Originally published in Concern (Spring, 1978), 3-9. What Do the Mormons Believe? George Cronk

The Mormon world-view is an incredibly complicated system. A thorough analysis of those complications would require a book-length study. The present notes constitute a mere sketch of some of the central aspects of Mormonism. Origins Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon The Mormon movement began with the work of Joseph Smith (1805-1844). In 1820, at the age of fourteen years, Smith received a "revelation" from God to the effect that all modern-day Christian churches had departed from the true gospel and were thus apostate sects. In 1823, guided by the angel Moroni, Smith discovered – under a hill in Palmyra, New York – a long-hidden ancient book, which had been engraved on golden plates. This book told the hitherto unknown history of the pre-Columbian inhabitants of America: (1) the Jaredites, who had sailed from the Near East to Central America in 2,250 BC after the building of the Tower of Babel; and (2) the Nephites and Lamanites, descendants of the family of Lehi, a prophet of the Israelite tribe of Manasseh, who had sailed from Palestine to South America in 600 BC (just prior to the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews, 586-538 BC). The Lamanites were the ancestors of the American Indians. The book also contained "the fullness of the everlasting gospel" as revealed to the Nephites and Lamanites by Christ Himself in 34 AD (i.e., after His Resurrection). Moroni revealed that Smith had been chosen by God as the prophet who was to translate the ancient book into English (for it had been composed in "Reformed Egyptian Hieroglyphics") and to make its contents known to the world. Using two divinely-provided magical translating stones (called the Urim and Thummim [see Exodus 28:30 and other OT passages]), Smith translated the book and published it on March 26, 1830. Since the original golden plates had been engraved by a Nephite prophet named Mormon, Smith's English edition was entitled The Book of Mormon. When the translation was completed, Moroni returned and took the golden plates up into Heaven. Then, on April 30, 1830, Smith and five of his enthusiastic associates officially founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the "restored" Church of God which was destined to carry "the fullness of the everlasting gospel" to all humankind (Joseph Smith, The Pearl of Great Price). Comment Scholars have not been able to provide any archaeological, historical, or linguistic evidence to support the Latter-Day Saints' version of the origins of The Book of Mormon. The original golden plates, as noted above, are literally out of this world. Students of languages have not been able to detect any traces of Reformed Egyptian Hieroglyphics in the extant documents of ancient Near Eastern and American cultures; archaeologists have been unable to verify the existence of the Jaredites, the Nephites, or the Lamanites; and ethnologists consider the American Indians to be the descendants of Far Eastern rather than Israelite forebears. Other Sacred Literature of Mormonism In addition to The Book of Mormon, the Mormon Church regards two books written by Joseph Smith during the 1830's and 1840's as sacred: Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price. The Holy Bible is also accepted as the word of God. However, according to the Mormons, the Bible is in need of serious revision – for it has been translated incorrectly and has had significant portions of its original contents removed by the historic and "apostate" churches. Smith actually worked on, but failed to finish, an "Inspired Version" of the Bible. The Pearl of Great Price contains many of his "corrections" and revisions of the traditional Biblical text.

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From New York to Utah Under the leadership of Joseph Smith, Mormonism spread from New York, to Ohio, to Missouri, and to Illinois. After Smith's death in 1844 (he was killed by an angry anti-Mormon mob in Carthage, Illinois), Brigham Young (1801-1877) became President of the Mormon Church and led the Latter-Day Saints to Utah (in 1849). Since 1850, Salt Lake City has been the central headquarters of the Mormon Church (although there are Mormons living throughout the United States and in other parts of the world). Utah was granted statehood by the United States Government in 1896, and, since that time, the Mormon community has become a prosperous and significant American subculture. Church Growth The Mormon Church has grown significantly since 1830. The Mormon community had a total world membership of 6,000 in 1850, 140,000 in 1877, 250,000 in 1900, 1,500,000 in 1960, 3,100,000 in 1972, 7,700,000 in 1989, and more than 11,000,000 in 2001. The worldwide total is about 12,500,000 (4,000,000 in the US). Between 1960 and 1972, the Latter-Day Saints increased their membership by an average of 135,000 persons per year. This growth has been explained in terms of the Mormons' higher than average birth rate (currently about 20 births per thousand persons as compared with a US national average of 14.5 births per thousand persons) as well as their intense missionary efforts which account for 25,000 "conversions" per year. There are at present approximately 30,000 self-supporting Mormon missionaries at work in the field. However, recent studies show that the Mormon birth rate has been declining steadily from its 37 per thousand persons in the 1960s to a rate of 20 per thousand today (only 2.1 children per couple, the minimum required for population replacement); and studies also show that the Mormon Church fails to retain as members many of those "converted" through missionary efforts. Recently, projections