18 Distinctive Beliefs That Define the Mormon Faith

18 Distinctive Beliefs That Define the Mormon Faith

Hello. In this video, I'm going to cover an article I saw online. It's actually pretty good. It's titled 18 Distinctive Beliefs That Define the Mormon Faith. So officially, they're called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or LDS.

The Mormon Church was founded in the 1800s by a man named Joseph Smith, and here's what you need to know. It is not biblical Christianity, not by a long shot. So we're going to go over these 18 distinctive beliefs of the Mormon faith.

Baptism for the Dead and Celestial Marriage

Number one, they practice baptism for the dead. The article states, Mormons believe in proxy baptisms for deceased individuals, which allows living members to be baptized on behalf of the departed to offer them a chance at salvation.

Of course, in the Bible, a person has to believe the gospel in this life in order to be saved. But with Mormons, a person can die in unbelief, and hundreds of years later, they can get sort of a second chance at baptism through this proxy baptism.

So this is clearly unbiblical. It's based on, not really, I mean, they take a verse out of context from 1 Corinthians 15. And they often will take a verse out of context to support some of these errant doctrines.

But we want to go through these quickly. So that's number one, baptism for the dead. In this video, I'm not trying to refute everything. I'm just kind of going through the list. We'll talk more about Mormonism in future videos.

But next is celestial marriage. So Mormons believe in the eternal nature of marriage, and that worthy couples, I think they have to get married the proper way in a Mormon temple. So the article says, worthy couples can be sealed together for eternity.

Of course, the Bible teaches that, you know, it's until death do you part, that marriage is for this life. But Mormons, if they're worthy, right, that's what the church says, they can be married forever and ever.

Three Degrees of Glory and God Was Once a Man

The next belief is three degrees of glory. Mormons believe in three degrees of glory in the afterlife, or what I would call three levels of heaven. There is the celestial kingdom, the terrestrial kingdom, and the telestial kingdom.

This concept can be seen as unique due to its complexity, and it's different from traditional Christian views that, you know, there's heaven and hell, and that's it. But according to Mormons, it's questionable whether or not Mormons believe in hell at all, or maybe some sort of purgatory type of punishment in the afterlife.

But no, what they have is three levels of heaven, three degrees of glory. Next, Mormons believe that God was once a man. According to the article, some Mormons believe that God was once a mortal man who achieved divine status.

As the story goes, there was this man who lived in outer space on a distant planet near the star Kolob, and he achieved God status. It also is the idea that men, Mormon men, again, if they're worthy, they can become the gods of their own planet someday.

The next belief is, the distinctive belief, is the Book of Mormon. So, the Book of Mormon is considered Scripture by the LDS Church. This is different from Christianity because Christians, we go by the Bible, but Mormons have this extra book.

They have multiple extra books. But because they believe the Bible has been corrupted, really, they go by the Book of Mormon instead of the Bible. Next is the priesthood. So, the Mormon Church, according to the article, has an exclusive priesthood limited to men which grants them authority to perform sacred ordinances.

This concept may be perceived as unusual by those advocating for gender equality. And, of course, I'm not going to get into that. We would agree that, well, it's not even the priesthood is limited to men.

The office of pastor and elder is limited to men. But, we don't believe in a special priesthood. I mean, that's more in line with Roman Catholicism. But you might have seen two Mormon teenagers, 18-year-olds, the white shirt and the tie, and they're priests.

You can actually be a priest within Mormonism when you're a teenager. But this is their exclusive priesthood. And, by the way, Joseph Smith, he claimed to have restored the true priesthood back in the 1800s, which is all part of the idea that Christianity was basically non-existent until Joseph Smith came along and restored it.

Temple Garments and the Word of Wisdom

Well, anyways, the next distinctive is temple garments. Some devout Mormons wear temple garments, basically their underwear with religious significance, which is often seen as unusual. Sometimes, you know, you hear people talking about their magical underwear, but according to the article, they're temple garments, okay?

So it's seen as unusual by those unfamiliar with the practice, according to the article. And maybe you can pick up in this video, sometimes I'm reading from the article, a lot of the times I'm giving you my own commentary.

But this is all true. You can check it out. This is on MSN .com. Again, 18 distinctive beliefs that define the Mormon faith. The next distinctive, word of wisdom. Mormons adhere to a dietary code known as the Word of Wisdom, which includes abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine.

This can be seen as unusual due to its unique dietary restrictions. So not only can you not drink alcohol, which, you know, there are some Christians who believe that way, tobacco, well, that's frowned upon sometimes, you know, Baptists typically would be more against that.

Presbyterians would be more open to drinking alcohol and smoking, you know, generally speaking. But the really odd thing is you can't even have a coffee. If you drink coffee, I mean, that's totally restricted by the Mormon church.

Adam and Eve in Missouri and Premortal Existence

Next, the Mormons believe that Adam and Eve were in Missouri. Okay, the article says, some teaching suggests that the Garden of Eden was located in Jackson County, Missouri, which is at odds with the conventional understanding that, no, it was in the Middle East.

