When their preparation is complete, individuals must progress and spend time on earth. Gaining a physical body, they practice actively choosing between good and evil the Articles of Faith reject the concept of original sin and gain new levels of knowledge that will allow them to become like God, the ultimate goal of Mormon spiritual development. Mormons believe that after death, the spirit leaves the body and moves on to the spirit world to wait for resurrection.
During this time, those who did not embrace the Gospel are segregated from those who lived according to God's word, and the spirits of individuals who never had a chance to hear the Gospel are given this opportunity.
The Plan of Salvation teaches that Heaven is divided into three separate kingdoms of glory: the celestial, the terrestrial, and the telestial. These kingdoms are where all men and women except a certain few known as Sons of Perdition, who will go to Outer Darkness will go after they are judged by God and their spirits are reunited with what will be their immortal bodies.
Those judged to have followed the Gospel move on to the celestial kingdom, ruled by God himself. Those who did not devoutly follow but also did not actively reject the word of God are sent to the Terrestrial Kingdom, and those who actively rejected the Gospel or committed grievous sins must dwell in the Telestial Kingdom, away from God's light.
Latter-day Saints believe entrance into each kingdom depends on a person's worthiness and their adherence to the commandments of God and the ordinances he has prescribed. Since God is the ultimate judge, all people will be judged fairly and put into the kingdom where they will be most happy. Even so, according to Mormon theology, all three kingdoms are kingdoms of glory, and even the lowest is more glorious than man can currently comprehend. While it is true that the church has recently placed more emphasis on their Christian-ness than it once did, from the time the church was organized in onward, church members have always regarded themselves as Christians.
Their name, "Latter-day Saints" references the fact that members of the "primitive" church in New Testament times were called Saints. Gordon B. Hinckley , president of the church, has said, "We are Christians in a very real sense and that is coming to be more and more widely recognized.
Once upon a time people everywhere said we are not Christians. They have come to recognize that we are, and that we have a very vital and dynamic religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.
There are Christians -- particularly among the modern evangelical and fundamentalist communities -- who argue that Mormons are not Christians.
They base this contention on the fact that the Mormon conception of God -- summarized by LDS President Lorenzo Snow, who said, "As man is God once was, and as God is man may become" -- differs from traditional Christian ideas. They also point to the Mormons' avoidance of the cross as a religious symbol Mormons believe it is a symbol of Christ's death, and they prefer to focus on his life, his suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, and his resurrection ; their belief in the fallibility of the Bible because of its human translation ; their acceptance of continuing revelation which gives Mormonism an open canon ; and their rejection of the Nicene Creed, a list of common Christian beliefs originally authored in AD and subscribed to by most denominations.
Animosity between fundamentalist Christians and Mormons peaked in the s, when the Southern Baptist Convention held an annual meeting in Salt Lake City, partly in hopes of converting Mormons to Protestant Christianity. More recently, some high-profile fundamentalist Christians have gone on record apologizing for past discord and accepting Mormonism as a branch of Christianity, but some tension remains. The Mormon temple is considered an earthly point of contact with higher spheres of being.
Mormons believe that God is present in the temple space. This makes it a sacred place set aside to learn things that allow individuals to progress toward becoming like God -- the temple ordinances, especially celestial marriage, make "eternal progression toward Godhood" possible.
The family unit is central to Mormonism, and the primary ritual function of the temple is to perform ceremonies that seal families together, thus allowing them to dwell together for eternity when they pass on to the celestial kingdom. The specific rituals supporting this function are marriage and family sealing ceremonies -- in which a husband, wife and children are officially bound together -- and baptism for the dead -- through which individuals who died without accepting the Latter-day Saints' Gospel and no longer possess the physical body required for baptism are represented by living proxies, thereby granting them the opportunity to join their families in the celestial kingdom.
