Ask the Mormon

[ArcticFox]

Spoilered because spoilers, but is this scene not the single most out-of-left-field cliffhanger in Battlestar Galactica?

I was genuinely shocked.

Oh, dude... I was literally shouting at the TV. "OMGWTH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

That was like... yeah.

Although the cliffhanger I found to be most painful was

Spoiler:

When they found Earth as a devastated, irradiated wasteland. Luckily it wasn't THIS Earth...

[Chozon1]

If you could have one magical item made real, what would it be?

[ArcticFox]

Something to allow me to fly.

[Deepfreeze32]

I don't know how you feel about metal or distorted guitars, but you might appreciate this.

[ArcticFox]

Oh I love that guy. I really enjoyed his arrangement of the He-Man theme.

[Chozon1]

Getting songs stuck in your head?

[ArcticFox]

All too often... I was thinking of giving an example or two but then there's the danger of them getting stuck up there again...

[Chozon1]

That's part of the fun. >_> Especially if someone is being annoying. Just start humming an ear worm for vengeance.

Best Weird Al song?

[ArcticFox]

Nature Trail to Hell. All day long.

[Deepfreeze32]

So on a slightly more serious note...

I'm thinking of writing a blog on various world religions, and for the several major movements in each, with the goal to be reducing the amount of wildly inaccurate information being spread about the religion. The main ones I would want to focus on initially would be the non-evangelical Christianity (since evangelicalism seems pretty well understood) such as LDS, Orthodoxy, and Catholicism; Islam, and it's major branches within Sunni and Shia; Buddhism, as well as it's place as Religion vs Philosophy; and Hinduism. I realize I'm picking on Christians here a bit, but some of my friends and fellow Christians have displayed a downright xenophobic and somewhat ghastly mischaracterization of not just other religions, but other sects within Christianity. I'm sure you've encountered (maybe even from me a while ago) the sentiment that LDS theology prevents it from being a "Christian" religion. While I wouldn't want to judge the contents of the religion, I would want to make sure that the information discussed is at least accurate.

And since you're a resident LDS member....

I've been talking with friends about the various sects and denominations within the Christian tradition (I say this because it was the only way I could get them to include the Latter Day Saints movement), and it strikes me that most denominations are widely different on what the, for lack of a better word, "salvation status" is of those who follow a different tradition. For instance, the church I grew up in believed that Catholicism and Orthodoxy were valid, if not one hundred per cent correct (The idea being that belief in Jesus's resurrection was the bare minimum). Interestingly, they thought that the addition of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon was heretical, but that the people were good, so it was a little more up in the air dependent on who was speaking.

Please excuse any wildly off base assumptions here, because my main exposure to LDS doctrine has been through evangelical anti-Mormon propaganda and Wikipedia, but how does the LDS movement view the "Salvation Status" of other, non-LDS sects? Or other religions that have Abrahamic roots, such as Islam and Judaism?

I've heard of a three-tiered approach (which may be confused with the Hell/Purgatory/Heaven system in Dante's Divine Comedy) in which non-Christians are sent to hell, or some equivalent thereof, and Christians go two different routes depending on if they were LDS or not. The Christians who are not LDS are sent to paradise (or some such) while those who are LDS pull a Stargate-like Ascension and become like God. I've understood that temple marriages are meant to seal the marriage here on earth so that it may be continued there.


How off-base am I? I've heard stories of Mormon cosmology (which I got to hand it to you, is pretty dang epic. I can see why Glen Larson used it as inspiration for BSG), so this doesn't seem impossible, but I'd rather get input from actual Mormons, you know?


Also, Mormon is kind of an unfortunate name in English with the advent of autocorrect. I accidentally mistyped it the other day (Mornon) and my phone autocorrected to "Moron". I chuckled a little bit, but only because lots of English words are one missing character away from being insulting/dirty.

