Welcome to Gaia! ::

I am not Mormon myself, but I know a lot of people who are, including my neighbors, my grandparents, my aunt and cousins, and a few friends at school. My community is very tolerant of Mormons, as you can probably tell, and so am I. =]

Thanks again! You've sparked new questions within me...

I know that to enter an LDS temple you must be baptised and have a permission slip from a bishop. Is it the same way for CoC temples? Can can Mormons enter them but non-Mormons not? Can CoC enter an LDS temple? Or can anyone who wants, Mormon or not enter a CoC temple? Or was it that you visited before the temple was sanctified, which, at least for LDS, is the only time non-Mormons can enter the temple?

Also, I was interested in learning a little about the Community of Christ. What are the basic differences between them and LDS Mormons? I know there are break-away Mormon groups that still follow the practise of polygamy. Is the CoC one of these groups? I didn't think they were, but I don't know for sure.

All I know about the Mormon religion comes from a little pamphlet I got from two guys going door to door and talking about faith. It discusses the Book Of Mormon a bit, but I know I'm obviously missing a lot. But my favorite author is Mormon, and I've met her, and she's a really cool person, so I don't have many doubts about it.

CoC is an interesting split. Their main separation from the LDS has been that they believe that church presidency/being the prophet should have been passed down from father to son. Thus they split away when Brigham Young was made the 2nd president of the church after Joseph Smith, Jr. rather than his son Joseph Smith III. However, the past couple prophets were NOT direct ancestors and I am not sure how they reconcile that for themselves.

CoC does not practice polygamy, the main break off group that DOES are those followers of Warren Jeffs or Tom Green (Who I consider Creeeeeepy!). But yeah, CoC don't. As for their temple, yes, anyone can go in. They don't have, like ceremonies in it. More like a museum. It is a fascinating place.

The differences between LDS and CoC are growing. We have the same HISTORY (with Joseph Smith and such), but the actual practices (and, of course, recognition of who has authority from God since we both believe in continued revelation) differ. It has been interesting to compare. A lot of people in my church, sadly know very little about other faiths, even those that have the same origins. I just don't like it that way. So I took a church history trip and spent some time just getting a taste of THEIR beliefs. I think it helped me appreciate my own, for one thing, but also I think any time we learn more about the people around us we become a better world. Even if this wasn't much of a reach. wink

Your favorite author? Who is it? (I am a hopeless bibliophile!) Okay if you read the type I do I am going to guess Stephenie Meyers? Or maybe Rachel Nunes?


AAAAAND once again I will talk more later... like about the Temple... but I really should have been in bed an hour ago. I have work tomorrow morning!

One of my very best friends is a member of the LDS (Latter-Day Saints, i.e. Mormon) church. I honestly think that Mormons are some of the nicest people I know. Her family always looked worried when they started talking about the church with me, saying, "If you think we're proseltyzing, please feel free to stop us, all right?" But I never felt that way. I loved learning about Mormonism. I don't necessarily AGREE with a few of their beliefs (the baptism for the dead, for example), but I am really very comfortable with the religon.

I'm not the best candidate for Mormon baptism (I have gotten tipsy, I have smoked, I'm kind of lazy, etc.), but I really actually would like to be baptized. The unfortunate thing is that my parents and sister are all equally intolerant. Sure they adored my friend because she was polite and very soft-spoken, but when they saw me reading the BoM, they'd make horrible jokes like, "When you date a guy make sure you know how many girlfriends he has!" and they also told me that I was NOT to make ANY decisions about my religous beliefs until my SENIOR year of college! I don't think you can put a restriction like that on what you believe. Sure, there WAS polygamy, but that was really only practiced by certain..."radical," (shall we say?) branches of Mormonism. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has outright banned polygamy. Pretty much, it's really the radical Mormons who perverted the teachings that practice polygamy. Also, Mormons do not worship Joseph Smith, which is a pretty common rumor. Joseph Smith was a prophet, who was given a great gift by God.

I have been to the Hill Cumorah Pagent that Mormons go to three times. Hill Cumorah is where Joseph Smith was said to have found the plates, after being led by the angel Moroni, a messenger of God. The Pagent celebrates the Book of Mormon, and many followers of Mormonism come from the world over (I've seen people who have come from Japan to see Pagent)! The very unfortunate thing is that there are many Born-Again Christians who come to protest and jeer. I will not slam all Born-Agains, but coming to protest in a DEVIL costume, calling the statue of the angel Moroni a "Golden Calf" is going a little too far in my opinion.

Sorry for the long rant, but that's my opinion.

Dorkyfishy, MoA is mostly right. Keeping the temple holy is one of the main reasons we don't allow anyone to come in without preparation, and that includes members of the faith.

Another main reasons is so that the ceremonies mean something to the people who DO go. There is a lot of symbolism and to be honest, going in before some study and prayer, it just would seem WEIRD. We don't want the things in there mocked, they are sacred to us more than SECRET. And so we don't go through the temple until we have prepared ourselves.

