What Are The Mormons View of The Afterlife?

So many people believe that there is just heaven and hell. You either go one way or the other. If you go to heaven you sing happy songs, you live with God, you pick flowers...things like that. And if you go to hell you are tormented throughout all eternity. You are being whipped with chains by demons inside a boiling lake of lava, and you are being poked with pitchforks by horned people with the bottom half of a goat. Also what about the people who never got to hear about Jesus Christ and except him? Most churches say 'Well, that's sucks for them. They're still going to hell."

Well I'm hear to ask you this. Does that sound like a merciful God to you? In Nehemiah 9:31 it says, "...for thou art a gracious and merciful God."

The thing is it's not just heaven and hell. It's not just fire and brimstone or puppy dogs and flowers. Because if God was not merciful, then He would yet to be God.

But here is how life after death really is. You have the Spirit World, which consists of spirit paradise and spirit prison. Then you have judgment, where our Father in heaven will open your Book of Life and judge you based on the works you have done. Then after we are judged we will be placed into one of three places. The Telestial Kingdom, Terrestrial Kingdom, and the Celestial Kingdom.

Now let me explain a little about these kingdoms.

Telestial Kingdom- Are for those who continue in their sins and do not repent. They will receive a place in the telestial kingdom


Terrestrial Kingdom- Is for people who refuse to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ but who live honorable lives. They will receive a place in the terrestrial kingdom.

Celestial Kingdom- Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ reside in the celestial kingdom. If you live according to the gospel of Jesus Christ and are cleansed from sin by the Atonement, you will receive a place in this, the highest kingdom. You will live in God’s presence and know complete joy.

Now I don't know about you but I want to to the the Celestial one. But even if we have been placed into one of the other two kingdoms we will still know happiness and joy. Because we will be comfortable where we have been placed. Look at it this way. How would you feel living next door to God knowing all of the bad things you've done in your life. I know I would feel extremely uncomfortable. So this is why he has given us these three kingdoms. To be happy within our own surroundings. I mean bikers hang out at biker bars because they like the atmosphere, and they like the people they are with. Well if you are someone who hates bars and hates bikers you wouldn't be comfortable there now would you?

Now some of you are thinking, "Well what about hell? What about damnation?". Well I'll tell you. Do you know what the definition of 'Dam' is?  It means to hold back or to obstruct something. Meaning, to stop progression. By being placed into either the 'Telestial Kingdom' or the 'Terrestrial Kingdom' you will be damned. You will stop progression towards God. In the Celestial Kingdom though, that is where we will be able to learn and to progress to become more like our Father in heaven. 

So now that I've explained the Three Kingdoms, let me get to the Spirit World. Now I like to think of the Spirit World as a kind of place that is sectioned into two parts. Spirit Paradise and Spirit Prison. In my personal opinion there will be no physical boundary between Prison and Paradise. But it will be a Prison and a Paradise within ones self. If you have lived a good and and honorable life and you feel like you have done well on earth, you will be in a personal state of Paradise. But if you lived a horrible, evil, rotten life. You will be in a personal state of Prison.

Remember earlier when I was talk about people who never got the chance to hear or even learn about 

Christ? Well maybe you're wondering what happens to them. Those people get the chance in the Spirit World to learn about Jesus Christ. They also get the chance whether to accept Him or not. When the time of judgement has come, no one will say "Well I've never heard of this Jesus guy."Everyone will get the opportunity to hear His name and learn about Him. 

Now from what I have written, does this sound like a fair and merciful God to you? I believe it is. Because a

merciful God is one who loves continually. A merciful God doesn't condemn people to hell for trying to strive to be good, and yet falling short. He has given us these three kingdoms for our happiness. This plan that he has for us has two names. One is the Plan of Salvation, the other is the Plan of Happiness. "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25)

Why Do Mormon Churches Have Steeples?

So quite recently my companion and I had this question raised to us. To be honest it caught us a bit off guard. We were in a lesson when the question arose. The lady we were teaching asked us "Do you know why Mormon Churches have steeples?" My companion and I looked at each other dumbfounded and confused. But luckily the person we brought to the lesson with us spoke up and asked her, "Why do you think the churches has steeples?" Her response was, "So that when God and His Angels come during the Second Coming they will be impaled and die." We weren't trying to be rude but we all laughed a bit at the answer. Afterwards we explained why we had steeples on churches. Below is the actual reason why steeples exist on church buildings.

Hundreds if not thousands of years ago people used to tell time by sundials, but depending on where you

were located (even if 10 minutes away) the time could be significantly different. The only time you could truly tell what time is was is sunrise and sunset. So those where the only times when church members would worship. Back when Constantine had made Christianity the state religion, the people wanted to start worshiping during the day. So the idea of a steeple was created! Can you guess what was in them? BELLS!!! The steeples were created so that they could store bells. When it was time for church the pastor, minister, bishop, or whomever would ring the bell, signaling to the people what it was time for church. And this went on until the early 19th century. During the early 19th century we began to carry watches on our person so that we all could tell what time it was. Bells were no longer required to tell the people what time church started. Gradually over time the steeples became decorative.

To the LDS people steeples are yes decorative, but as well they have a meaning behind them. We believe that the steeple symbolizes our connection to Heavenly Father. In fact they point straight upward reminding us of who's children we are and where we can one day live again!

Are Mormons Christians?

We as members do believe that we are in fact Christians. We worship the Father in the name of Christ. Our beliefs are built on a foundation, which is Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith once said "The fundamental principles of our religion is the testimony of the apostles and prophets concerning Jesus Christ, ‘that he died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended up into heaven;’ and all other things are only appendages to these, which pertain to our religion."