So that's a little different. The next, premortal existence. So Mormons believe in the premortal existence of souls before birth. Basically, yeah, Mormons believe that you were once alive, living in heaven with Heavenly.

Father.

You were one of his spirit children until you came to earth. So Christians, we believe that our lives began, you know, at conception, right? This is the Christian belief. Life begins at conception. But once you're born, this is the beginning of your life.

But Mormons think that, no, you had a pre-existence in another life, another world, that you lived with Heavenly Father, perhaps for hundreds or thousands of years before you came to earth. So that's radically different from Christianity.

Heavenly Mother and Baptism by Immersion

The next is Heavenly Mother. So Mormons believe in a Heavenly Mother, a divine female counterpart to God, which is a belief not present in many other Christian traditions, which is true. We believe that God, you know, you have God the Father and then God the Son, Jesus Christ.

But because Mormons believe in celestial marriage, basically, you know, that God we talked about that was once a man who became God, well, he had celestial sex with Heavenly Mother and produced spirit children that were alive in heaven before you were born and sent to.

Earth.

So yeah, it's very strange, very different from Bible Christianity. Next, Baptism by Immersion. Now this really isn't a distinctive Mormon belief, but let me read from the article. It says, While baptism by immersion is common in Christianity, Mormons perform baptisms for the living and deceased by immersion.

Okay, so well, that's not really that odd, or again, not really a distinctive. But here's the next one, Lay Clergy, L-A-Y, Lay Clergy. The Mormon Church has a lay clergy, meaning that local leaders are unpaid volunteers, which can be perceived as unusual compared to many churches with professional clergy.

Well, the Bible says that a workman is worthy of his wages, don't muzzle the ox. Basically, pastors, being a pastor is a job. Those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel, but you know, the man who acts as the bishop or the pastor of the local Mormon Church, he's basically a volunteer.

So none of them get paid, although the leaders in Salt Lake City, they're all very wealthy, so it's the lower level people in the local Mormon Church that do not get paid. Next, the Age of Accountability.

Mormons believe that children are not held accountable for sins until a certain age, which is seen as unusual by those with different perspectives on original sin. And this actually isn't a distinctive.

There are many Protestants, many Evangelicals, Baptists who believe in the Age of Accountability. So that's at least two that probably a lot of people watching would agree with. The next, Church Genealogy.

Mormons maintain extensive genealogical records and perform posthumous baptisms, which we talked about. So people who died, they have all these records, so they're getting the names of all these people who died, that way they can baptize them by proxy.

The Plan of Salvation and the Gathering of Israel

Next, the Plan of Salvation. The Mormon understanding of the Plan of Salvation, with its emphasis on premortal existence, mortality, and post-mortal progression, can be seen as complex and unusual compared to some mainstream Christian denominations.

Yeah, well, they have a different gospel. Protestants have argued that the Mormon gospel is salvation by faith plus works. And again, the idea that you existed before this life, that's not biblical, and the progression to Godhood, that is not biblical either.

Next, we have the Gathering of Israel. Mormons believe in the Gathering of Israel, with a focus on restoring the ten lost tribes of Israel, which is not a common emphasis in many other Christian denominations.

Now, it doesn't go into it, but from what I remember from studying Mormonism, they believe that people who lived in South America, like the Indians or the people native to the Americas are actually members of the ten lost tribes.

I don't think there's any truth to that, but that is, I believe, a Mormon teaching. Next, Temples and Ceremonies. Mormon temples and their associated ceremonies, such as endowments and sealings, are viewed as unique and unusual by those outside the faith.

And going through this, they pretty much say that with everything, this belief is seen as unusual by those of other traditions. The Mormon temples so here's how it works. There will be a local Mormon church.

There's one town over from me. But then there's the Mormon temple in Boston. So you might have a Mormon church in your area within 50 miles or so, but then near your state capital, there's likely a Mormon temple.

So you have to go to the Mormon temple and perform all these ceremonies, which were all kept secret until, you know, hidden cameras technology, people could sneak cameras in.

Easily.

And it turns out there's all sorts of handshakes and things that are very we'll just put it this way. It's believed that Joseph Smith took many of the rites and rituals from Freemasonry. But anyways, again, you have to go to the temple to go through the celestial marriage, so you'll live forever with your heavenly wife and become your own god someday.

You have to go to the temple for that. Okay, so I hope you found that interesting and informative. Next week, I'm going to drop two podcasts where we're going to talk about this more, how Mormonism is starting to be accepted as maybe just another Protestant denomination.

I'm going to talk about why that's happening, who is leading the way, because Mormonism for really 150 years, it was seen as a cult, started by Joseph Smith. A lot of wild stories about Joseph Smith and the things he believed and the things he did.

So Mormonism was always viewed as a cult until a famous Christian leader was on TV. He started singing a different tune. And those who really looked to him, they followed his lead, and that's brought us to where we are now.

So stay tuned for that, but again, I hope you found this video helpful. If you liked it, click thumbs up, share it with someone else. And until next time, may the Lord be with you, and have a great day.