Educational Questions From a Friendly Outsider

[GlenbrookSouth]

Hello members of the LDS. I am here from Glenbrook South HS in Glenview, IL. I am currently taking a Western World Religions Class and for our Final, we are required to research about a current Western Religion. My group and I have selected the Latter-Day Saints Church and plan to attend a service tomorrow! While we research these questions intended for an educational purpose, we are required to have a 30 minute demonstration on the Latter-Day Saints Church beliefs. Our goal is to research, study, compile significant data, and present information to the class and hope that you can help my group and I.

Please bare with the amount of questions that I have and hopefully you take no offense in these questions.

A. Elaborate on the role/function of women as members.

B. Elaborate on the LDS's opinions on other beliefs systems and the validity.

C. Elaborate on the beliefs of interfaith marriages according to the LDS Church.

D. Elaborate on the beliefs concerning abortion and euthanasia ("mercy killings").

E. Attitudes towards homosexuality.

F. Who does the Mormon Church support in the presidential election of the United States of America? (General Populous)

G. What is the LDS primary mission in the world? Please explain.

H. Elaborate about any of the key beliefs in the LDS Church.

I. Elaborate on the view of the afterlife according to the LDS Church? (What happens after we physically die? What is our destiny?)

J. Anything else?

I am going to be talking to a Bishop at the LDS Church in Glenview/Wilmette for about an hour and will be asking him similar questions but would love the feedback of the LDS Mormon Forums. Also, I'd like some suggestions for when we visit the Church. (Females/Males separate?) (Can we take pictures of the Church?)

I come in kindness and respect.

Thank you for any help you can offer to our quest in achieving a good grade and learning about the interesting life of the Mormon Church.

[prisonchaplain]

For the major doctrines of this church, I'd recommend going to LDS.org and looking up "Articles of Faith." Unlike most Protestant creeds or statements of faith, the LDS consider this document an actual part of Holy Scripture.

[Palerider]

For the major doctrines of this church, I'd recommend going to LDS.org and looking up "Articles of Faith." Unlike most Protestant creeds or statements of faith, the LDS consider this document an actual part of Holy Scripture.

couldn't of said it better myself Prison Chap...thanks:)

[Vanhin]

Hello GlenbrookSouth,

I'm glad to hear you guys are making a visit to one of our meeting houses and are attenting our Sunday services tomorrow. You will be able to learn a lot from that visit alone. Also as prisonchaplain pointed out, our Articles of Faith (AoF) serve as a great starting point, and when possible I will use them to answer your questions.

I am happy to take an stab at answering your questions, or at least pointing you to the answers the Church has already given.

A. Elaborate on the role/function of women as members.

This might be helpful in answering this question:

LDS Newsroom - Women in the Church

B. Elaborate on the LDS's opinions on other beliefs systems and the validity.

our 5th AoF states:

We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

It is our belief that this authority to preach the gospel and perform sacred ordinances is found only in the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We call this authority priesthood. That said, we accept all truth, regardless of where we find it, and we believe that the other religions in the world have much truth. Another oneof our AoF describes it pretty well. AoF 13:

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

C. Elaborate on the beliefs of interfaith marriages according to the LDS Church.

Of course, it is desired that people marry in the faith, because that makes life a little bit easier, and also because marriage is such an important part of our religion, but interfaith marriage does occur in the Church. Members in such marriages can be members in good standing as well as those who marry in the faith. Here is a good article by President Spencer W. Kimbal that will help you understand this -> LDS.org - Liahona Article - The Importance of Celestial Marriage

D. Elaborate on the beliefs concerning abortion and euthanasia ("mercy killings").

These two statements from the Church's newsroom answer your question:

LDS Newsroom - Abortion

LDS Newsroom - Euthanasia and Prolonging Life

In short The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes in the sanctity of human life, and is therefore opposed to euthanasia, and opposes elective abortion for personal or social convenience, and counsels its members not to submit to, perform, encourage, pay for, or arrange for such abortions.

E. Attitudes towards homosexuality.

The Church teaches it's members to live the law of chastity, which is that men and women should have no sexual relations outside of legal and lawful marriage. We define marriage as being between a man and a woman. This is a touchy subject and I can't think of a better answer than given by the Church leaders in this article:

LDS Newsroom - Same-Gender Attraction

F. Who does the Mormon Church support in the presidential election of the United States of America? (General Populous)

The Church’s mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, not to elect politicians. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is neutral in matters of party politics. This applies in all of the many nations in which it is established.