Many different Christian denominations don't believe that we are Christ centered faith. In recent decades, however, some have claimed that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not a Christian church. The most oft-used reasons are the following:

1. Latter-day Saints do not accept the creeds, confessions, and formulations of post–New Testament Christianity.

2. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not descend through the historical line of traditional Christianity. That is, Latter-day Saints are not Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant.

3. Latter-day Saints do not believe scripture consists of the Holy Bible alone but have an expanded canon of scripture that includes the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.

All of those things are true. And yet, we are a Christ centered faith.

1. What are the percentages of sacramental worship services that focus on Jesus Christ? 100%

2. There were 1.3 million worship services with the sacrament (communion) administered in Christ's name last year.

3. We members believe that the Bible is Holy scripture testifying of Christ's divinity, and the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ.

The noun definition of the title "Christian" is - person who belives in Jesus Christ

The adjective definition of the title "Christian" is - belonging to a religion based on the teaching of Jesus Christ 

 Jesus Christ is mentioned 3,925 times in the Book of Mormon-a mention every 1.7 versus. Now does the LDS church sound like a Church that is not Christian? No, we don't. We believe wholeheartedly that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. Sure we may have some differential beliefs, but what Christian denomination doesn't. Nicodemus believed that if you just believe in Jesus then you will be saved. Almost all Christian denominations believe that only faith matters not works. We believe in free will to do good or evil. Most Christian churches think that free will to do good is seriously impaired. 

We all have different beliefs. And we strive to try our best to respect other beliefs. The 11th Article of Faith says, "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may." 

All I will now say is this. Now that you've taken a little peek on how we actually are Christians, don't try to correct us and tell us that we are not. If you want to know if Mormons are Christians, ask a Mormon not your pastor or preacher. 

Why Do Mormons Not Drink Coffee And Tea?

Doctrine & Covenants 89:9-10 says "And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly."

"And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man."

We as Mormons believe that Coffee and Tea are harmful to the human body. Below are some items I have found on the web telling why both Coffee and Tea are harmful to the body.

Coffee

"Among the typical health claims about coffee is it decreases the risk of developing cer­tain cancers and diabetes. However, it increases your risk for stomach cancer and leu­kemia. Just like with most drugs, there are perceived benefits -- and then there are the side effects which often render the “cure” worse than the disease.

Coffee can also:

• Interfere with your body’s ability to use water, and promote fluid loss
• Raise your cholesterol
• Send your insulin levels out of control
• Contribute to rheumatoid arthritis and stroke
• Damage your blood vessels
• Increase your risk of heart disease

Coffee interferes with your body’s ability to use folate, and vitamins B12 and B6. Your body needs these nutrients in order to keep your homocysteine level in the healthy range. Elevated homocysteine levels are associated with a wide range of serious, even life-threatening conditions."

Here are 10 reasons why Coffee is harmful to the body.

1. "The caffeine in coffee increases catecholamines, your stress hormones.  The stress response elicits cortisol and increases insulin.  Insulin increases inflammation and this makes you feel lousy.
2. Habituation to caffeine decreases insulin sensitivity, making it difficult for your cells to respond appropriately to blood sugar.  High blood sugar levels lead to arterial deterioration and increased risk of mortality related to cardiovascular disease.
3. Unfiltered coffee has the highest amount of beneficial antioxidants yet also leaks the mostditerpenes into your system.  These diterpenes have been linked to higher levels of triglycerides, LDL and VLDL levels.
4. The helpful chlorogenic acids which may delay glucose absorption in the intestine have also been shown to increase homocysteine levels- an indicator for increased risk of cardiovascular disease which tends to be elevated in diabesity.
5. The acidity of coffee is associated with digestive discomfort, indigestion, heart burn, GERD and dysbiosis (imbalances in your gut flora).
6. Addiction is often an issue with coffee drinkers and makes it really difficult to rely on the body’s natural source of energy.  Ask any coffee drinker about how it feels to withdraw from coffee, and you will mistake their story for that of a drug addict’s…
7. Associative addictions trend with coffee – who doesn’t immediately think of warm, frothy sweet cream and sugar when they picture coffee?  Surely the business of coffee has inspired a culture addicted to the sugary, fatty tastes of what has become more of a meal then a drink! That morning latte is the epitome of food lacking nutrition density yet packing energy!
8. 5-HIA, an organic acid and component of the neurotransmitter serotonin ( the happy chemical) seen in the urine tends to be elevated in coffee drinkers which means they may be at risk for lower levels of serotonin synthesis in the brain.  Serotonin is necessary for normal sleep, bowel function, mood, and energy levels.  It is a vicious cycle as caffeine can disrupt sleep and promote anxiety and depression. We all know someone who tends to be tired, wired and over caffeinated!
9. Elevated urinary excretion of important minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium have been noted in coffee drinkers. An imbalance in your electrolyte status can lead to serious systemic complications.
10. Constituents in coffee can interfere with normal drug metabolism and detoxification in the liver making it difficult to regulate the normal detoxification process in the liver.  Another issue to be aware of with coffee intake is how certain medications such as levothyroxine (thyroid) as well as tricyclic antidepressants are poorly absorbed, making symptoms curiously worse for patients.

Now what… If you think you can’t cut that coffee out, think again.  I did it and now I want you to feel the same level of renewal and restoration I experienced. It’s a wise experiment to provide yourself a break from coffee intake and see what it feels like to live your life on your own fuel.  Remove coffee and caffeine safely from your system and see how authentically energized you feel!"

Here are some of the effects from drinking Tea.

Tea (Non-Herbal)

"The top ten harmful effects of Tea."

1- As per as the new study by Rutgers University scientists have found new research that tea is harmful to us as it causes chromosome damage and also fetal leukemia. This was reported by the edition of The Washington times online.

