I'm a currently active mainstream member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (you know, the Mor[m]ons or LDS). If anyone here is interested in knowing the doctrines of the LDS church, I'd be glad to answer. I've been here at jref for about a year fighting against 9/11 truthers and discussing religion and atheism.
From what I've seen on the thread thus far,
1. Mormon fundamentalists are not part of the mainstream Mormon church. I have one brother-in-law that is part of a fundamentalist Mormon group and he and his family are nice people - nothing like what is being portrayed here. That being said, he and I disagree on a lot of fundamental issues.
2. Yes, mainstream Mormons believe that "as man is, God once was. And as God is, man may become" - just as children become parents:
Dallin H. Oaks (one of the current Twelve Apostles of the LDS church) said:
DHO: Before the close of his ministry, in Illinois, Joseph Smith put together the significance of what he had taught about the nature of God and the nature and destiny of man. He preached a great sermon not long before he was murdered that God was a glorified Man, glorified beyond our comprehension, (still incomprehensible in many ways), but a glorified, resurrected, physical Being, and it is the destiny of His children upon this earth, upon the conditions He has proscribed, to grow into that status themselves. That was a big idea, a challenging idea. It followed from the First Vision, and it was taught by Joseph Smith, and it is the explanation of many things that Mormons do — the whole theology of Mormonism.
HW: Is it the core of it?
DHO: That is the purpose of the life of men and women on this earth: to pursue their eternal destiny. Eternal means Godlike and to become like God. One of the succeeding prophets said: "As man is, God once was. And as God is, man may become." That is an extremely challenging idea. We don’t understand, we’re not able to understand, all [about] how it comes to pass or what is at its origin, but it explains the purpose of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is to put people’s feet on the pathway to a glorified existence in the life to come that is incomprehensible, but far closer to God than the Christian world generally perceives. -
link
3. No, I don't want to be a polygamist, as has been hinted here.
4. Yes, Mormon wedding receptions are boring, but they do have those cool butter mints though.
5. The "big Mormon church in D.C." is called a Temple, similar to the temples spoken of in the Old testament. All are welcome to weekly church services (I recommend you attend and ask questions there) at chapels all over, but only those who are members of the LDS church who meet some minimum requirements of obedience to God's commandments are allowed into the temple. Some of these requirements deal with living what is called the "word of wisdom" or not drinking alcohol, coffee, taking harmful drugs, etc., living what is called the "law of chastity" which says that you will have no sexual relations with anyone other than your legally and lawfully wedded spouse (singular
), paying tithing as described in the old testament, declaring that you have faith in God and Jesus Christ, etc. A temple marriage is simple and short - about 5 minutes or so and the complete focus is on the covenant between the bride and groom to be faithful to each other and by doing so, they can receive many blessings. The temple marriage is about the couple being married and the reception is about relatives and friends. This is a bit different than non-temple marriages and so I think people are sometimes offended that they can't be a part of the marriage ceremony itself if they are not members of the LDS church, etc.
6. I only know about outcast fundamentalist polygamist males from what I read in the newspapers, but I'll ask my brother-in-law about it to see what he knows.
7. The LDS church claims to be the restored church that Christ set up in the new testament (with 12 apostles, prophets, seventies, etc.). After Christ and the twelve apostles were murdered, the earth was without the true church of Christ and so people gathered with like minds and sought religious truth together, forming their own churches as they went along. In 1820, Joseph Smith saw the confusion of all of these churches who fought against each other and disagreed about doctrine and read in James 1:5, "If any of ye lack wisdom, let him ask of God" and so he asked which church was right, and was visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ and was called as a prophet to restore the church of Christ in preparation for the second coming of Christ.
FYI, I'm not speaking for the Mormon church, I am just explaining how I see it as a member of that church. If you want to know their official stance on any issue, check out
www.lds.org or
www.mormon.org, which are the official LDS church websites. Another site that is NOT directly affiliated with the LDS church, it's just a bunch of Mormon apologist members (who else would defend Mormonism but the members themselves?) that explain and refute anti-Mormon allegations against the church is
www.fairlds.org. They also explain the relationship between the Mormon church and polygamy as well as other issues there. I've interacted with the folks at fairlds.org and they have proven to be more unbiased that I would have thought, being Mormons - they don't whitewash the imperfections of the members or prophets of the LDS church, but they do dig a little deeper than most anti-Mormons seem to, in my observations.