That is from the following statement that elaborates on the subject:

LDS Newsroom - Political Neutrality

G. What is the LDS primary mission in the world? Please explain.

As from the previous answer, the Church's mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the nations and people of the world.

H. Elaborate about any of the key beliefs in the LDS Church.

If you haven't yet, now would be a great time to check out the Articles of Faith:

Articles of Faith 1

I. Elaborate on the view of the afterlife according to the LDS Church? (What happens after we physically die? What is our destiny?)

We believe that the spirit on man is the offspring of God, and have entered mortality as part of God's plan for our progression. Our 3rd AoF states, "We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.". Salvation can mean different things to us, depending on context, but ultimately it means that because of the Atonement of Christ and through our obedience to the principles and ordinances of the gospel, we can return back to the presence of God, and live with him forever.

Here's another link that elaborates:

LDS Newsroom - Plan of Salvation

J. Anything else?

Lot's! :) Any questions so far?

Sincerely,

Vanhin

[ztodd]

Hello members of the LDS. I am here from Glenbrook South HS in Glenview, IL.

Hello, welcome!

...

Also, I'd like some suggestions for when we visit the Church. (Females/Males separate?) (Can we take pictures of the Church?)

I come in kindness and respect.

Thank you for any help you can offer to our quest in achieving a good grade and learning about the interesting life of the Mormon Church.

Yes, you can take pictures of the church. Just don't go crazy flashing your camera everywhere inside the church. Perhaps turn your flash off. :)

There are 3 parts to our sunday worship service. The first part is usually the sacrament meeting part where everyone meets together. The other two are priesthood / relief society where men and women split off, and sunday school with men and women together. There are nursery and primary classes for the kids and other sunday school classes and young men and young women classes for the older kids.

Mormon.org - What to Expect

[GlenbrookSouth]

Thank you all!

Another help will be greatly appreciated as we are presenting on Tuesday.

[GlenbrookSouth]

"Those who choose not to follow Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will receive a reward according to what they have done in this life, but they will not enjoy the glory of living in the presence of God."

Does this mean that people who do not follow the Church of the Latter-day Saints will be going to hell? I'm not sure, this quote is taken from LDS Newsroom - Plan of Salvation

It is very broad, can someone elaborate?

[butongrl]

Hi there glen,

Thankyou for your interest in the mormon church. Going back to your question about the mission of the church: the threefold mission of the church is to proclaim the gospel, perfect the saints, and redeem the dead.

As for your last question. No, we do not believe anyone will go to Hell simply on the basis they do not follow the church. We believe that we will be judged not only of our faith but also our works. Many people have a hard time with that and argue the point that mormons believe works will save us. That couldn't be further from the truth. Faith in Jesus Christ is what will save and redeem us. We believe that there are three degrees of glory (kingdoms prepared by God): the celestial kingdom, the terrestrial kingdom, and the telestial kingdom (which is what this earth would be considered). According to our faith and works on this earth we will be judged by Jesus Christ at the last day and receive one of these kingdoms or for the extremely evil people who have done sins that are not redeemable will go to what we call outer darkness. Just a short simplistic explanation. :)

[Finrock]

"Those who choose not to follow Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will receive a reward according to what they have done in this life, but they will not enjoy the glory of living in the presence of God."

Does this mean that people who do not follow the Church of the Latter-day Saints will be going to hell? I'm not sure, this quote is taken from LDS Newsroom - Plan of Salvation

It is very broad, can someone elaborate?

Good afternoon GlenbrookSouth!

To answer your question: It does not mean that people who do not follow the LDS church will be going to hell.

What it does mean is that anyone, whether members of the Church or not, who choose not to follow Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, will receive a reward based on the life they led, but they will not be able to live with God in his presence. The LDS church believes in various degrees of heaven, so to speak. We call them Degree of Glory. They are the Celestial Kingdom, Terrestial Kingdom, and Telestial Kingdom. All of these are a form of salvation. So, most people will not go to "hell", but will receive some degree of God's glory to enjoy forever. Even the most vile of people have an opportunity of enjoying some degree of glory, but only those who choose to follow Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will be able to live in the highest degree of glory, the Celestial Kingdom.

I hope this answered your question and was helpful.

Regards,

Finrock