of Mormon church growth have been revised downward from 265,000,000 to only 30,000,000 by the end of the 21st century. Hierarchical Organization The Mormon Church is highly organized and efficient. On the basis of Joseph Smith's "revelations" and "prophecies," the Latter-Day Saints regard their Church as the one true church, in possession of "the fullness of the everlasting gospel." The Church has two orders of priesthood: the Aaronic (or lesser) priesthood and the Melchizedek (or greater) priesthood. All faithful and obedient members of the Church are eligible for ordination to one of these priesthoods, although an Aaronic priest must be at least twelve years old and a Melchizedek priest must be at least nineteen years old. Supreme spiritual authority over the Church is vested in the First Presidency, consisting of the President and his two Counselors; the President (currently Gordon B. Hinckley) is the head of the Church and is endowed by God with all the inspired and prophetic power of Moses and Joseph Smith. Below the First Presidency, and second in the line of authority, is the Council of the Twelve Apostles, which assists the President in the overall administration of the Church and its material resources. All holders of the Church's highest offices are drawn from the Melchizedek priesthood. Practices Tithing is mandatory for all members of the Mormon Church; and all use of alcoholic beverages, tobacco, coffee, and tea is forbidden. Every Church member is furthermore required to participate regularly in the sacraments and ceremonies which are performed in Mormon Temples. The major Mormon sacraments are baptism (including baptism for the dead), the laying on of hands (or confirmation), and the Lord's Supper (or Holy Communion). Through baptism by total immersion at the hands of a Mormon priest, the believer is absolved of his sins; and through the priest's laying on of hands, the believer is confirmed in his faith and is "born again" through the Holy Spirit. The Mormons practice baptism for the dead because they believe that baptism is necessary to the individual's salvation. For this reason, living Mormons are often baptized on behalf of their departed relatives who died

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before the true Church was "restored" by Joseph Smith; and hence the Mormons' great interest in the study of genealogies. The Lord's Supper, in the form of bread and water, is administered every Sunday, and all baptized Mormons in good standing must partake of the sacrament as a testimony of their faith and as a means of receiving "a continuing endowment of the Holy Spirit" (J.E. Talmadge, A Study of the Articles of Faith). Faith and Works According to Mormon doctrine, the individual's salvation depends to a large extent upon his relation to the Church and its sacraments. The Mormons teach that people can be saved from sin, death, and hell through faith in Christ and through the performance of good works. By "good works," they mean works of charity and acts of religious devotion such as prayer and fasting and participation in the sacraments of the Church. They hold, with St. James, that "faith without works is dead" (James 2:26); for where there are no good works, there is simply no faith. The Mormons also hold that only those works which are performed on the basis of the true faith are good in the eyes of God. Basic Doctrines But what, after all, is the nature of the Mormon faith? What does "the full and everlasting gospel" of Mormonism say about God, humanity, and the universe? Polytheism / Henotheism Mormonism is rooted in a neo-pagan theology which rejects Judao-Christian monotheism in favor of polytheism and henotheism. The cosmos is populated with a multitude of gods and goddesses (polytheism) who rule the material universe and guide its destiny. Our world, earth, is one of many populated planets fashioned out of pre-existent matter. One of the gods, Elohim, is the lord of our planet, "the god for us." This belief in god, without asserting that he is the supreme or only God, is technically named henotheism. Spiritual Materialism Mormonism also teaches that matter is the basic reality and that the gods (and goddesses) are material beings, with "bodies of flesh and bones" (Joseph Smith, Doctrine and Covenants). Spiritual substance, from the Mormon point of view, is a refined form of matter. The material universe, moreover, "had no beginning, and can have no end" (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith). Thus, Mormonism denies the Judao-Christian doctrine that the cosmos was created by God out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo). As fully physical beings, the gods and goddesses are capable of sexual intercourse. Each male god has several goddess-wives with whom he has full marital relations (this notion is one of the theological foundations of the now-abandoned Mormon practice of polygamy). The offspring of these divine marriages are called "spirit-children" and are destined to become gods or goddesses in their own right. The Trinity As a corollary of its basic polytheism, Mormon theology denies the Christian doctrine of the Trinity – i.e., the view that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are consubstantial or one in essence. According to Mormon doctrine, the god Elohim, in association with his divine wives, produced a large number of spirit-children. Elohim's first-born son was Jehovah, the pre-existent spirit of Jesus Christ. As a sexually procreated being, Jehovah-Christ is essentially distinct from and subordinate to his divine father. That is to say, Jehovah-Christ is not fully divine. Jesus was not the incarnation of God, but the embodiment in human form of a preexistent but created spirit-being.

