Jesus Christ

We believe in God the Eternal Father In 1842 Joseph Smith wrote a letter in response to an inquiry from John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat newspaper, in which he laid out the basic beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (inadvertently called the Mormon Church). The letter included what is now called “The thirteen Articles of Faith,” the first of which states, “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.” A foundational belief of Latter-day Saints is that God is our Loving Parent and that we can individually come to know Him through study, prayer and following Christ. How can we know God? In 2011 I attended a conference for single adult members of The Church of Jesus Christ (ages 18-30) in Oakland, California. I listened closely to the response from Russell M. Nelson, an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, to a question regarding faith in God: Read the rest of this... Read the rest of this entry »

By Jan Mayer, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .  As a “Mormon woman,” Jan is a graduate of BYU and mother of five children. She has written for numerous publications,  including The Denver Post, The Villager and NorthStar. I worked in a small office area with a woman who had great disdain for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (nicknamed “Mormons”). We had been briefly acquainted before she recommended me for a job. Although she knew I was a Mormon, she thought I had been deceived and that she could change my beliefs. When she learned that I was a devout Latter-day Saint (Mormon)—truly converted–she was appalled. When I asked where her information had come from, she told me she had taken classes at her church. Shocked, I told her that I couldn’t understand why one religion would teach against another—that it didn’t seem very Christ-like. She told me that the world... Read the rest of this entry »

God the Father Shows Himself Today God does show Himself; He has in times past and He has in what is known as this dispensation or spiritual time, preceding His coming. He will again show Himself at the Second Coming. There are many beliefs concerning the nature of God the Father. So many, in fact, that it can be difficult for those engaged in cross-religious discussions to be sure they are speaking about the same Being. We all have an idea or image as to “who” and “what” God is within our mind’s-eye, and we often forget that others may not see God the same way we do. These differences are present because beliefs about God have been diluted and modified over time, after the death of the Savior and His apostles. God as a glorified perfected Being was a given. Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, was taught and exemplified in His life and mission. So why doesn’t Heavenly Father just show Himself to all immediately? Well,... Read the rest of this entry »