Do mormons use the Bible?

So, in adition to The Book of Mormon, we believe in other scriptures, primarily The Bible (Both Old and New testaments) The Doctrine and Covenants and The pearl of Great price. We reffer to these as "The Standard works"

As the 8th article of faith teaches  "8 We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God." 

It can be a litttle confusing that we believe the Bible as far as it is translated correctly. It makes sense though, If you look at the Bible now there are hundreds of different translations. All of these translations have a slight variation on what it translates into, and in some verses the different translations have a very different meaning.


Because of all of these slight variations on translation we believe that we need to try to keep as close to the original text, You could say We believe in the Bible when it came from the pen of the original writer, and before man applied their own view on what the Bible teaches.

The Bible is priceless, The Old testament teaches many prophicies of our savior Jesus Christ and the New testament teaches of the fulfilment of these prophicies. It was written by inspired men and teaches about the importance of following God's commandments. And the New testament teaches about our saviors Earthly Ministry, there is nothing more important than the life of Jesus Christ.

The Bible and The Book of Mormon are equil in my eyes. Both will invite the spirit into your life and bring you closer to Jesus Christ. But if you want to know if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is realy from God, you need to read The Book of Mormon, Because it is unique to the church, If it is the word of God than this church was established by God, If it is not than this church is just another church teaching their own view on who God is.

Understanding mormon words.

So there are many words that are used in The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints that are quite unique to our church, and so understanding what these mormons are talking about can be difficult if you dont know what any of the words mean, so here is a list of some of them that I will briefly explain what they mean.

Ward - A ward is the word we use when we mean congrigation when someone refers to their ward they mean the local church they attend and the people who are a part of it.

Branch - A branch is just a smaller version of a ward with fewer members.

Stake - A stake is several wards who come together and support eachother. Kindof like if each ward was a village, a stake would be those villages working together like a county.

Stake Centre/Stake house - This is not where you go to eat food. It is usually the largest chappel in a stake and is where the members of a stake gather together once every few months or have larger social activities.

Sacrament - A sacrament meeting is the sunday worship service. where we take bread and water in order to remember our savior Jesus Christ.

Covenant - A covenant is an agreement between us and God kindof like a contract where God sets the terms and conditions and we agree to live it, We are than given promises from God for example when we are baptized we are promised we can live with God again after this life.

Atonement - The word atonement is what we use to discribe the sacrafice Jesus Christ made for us. It represents us becoming more in line with what God wants us to become. Through the atonement all of our sins can be taken away and all the wrongs that hit us in life will be taken away in the next life.

Standard works - The standard works of the church refer to what we also call the scriptures, this includes The Holy Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price and The Doctrine and Covenants.

General Conference -General Conference is where every 6 months the prophet and apostles give speaches and anouncements to the church world wide, It is broadcast over the internet and recorded on the churches website so people can access it at any time (Gc.lds.org)

Doctrine - This is used when refering to the beliefs held within the church, For example we believe that Baptism by immersion and proper authority is essential to our salvation, This would be doctrine.

"YSA" - Young Single Adults, It is a programme run by the church for 18-30 year old people who are not married like a big world wide social club for young people, they hold regular activities and parties and dances.

Family Home Evening -Family home evening is held every week, Usually on a monday where a family gets together and do fun activities together and read scriptures, this builds realy good relationships within the family.

"Motab" -The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

"LDS" - is an abreviation for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Mutual - A weekly activity for the yough ages 12-18 where they play games or do various activities together. Like a youth club.

"EFY" - Especially For Youth, It is a week long camp for the youth of the church to get together and learn and strengthen their faith together.

Relief Society -A Women's only organisation that is run by the women within the church, The main purpose is to provide help and support for each family within the ward and the community.

Institute - Institute is basically a bible study held usually once per week at the stake house. They do an in depth study on any of the standard works of the church It is usually only the YSA who attend.

Seminary - Seminary is for the youth of the church to teach them about the standard works of the church and helps them to understand them much better.