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Mormonism characterizes the Holy Spirit as "a personage of Spirit," not possessing a "body of flesh and bones" (as do Elohim and Jehovah-Christ) but existing as a "divine substance or fluid" (Parley P. Pratt, Key to Theology). The Holy Spirit is distinct from both Father and Son and is subordinate to the Son, as the Son is subordinate to the Father. Gods (and goddesses) in the Making The gods and goddesses of Mormonism, as we have seen, are material-sexual beings who procreate spiritual offspring. These spirit-children are gods and goddesses in the making. But before they can become gods or goddesses, these spirit-beings must first become human. (Mormon theology does not tell us why this humanization of the spirits is prerequisite to their deification; this doctrine is merely asserted as a divinely revealed truth.) Thus, the gods (and goddesses) form natural worlds (like our earth) in order that their spiritual offspring might be incarnated as human beings. But when the spirits progress from humanhood to godhood, they do not cease being human. They become, through the process of deification, exalted men and women (gods and goddesses), possessed of physical bodies and therefore capable of producing spirit-children of their own by means of sexual intercourse. This cosmic-divine process of generation-incarnation-humanizationdeification has been going on from all eternity and will continue to go on forever: "And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof, even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words" (Joseph Smith, The Pearl of Great Price). A human being, then, is "a god in embryo," an incarnation of a pre-existent spirit-being whose task it is to become divine (John Widstoe, A Rational Theology). There is no essential difference between a human and a god – only a difference of degree. When a human becomes a god (or goddess), s/he is fully and essentially divine. Thus, Elohim himself was once a mortal man and is now "an exalted man" (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith). "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become" (Lorenzo Snow, quoted in M.R. Hunter, The Gospel Through the Ages). Original Sin Mormonism affirms that, as a result of Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden, the human race was excluded from "the tree of life," i.e., from immortality. It is this inherited (or "original") curse of death which accounts for the sinfulness of humankind. Afflicted with anxiety concerning death and its accompanying effects – e.g., bodily weakness, old age, disease – human beings tend to become self-centered and self-indulgent, to despair of God's goodness and wisdom, to make their own pleasure rather than God's Law the center of their lives. In other words, they fall into sin and become alienated from God. A human being becomes guilty in the eyes of God through her/his own, and not through Adam's, sin; and this sinfulness is a result of humanity's subjection to the tyranny of death. Human sin is "original" in the sense that it is the natural result of humanity's "original" mortality. Mormonism therefore denies the doctrine of "original guilt" – i.e., the view that all people share, not only the consequences of, but also the guilt for, Adam's sin. However, according to Mormon teaching, Adam's sin was not really a sin at all. This conclusion arises out of the following scenario: After the formation of the earth, Elohim built the Garden of Eden (on the site of presentday Independence, Missouri!) and made two human bodies – one male and one female – from the dust of the earth. Michael the archangel and one of his pre-existent spirit-brides were then incarnated as Adam and Eve. As stated earlier, before spirit-beings can become gods or goddesses, they must first become human beings. The Book of Mormon also states that before humans can procreate their race (thus providing other spiritbeings with the bodily tabernacles which are necessary to the process of deification), they must first become mortal; for only mortal beings are capable of procreating physical bodies. But since the bodies of Adam and Eve were made by Elohim, those bodies were immortal; for according to Mormon doctrine, God cannot make a body which is subject to death. Thus, it was up to Adam and Eve to become mortal in order to make the deification of their fellow spirit-children possible. In order to assist Adam and Eve in this project of "becoming mortal," Elohim presented them with a dilemma: he commanded them to "be fruitful and multiply" and he forbade them to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil on pain of death. Since Adam and Eve could not obey the commandment to multiply without disobeying the injunction against partaking of the forbidden fruit and thus becoming mortal, and since Elohim certainly knew this, this dilemma apparently was Elohim's inscrutable way of leading his 4

