Why can only Mormons go inside the Temple?

Most buildings you see from the Mormon church are chappels. These buildings are built for Sunday worship and for events that happen during the week, Like youth activities nights, or parties held within the church.

A Temple is different to a Chapel, in that it is not built for sunday worship, Infact it is closed on a sunday. Inscribed on each temple are the words "Holiness to the Lord, The House of the Lord" This is because it is the house of God. and is a sacred building in which the Holy Ghost is always present.

A common belief is that only certain people can enter the temple. This is both true and false. The reason not everyone can enter into the temple is because they need to be living at a level that God has set. The first requirement is that they must be a baptised member of his church. Second you must be keeping the commandments that He has given you (You don't have to be perfect just living at a level where you are honestly living to a good standard) For example you have to be keeping the laws of the land, The law of chastity, the law of Tithing and the word of wisdom.

In order to enter into the temple, You need to talk to the local Bishop (Or branch president) he than interviews you, and asks you questions about how you are doing, your faith in Jesus Christ and his restored gospel and asks if you are keeping his commandments. He will than sign a recommend to say that you can enter into the temple.

It really is a beautiful place and well worth visiting. Before a temple is dedicated they have an open house, which anyone is welcome to enter into the temple and see what it is like inside, If you are ever lucky enough to have a temple open near you, I would recommend going to the open house as it is very beautiful to look at., After the prophet dedicates the temple, it is than only members of the Church who have one of these recommends may enter. But anyone who keeps these commandments are welcome to have one, and if you want to get one, talk to the bishop and if you are not quite there yet, he can help you get to where you need to be.

Why do Mormons give 10% of their income to the church?

So, Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints live a commandment called "The Law of Tithing"  In 1838 Joseph Smith received revelation from God that God's people should live this commandment. (Doctrine and Covenants 119)

In this commandment God has asked us to give "One tenth of all their interest annually" this basically means to give 10% of your income to God.  People have asked me on a few occasions "Why does God need your money?" The truth is, He does not need anything from us, as everything belongs to Him anyway. It is less of God needing money, but more of God seeing if our hearts are putting Him above the things of the world.

This is not a new commandment, For example, in Genesis 28:20-22 Jacob makes a vow to God to pay one tenth of all he has to God.   Jacob saw that the things that God had given him were a gift from God and so he made this vow to God.

Malachi 3:8-12 Teaches us that by keeping this commandment God will "Open the windows of heaven, and our you out a blessing, that there shall be not room enough to receive it" And this is true, As with all of Gods commandments God has promised us blessings for keeping them, we just need to exercise faith in Him in order to receive those blessings. The best way to find out that this is true is to do as God says and "Prove me now herewith" and just try it out.

So what does the church do with this money? The money is gathered together, and is used as the Lord directs by the decision of the leaders of the church (Doctrine and Covenants 120) It is spent on, Building Temples, meeting houses (Chapels), Funding the missionary programme (This does not include expenses  of the individual  missionaries) Preparing materials used in classes IE Books and Hymn Books, Temple and family history work,  and education.

The leaders of the church support themselves from their jobs, and so it does not go to pay people as local ministers. So, the tithing does not go to support local ministers, but to support the organisation of the church as a whole and to support the needs of people who struggle with their lives.

The tithing is paid at the discretion of the individual, You simply put your donation in an envelope and give the envelope to the bishop, There is no tray, nobody will ask you if you have paid tithing, it is simply between you and God. Once a year the bishop will meet with the member of the church to give them a slip of paper with all of the contributions they have made during that year. You are asked if you are a full tithe payer, you can answer yes or no, Nothing more will be asked about it.

People who are not members of the church are not asked to give any donations at all. But if they choose they may donate to specific things like the humanitarian aid programme and other services the church provides.

The Mormon view of Marriage and Homosexuality.

