I’ve thought a lot about how to write this series of articles. I guess the idea came to me when I was writing another article, A Mormon for President? and debated about whether or not to post it on facebook. Many of my friends on facebook are friends from high school and other times in my life. I often share my blogs there that I have written. I wonder how many of those friends that aren’t Mormon wonder about what I truly believe. Maybe they were afraid to ask. Maybe they just assumed what had already been told to them by others. But, I decided I wanted to write a few articles about our basic beliefs as Latter-Day Saints without too much doctrine to bore the reader, but with enough to answer questions that some of my friends may want to ask, but just never had the courage to. After all, if a Mormon is running for president, people might just be curious. I want to write the articles in a way where it is like you are getting an informal answer from one of your Mormon friends. Let’s hope I achieve that! If you have a specific question, please ask in the comments below!!
First and foremost, let’s start at the beginning. I believe in God. I believe he is a real being with a perfect body. He is not a spiritual idea, or persona, but has a tangible body with a face, hands, eyes, ears, etc. You get the idea. I believe that we lived with God before we came to earth. And, our entire existence here is to be tested and try to live worthily to return to His presence one day.
I also believe that God (we often refer to Him as our Heavenly Father) had a son, Jesus Christ, who came to earth to die for our sins. He was a perfect man that walked and talked, performed miracles, and died on the cross for our sins so that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father again. Without Christ, we could not do this. That is because we all sin, and we are all imperfect, and we need someone that can help us overcome those sins through repentance and belief in Him.
Last, I believe that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are all three separate beings. They have a unified purpose to help us return to live with our Heavenly Father.
We pray to God (or Heavenly Father) in the name of Jesus Christ. Our church is centered around Christ. That is why its true name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We do not worship anyone else. We believe that we chose to come to earth before we came here when Heavenly Father presented a plan to us of how it would all work. The essential part of that plan was that Christ would die for our sins making it possible to return to live with Him.
Check back for more in this series of articles as we will continue to discuss what I believe as an active, and lifelong member of the Mormon faith. To learn more about these beliefs, go here.
Other LDS Articles I’ve Written: