Full disclosure: I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and have been my whole life. I chose this religion to be my first foray into writing about religion as I know about the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Still, I plan to look up information and treat this religion like all the others. I wanted something familiar to help me get used to writing about religions. My opinion of the veracity of any religion, including this one I will not include. I merely wish to inform and learn.
On another note, I will always refer to the proper name of each religion. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the proper name for the church that many people recognize using the name “Mormons”. Men gave the name Mormon to this church. Their true name is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
God
In a letter discussing the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Joseph Smith, the first president, said “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.” They call these three the Godhead.
To break that down, they believe in God. They consider Him the father of their spirits and frequently call God, Heavenly Father. In their belief, God is kind, just, all-wise, and all-powerful. God has a perfect, glorified body.
Going along with the belief of God is the belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. They believe God sent Jesus to earth as His Son to save all mankind. Through Jesus Christ, all men will rise from the grave in perfect bodies. Also, all people have the choice to repent for sins and return to live with God and Jesus because of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Jesus Christ also has a perfect, glorified body.
In the final part of their statement of belief in God, it mentions the Holy Ghost. As the name implies, they believe the Holy Ghost does not have a body. The Holy Ghost is sent by God and Jesus to testify of Christ. The members believe that after baptism if they do good, the Holy Ghost will stay with them always.
Plan of Salvation
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe that God sent us to earth with a plan to return to him. They call it the Plan of Salvation. This plan covers their beliefs on where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going.
They teach that before earth we lived as spirits with God. Then God presented a plan for them to get bodies like him by coming to earth. As the first human Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden and God kicked them out for eating the forbidden fruit. The members believe that if Adam and Eve had stayed in the Garden of Eden, then no one would have been born.
The next part of the plan teaches that God knew humans would sin and sent Jesus Christ to save us through His Atonement. They teach that while humans cannot return to heaven without the Atonement, we still need to do our best as judgment day will come.
The final part of the Plan of Salvation details the return to heaven. In the end, humans will be resurrected. They describe resurrection as the return of their spirit to a perfected body. Before that happens, spirits wait in the spirit world. After the resurrection of everyone comes judgment. They say people will be judged according to their knowledge and the works that they have done. From there Jesus will assign them to three different levels of heaven.
Introduction to Part 2 of the Beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
In writing and describing the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I realized I should break it up. If I included the whole of what I wrote, it would be a large pamphlet. While tried to condense their beliefs into broader categories, I still wrote more than I previously anticipated. Therefore, I decided I would break the blog into two parts. Also, I will include a section of the resources I used in part 2. The first two paragraphs include links to the sources if you want to look. I anticipate I will have to do this for most, if not all, of the religions I include.
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