2- Tea extracts also have a compound name as phytochemicals which are in plant-derived foods that effects our biological activity in the body. This can really cause dangerous side effects into us. This was said by Joshua Lambert, the lead author of the university.

3-Tea is a big source of slowing down our digestion. Tea contains an element called ptyalin, this is a kind if digestive ferment of saliva. Tanin is responsible for this condition, but we often use milk so however it gets disappears when we do so since milk precipitates milk. But since tea delays our stomach digestion that could lead us to gas formation diarrhoea and constipation as well.

4- Tea is also a major cause for kidney disorder. Experiments have been proved that 5 cups of tea increases a persons urine by 400- 500%. This continuous process of stimulation for consuming caffeine might damage them. Tea also creates kidney stone as it contains high concentration of oxalate.

5- Tea also causes Premenstrual syndrome as people who usually drink 1- 4 cups of tea everyday as likely to have Premenstrual syndrome than the non tea drinkers. People who drink 8 cups of tea or even more have chances for Premenstrual syndrome almost 10 times.

6- Drinking to much of tea leads to incontinence which makes urgent impulse for frequent urine. As per as the recent study caffeine exerts pressure onto the bladder that leads to muscle surrounding which in returns increases the need of urinate.

7- Due to caffeine the respiratory and cardiac muscle also get stimulated leading to coronary arteries which gets diluted as a result increases into the rate of blood flow. The fastening of respiration lowers the carbon dioxide level.

8- Tea is also a source of element that can increase th toxicity in human body. People who take in large amount of tea would go through this. The younger leaves of tea lack the quantity of aluminum whereas the older tea leaves are the actual source. For avoiding this picking of the tea leaves leads to the reason.

9- Tea also leads to insomnia. This is a good source of alerting you mentally and physically too as its large amount induces to insomnia. It only effects for people who are addicted to tea. This also causes sleeping disorders that are quite common which affect the health of humans in a negative order. Researchers have proved this and has rather recommended to have less of tea in order to stay fit.

10- tea is a source of esophageal cancer as per as the study. Esophagus is a canal that links the oral cavity to your stomach and when you drink a very hot tea this canal gets damaged, as a result it leads to this disease. To avoid this a warmer tea is better to take in. If you try and follow this method of waiting thus could lead to lowering the rik of this esophageal cancer.

Why Don't Women Hold The Priesthood In The Mormon Church?

The answer to this question at its core is remarkably simple. Before I get to the answer though I would like to address something. I know that there are members and non-members of the church reading this. Some of you members may even be part of LDS feminist groups such as the Ordain Women. But all I ask from you is this, please take into consideration the information that I have put forward concerning the question stated above, thank you.

So like I said the answer to the question at its core is very simple. The answer is, women hold the 'Key' to physical birth while men hold the 'Key' to spiritual re-birth. All women have the ability and blessing to give birth. It's a sacred and spiritual blessing that our Father in Heaven has given them. The role of women is to nurture, love, guide and teach correct principles to their children. 

The role of men is to preside over their family, direct them in righteousness, love, and seek to do service for his family and his fellow man. To help the men fulfill that purpose God has given them the Priesthood Keys. Just because men have been given responsibility to hold the keys doesn't mean that they have more privileges, blessings, or power than women in the church or in spiritual things. Men aren't the priesthood, the priesthood is the power and authority of God, but men are the vessels that God has authorized to "hold" and watch over the keys of His priesthood so that they aren't misused or lost. God has said that His house is a house of order and He has designated men responsible for keeping the keys of the priesthood organized and safe so that when they are needed they will be available to all who seek them, both men and women.

Women don't lose anything because they don't "hold" the keys or administer the priesthood. They are still given the authority to participate in the same priesthood ordinances and receive the exact same blessings as the men who administer the ordinances. God has given women equal responsibilities to that of men. Although these responsibilities are not always clearly defined, like the roles of the Priesthood, the jobs of women are equally if not MORE important than the role of men. Men and women are different and God has given each different talents, gifts and responsibilities that enrich the lives of all human beings.

The world tells women that if they don't have the exact same responsibilities or opportunities as men then they are being cheated and controlled. This is just another of Satan's lies. And if any of you women here believe that you are being cheated and controlled just because you don't have the priesthood, you need to think again. Enemies of the Church often state that Latter-day Saint women are "under the thumb" of their husbands. Such descriptions are not only untrue, but are offensive to Latter-day Saint men. A proper understanding of the relationship between women and the priesthood will reveal that the Church reveres and respects womanhood and offers women every possible blessing.

Now before I end, let me go out with a bit of a bang by asking a couple simple questions. First off, where is the most spiritual part of a man's body...? Give up? The answer is the hands. The power of God comes through the hands of men. We as men give blessings by the laying on of hands, we confer the Priesthood by the laying on of hands...etc. Now let me ask another question. What is the most spiritual part of a woman's body...? This one is a bit harder, it's the womb. You as women don't realize how lucky you freaking have it, honestly. You have such a higher responsibility and such a higher calling than we do as men. One reason we have the Priesthood is so that we can be on the same level as you! The reason why the womb is the most spiritual part of a woman's body is because it is a LITERAL, PHYSICAL, DOORWAY from heaven to earth. Now just let that sink in a bit. You women who are reading this post, you are the literal physical doorways from heaven to earth. How does that make you feel? I hope it gives you a new outlook on who you are as a daughter of God. You have been trusted with one, if not the most sacred responsibility on this earth. All of you women who feel that you are being cheated because you aren't given the ability to hold the priesthood keys need to stop being so butt-hurt. You have such a higher calling than any man on this earth, and you need to realize that. 

I hope that this post has given you at least some insight on why women don't hold the priesthood. But as I stated in the first paragraph of this post, please take into consideration the information that I have presented to you. Pray about it, and ask our Eternal Father if the role of a woman is really one of the most sacred roles on this earth. Thank you for your time, please leave your comments below.