children in the direction of their appointed destiny. Thus, when Eve, tempted by the Devil through the serpent, ate of the forbidden fruit, God's purposes were actually accomplished. For when Eve, in turn, invited Adam to eat the fruit, Adam was then forced to make a decision as to which of Elohim's two commandments should be kept. (Why Elohim did not avoid this confusion by simply commanding Adam and Eve to multiply and to eat the fruit of mortality is not explained in the Mormon gospel.) Reasoning that the deification of the spirits was more important than his own immortality, Adam chose to eat of the forbidden fruit, thereby becoming mortal like Eve and thus making the procreation of the human race possible. This decision, according to the Mormons, was the right choice. Adam's transgression of Elohim's commandment was not really a sin, nor was the fall of humanity really a fall. The "fall" was actually a means of providing the spirit-children of the gods with the mortal bodies which were necessary to their deification. What Does Mormonism Say About Jesus of Nazareth? In order for humankind to complete the process of deification, the curse of death and its corrupting effects had to be abolished. Elohim had, of course, foreseen Adam's momentous decision in the Garden of Eden, and had, before the foundation of the earth, asked one of his pre-existent spirit-children to volunteer to make atonement for Adam's "transgression." Jehovah, Elohim's firstborn son, did so volunteer and was thus sent into the world as the man Jesus Christ to die on the cross and to thereby deliver the human race from the curse of death. Adam did, after all, violate a divine commandment; and such a violation cannot, according to divine justice, go unpunished. Only through the death of a sinless man could Adam's "sin" be atoned for. Jehovah-Christ, unlike all other human beings, was able to conquer the temptations of sin and thereby became a sacrifice acceptable to Elohim. In this way, Jehovah-Christ was able to release humankind from the prison of mortality. Thus, according to the Mormons, the incarnation of Christ was an incarnation like all other incarnations: the human embodiment of a pre-existent spirit-being. Christ was not fully divine but a being – like the rest of us – in the process of becoming divine. How he could successfully resist the natural human tendency to sin is therefore a great mystery. Beyond that, why Elohim should require the death of a sinless man as a penalty for a sin which was not really a sin (i.e., Adam's "transgression") is a question to which, it seems, Mormonism provides no answer. Mormonism also denies the Virgin Birth of Christ. According to Mormon doctrine, the man Jesus was not, as traditional Christianity claims, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. On the contrary, Jesus was conceived by Elohim (God the Father); and His birth was the result of a physical union between Elohim and the "Virgin" Mary! (Brigham Young, however, states that Adam, having become divine as a result of his heroic choice in the Garden of Eden, was the father of Jesus by Mary!) Another Mormon claim concerning Christ is that Jesus, while on earth, entered into a plural marriage with Mary Magdalene and with the sisters Mary and Martha of Bethany and then fathered children with them (Orson Hyde, Joseph Fielding Smith, Sr. [nephew of Joseph Smith], Orson Pratt, and other 19th century Mormon leaders). Eschatology – The Doctrine of Last Things Resurrection, Salvation, Damnation All humans may look forward to a resurrection from physical death as a result of the "general salvation" wrought by Christ's work on the cross; but only those who respond to that "general salvation" through faith and obedience will achieve "individual salvation." Redemption from physical death is "unconditional," whereas redemption from spiritual death (i.e., from Hell) is "conditional." More specifically, in order to be saved from spiritual death, the individual must (1) have faith in Christ; (2) repent of her/his sinful ways; (3) be baptized by total immersion "for the remission of sins" at the hands of a priest of the Mormon Church; (4) receive the gift of the Holy Spirit through the "laying on of hands" by a Mormon priest (confirmation); (5) submit to the spiritual leadership, authority, and guidance of the Mormon leadership; (6) participate regularly in the Temple ceremonies and sacramental rites of the Mormon Church; and (7) obey the laws of God. Those who do all these things will attain "full exaltation" – i.e., they will complete the process of deification and become gods or goddesses in their own right, along with Elohim and his Christ.