The temple is also used to perform the Mormon endowment ceremony. During this ritual, adult Mormons go through a series of lessons and exercises to deepen their faith, and they make covenants with God to keep his commandments. After receiving their endowments, Latter-day Saints wear a distinctive underwear on which special marks are embroidered. Known as "garments" , this underwear, worn next to the skin at nearly all times , is meant to remind individuals of their commitment to their faith and to God.
Men generally receive their endowment before going on a mission and women before they marry, but it is not a one-time ceremony like baptism. A recruiter told the Salt Lake Tribune that returned Mormon missionaries are valued for their foreign language skills, abstinence from drugs and alcohol, and respect for authority.
The doctrine of "continuous revelation" is a central tenant of Mormonism. Mormons believe that Jesus, under the direction of God or Heavenly Father , leads the church by revealing his will to the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who is considered a modern-day prophet and seer.
Mormons regard the sayings of the modern prophets as additional scripture, and are open to the possibility that God could reveal more scripture in the future. So unlike most Christian denominations, Mormonism has an open religious canon - the church's doctrine always has the potential to change. Perhaps the most famous modern-day prophecy is the revelation that all males - including black men - could hold the Mormon priesthood.
The Twilight series, by Mormon author Stephanie Meyers, is an allegory for the Mormon concept of "celestial marriage" - the belief that a couple that is "sealed" in a Mormon temple will stay bound together forever in the afterlife. Edward and Bella's bond is sealed when Edward bites Bella. As with a Mormon marriage, there's no turning back for Bella, who is transformed into a vampire for eternity. Clearly, the idea has some appeal.
The series has sold over million copies worldwide and is available in 38 languages. Although the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints the official Mormon church abolished the practice in , it still believes that the divine principle of plural marriage may apply in heaven. In the case of death or divorce, Mormon men can be sealed to another wife and all of their celestial marriages will be honored in eternity.
The LDS Church has tried to distance itself from the 40, fundamentalist Mormons who still practice polygamy in the U. Mormons wear special undergarments called a "temple garment" to remind them of their covenant with the Mormon temple.
It is also designed to give "protection against temptation and evil. Mormons, however, feel that they are misunderstood. Further, there is an emphasis on discipleship as necessary for salvation. Millet states that human works are necessary to exercise faith in Christ, receive sacraments and ordinances of salvation and render Christian service to neighbours, in addition to relying upon the merits, mercy and grace of God.
Although all these biblical and Christological differences are significant, it is likely that the opposition to Mormonism is strengthened because of controversial past policies. An interesting question that arises when studying the question of whether Mormonism is Christian is whether Mormons view other Christian groups as Christian.
In conclusion, Mormons seem to believe they are Christian because their first Article of Faith declares their belief in Jesus Christ as the divine Son of God. However, Mormon and traditional Christian doctrine differ on many levels, including scripture, the deification of humans and the nature of God, the triune Godhead, and the path to salvation. Similarly, Shipps believes that the relationship between Mormonism and Christianity is like that between Judaism and Christianity.
Because Mormonism aimed to reform Christianity, it can be viewed as a whole new religious tradition as Christianity was eventually viewed as diverse from Judaism. Past LDS President Gordon B Hinkley once stated that it did not matter what people of other faiths thought of them but it was how they regarded themselves that was important.
Why do they desire this recognition so badly? Well, it is likely that it is because they want to be recognised as legitimate and respected among American Christians.
Further, in order to increase their following it is necessary that they are not perceived as too different. Paul reeve and Ardis E. Is Mormonism Christian? Latter-day Saints believe that God still speaks to humankind, that He has called new apostles and prophets and that revelation flows today as it did anciently. Further, many of those revelations have been formally incorporated into new volumes of scripture.
The same temple rites can be performed for those who have died. There is no counterpart to temple practices in other Christian churches. This is a difference in practice rather than in doctrinal belief, since many Christian churches send out missionaries to preach the gospel. However, the missionary program of the Church is distinctive and recognizable for the sheer number and distribution of missionaries, for the length and variety of their service, and for their appearance and their preaching of a restored gospel.
The Church of Jesus Christ has no full-time professional clergy at the congregational level.
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