for various ministries.
Their are classes after sacrament meeting.
I find them very Family and Value centric.
Their does seem to be some Holy Spirit moving amoungst them.
on that note, they believe other Christian churches have "the light of Christ" but not nec. the Holy Spirit.
It was ancedoted to me that a Jewish person they visited remarked that only amoung them is he considered a gentile.

They hold their is Celestial Heaven, Terrestial Heaven and Tellestial Heaven and the Outer Darkness.
They hold the family unit sacred and temple worthy Mormons can become cealed to their spouse and children and family, which can also be done by proxy for the dead. They are into genealogy.

They do encourage for baptism somewhat early on after meeting with them a few times, at the same time, they are not pushy nor forceful. If one is interested they will tell you, and are very good at answering questions.  

[Priestley]

KraylorDePanthro

*SNIP*

Hm, interesting.

Of course, I will have to test all of that at some point before I consider any of it true.  

[Galad Aglaron]

What kind of angelic name is Moroni, anyway? Angelic names are supposed to end in "-el". Raziel, Cassiel, Michael, Rafael, Remiel, Samael...  

[Gerbil_of_the_Vashness]

okay, so i've heard some REALLY crazy thigns about mormons in the past that no one's really adressed here so i'm just going to ask them, please don't flame me, i know NOTHING about the religion and am asking these things in all honesty, despite how some of them sound, i'll start with the silliest.

1) they can't eat cheerios on tuesdays?
2)in utah they baptize dead people or get baptized for dead people?
3)you can't eat chocolate or other things with caffine?
4)when non mormons die they simply cease to exist?
5)when believers die they go to populate their own plannet?

I've also heard that how much you believe is how much you follow.  

[saki_hanajima7]

Gerbil_of_the_Vashness

1) they can't eat cheerios on tuesdays?

I have no idea about that one

Quote:

2)in utah they baptize dead people or get baptized for dead people?

they call it "Baptism for the Dead," : "In their practice, individuals go to their local Mormon temple, dress appropriately for a baptism, representatively adopt the name of a person who has died, and then the Mormon is baptized in water for that deceased person. This way, the dead person has fulfilled the requirements of salvation in the afterworld and can enjoy further spiritual benefits in the spiritual realm." found here I don't think it's just in Utah, although it might only take place in the temple here. I'm not sure.

Quote:

3)you can't eat chocolate or other things with caffine?

I know there is something about not having caffein or hot drinks, but I'm not sure of the particulars there.

Quote:

4)when non mormons die they simply cease to exist?

there is a good diagram here

Quote:

5)when believers die they go to populate their own plannet?

I addressed this in an earlier post. our god came from the planet Kolab and such  

[Priestley]

There's crazy and then there's crazy. sweatdrop  

[zz1000zz]

And then there's the Mormons.  

[zz1000zz]

I am not sure the Jehovah Witnesses even fall anywhere on that scale. I think they deserve their own special place.  

[Priestley]

zz1000zz

I am not sure the Jehovah Witnesses even fall anywhere on that scale. I think they deserve their own special place.

I meet every Sunday afternoon with a husband and wife couple who are Jehovah's Witnesses. I was curious to find out what it is that they believe, simply for a better understanding. So far, what they have said has been scriptural.  

[Gerbil_of_the_Vashness]

saki_hanajima7

Gerbil_of_the_Vashness

1) they can't eat cheerios on tuesdays?

I have no idea about that one

Quote:

2)in utah they baptize dead people or get baptized for dead people?

they call it "Baptism for the Dead," : "In their practice, individuals go to their local Mormon temple, dress appropriately for a baptism, representatively adopt the name of a person who has died, and then the Mormon is baptized in water for that deceased person. This way, the dead person has fulfilled the requirements of salvation in the afterworld and can enjoy further spiritual benefits in the spiritual realm." found here I don't think it's just in Utah, although it might only take place in the temple here. I'm not sure.

Quote:

3)you can't eat chocolate or other things with caffine?

