My thoughts on my religion
Throughout my life, people have
asked me questions about why Mormons do certain things. For example, one that seems to come up a lot
is why we don’t drink alcohol, coffee or tea.
I do not mind these questions at all and I am happy to answer them. I even enjoy the jokes and the comments that
are made. These questions for the most
part have been asked respectfully without ridicule and I appreciate that very
much. And just because you may drink alcohol does not mean that we think that
you are a bad person. That is not true
at all. Obviously if you do not share our beliefs, we do not expect you to
follow them. However, not drinking alcohol or coffee is not what Mormonism is
and my purpose of this post to let people know what it is that I believe and
why I believe it. You are all welcome to
your own opinions and beliefs, but I feel the need to share what is really
important about what we believe.
First and foremost, I believe in
God. I believe that we are created in
his image and that we are his spirit children.
I believe that we lived with him before this life, and we came to earth
to obtain a body and to be tried and tested.
I believe that God knew that we would make mistakes and would sin, and
that we would need a mediator to pay for those sins and that mediator is Jesus
Christ who is the only begotten Son of God. I believe that in the garden of
gethsemane, that Jesus Christ suffered for the sins of the world when he bled
from every pore. I believe that he died
on the cross and was resurrected 3 days later, which makes it possible for all
of us, both the wicked and the righteous to be resurrected one day.
It is a little funny that we are
called Mormons. A lot of people don’t
know that the name Mormon was a nickname that people gave us in the 1800’s
because we read from the Book of Mormon.
The book really isn’t about Mormon.
It is about Jesus Christ, and is another testament of Jesus Christ that
complements the Old and New Testament in which we read as well.
I believe that when Christ walked
the earth, he organized a church that was built upon the foundation of apostles
and prophets with Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone of that
foundation. God has used prophets since
the beginning of time to be his mouthpiece, and to receive revelation regarding
that which followers of God should do.
When Christ called these apostles and prophets, he gave them authority
to receive this same revelation and to preach the gospel and to do all the
things that go along with preaching the gospel like performing baptism.
I believe that after these apostles
died that this authority was no longer on the earth.
I believe that God the Father and
his Son, Jesus Christ later appeared to a man named Joseph Smith in response to
the question of which church he should join in the year 1820. God and Jesus Christ answered Joseph that he
should join none of the churches because though they had many truths, the
fullness of the gospel was no longer on the earth, and the authority that
prophets and apostles had to receive revelation and to baptize was no longer on
the earth.
I believe that God called Joseph
Smith to be a prophet, gave him this authority, and commanded him to restore
the original Church of Jesus Christ to the earth with the same organization and
practices.
I believe that an angel appeared to
Joseph Smith to give him a record of a people who believed in Christ that lived
on the American continent. It was in the
form of gold plates and written in an ancient language. Joseph translated these plates by the power
of God, and this record is The Book of Mormon.
This is how you can find out with the story of Joseph Smith is true or
not. The Book of Mormon contains a
promise that if you read it, and kneel in prayer to ask good with a sincere
heart and real intent if the book is true, that he will tell you it is true by
the power of the Holy Ghost.
It is true that I was born a
Mormon, but this is not why I believe it.
I believe it because I took this challenge myself, multiple times. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of
God as is the bible. And because I know
that the Book of Mormon is true, I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet
and that God and his Son Jesus Christ appeared to him and told him to restore
his church.
I believe that there is a living
prophet and there are living apostles today.
The prophet’s name is Thomas S. Monson.
And there are 12 apostles. These
men receive revelation in the same way that the apostles and prophets in the
Bible did. They speak to us often. Their
messages are centered around Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us, and I
believe them.
Thank you for reading this. My purpose in writing this as stated before is
to help people understand what it is I really believe aside from just not
drinking coffee. I also appreciate my
friends who are not Mormon who respect my beliefs and are accommodating to them. I want to let you guys know that I respect
yours as well. Thanks for being such
good friends. If you ever have any
questions, feel free to ask me. If I don’t
know something off hand, I will look it up for you. Thanks again for reading.
-Vic