So, That is all the words I could think of, If there are any I have missed please post them and I will explain what they mean!

Why do so many momons go on missions?

A missionaries responsibility is to preach the gospel to the world. Both men and women serve missions within the church, For men (Elders) it is a two year service that they can go on from age 18 and older. For women (Sisters) They can serve for 18 months from the age of 19.

From an outside view, there would be no real reason for serving a mission, Dedicating two years of your life, where your soul purpose is to to knock on people's doors or talk to them in the street with the goal of bringing other people closer to God and find more peace in their life.

They do not get paid, there is no qualification at the end of the two years infact missionaries are asked to save money to support themselves for these two years. The average day starts at 6:30 when you get up, eat breakfast shower and exercise ready to begin two houds of study at 8AM till 9PM when you return to the flat and plan for the next day. The day ends at 10:30 when you go to bed.

You can literally be sent anywhere in the world (Provided the country allows missionaries into that country and is not under war conditions. From Africa, to Alaska you can literally go anywhere. You get asigned to a speciffic part of the world (For example I am in England London south which covers the south of england all the way up to London.

Most towns and cities have a congrigation to attend and the missionaries are asigned to these congrigations on average you stay there from 6 weeks to 6 months, Sometimes it can be longer depending on what the mission president (The man who is in charge of a speciffic area of the world) feels you should do.

So that covers the basics of what a missionary does. The reason why we do this, is to serve others and bring other's to their savior Jesus Christ. Sharing personal experiance we have gained and helping other's to find their own faith in God.

It is a great privilage to serve God, and for myself I can definately say that I have come to know God better and my relationship with Him has grown far more than it would have done if I had not come out. You also get to meet many people from all kinds of backgrounds and make friends all over the world.

The best answer tho comes from the individual however. If you want to know why a missionary is out there knocking on your door, ask him or her and they will tell you.

What happens inside Mormon Temples?

So, Inside the temple there are three main things that happen. Baptisms on behalf of those who are dead a ceremony called an Endowment and Marriage for Eternity.

1 Corinthians 15:29 "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they than baptized for the dead?"

Baptisms for the dead is something that was practices in the days of Jesus Christ, It comes from that First Baptism is required for everyone to enter into the Kingdom of heaven, and second that salvation is available to everyone who has ever walked on the earth.

What happens is members of the church go into the baptismal font and are baptized on behalf of those who have died. Members can do this when they reach 12 years old or if they have been baptized a couple of weeks. The people who are baptized are baptized on behalf of someone who has passed on, Usually an ancestor of that person. The person who has passed on than gets to choose, weather they accept Jesus Christ and are washed clean through baptism. Or they can reject Jesus Christ. They still have that freedom to choose. So if they do not want it, they just reject it.

The Endowment is a ceremony that new members of the church take part in after they have been in the church for about a year. Here we learn more about the creation of the world, and make covenants with God in addition to the ones we make at baptism. To Endow someone means to give a gift, And that is really what the ceremony is, It is a gift from God. There to give us guidance and strength to deal with the challenges of life.

After the endowment comes the sealing room. Here couples and families kneel down together at the alter and make a vow to stay loyal to each other and support each other, not just in this life but forever. There are two mirrors on the walls in this room, opposite each other they reflect each other over and over, symbolizing that this is something that lasts forever. It is a very beautiful thing to see.

And that basically is what happens, The temple is God's university, as we go through we learn thing all the time and receive guidance and personal answers from God. I find it wonderful that each temple has on it the words "Holiness to the Lord, the house of the Lord" because this is the house of God on earth.

Do Mormons Celebrate Christmas?

In short, Yes we do celebrate Christmas.

The first Christmas recorded in history was held a few years after the first Nicene creed was established by The Church of Rome (Roman Catholic church) in 325AD. Since it was introduced at about 354AD it has been used to celebrate the birth of our savior up until recent times when the giving of gifts has become the most dominant factor on Christmas.

