Basic Beliefs of Mormons

I have a rather unique mind with a vivid imagination. That's a combination that can get me into trouble on occasion. It also can paint scenarios in my mind that can take me on trips filled with hills, valleys and surprising curves, thus the topic of this blog came about.

If I had 30 minutes with Jesus Christ what would I do? Well, first I'd ask Him to stay longer, natch. But in all seriousness there is so much I would want to ask, so much I would want to learn . . . just to bask in the presence of our Lord and Savior, I cannot begin to imagine the incredible feelings which would wash over me.

From the time I was a small child I have always turned to the Savior for support when I needed it. I think I would spend at least half that time thanking Him for always being there when I needed Him.

I recall when I was 17-years-old and found out that I had a heart condition that would kill me if I didn't have surgery. Over the course of the next few months my health continued to grow worse until in August of 1981 I was wheeled into surgery. Elder Russell M. Nelson, then a world renowned heart surgeon and now a living apostle of Jesus Christ, performed that open heart surgery which saved my life. There was a brief moment, before the sedation took effect when fear swept through my entire body. Very sweetly and very kindly I heard, "Be at peace. All will be well."

Was that my Savior? I don't know, but I know no angels speak words that are not the words of Jesus Christ. So, in essence, it was my Savior assuring me I would survive that surgery and go on to live my life. I am now 44-years-old with no heart problems. This is one thing I would wish to thank Him for, face to face.

Through the last seven years as my husband has struggled with end-stage renal failure and drawn close to death over and over, I have continually leaned on my Savior for the strength to be the wife that I need to be, to love my husband as he deserves to be loved and to be the helpmate I promised to be before we came to this earth. I have leaned on my Savior as terror has swept over me as my husband was rushed from my side, blood pulsing from every part of his body. I have leaned on my Savior as my husband lay in a drug-induced coma, his stomach and abdomen still open from the life-saving surgery. Time and again, regardless of the situation, my Savior has granted me the strength and support I have so desperately needed to keep moving forward.

And so with my 30 minutes I believe I would express my gratitude, sit, listen and beg to be enfolded in His arms, cradled and protected from the onslaught of wickedness and evil so pervasive in our society. I would crave to hear, "Well done my daughter, thou hast served Me well." And then I would rest, assured that my Savior loved me and would walk the remainder of this mortal path with me.

I am a daughter of God. As such, I believe strongly that there is much I have to do in this life to prove to my Heavenly Father that He was right to send me to this earth that I might prove myself in this phase of eternity. Mortality.

The Plan of Salvation tells us we lived before we came to this earth. No, I am not speaking of reincarnation, which is a false doctrine, but of premortality, that phase of eternity where we lived as spirit children of our Heavenly Father. It was there we learned about the plan of salvation and the opportunity Heavenly Father would give us to come to earth, having proven ourselves in our first estate; having chosen the side of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the War in Heaven (Revelations 12:7-12) and been granted the gift of a physical body and the chance to prove ourselves in our second estate.

And now here I stand, a student of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a fierce defender of the faith. I have been called a Mormon apologist and I am that. I have been called a defender of truth and righteousness, and I am that as well. I stand, shoulder to shoulder, with my brothers and sisters in the gospel as standard bearers to the world testifying with all the might, power and strength the Holy Ghost can give us . . . of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

I have known from my earliest cognizant memory that He was my Redeemer and my Savior. I have testified of this in churches and homes, across pulpits and tables, even on the couches of friends and family. And this I feel compelled to testify of once again.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He suffered that we might live . . . so much did He suffer that it caused Him to bleed from every pore. (D&C 19:18) And as He hung from that cross on Golgotha, once again the weight of untold numbers of worlds fell upon His pain racked body and every farthing was paid that eternal justice might be satisfied. Three days passed, and on that beautiful morning 1,975years ago He broke the bands of death (John 20) and became the first fruits of the Resurrection.

Because of Jesus Christ's willingness to descend from heaven, leaving His heavenly throne, to come into the world in a lowly and meek manner . . . we will live forever. Every single human being ever born will be given the gift of resurrection. Eternal life . . . that's up to you.

So I will be as an ensign unto the nations, proclaiming to the world of the literal Son of God, Jesus Christ. And as Alma of old I cry unto the heavens:

O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the atrump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people! (Alma 29:1)

When we fully come unto Jesus Christ, are we born again?

Conversion is a process, not an event. Conversion comes as a result of righteous efforts to follow the Savior. These efforts include exercising faith in Jesus Christ, repenting of sin, being baptized, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end in faith.

Although conversion is miraculous and life changing, it is a quiet miracle. Angelic visitations and other spectacular occurrences do not bring conversion. Even Alma, who saw an angel, became converted only after he "fasted and prayed many days" for a witness of the truth (Alma 5:46). And Paul, who saw the resurrected Savior, taught that "no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." (1 Corinthians 12:3) - (Gospel Topics: Conversion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, www.lds.org)

Lets examine these one by one . . . in order to be fully converted we must:

Exercise faith in Jesus Christ: Faith in Jesus Christ begins in one place. Is He your God, Redeemer and Savior? Do you accept Him as the Son of God, one chosen and foreordained from before the foundations of the world to save and redeem the children of God that we might continue forward in our eternal progression?

Once you have truly accepted those facts into your heart, a mighty change comes over you. You wish to be a better person. You wish to help others seeking, find Him. You change your thoughts and actions to be in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ. (Alma 13:12)

So no, you are not literally born again, but you are born anew as a son or daughter of God. In thus believing, you recognize that this mortal probation is about more than simply existing in the world, but is about growing, developing and triumphing over the world. That is faith in Jesus Christ.