Marriage is one of the most important parts of life, It is ordained of God, and has been ever since man and woman were placed on the earth (Genesis 2:24) As a Mormon I believe that marriage is not only meant for this life, but is to last for all eternity, That the relationship built between a man and a woman in this life, continues in the next.

The ability to be married for time and eternity, happens only within the Temple of God. The couple are sealed together before God by the power of the Priesthood.  Jesus Christ gave this power to his apostles (Matthew 18:18) The ability to bind on earth and in heaven. This same power is found within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and within the holy temple a man and a woman can be sealed together forever.

Having feelings of same sex attraction does not make you evil or any less of a human being. They can still be baptised or even attend the temple so long as they are keeping Gods commandments. What we emphasise however is not to act on such feelings, It is equally as sinful to do this as it is for a man and a woman to have sexual relationships outside of marriage.

Having these feelings is not a sin, anyone who has these feelings deserves the same treatment as anyone else, we should treat each other with the same love that God treats us, people should not discriminate against anyone no matter who they are.

The church has a website dedicated to supporting those who have these feelings and wish to keep Gods commandments.
http://mormonsandgays.org/

Who is God?

When someone asks the question who or what is God, people get many things come to mind. Some people think a big guy sitting on a throne with a big lightning bolt in his hand waiting to strike whoever makes a mistake. Others think of some invisible spirit with no shape of appearance.

The view we have of God is quite simple, He is our loving heavenly father, The literal father of all of our spirits, He has a perfected physical body as tangible as you and I. He is all knowing and is omnipresent through His spirit. We also believe that God the father, Jesus Christ and The Holy Ghost are three separate beings who form a Godhead. Each with their own role but united in their purpose.

We call God our Heavenly Father. That is because He is the literal father of our spirits. (Romans 8:16) Because of this, we recognise that we have and are able to build a personal relationship with God. Knowing that God is the literal father of our spirits helps you to understand why God wants to be involved in your life. As a perfect loving father, He allows us the freedom to decide for ourselves, Even if our decisions do not result in the happiness he wants us to have through keeping his commandments. 

He has a glorified perfected physical body He can touch, taste and feel things, just like we can, And when we reach heaven, We will all be able to live with God. With our own perfected bodies. (Revelation 21:1-4) We will live in peace and joy with all sickness and pains taken away, That really will be wonderful. 

Why don't mormons drink Tea and Coffee?

Sorry about the 2 week gap between posts :)

Throughout history, God has given commandment and guidance on what to eat and what not to eat. In return God has promised his followers health benefits for following such commandments. A great example of this is Daniel 1 Here the king Nebuchadnezzar gathers lots of the greatest minds of the time together and they are given rich meats and strong wine. The prophet Daniel was one of these people, but he refused to eat the kings meat and drink the kings wine.

After just 10 days, the benefits were shown, They looked healthier (Daniel 1:15) and God also granted them greater knowledge, and wisdom. they were found to be 10 times better (Daniel 1:20).

Just like in old times, God has given us a law of health, this law was given to Joseph Smith in 1833, and is known as "The word of wisdom" (Doctrine and covenants 89). And just as with all of God's commandments he promises blessings for obeying these laws.

Over time, the things specified that we should stay away from are Alcohol, Tobacco, Tea, Coffee, and Illegal Drugs.

In addition to the guide for what is bad for us, God has also given us guidance for a more healthy diet (Doctrine and covenants 89:10-17), That we should eat these include : Wholesome herbs, in their season, Meat sparingly, all grains,and fruit of the vine.

Basically it is a diet that a good health specialist will advise, eat healthy food, not too much meat and have lots of herbs and fruit. And stay away from things that are harmful to the body like Tobacco, Alcohol, Tea, Coffee and drugs. It is great to think that God gave this health code in 1833 a long time before you had health specialists :)

As a benefit for eating these things God has given the promise that we shall; (Doctrine and Covenants 89:18-21) Health in their navle, Marrow in their bones, They shall find wisdom, hidden treasures of knowledge, Run and not be weary, walk and not faint. These are some great things, To just generally be healthier.

