Thread: Ask a Mormon

As many of you on this forum already know, I am an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS/Mormon). A few years ago I started an “Ask a Mormon” thread and I thought it would be good to do this again, since there seems to be many new faces on here. My purpose in doing this is to try and clear up the many misconceptions I have seen about my religion.

With that said, feel free to ask any respectful questions you have. Some questions I may not be able to answer and some may take me some time to get to, but I will do my best to answer every honest question.

Did Brigham Young order all those innocent people murdered at Mountain Meadows on September 11, 1857 or was it the local Mormon leaders?

Mountain Meadows massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by Divine Wind

Did Brigham Young order all those innocent people murdered at Mountain Meadows on September 11, 1857 or was it the local Mormon leaders?

Mountain Meadows massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

According to the credible evidence available, the answer to your question is no, Young did not order them to be murdered. In fact, the only correspondence from Young before the incident, which came too late, was a letter from him (referenced in your link) stating that “You must not meddle with them.”

Another point that is rarely mentioned is that first Lee went to local leaders and they told him to leave the wagon train alone as well. However, Lee’s paranoia overcame him, based on a supposed threat by someone in the wagon train he took seriously, and he convinced a few others (including some Indians) to carry out the massacre. From all that I have read about the credible evidence, it seems Lee went against both Brigham Young (although his letter did not get there in time) and local leaders.

Lee was convicted and executed for the crime and the Church built and dedicated a monument at the site. I actually visited the site last year.

Originally Posted by Devil505

No offense Christopher & I'll make this quick....but every time I read you thread title I see this:

Ask a Moron

...sorry

No worries.

Originally Posted by Christopher

As many of you on this forum already know, I am an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS/Mormon). A few years ago I started an “Ask a Mormon” thread and I thought it would be good to do this again, since there seems to be many new faces on here. My purpose in doing this is to try and clear up the many misconceptions I have seen about my religion.

With that said, feel free to ask any respectful questions you have. Some questions I may not be able to answer and some may take me some time to get to, but I will do my best to answer every honest question.

What exactly separates mormonism from the other mainstream christian denominations?

Originally Posted by kingrat

What exactly separates mormonism from the other mainstream christian denominations?

Good question. I think the main difference is that we believe that Jesus restored his church because of a “falling away” of the original church Jesus established with 12 apostles, etc. The church has always officially been called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

With the restoration, the priesthood needed to perform Gospel ordinances was restored and certain Gospel truths that were lost were also restored. The following I think are the main points of difference which really come about because of the belief in a restored church:

• Believe in the Bible only as far as it is translated correctly. We believe there is much in the Bible that is symbolic or metaphoric and not literal; also, that the Bible does not contain the writings of all the prophets, which is why we have the Book of Mormon. Not that these together contain all the writings either, however, we believe the Book of Mormon was revealed in order to restore the certain Gospel truths I mentioned.
• Belief that God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are three separate personages (this is probably one of the biggest differences). Where the Bible says they are “one” we believe has been mistranslated, and that the true meaning was a description of the three being “one in purpose”.
• Have a modern-day prophet, along with 12 apostles.

There are obviously others, although for the most part we believe many of the same teachings from the Bible that other Christians do.

Originally Posted by Christopher

Good question. I think the main difference is that we believe that Jesus restored his church because of a “falling away” of the original church Jesus established with 12 apostles, etc. The church has always officially been called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

With the restoration, the priesthood needed to perform Gospel ordinances was restored and certain Gospel truths that were lost were also restored. The following I think are the main points of difference which really come about because of the belief in a restored church:

• Believe in the Bible only as far as it is translated correctly. We believe there is much in the Bible that is symbolic or metaphoric and not literal; also, that the Bible does not contain the writings of all the prophets, which is why we have the Book of Mormon. Not that these together contain all the writings either, however, we believe the Book of Mormon was revealed in order to restore the certain Gospel truths I mentioned.
• Belief that God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are three separate personages (this is probably one of the biggest differences). Where the Bible says they are “one” we believe has been mistranslated, and that the true meaning was a description of the three being “one in purpose”.
• Have a modern-day prophet, along with 12 apostles.

There are obviously others, although for the most part we believe many of the same teachings from the Bible that other Christians do.

So, either you reject jesus' divinity or you are not monotheistic, strictly speaking. Which is it?

The other differences are not theological issues -- they are political in nature.

Originally Posted by Babylon

Is God unable to reveal himself in 3 persons and still be considered One God..?

That is the concept of the trinity -- 3 persons in one god (existence). From what I gathered from christopher, that isn't the case with them. That's why I asked.