The Atonement- By Dan Williamson

My name is Daniel Williamson, I am a native to Colorado, I work in Emergency Medicine, I am married to a beautiful and amazing woman named Jamie and I am the father of two wonderful little girls, Kylie and Victoria. Together with all of these titles I hold, I have another which is most precious to me, that of a member of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints, I am an Elder in the Church, a Returned Missionary, I am a Mormon.

I say that my membership in the Church is most precious to me, some may criticize me for saying this, stating that nothing should come before my wife and kids, to them I say that without the Gospel I would not have any of these wonderful blessings (least of all because it was at a Church Young Single Adult ward that I met my eternal companion). There are many people who would say “I don’t know where I would be if I didn’t have the Gospel”; I am not among them. I know my weaknesses, I know of what evil I am quite capable and I know the consequences thereof and it is for this reason that I am so grateful for this atoning gospel.

I invite all of those who may be reading this to ponder with me both the Atonement and the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what they can do in our lives.

First, the most basic question is also the one with the most profound answer:

What is the Atonement of Jesus Christ?- To answer this question we can first break the word down to its syllables: AT/ONE/MENT. It is the Plan set forth By God to make us “At One” with Him again. In the Church we hear the word Zion many times, this means “Of one heart and one mind”, if we are to truly obtain this Zion, we must be of one heart and one mind with our Heavenly Father. To become one with Him again indicates that at some point there was a separation from Him. Let’s recount briefly, the story of Adam and Eve.

We know that they lived in paradisiacal glory with our Heavenly Father in a state of blissful happiness and immortality. We know that they were given two contradictory commandments (meaning that to keep one requires breaking the other) to multiply and replenish the Earth and to not partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. How long they remained in this state I do not know, but I do know that it was not designed to last, they did not have the knowledge required to multiply and replenish the Earth, this knowledge was to be obtained as mortals, where they may learn from their own experience the good from the evil.

Satan, in an ignorant attempt to sabotage God’s plan, tempted the couple and they did partake after being beguiled (deceived), for which they were cast out of God’s presence. Now you tell me what their sin was… Was it adultery? Murder? Fornication? Stealing? Nope, none of the above, they took a bite of a fruit that they didn’t even get to finish, and yet it was still enough to make Heavenly Father say “OUT!”. Now think back on your life, have you done anything worse than taste a piece of fruit (take this one literally) that you were told to leave well enough alone? I know I have.

Now some will say that God loves us and will remove all impurity from our lives just because. Others will say that he will allow sin no matter what and perhaps most commonly some will say “well its small” or “I do the big things, surely God will just ignore the small stuff”. These are deceptions from the devil himself, “for God cannot look upon sin with ANY degree of allowance”. To illustrate this, I want you to imagine your favorite food. Got it? Okay now imagine if I were to offer you a lifetime supply of that food, you could have as much or little as you wanted for free whenever you want. Sounds good right? Now I serve you a huge portion of it one day when you are starving and slather it in poop, do you still want it? Probably not so I will only add a little poop, sound better? Probably not. It doesn’t matter, poop is poop big or small and you don’t want to eat any of it. The same principle applies with God, sin is sin no matter how big or small He cannot allow any of it, that is why we must ensure that we are spotless at the end of the day.

Now is it possible to remove all sin from our lives? Absolutely! But is it possible to stop sinning during this life and become incorruptible? You bet it is! This is the wonderful power of the Atonement! This is the best of the Good News of the Gospel! This is what should bring us hope! To remove sin, we need to understand WHY we sin. The bottom line when you get right down to it and really and honestly look at it, we sin simply because we enjoy it. It’s the cheese on the mouse trap, Satan has glamourized the evil and made that which is wrong appear right and that which is right appear wrong or not appear at all. Imagine your favorite activity, something you LOVE doing, now imagine God coming out and saying that it is a sin to not only do this activity but to talk or think about it. Pretty hard huh? Now imagine something you HATE doing, and imagine God saying that this also a sin and to never do it again. Much easier this time right? Do you see why Satan has such a strong grip on the world right now? He appeals to our weaknesses that he knows so well and exploits them to our own self destruction.

The solution? Its simple, stop liking sin, if we are not supposed to do it and do not want to do it then it is easier to stop doing it. Now the snag here is addiction which is a whole discussion in and of itself so we will set it aside for now. The scriptures call this happening a “Mighty Change of Heart…. Having no more disposition to do evil but to good continually”, the scriptures have also talked about receiving a new heart and a new life. The gospel is not complicated, it is plain and simple but this is NOT easy, this word does not exist in God’s vocabulary. The methods behind the access, application and teaching of the atonement lie in the gospel and teachings of Jesus Christ, ask and ye shall receive, I urge anyone who reads this to ponder my words and to seek out the Gospel and Atonement of the Lord.

I have studied, sought after and applied every one of these teachings I have discussed and though I am the farthest thing from perfect on this planet, I can tell you it is true. This is the message of the Gospel, this is the good news that we can change and it can happen right here right now. Our weaknesses can become recognized and great strengths. We can return to live with our Heavenly Father and be like Him and receive all that he has, we can grow far passed our understanding of what our potential is. We need to believe in Christ but that will not save us in the end and it is not enough (Satan believes in Christ and clearly its not doing him any good) but we need to BELIEVE HIM. Have faith in Him and apply that which he DIED to teach us. He loves us more than we can understand and he is looking for every loophole, every excuse, every opportunity to strengthen us, teach us, forgive us, help us and bring us home. That is the unfathomable love of our Savior, the Great and Selfless Redeemer, our Lord and our brother. Through Him all things are possible.

These things I know to be true with a PERFECT knowledge and of Him and in His Holy name, even the name of Jesus Christ, I testify, Amen.

What Are The Mormon Views On Homosexuality?

The Mormon church is firm and immovable in its position condemning homosexual behavior as sinful. One of the basic doctrines that the Mormon church teaches is called The Law of Chastity. The Law of Chastity states that sexual relations are only to be practiced by husband and wife within the bonds of Holy Matrimony. The Mormon Church issued the document The Family: A Proclamation to the World in 1995. This official statement confirmed, "the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife."Frequently, gays and lesbians who have been raised in the Mormon church will disassociate themselves from the Church because of that basic Mormon doctrine.

There are also many gay Mormons who wish to overcome their same-sex attraction in order to have a successful eternal marriage and gain all the blessings promised by the Lord. I personally know members of the LDS church who struggle with same-sex attraction. Some of them have succumbed to their personal desire to embrace 'Who they truly are'. But if you want to be realistic, who you 'really' are is sons and daughters of the Eternal God. It's a difficult and long struggle to try to overcome one's sexual orientation. But I will say this! It is possible. I have personally worked with a dear friend of mine who used to struggle with same-sex attraction. But he overcame it. If you walk up to him and ask him if he still has any attraction to men he will say "No. I no longer have that struggle."

The popular opinion that asserts itself into our media and conversations on the topic of homosexuality these days is 'I was born this way' or 'they are born that way'. And because of this mindset of so many people, the world is starting to turn away from the unchanging truth that God does not support homosexual behavior (Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1;27-28). There are genetic theories for tendencies toward most anything, but the disposition toward any wrongdoing does not justify it or make it less sinful. Although temptation may be strong, the self-mastering of one's self is a spiritual goal of the faithful, any sinful act must be repented of.

The Mormon Church stands with other faiths in maintaining that homosexuality is a sin despite political and social pressures to "modernize." The topic of gay Mormons is a difficult one right now because of the popular opinion toward acceptance of homosexuality, but the Mormon Church cannot compromise the laws of God and counsels those who wish to follow Christ but suffer from same-sex attraction to work to overcome it, and to lean on the Savior when they find themselves struggling.

Just because someone is homosexual or struggles from same-sex attraction, does not me we hate or condemn those individuals. We love the sinner not the sin, and we yearn to help others overcome the desires of the natural man inside them. Remembers the church is a hospital for the sinners, not a museum for the saints.

Do The Mormons Believe In The Trinity?

The LDS Church does believe in the actual doctrine of the Trinity. We Believe in something we refer to as the 'Godhead'. Hopefully what is written below may shed more light on why we believe that.

The LORD God
Who is He?

"And the LORD GOD FORMED MAN OF THE DUST OF THE GROUND..." (Gen. 2:7)
Two Hebrew words for God are used throughout the Old Testament. These are Elohim and Jehovah.

Jehovah was the premortal name-title given to the Firstborn Son of God. He was also known as YHWH, as the Hebrews wrote without vowels.

The name JHWH is generally rendered in the English version of the Old Testament as LORD printed in all capitals.

The word Eloheim is a plural form of the Hebrew word for God, although modern scholars have agreed that it should be taken as a singular noun even though the ending "im" is plural.

Joseph Smith said that "if we pursue the Hebrew text further, it reads,...'The head one of the Gods said, Let us make a man in our own image.' The word Eloheim ought to be plural all the way through-Gods."

So the reading in the Old Testament is really Jehovah Eloheim, who is Jesus Christ.

But there is a difference if the word Eloheim is found separate. It refers to God the Eternal Father, the father of our spirits. Now many if not most people think that the members of the LDS church are not 'true' or 'real' Christians because we do not believe in the concept of the Trinity. Well let me clear this up. We do believe in the Trinity, but we have a different take on it. In fact we don't even call it the Trinity. We call it the 'Godhead'.

In 325 A.D, the Nicene Creed established the doctrine of the Trinity which states that God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are the same being. It is believed by most Christians that they are mysteriously separate, yet unified at the same time. But this is incomprehensible! This misconception comes from scriptures similar to these: John 1:1, John 10:30, John 14:7-10.

But if you look in the book of Matthew it teaches us very clearly that God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate being. You have the Father introducing His Son, who is being baptized, as the Holy Ghost descends in the form of a dove.

I also have a question for everyone reading this. If Jesus Christ is God, why would he pray to himself? What! He didn't? Let's take another look shall we. John 17:1-5, Christ is praying to His Father, which is known as the great Intercessory Prayer. Similar scriptures can be found in Matt: 26:39, Matt: 27:46.

Now here is something else to think and ponder on. In John 17:21-23, Christ prays saying "that they may be one; as you, Father, art in Me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:" Now think about this for a second. Christ doesn't want us to become one big blob. He is saying we need to become 'one' in purpose, just as He and His Father are 'one' in purpose and power.

Now just summing up John 14:7-10 it states that "he that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father". Now I want to ask you another question. What does John 1:18 mean? It says "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." There is no way of comprising these two scriptures! Remember in John 17:3 Christ says "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." As I said before you can't comprise these two scriptures. This is what John 14:7-10 means, "I represent the Father. You have seen Me and My power and wonders. I work wonders according to His word. Therefore you have seen God by the power and miracles of God."

Now I want to back up a bit to what Joseph Smith had once said. He said "if we pursue the Hebrew text

further, it reads,...'The head one of the Gods said, Let us make a man in our own image.' The word Eloheim ought to be plural all the way through-Gods." Now why would he say that? Gods... Makes us sound kind of polytheistic huh?