[ArcticFox]

I really dig questions like these I'm also interested in following your blog. That school of study is one I've been involved in as well in the past. I have an interesting book called "Understanding These Other Christians" which is written from an LDS perspective on Protestant beliefs. The biggest takeaway I got from it was how often we use the same words but with very different meanings.

Please excuse any wildly off base assumptions here, because my main exposure to LDS doctrine has been through evangelical anti-Mormon propaganda and Wikipedia, but how does the LDS movement view the "Salvation Status" of other, non-LDS sects? Or other religions that have Abrahamic roots, such as Islam and Judaism?

I've heard of a three-tiered approach (which may be confused with the Hell/Purgatory/Heaven system in Dante's Divine Comedy) in which non-Christians are sent to hell, or some equivalent thereof, and Christians go two different routes depending on if they were LDS or not. The Christians who are not LDS are sent to paradise (or some such) while those who are LDS pull a Stargate-like Ascension and become like God. I've understood that temple marriages are meant to seal the marriage here on earth so that it may be continued there.

There's not a ton of definitive doctrine on this, because a lot of people have different understandings of how it works but a lot of it comes from the personal opinions of the authors.

First, what we think of as "Hell" isn't a place of eternal torment so much as it is a place of eternal separation from the light of Heavenly Father. The torment comes from being isolated, alone, separated from everyone. We call it "Outer Darkness" and NOBODY goes there unless they choose to.

As for "Paradise," we take that to be the place where our spirits wait until the Day of Judgement. Some will live in Paradise, some will not, instead sleeping until Judgement Day, but I'm no expert on how that's decided.

After Judgement Day people will receive their eternal reward. Those who have been faithful and obeyed all of God's Commandments, and have attended the Temple, will find themselves in the Celestial Kingdom which is the highest and awesomest, with a glory akin to the Sun. Obviously, since Temple worthiness is a requirement, you'd only find members of the LDS Church there. The Church Leadership has recently said we shouldn't think of the becoming a god thing to be revealed doctrine. That's really something many LDS believe because it follows logically from the ntion that we are the literal, spiritual children of Heavenly Father.

There are other levels in Heaven, ("In my Father's house there are many mansions") not as awesome but still amazing compared to mortal life, and each person will be judged on where they'll go based on their life. So good, righteous people of all religions will generally find themselves living better than those who weren't so righteous or who made less of an effort. I can't sey what the exact criteria are because I'm not qualified to judge, but that's an overview.

Sstavix should chime in on that as well.

[storm]

so many replies not sure if this has all ready been asked or not
Is it true Mormons believe that men who believe will become Christ's or Gods of their own worlds when they die and women will, if they are loyal to their husbands and God in life give birth to celestial babies in next life

[ArcticFox]

so many replies not sure if this has all ready been asked or not
Is it true Mormons believe that men who believe will become Christ's or Gods of their own worlds when they die and women will, if they are loyal to their husbands and God in life give birth to celestial babies in next life

That isn't official church doctrine, but something that is commonly believed because in a way it's the logical conclusion to the idea that we are literally spirit offspring of Heavenly Father.

So the answer to your question is that yes, some Mormons believe it, but it isn't actual Church doctrine.

[storm]

so many replies not sure if this has all ready been asked or not
Is it true Mormons believe that men who believe will become Christ's or Gods of their own worlds when they die and women will, if they are loyal to their husbands and God in life give birth to celestial babies in next life

That isn't official church doctrine, but something that is commonly believed because in a way it's the logical conclusion to the idea that we are literally spirit offspring of Heavenly Father.

So the answer to your question is that yes, some Mormons believe it, but it isn't actual Church doctrine.

Ok because the ones who come here to talk to me sometimes have mentioned it as doctrine that they believe in Christ but that they will also become a Christ when they die and rule over their own world. Thank you for your answer on it I must admit the thought that all men will become Christ and women will be having celestial babies was and is still hard to understand but at least I can tell them what you said when they come next time thank you again

[Chozon1]

When will punching someone in the face become an acceptable reply?

On a further note, anger issues ARE JUST SO INFURIATING?