In the recent years Christmas has drifted very far away from what the original intent was, But to me, Christmas is all about spending time with family and celebrate the birth of the most important and holiest man ever to walk on the face of the earth.

It is a time for people to think of each other and give gifts to those who they love and care for, It causes people to think more on those who do not have as much as they do. It is also something that lifts peoples spirits in one of the darkest times of the year.

Ultimately I believe Christmas brings people closer to God, because it causes us even if it is just for a short period of time to give and to love one another.  Here is a video that I like that teaches what Christmas should be about.

How do I repent?

So, the word Repentance is a Greek word and it means to change your mind, or form a fresh view or something.

In the scriptures we are commanded quite a lot to repent. And this is to change our own views and actions to be in harmony with God's views and commandments. This is what leads us closer to God and brings the Holy Ghost into our lives even more. And there are 4 simple steps in repentance that are easy to follow.

The first step in repentance is actually recognizing that you are doing something that is not in harmony with God's commandments. It would be pretty hard to stop doing something wrong if you did not realize that it was wrong in the first place.

Second, you need to stop doing it. This is the most difficult step, especially if you are addicted to things that are just extremely difficult to turn away from like drugs, alcohol, pornography, even something as simple as swearing can be very difficult to stop doing, If you don't believe me try not swearing for a month see how difficult it is. By turning away from these things you find your life improve and you become more free because you are not tied down by these things, Just as Jesus Christ said "The truth shall make you free" (John 8:32) If you have done something like stealing something than you need to find a way to pay the person back, It can be very difficult, but it is worth it.

Third, you need to apologize. Saying sorry, and meaning it, Are important steps of repentance, It allows you to seek the forgiveness of whoever you have hurt. You can say sorry to God in prayer and you can say sorry to whoever you have hurt other than God, Once you have apologized than you need to learn from what you did wrong and leave it in the past, both you and whoever you have hurt. Apologizing to yourself is also good, saying sorry to yourself for hurting yourself.

The final step is do not repeat the mistake. You have left it in the past, and that is where it needs to stay. You can learn from it and you can warn other people not to do it, but you should not do it again and you should leave it behind, If you don't you will never be free from it because it will always haunt you.

Repenting is something that is very difficult and it would be impossible for us to become perfect without the help of our beloved savior Jesus Christ. Ask God for help in all things you do and than try your best to achieve them, if you have done these two things than there is nothing more really that can be done.

How do I pray?

So, Prayer is basically like sending a letter or making a phone call to God. You can do it when ever you want or where ever you want. Praying is really simple and easy, it has three simple steps.

The first step is address God, So start by saying something like "Dear God" or "Dear Heavenly Father" anything like that, something that shows first that you are talking to God and second that you are showing great respect to God. The example Jesus Christ gave when praying commonly referred to as The lords prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) started with "Our Father, which art in heaven"

After that, the next part is up to you really, Her you can thank God for things, you can ask questions that you don't know the answer to, you can ask God to watch over friends or family really, Anything you like.  An example could be "Are you there?" or "Can you bless my mother <Put your mothers name here> and bring our family closer together." anything really. Be as specific as you can really, because you are than making it clear on what you are asking God.

and than to finish the prayer, ask for these things in the name of our savior Jesus Christ. so say something like "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." or something like that. the use of the word "Amen" at the end is like saying "I agree with this" and means "So be it" or close to that. and so when you hear someone else say a prayer and you say "Amen" at the end you are saying "I ask for this too" and along those lines.

So a quick example here "Dear God, Are you there? and If you are there, can you let me know what I should do? I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen" It is as simple as that really. God loves to hear from you, and has asked that you always keep a prayer in your heart, it does not matter who you are, where you are or how far you have gone away from God, He wants to hear from you, even if you feel because of your mistakes you should not talk to him.

If you have never prayed before, Try it right now, or before you go to bed, By doing so you will find a relationship with God What is the worst that can happen?