Many Christians also believe that we worship more than one God based on sayings like the one above. I will say this we don't worship more than one God. We worship one and only one God. But this concern from other denominations comes from verses in Isaiah such as 43:10-11, 46:6, 44:8, 45:5-6, 45:18, 45:21, 46:9. They are very similar in nature stating in effect "beside me there is no God". Although there are scriptures that clearly make reference to a plurality of Deity. Gen. 1:26 states "let us make man in our image", in Gen. 3:22, Jehovah declares "behold the man is become as one of us", once again the word 'us' is used in Gen. 11:7 "let us go down and confound their language".

We also have words of Christ himself from John 10:35-36, quoting Psalms 82:6 "I said ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and scripture cannot be broken". Now finally there is this, John tells us in Revelation 1:6 that Christ "hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father", revealing that God has a father.

But in spite of all that has been said we follow the very clear teaching that Paul lays out in 1 Corinthians 8:5-6 "For though there be many that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many and lords many,) but to us there is but one God the Father, of whom are all things and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him". Remember we are not polytheistic meaning the worship of many gods, but rather we are henotheistic meaning we pay all devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of other gods. When you also have an understanding of the Godhead you know that although they are all separate (many gods) they are one in purpose (the only God with whom we have to deal with) see 1 John 5:7. For us to receive eternal life, we need to know and understand our Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

Now I want to give an account of Joseph Smith. Many of you LDS members reading this know the experience as the 'First Vision'. In Joseph Smith's own words he said...

“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. . . . “When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other— This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”

Now this account of seeing both the Father and the Son coincide and go hand in hand with what I have been talking about. That God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ are two separate and distinct individuals.

Joseph Smith gained this knowledge because he lacked wisdom. He was reading one day in the epistle of James and he came across a verse saying "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). This verse in James sound familiar to something Christ had once said...

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Luke 11:9).

Now I invite you the reader to do as James and more importantly as Christ directs...that is, to ask God if what I have told you here is true.

Is There DNA Evidence For The Book of Mormon?

This is a 4 part article I found talking about DNA and the Book of Mormon on the Deseret News Website. I will post the link after the article for you to follow if you wish to go to the site. 

Part 1

Somewhere among the varied coasts of the two American continents was landfall for a small group of ancient Israelite seafarers led by a prophet named Lehi. Whether they stepped upon the sands of an empty or crowded continent is at the heart of the DNA debate over the historical nature of the Book of Mormon.

Ugo Perego, an Italian-born researcher in human genetics, tries to look with a scientist's eye at the controversy surrounding DNA and the Book of Mormon. He is a bit impatient with some of the strong conclusions of some critics and LDS apologists. There is too little data. We need to be cautious.

"I see that from both the critics' side and the LDS side there is quite a bit of misunderstanding on the subject," Perego said. "We should not fight over it. It seems to me to be almost a waste of time that people will actually entertain the thoughts that either DNA can prove or disprove the Book of Mormon."

The first rumblings about DNA and the Book of Mormon came about 10 years ago, according to Perego, a senior researcher at Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation. Critics cobbled together data from a variety of early DNA studies and came to the unsurprising conclusion that the studies indicated an Asian origin for Native Americans. This, the critics argued, proved that the Book of Mormon was false. They claimed that the book says the continent was empty and if it was empty, then all Native Americans should have Lehi's Israelite DNA, not Asian DNA.

However, for about 50 years most LDS scholars have argued that the Book of Mormon took place not in vast empty continents, but in a limited-geographical area in Mesoamerica.

"Some people in the church still believe that all Native Americans, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, are descendants of Lehi, and that the double continent was completely empty when Lehi and his family came and therefore all the Native Americans who were here at the time of Columbus' arrival are descendants of Lehi," Perego said. "If that was true, then the critics would be right."

But if that wasn't the case, if Lehi's group came to a crowded continent, then Perego says the critics' arguments fall apart.

"It is very likely that Lehi came in an area that was not inhabited. He could have come to an area that would fit the 30 to 50 people who were in his party and allow them to settle in and start living," Perego said. "Probably, at the beginning, there was some interest in keeping the family together and marrying within the family. But pretty soon, as they began to spread, there was some integration of the surrounding population into Lehi's family."

The types of answers you receive depend upon the questions you ask, according to Perego. "If the question is, 'Are Native Americans of Asian origin?' The answer is, 'Yes.' (If the question is), 'Are Native Americans of Israelite origin?' The answer is, 'No.' "

Perego says the critic will then say, "OK. I've got my answers. I'm happy! Thank you! I'll put it in my book. The Book of Mormon is incorrect."

But, according to Perego, there are other questions to ask which bear more directly to the plausibility of the Book of Mormon narrative.

"Try to ask this question to a population geneticist: 'Is it possible that a small family from Israel could have arrived in America, to a largely populated continent, and that no genetic evidence would survive after 2,600 years?' " Perego says. "Why don't they ask that question? That is exactly the question they need to ask." 

Critics will counter that this is not an important question because they say Mormons believe that all Native Americans are only descended from Lehi. This exposes the irony of the critics' arguments. Their argument doesn't rest primarily on DNA, but on the critics' rigid — even strangely fundamentalist — interpretation of the Book of Mormon. For their criticism to be correct you have no choice — you must believe the continent was empty.

In other words, to believe the critics are right about DNA, you must believe they are right about their narrow interpretation of the Book of Mormon and statements by select general authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"We might someday (find) a big sign that says 'Welcome to Zarahemla.' … And the critics will find a way to go around that and Mormons will jump all over it. But the issues with the DNA are different. We really don't know what Lehi's genetic signature was. … We know that there were others here."

Part 2

It is possible that the Book of Mormon prophet Lehi came to the Americas and left many descendants — but no traceable DNA. To understand what may have happened to Lehi's DNA, it is necessary to understand how population geneticists track populations.