So really, It is for two reasons, First because God said it is what we should do, and second it is to live a healthy lifestyle and look after the great gift of a physical body that God has given us.

what happens on Sundays at the Mormon church?

Moroni 6:9 "And their meetings were conducted by the church after the manner of the workings of the spirit, and by the power of the Holy Ghost; for as the power of the Holy Ghost led them whether to preach, or to exhort, or to pray, or to supplicate, or to sing, even so it was done."

So, In the Church Of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, we attend church on a Sunday and starts usually at about 10 Am. It is a 3 hour long service. These three hours are divided up into classes and the sacrament meeting.

The first hour we call "Sacrament meeting" This can be compared to communion. This meeting starts off with a prayer and a hymn. This is the most important meeting, because here we take the sacrament, Which is bread and water, that symbolizes Christs body and blood which was given for us so that we could become cleansed from our sins. We take this in remembrance of him, and to renew the covenants or agreements we have made with God at baptism.

After this, members who were chosen by the bishop give a 10-20 minute message to the congregation, The person giving this message prayerfully study the subject they are given to talk about and write it themselves, there are usually 2-3 people who talk during this meeting. this meeting is about an hour long.

The next meeting is Sunday school, this is divided by age, so the very young children play games and learn together, the youth (12-18) learn together and the adults learn together, each learning about things that are relevant to their age group. These classes are more of a discussion and everyone is welcome to share their feelings as guided by the Holy Ghost.

 

For the final hour the men and the women separate, and the men study together and learn more about being good fathers and husbands, and helping each other learn about their priesthood duties in the church and the sisters meet together and talk about being good mothers and wives whilst strengthening each other in their faith in God.

The best thing about the church services is the spirit that comes from being there, Personally, I have had times when I have felt that I really did not feel that happy or did not even feel like going to church, afterwords I feel like weight has been lifted from my shoulders, and I feel much happier. That is the Holy Ghost lifting me up for the week :)

Why do we need prophets and apostles today?

So, This is a question i get asked by people of lots of different faiths, This comes from several viewpoints. One is that the Bible is the whole word of God and that there is no need for anything more. Another is the belief which is correct but incomplete and that is that we are able to receive personal guidance from God. And also from the idea that because Jesus has come already we have no more need for prophets.

Lets begin with how God has lead his people in the past. Throughout the Bible God has spoken to his Children through Prophets, He spoke through people like Noah, Moses, Samuel Isaiah and many other prophets all throughout history. In paul's letter to the Ephesians(Ephesians 4:11-15) he teaches why we have prophets and apostles in the first place.

Im going to pick a few things out of that verse that teach me why we need them today. "till we all come in the unity of faith" as you can see from christianity as a whole, we are not united. There are people who attack the beliefs of other christians and that is not right. If the purpose of the prophets and apostles and pastors and teachers was supposed to bring us all together in unity of faith, Why is christianity so divided?

We are divided because the basic beliefs of each church is different, there are people who believe in the trinity, there are people who believe that they are 3 separate beings, even things as basic as if we need to be baptised and if so, how that baptism is done. the list of things go on. and in verse 14 it teaches "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive:" This teaches that they were teaching one doctrine and not hundreds of different opinions because they would have been united.

This does not mean that everyone who claims to be a prophet is a prophet, Jesus Christ himself warned against false prophets (Matthew 7:15-20) notice that he did not say there will be no more prophets, but instead he taught how to recognise them, he said "Ye shall know them by their fruits." some people even thought Jesus was a false prophet. in John 7:12-17 Some people believe that Christ is teaching false idea's and Christ says "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, weather it be of God or whether i speak of myself."

If we are to find out if someone is a prophet we need to listen and than we need to act, If they are a prophet the Holy Ghost will let them know if they are or not. And so i would invite you to listen to the prophet and apostles who have been chosen by God in our time, Pray about the things you teach and act on them, by doing this you will know if they are from God or if they are not.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/