Repent of our sins: We must cast off our sins and glory in being clean and new. The Atonement of Jesus Christ has given us the gift of being able to repent of our sins.

The full scope of the Atonement is something rarely understood, even by Mormons across the globe. If the weight of all the children of God's burdens caused Jesus Christ, even the Son of God, to bleed from every pore, how enormous was that burden? We, as mortals, will never be able to understand the depth and breadth of that price, but I invite you to understand a little more about what you've been given. Elder Bruce R. McConkie said,

"Nothing in the entire plan of salvation compares in any way in importance with that most transcendent of all events, the atoning sacrifice of our Lord. It is the most important single thing that has ever occurred in the entire history of created things; it is the rock foundation upon which the gospel and all other things rest." (Elder Bruce R. McConkie as quoted by Tad Callister in The Infinite Atonement, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 2000 4) - (Candace E. Salima, At-one-ment: Mormon Understanding of the Atonement, 2007, http://ldsblogs.com)

In so paying this enormous and incomprehensible price, Jesus Christ ransomed us, paying for our sins, sorrows and illnesses, that we might shake off the natural man, have the capacity to repent of our sins and walk with Him into eternity.

A greater gift I cannot imagine, and all we must do is repent of and forsake our sins.

Be baptized, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost: The waters of baptism are an amazing thing. I was baptized when I was eight-years-old and while I don't remember the specifics of the occasion, I do remember coming up from those waters, held safe by my father's strong hands, and feeling clean.

Now I hadn't sinned much in the first eight years of my life, not many children do, but neither had I been perfect. For that brief shining moment I was clean of all my sins and it was the most powerful feeling. The burdens of mortality were lifted and I was given a gift, the gift of beginning again, when I was old enough to make decisions, to live this mortal life as I had intended to when I was looking down from heaven.

and,

After baptism, those with priesthood authority laid their hands on my head and bestowed the gift of the Holy Ghost to be my constant companion as long as I remained worthy of his presence in my life. What an incredible blessing that has been. In times of great danger I have felt the soft whisper of warning in my heart, altered my course of action and been preserved. In times of questioning and seeking for knowledge I have felt the confirmation of truth and the Holy Ghost testifying of divinity of Jesus Christ that I might know with my whole heart and soul that He lives and Has paid that price that we might live also.

Elder Henry B. Eyring tells us,

First, receiving the Holy Ghost takes faith in our Heavenly Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ. The memory of a great spiritual experience in which that truth was confirmed to you won’t be sufficient. You will need to be sure of your faith in the moment of crisis, which may come at any time, day or night, when you plead for the influence of the Spirit. You must then be unshaken in your confidence that God lives, that He hears your cry for help, and that the resurrected Savior will do for you what He promised to do for His servants in His mortal ministry:

“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” (John 15:26) - (Henry B. Eyring, “Gifts of the Spirit for Hard Times,” Ensign, Jun 2007, 18–24)

Endure to the end in faith: And finally, enduring to the end. That seems to be the hardest part for everyone. Mormon history is filled with story upon story of individuals who endured to the end, despite all odds. Many of us face obstacles that seem insurmountable at times, but that is merely an illusion. There is nothing given us that cannot be overcome and done so with great eternal glory.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf told of difficult times in his own life:

We all go through different life experiences. Some are filled with joy, and others with sorrow and uncertainty.

I remember a time when things didn’t look good for our family when I was a child. It was in the winter of 1944, one of the coldest during World War II. The war front was approaching our town, and my mother had to take us four children, leave all our possessions behind, and join the millions of fleeing refugees in a desperate search for a place to survive. Our father was still in the military, but he and Mother had agreed that if they were ever separated during the war, they would try to reunite at the hometown of my grandparents. They felt this place offered the greatest hope for shelter and safety.

With bombing raids during the night and air attacks during the day, it took us many days to reach my grandparents. My memories of those days are of darkness and coldness.

My father returned to us unharmed, but our future looked extremely bleak. We were living in the rubble of postwar Germany with a devastating feeling of hopelessness and darkness about our future.

In the middle of this despair, my family learned about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the healing message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. This message made all the difference; it lifted us above our daily misery. Life was still thorny and the circumstances still horrible, but the gospel brought light, hope, and joy into our lives. The plain and simple truths of the gospel warmed our hearts and enlightened our minds. They helped us look at ourselves and the world around us with different eyes and from an elevated viewpoint.

My dear brothers and sisters, aren’t the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and our membership in His Church great reasons to rejoice?

Wherever you live on this earth and whatever your life’s situation may be, I testify to you that the gospel of Jesus Christ has the divine power to lift you to great heights from what appears at times to be an unbearable burden or weakness. The Lord knows your circumstances and your challenges. He said to Paul and to all of us, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” And like Paul we can answer: “My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) - (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Have We Not Reason to Rejoice?,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 18–21)

I testify to you that Jesus Christ meant every word when He said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) In this life we were never intended to carry our burdens alone. Therefore enduring to the end was never meant to be attempted with the aid, comfort and support of our Savior Jesus Christ.

And so, in living these principles in our lives we are fully converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to Him as our Lord, Savior and Redeemer. The Son of God who paid the ultimate sacrifice that we might be born anew, able to fully rejoice in the light and love of the one who ransomed Himself for us.