According to Ugo Perego, senior researcher at Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, the nucleus of the human cell contains about 3.2 billion pieces of genetic information. This "nuclear DNA" is harder to use for population studies because it changes too quickly from generation to generation — almost like shuffling a huge stack of cards.

Outside of the nucleus, but still in the human cell, is something called mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA for short. MtDNA contains only 16,569 pieces of genetic information. Perego said mtDNA is good for tracing populations because, unlike nuclear DNA, it doesn't recombine with other DNA every generation. However, every once in a while, a random mutation — a slight mistake in copying the mtDNA — will be passed on to the next generation.

 Compare mtDNA to a 16,569-word book. Occasionally, a word or two might be changed by accident in an edition — such as "an" being changed to "a." That mistake will then be in every subsequent edition. Over time, in other editions, other changes happen. Some editions are printed in different areas with their own unique mistakes.

Now imagine a scholar gathering various editions of the book. All the cumulative mistakes leave a trail of when and where an edition was published and how it is related to other editions. Population geneticists do a similar thing when they look at the various mutations in mtDNA.

Large groups of people that share similar mtDNA mutations are called haplogroups. "A haplogroup is a group of genetic lineages sharing common characteristics. The reason they share this common characteristic is because they share a common origin or female ancestry," Perego said.

This "female ancestry" thing about mtDNA may seem strange. It only passes from a mother to her children. You have your mother's mtDNA. She has her mother's. And because changes in mtDNA are infrequent, it is likely that your mtDNA is nearly identical to your great-great-great-great-grandmother's mtDNA. There could be millions of people with similar mtDNA — and not a one of them got that mtDNA from a man. If a woman only had sons, her mtDNA ends with them. It goes no further.

Perego used the example of a family he knows in Italy. The father had five daughters. How many of those daughters have his mtDNA? None. Those daughters gave him 28 grandchildren. If that Italian father had married an African woman, all these grandchildren would be classified as African using their mtDNA.

The father in Perego's example was genealogically related to all his grandchildren but left no trace of his mtDNA in any of them. In fact, his grandchildren's mtDNA could have more in common with complete strangers from other centuries than with the father's mtDNA.

Perego points out the immediate way this information could affect looking at the Book of Mormon. "Let's say 20 people came with Lehi and 10 were men and 10 were women. The next generation you already lose 50 percent of the mitochondrial DNA just because all the men will not pass it on. Lehi's mitochondrial DNA is gone. Ishmael's mitochondrial DNA is gone. Zoram's mitochondrial DNA is gone. Period. That's just how it works."

This leaves two women to pass on mtDNA: Ishmael's wife and Lehi's wife, Sariah.

But wouldn't the women in Lehi's group have similar mtDNA to Lehi's? "That is a very wrong assumption to make," Perego said. "You can find in any population a great variety of mitochondrial DNA lineages. You would find a higher frequency of certain lineages and a lower frequency of other lineages, but in most populations you would find a very good variety."

Most of the studies done on Native Americans to date utilized only a small part of the mtDNA. In the book edition analogy, this is like looking for changes in only the first 300 to 500 words in our 16,569-word book.

Perego calls studies that look at only a small portion of mtDNA "low resolution." A complete sequence of a person's entire mtDNA is "high resolution" and can give greater information. But so far, these complete sequences are rare — and expensive. According to Perego, in the entire world, there have been about 6,000 complete sequences of mtDNA samples — and less than 300 on Native Americans.

Part 3

DNA science can't tell us if Book of Mormon prophet Lehi and his small group came to the Americas 2,600 years ago. But Lehi's intrepid group of seafaring Israelites is a great example for understanding how a small group can enter a land, flourish and then leave no identifiable genetic trace.

Among the many principles of population genetics are three that are essential to understanding what may have happened to Lehi's DNA: Genetic drift, founder effect and population bottleneck. "If people dismiss these three principles … they show that they do not understand population genetics," said Ugo Perego, senior researcher at Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation.

These three principles apply whether you are talking about people in Indiana or Iceland. Lehi's group is a good hypothetical to look at these principles ?— whether you believe he existed or not.

Genetic drift

Genetic drift explains how a lineage, also called a "haplogroup," can disappear by random genetic interaction. "If you start with a population of 10 or 20 lineages, after many generations you might only have two or three of these lineages represented," Perego said.

Perego used an well-known analogy: Imagine a jar has 10 red marbles and 10 blue. Pick one marble at random — let's say red. Put the marble back in the jar and put a new red marble in a second jar. The new marble carries on that particular "red" haplogroup or lineage.

Keep picking random marbles until the second jar has 20 new marbles, perhaps six red and 14 blue. Now pick random marbles from the second jar to determine a third jar's contents, perhaps three red and 17 blue. By the fourth or fifth jar, it is possible to have only blue marbles. Blue is fixed. The sixth, seventh, or even 3,500th jar will all be blue. Red is gone forever.

Population geneticists trace groups by using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which only passes from mothers. In Lehi's group this leaves two possible sources of mtDNA: Lehi's wife Sariah and Ishmael's wife. Imagine that Ishmael's wife's mtDNA became fixed and Sariah's disappeared through genetic drift.

If the continent was heavily populated when Lehi arrived, inevitable intermarriage and genetic drift could make Ishmael's wife's mtDNA disappear like a red marble in a sea of blue.

The founder effect

In the founder effect, a rare lineage will remain rare in a large population. If a small group that has that rare lineage founds an isolated colony, that rare lineage can become the dominant lineage. If the colony came to a populated area, founder effect would have less impact than genetic drift.

If Sariah or Ishmael's wife had a rare lineage, then the descendants of Lehi's group would also have that rare lineage — that is, until it was lost in the genetic drift of a larger population. Population bottleneck

A large population can become small very quickly in the case of disease or disaster. After the event, the population may build up again, but many lineages may not have survived that disaster — that "bottleneck."

