A Modern Prophet

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is led by a man whom we believe has been called of God and presides as the prophet over the earth. Our prophet today is Thomas S. Monson. Every six months (the first weekend of April and the first weekend of October) we have the opportunity to hear him speak to us. This is called General Conference. The whole church listens to the prophet, his first and second counselor, members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and other general leaders of the church. We are able to watch this on TV, the internet, listen to it on the radio, and read their words in the church magazine. It's a wonderful opportunity to hear what the Lord wants us to hear. We believe that the prophet explains the will and the guidance of the Lord. When we hear President Monson speak it is as if God is speaking to us.

The talks that are given are usually 10-20 minutes long and are about a variety of topics. Topics are not assigned and it's interesting to note that there seem to be some themes for each conference. For example, a few weeks ago we had General Conference and there seemed to be a theme about keeping families strong and teaching our children about the truths of the gospel.

If you are interested in reading, listening to, or watching any of these talks, please click here.

Why the emphasis on families?

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints place a heavy emphasis on the importance of family. One of the reasons for this is because "the family is ordained of God" and anything ordained of God is important to us (The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Click here to read).
One of the other reasons is that we know families are not only given to us in this life but forever. If a man and woman are married in the temple under the proper Priesthood authority their marriage is not "till death do us part." It lasts forever. They will be husband and wife forever, they will be the parents of their children forever. Because this family unit is not merely a mortal thing we want to make sure and make strong family bonds here in this life so that we will have those close bonds in the next.
A third reason that families are so important to members of our Church links back to our main purpose in coming to earth: to become perfect like our Father in Heaven. None of us are perfect here, but eventually, through time and repentance we can all be perfect. One of the best places to learn how to become perfect is in the family. Elder Dallin H. Oaks, one of our current Apostles, gave us this council, "family relationships...are the setting in which the most important part of that development can occur.... Exaltation is an eternal family experience, and it is our mortal family experiences that are best suited to prepare us for it.” " (The Challenge to Become, 2001).
Families teach us things that we need to know in the eternities and give us a place to experience love, joy, safety and comfort. As members of our Church we try and do all we can to make sure our family ties are strong.

Whom Do We Worship?

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we believe that God, the Eternal Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct personages. We call them the members of the Godhead. We revere all three but save true worship for God the Father. The amount of respect, awe, and appreciation that we give to the Savior may be termed to be worship, but as Bruce R. McConkie (a past leader of our church) taught, "worship in the true and saving sense is reserved for God the First, the Creator" (1982). We worship God in our temples, our churches, and our homes.
There are those who erroneously believe that we also worship Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith restored Christ's church and reorganized it in these latter days. We believe that he spoke with God the Father and Jesus Christ and was directed in how to organize this church. We honor him, revere him and are eternally grateful to him but we do not worship him.

Marriage Between a Man and a Woman

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that marriage should be a union only between a man and a woman. Although to some this belief may sound intolerant, old-fashioned, or narrow-minded, I hope that by explaining some of our other beliefs I am able to show why we believe the way we do.
We believe that through keeping God's commandments we will one day become like Him. Our Heavenly Father created each of us, He truly is our Father. We believe that someday everyone who has followed His commandments will become a God, able to create just as our Father in Heaven has. This creation of new worlds, new humans, requires both a man and a woman. Just as a baby cannot be born without a man and a woman on this earth, so it is in the heavens. We will not be able to create new worlds without a man and a woman working together to create.
Heavenly Father gave us the union of marriage to provide a way to create. He has given us marriage as a means of creating families. Marriage between a man and a woman is not only necessary, it is sacred. By redefining marriage, one is trying to redefine God's laws. Man's way is not God's way. By supporting the union of only men and women in marriage we, as members of the Church, are not trying to discriminate or punish anyone with same-sex orientation. We are trying to uphold something so sacred that it is not only part of our world, but part of the eternities.
I hope this has helped answer some questions about our view on marriage and why it is so important to keep the definition of it being between a man and a woman. I hope that my explanation helped to clear some things up and did not further complicate things for anyone. Please comment if you have any more questions or would like to say something about this or any other posts. Thank you for reading our blog. We hope that we have helped.

Life After Death

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that everyone will live on after life here on this earth. We believe that before this earth was created God put together a plan that would help us become like Him and return to live with Him again. We call this The Plan of Salvation. We believe that every person who has been or will be born on this earth will be resurrected. This means their spirit will be reunited with their perfected body. We believe that everyone will live forever.

In my opinion, one of the most beautiful doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints if that of eternal families. We believe that if a husband and wife are married in the temple under what is called the sealing power, that they will be husband and wife forever. This sealing power is talked about by Christ in Matthew 16:19 when He says, "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (italics added). This binding is done through the sealing power. If a wife loses her husband on this earth she can know that through the sealing power she will not only see her husband again, but they will still be husband and wife--that marriage will never end.

Families are not meant for this life only. Families are meant to be forever. And they can be. With the sealing power families can be together forever.

John 17:3

A great verse that I love is in the Bible, in John 17:3. It says, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." We are supposed to come to know God and Jesus Christ. I believe that it is possible to come to know them. It doesn't make sense that we cannot get to know them and have a relationship with them. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that God the Eternal Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct beings. We believe that God and Jesus both have separate, perfect immortal bodies. God, is our Father, and we have the wonderful blessing of communicating with Him through prayer. Prayer is a great way that people can express their feelings of gratitude and can also ask for things that they need in their lives. I believe that God always answers our prayers in the best way for us. As we see Him answering our prayers, we can come to understand His love and concern for us. We can also see His power as He answers our prayers. The scriptures are also a wonderful resource to see how God has been involved in the lives of other people throughout history. God is so willing to help us, but we have to have faith in Him. I know that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and is a God of love. I know that God is our Eternal Father and we are His children.

About Rachel

Hello,

I'm Craig's wife, Rachel. Craig came up with the idea for this blog and I'm really excited about it. He had a great experience teaching people about the Church while serving his mission in Wisconsin. Girls in the Church are able to go on full-time missions just like the boys but they are encouraged to look for opportunities to marry first. Because of this, girls don't leave on missions until the age of 21 (two years after boys normally leaves). I had always wanted to serve a mission and talk to people about the Church. However, I met Craig and was married before I was able to serve a mission. Craig and I have decided to do what we can to talk to people about the Church and we hope to serve a mission together after he retires.

I hope that this blog can answer the questions some of you have about the Church. If you think of a question that we are not addressing, please leave a comment about it and we would be happy to answer it. Like Craig said, this is not an official church website. We will do our best to present the Church's point of view but we encourage you to visit lds.org or mormon.org if you're interested in finding out more. You may find mormon.org more helpful as it addresses many questions that people have about the church. Lds.org is more of an archive site for recent talks and speeches given by Church leaders, but it also has articles from Church magazines, and online access to the scriptures (The Old Testament, The New Testament, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants [which are revelations given mostly to Joseph Smith who restored, or brought back, the Church in the early 1800's] and The Pearl of Great Price [a more in-depth account of Moses and Abraham]).

Thank you for visiting our blog. We are excited to get this going!