Usually, this means not just getting baptized, but making changes in your life to prepare to make even MORE covenants with the Lord. Some people have to make more changes than others in their lives before feeling ready. Getting a recommend (that's the permission slip) signed by the Bishop and Stake President (the next higher up ecclesiastical leader) doesn't mean CONVINCING them you are ready, they usually just ask questions, but at the end they ask if YOU feel ready. Going to the Temple does NOT mean you are a perfect member of the church, but it means you have more standards to hold to than before and therefore are more responsible for your actions in the end. But it is also a great blessing.

Most times members of the faith don't go through the temple officially until they are preparing for something like being married in the temple or serving a mission for the church, though sometimes they just feel strongly it is time. I have been through the temple and did so because I was preparing to serve a full-time mission, which I did. My little brother recently went through the temple, too, in preparation for his mission to Italy. He is still in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah for that, learning Italian. My younger sister also chose to go through the temple, but was one that just decided it was time, not in connection with marriage or mission.

Sometimes when I hear the question "why isn't everyone welcomed into the LDS temple?" I want to answer, everyone IS welcome... ANYONE can come in. Men, Women, any race, from any country, rich or flat broke is welcome. But they would have to choose the steps that would bring them there.

You too?! Hee hee! I LOVE those books. Dreamy Edward the Vampire always turns me so GIRLY!!!


Hee hee hee! I understand their concern! I try to be careful never to FORCE my beliefs on anyone, but some people have dealt with the pushy sort that do and if I so much as say "Well, I'm Mormon" they practically shout at me "YOU CAN'T CONVERT ME!!!" I'm like, umm, okay, well, then I suppose I'll go drain the baptism font I keep in my house rolleyes Hee hee hee hee! Seriously, I DO believe it is true and so yes, of COURSE I want people to join but just because I want them to be happy, but I also understand some of my friends are PERFECTLY happy with what they believe and I am not going to shove it down their throats! (The thing is some DO. I live in Utah, I KNOW.)

I have a friend with parents like that! His family is Jehovah's Witness and so they think we are downright EVIL. But he is still studying the church in secret. But, geez... senior in college?!

Okay, I don't know what's up THERE. We aren't anti-medication. confused Good THING, too because holy hannah, I'm a walking pharmacy.

That is to say, we are not against medicine that is NEEDED. ABUSE of prescriptions is just as wrong as illicit drug use. Maybe she is battling some sort of dependency to the vicodin?

I have a problem with a religion like Mormonism and Scientology that was invented after the year 1800. Sorry, I do. The Mormon Church was founded in 1812 by John Smith who has maybe six people sign to the fact that he had golden tablets that made up the Book of Mormon. What happened to the tablets? Did they melt it down and use the gold to buy the church? Why isn't it in the Mormon church museum or something? Sorry, but these are my problems with Mormonism. Besides converting anyone who doesn't believe what they believe in.

And Scientology? Is it really a religion or just a way of life?

SIGH. *murmurs to herself "This is the religious tolerance guild" to keep from pulling her hair out.

I have no problem with people not believing what I believe (I should be used to it by now, huh? Hee hee!) but I DO have a problem with people TELLING me what I believe. If you are going to debate, do some homework (or at LEAST read the rest of the thread as a way to check your facts.)


Of course, this is just our opinion but we believe we were not "invented" then, but rather "restored." In other words, we believe that Joseph Smith was given authority to restore the church to the way it was meant to be by Christ, before the apostasy (the time when there was not a prophet on the earth... like the dark ages, for instance). Obviously, that's debatable. whee

However THIS is not... Joseph. Not John. You are thinking Pocahontas, perhaps? And even though there are many MANY more people who have had testimonies given them of the Lord of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith as a prophet, as for actually SEEING the plates there were at least 13 counting Joseph and his wife Emma and 11 others signing to it officially. Sorry to be grumpy, I just don't like it when people tell me what I believe. If I want to know what a Jehovah's witness believes I ask a Jehovah's Witness, not a Catholic. That makes sure I get a pretty close to the truth fact with the added bonus of knowing the individual's thoughts on it, as I believe that not one person in the world believes exactly the same as the next. I KNOW this is the case in my family anyway, and most are Mormons, like me.

Well, I can tell you what we BELIEVE anyway. The angel Moroni, who had first shown Joseph where they were buried in the first place (which is fitting as it was he who hid them so long ago. Moroni was the last writer in the Book before burying them.), took them back. Will we ever see them again? Maybe. Pretty sure God wouldn't be pleased with leaving them here right now as someone probably WOULD steal them and melt them down or something. Sell them on eBay, perhaps? hee hee! Anyway, yeah, so that's why we don't have them.

Well, that's another issue all together. I understand that some Mormons are downright annoying about it. I HOPE I'm not, but everyone has their threshold. And I KNOW some missionaries are just plain IDIOTS. I know because I have worked with a few. But, in theory, we are just "doing our job" that God gave us.

"Isaiah 61: 1
1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound"

Anyway, more about that another time.

I would assume it is a Religion as I define religion as a set of beliefs regarding a higher power. But I don't know much about it because, I am not a Scientologist and like to get my info straight from the horses mouth, as it were!