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The Mormon view of "individual salvation" would seem to entail the eternal damnation of those who do not adopt the Mormon faith and life-style. However, Mormons do not in fact draw this implication from their doctrine of salvation. Instead, they draw a distinction, not only between Heaven and Hell, but between three realms in the Heavenly domain. (1) There is the "Celestial Kingdom," in which those who have kept the faith (as defined by the Mormon Church) and the laws of God will dwell with Elohim and Christ forever. (Those citizens of the "Celestial Kingdom" who have been sealed to a spouse in "Celestial Marriage" – i.e., marriage in a Mormon Temple – will be fully exalted and will reign as gods and goddesses along with the Father and the Son; and those who have not been sealed in a "Celestial Marriage" will become angels, forever singing the praises of the gods and goddesses.) (2) There is the "Terrestrial Kingdom," in which those who have been "morally clean" but who have not held the correct (i.e., the Mormon) faith will live eternally in "the presence of the Son, but not with the fullness of the Father" (Smith, Doctrines and Covenants, 76:77). (3) There is the "Telestial Kingdom," in which those who have been both faithless and immoral, but who have paid for their sins by suffering the pains of Hell for 1,000 years, will attain eternal life in the presence of the Holy Spirit; but the members of the "Telestial Kingdom" will never be admitted into the presence of Elohim or Christ. Who Goes to Hell? Who, then, goes to Hell for keeps? The Kingdom of the damned, according to Mormon doctrine, consists of the so-called "Sons of Perdition." The "Sons of Perdition" are divided into two groups: (1) the Devil and his angels; and (2) those human beings who have "blasphemed against the Holy Spirit" and have thus committed the "unpardonable sin." (1) The Devil and his angels were, like Jehovah-Christ, spirit-children of Elohim; but they rebelled against their Father before the making of our earth. In consequence of their rebellion, these fallen spirits have been denied the opportunity to become divine through the process of humanization and have been condemned to eternal suffering, as spirits without bodies, in Hell. (2) The "unpardonable sin" of "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit," committed by the human "Sons of Perdition," is defined by the Mormons as the rebellion against God and Christ by those humans who have had "full knowledge of the power and purposes of God" (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, II, 219-220). Given this definition, it would appear that the total number of human beings condemned to Hell is very small, for very few in the history of the world have had "full knowledge of the power and purposes of God"; and still fewer, having attained such knowledge, have fallen back into faithlessness and sinfulness. Indeed, the logic of this view of damnation strongly suggests that those humans assigned permanently to Hell will all be lapsed Mormons – for only a Mormon, having received the "true faith," can hope to attain "full knowledge of the power and purposes of God." Comment: The Mormon "unpardonable sin" seems to be at odds with Jesus's definition of the "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit" as the act of attributing the miraculous works of the Holy Spirit to the Devil: see Matthew 12:22-32; and Mark 3:20-30. The Culmination of World History According to Mormon prophecy, the history of our world will culminate with the re-gathering of the people of Israel, the Second Coming of Christ and his millennial reign on earth, and the final establishment of the Kingdom of God.

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The Re-Gathering of Israel The re-gathering of Israel will take place in three phases: (1) The tribe of Ephraim, descendants of the Patriarch Joseph's younger son (see Genesis, 48:1-22) and represented in modern times by the Mormon Church, will be gathered in America (in Independence, Missouri – the original site of the Garden of Eden and the future site of "Zion," the heavenly city). (2) The Jews, descendants of the ancient tribe of Judah, will be gathered in Palestine and will rebuild the city of Jerusalem as a prelude to the return of Christ. The Jews, however, will not actually accept Christ as their Messiah and Redeemer until the Second Coming; thus, their rebuilding of Jerusalem will not be viewed by them as a preparation for Christ's second advent. (3) The ten lost tribes of Israel (see II Kings, 17:1-41), who have been hidden since the 8th century BC "in the land of the north," will be re-gathered in Zion (i.e., Independence, Missouri) prior to Christ's return. The Second Coming and the Millennium When the re-gathering of Israel has been completed, Christ will return to earth and set up his millennial Kingdom. During this period of 1,000 years (hence the term "millennium"), Christ will reign personally on earth as King and will establish an epoch of great peace and happiness to be enjoyed by all righteous persons – non-Mormons who have lived "clean lives" as well as faithful Mormons. At the beginning of the Millennium, the righteous and believing dead will be resurrected, while all evil persons will be bound in Hell along with the Devil and his angels. As noted above, many of these faithless and immoral persons will be able to repent and cleanse themselves through their suffering in Hell. Furthermore, the Gospel (according to Mormonism) will be preached to all righteous non-Mormons in order that they might have the opportunity to achieve full salvation in the Kingdom of God. Those who reject the Gospel during the Millennium will be cast into Hell forever, with no further hope of redemption. The Final Establishment of the Kingdom of God At the end of the Millennium, the unrighteous dead will be resurrected. Satan will also be loosed at this time and will, once again, seek to overthrow the sovereignty of Elohim. He will prepare his legions of fallen angels for a final battle against the forces of God and Christ and will add to his ranks those newly-resurrected unrighteous humans who have remained unrepentant as well as those persons who had rejected the Gospel during the Millennium. The last battle – the Battle of Armageddon – will end with the utter defeat of the "Sons of Perdition" by Christ and his holy army. After the defeat of the "Sons of Perdition," the earth will be renewed and will become the center of the Kingdom of God, the site of the "Celestial Kingdom," which was mentioned earlier. The earth will become "a celestial body fit for the abode of the most exalted intelligences," a star full of light and glory (J.E. Talmadge, A Study of the Articles of Faith). The other two heavenly realms, the "Terrestrial Kingdom" and the "Telestial Kingdom," will be located, not on earth, but on two other planets (Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions). Thus, our world's participation in the cosmic process of spiritual and divine evolution will have been completed.

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