I know there is something about not having caffein or hot drinks, but I'm not sure of the particulars there.

Quote:

4)when non mormons die they simply cease to exist?

there is a good diagram here

Quote:

5)when believers die they go to populate their own plannet?

I addressed this in an earlier post. our god came from the planet Kolab and such

thanks for the info, i honestly think the cheerios thing is false, but i had to ask. my dad knows some mormons and according to him, they don't eat or drink anything with caffine in it. but i know from friends of friends that not all mormons follow this. the whole thing had me confused.  

[zz1000zz]

Priestley

zz1000zz

I am not sure the Jehovah Witnesses even fall anywhere on that scale. I think they deserve their own special place.

I meet every Sunday afternoon with a husband and wife couple who are Jehovah's Witnesses. I was curious to find out what it is that they believe, simply for a better understanding. So far, what they have said has been scriptural.

I would be curious to know if that is because those two do not truly understand their religion, or if they simply have not discussed the more relevant beliefs.  

[Galad Aglaron]

Galad Damodred

What kind of angelic name is Moroni, anyway? Angelic names are supposed to end in "-el". Raziel, Cassiel, Michael, Rafael, Remiel, Samael...

I was serious about this, by the way. What kind of angelic name is Moroni? All the names of angels in Judeo-Christian angelology are either from the Hebrew, Greek or Latin. Michael means "Who is like God?", Samael means "Venom of God", Dumahel means "God silences", Daniel means "God is my judge" and so on...

I'm no etymologist, but it seems to me that it's either from the Greek "moros" meaning "dull" (the root of our word "moron") or from the name of a kind of bacteriophage.  

[saki_hanajima7]

Gerbil_of_the_Vashness

saki_hanajima7

Gerbil_of_the_Vashness

1) they can't eat cheerios on tuesdays?

I have no idea about that one

Quote:

2)in utah they baptize dead people or get baptized for dead people?

they call it "Baptism for the Dead," : "In their practice, individuals go to their local Mormon temple, dress appropriately for a baptism, representatively adopt the name of a person who has died, and then the Mormon is baptized in water for that deceased person. This way, the dead person has fulfilled the requirements of salvation in the afterworld and can enjoy further spiritual benefits in the spiritual realm." found here I don't think it's just in Utah, although it might only take place in the temple here. I'm not sure.

Quote:

3)you can't eat chocolate or other things with caffine?

I know there is something about not having caffein or hot drinks, but I'm not sure of the particulars there.

Quote:

4)when non mormons die they simply cease to exist?

there is a good diagram here

Quote:

5)when believers die they go to populate their own plannet?

I addressed this in an earlier post. our god came from the planet Kolab and such

thanks for the info, i honestly think the cheerios thing is false, but i had to ask. my dad knows some mormons and according to him, they don't eat or drink anything with caffine in it. but i know from friends of friends that not all mormons follow this. the whole thing had me confused.

Yes, it's true. My friends are always joking...since I don't like tea or coffee...that I'm like a secret Mormon or something. lol those are the kind of jokes we have in SLC =P. But yeah there are a lot of Mormons who aren't very strict about this. Also, they aren't supposed to go anywhere but to their stake [local church...in utah 1 for every few blocks] on Sunday, which makes sunday a good day for shopping and seeing movies and eating out and such, but a lot of them go out anyways. It's just like any religion, with some half-hearted followers.  

[Priestley]

zz1000zz

Priestley

zz1000zz

I am not sure the Jehovah Witnesses even fall anywhere on that scale. I think they deserve their own special place.

I meet every Sunday afternoon with a husband and wife couple who are Jehovah's Witnesses. I was curious to find out what it is that they believe, simply for a better understanding. So far, what they have said has been scriptural.

I would be curious to know if that is because those two do not truly understand their religion, or if they simply have not discussed the more relevant beliefs.

Actually, one of the first questions I brought to them involved their abstaining from blood and blood products (transfusions and such). They actually pointed me to scripture from the epistles which indicated that laws against consumption of blood to still be applicable.

To what beliefs are you referring?