Perego said that Native Americans hit a considerable population bottleneck when the Europeans came to the Americas. A study showed gene pools were reduced to between one-third and 1/25th of their former size. "What we have today represents the survivors of the European arrival. It does not represent (all the lineages of) the people who arrived here 2,000 years ago, 2,600 years ago or 10,000 years ago," Perego said.

This becomes important when you are looking for remnant lineages from a small family that colonized in a populated area."You had a lot of (genetic) variation before the Europeans came," Perego said. "Then came the destruction, the killing, the disease, the slavery. … Some villages were wiped out completely — especially if you look at the East Coast. There are Native American groups for which there are no survivors."

The "deCODE Project" in Iceland is a good example of how these principles work. Researchers had DNA samples of people born in Iceland after 1972. They were also able to trace their genealogies back to 1742. They discovered that the vast majority of the people alive today in Iceland are the descendants of a very small percentage of the people who lived in 1742.

"Many people who were living in 1742 have no living descendants or do not have any genetic lineages represented … in the modern population," Perego said. "Why? Because lineages just disappear. We don't normally realize how much they do, but here we have a tremendous discrepancy between who lived 300 years ago and who live now. Think about 2,600 years ago (when Lehi came), how much that would have an effect. This is a powerful example."

Some people may counter that Iceland was a special case because it had migrations and volcanic eruptions. "But the same thing happened to America," Perego said, "There were Europeans coming and disease."

Genetic drift, population bottleneck and founder effect can eliminate genetic lineages through time — making it possible that mtDNA from Lehi's group went the way of the red marble.

Part 4

A, B, C, D.

These four letters represented the first DNA classifications of Native Americans into similar lineages, or haplogroups.

Things were simpler then — and so were the conclusions.

Because A, B, C and D appear to be Asian in origin, some said this proved the Book of Mormon false. But even then, a simple understanding of DNA showed that it would have been possible, or even probable, that we wouldn't find traceable DNA evidence from a small group of Israelites coming to a largely populated continent.

Enter X.

A few years later, the story became more complicated. A fifth haplogroup was found in Native Americans. Ironically, the letter chosen to identify the new haplogroup was the mysterious letter X. "Studies confirmed the presence of X in the Americas," said Ugo Perego, senior researcher at Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, "particularly in the Great Lake regions of northern North America — but also in other areas to a lesser extent such as Texas, New Mexico and Arizona."

X was an enigma. Unlike A, B, C and D, it was rare in the world. X lineages were found in West Eurasia — an area that stretches from Scandinavia down to the Middle East.

It was also found in Asia.

The gauntlet was thrown down. Was the X found among Native Americans from the Middle East or Asia? Did it have anything to do with the Book of Mormon?

"Some people believe that haplogroup X is of Near Eastern origins and (they said) the fact that you find it in the Americas … proves the Book of Mormon to be historically correct and true and the people existed," Perego said.

Others took an opposite view.

"Other people, both from the LDS background and the critics, argued that haplogroup X is of Asian origins, just like the other Native American lineages, and arrived to America through Beringia (through the Bering Straits ancient land bridge), more than 10,000 years ago. Therefore it has nothing to do with the Book of Mormon people," Perego said.

Studies from 2001 indicated that the X haplogroup of American Indians came from Middle East or European lineages via Asia. A group in Asia, the Altaians in upper Mongolia, have the X haplogroup lineage, and so were thought to show the Asian source of the Native American X lineage.

These studies, however, were low resolution. They only analyzed a small portion of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). It was like looking at an area code. Soon, technology advanced and geneticists started looking at full sequences of mtDNA — like looking at a whole phone number. It didn't change the general information, but the details made a difference.

As higher resolution studies progressed, the Native American haplogroup classifications were made more specific with the addition of numbers: A2, B2, C1, D1 and X2a.

In 2003, high-resolution data from complete sequences of mtDNA gave a different story. It appeared that the Native American X (X2a) did not have any close match anywhere in the Old World. It also did not match and was an older lineage than the Asian X of the Altaians.

Current published data indicates that Native Americans belonged to a branch of X that split from the other X lineages near the beginning of X's spread out from the Middle East. It was old, but it wasn't Asian.

Last year a study suggested that the Druze religious minority of northern Israel represented a surviving population of the source of X lineages.

But just because X came originally from the Middle East doesn't mean it is connected with the Book of Mormon. Dating mtDNA is done by looking at the number of mutations in a haplogroup. The more mutations, the older the haplogroup. The currently accepted dating for X2a, based on its unique mutations, predates Book of Mormon times. "If X2a is only found (in America) we assume it has been there for 12,000 years," Perego said. "But if you can find it in another part of the world and prove that it has been there for a long time, then the 12,000 years would include that lineage, too."

In other words, for now it appears that X2a "aged" in the Americas for 12,000 years. If X2a is found somewhere else in the world, that may mean it aged there first before it came to the Americas. One verified match in the Old World and the date of X2a in America could drop from 12,000 years to, say, 4,000 years or even Book of Mormon time periods.

According to currently published studies, the closest match to X2a outside of the Americas was found in Iran. But even if X2a matched a Middle Eastern genetic signature perfectly, Perego says there is no way to know for sure the X2a in America came from Lehi's group.

"In my mind it's a lot more comfortable, the idea that DNA is not the ultimate proof against or in favor of the Book of Mormon," Perego said. "There are too many (other factors) regarding the Book of Mormon's historicity that cannot be verified with DNA."

But this won't stop some from trying to use DNA to prove or disprove the LDS Church's unique scripture.

"People don't like the unknown," Perego said.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865595337/LDS-Church-posts-topic-page-on-Book-of-Mormon-and-DNA-studies.html?pg=all