Hi Rosebud,
you ask some very difficult questions, even for members of the LDS church. Most of these questions we don't know the answer to, as no direction has ever been given by prophets in relation to them. We try to focus on those questions important to our salvation, which are mainly what we focus on in church services.
These teachings are similar to other Christian faiths. They are primarily that Jesus Christ is our Savior and it is only through him and his grace that we can return to live with God. We believe that the path to him (necessary steps to receive his grace) is through faith, repentence, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and then enduring in this path. If we do these things, the grace of Christ will help us to be better people in this life and one day allow us to be cleansed of all sin so we can live with God again. As you can see, the basis of our church is similar to most other Christian churches, with the exception that we believe that Christ has blessed us with prophets today who have authority to speak for him and to establish his church, just as he did in ancient times. These prophets help us interpret scriptures correctly and receive important ordinances such as baptism by people who have authority from God to do so. Basically, we believe that God has once again placed his church on the earth and is leading us to make sure we don't believe in false teachings and know those truths necessary for us to be saved.
If you've ever listened to one of these modern day prophets speak, you'll find there's really nothing radical about what they say - they teach us to love our families, treat our bodies like temples, read our scriptures, pray always, be honest and serve others - many of the things which those who don't have misconceptions about our church know our members for. These are the basic principles that we try to live by, and they are exactly the reason that having Mitt Romney for a president is a good thing and something you can feel comfortable with.
In conclusion, your questions are mostly unaddressed in our church, and we are encouraged not to worry about them. Some members may guess these answers or conclude non-doctrinal answers from other teachings, but they shouldn't be accepted as the beliefs of the church as a whole. I CAN answer a few of your questions, but I'll post them in my next post, since this one is running long.
