An interview with Mormons!
The Church of Latter-Day Saints was founded in 1830 and is currently home to over 16 million members worldwide. It is estimated that around 2% of Americans belong to the church with the most members being Utah with over 2.5 million followed by California with over 730,000 followers. I was able to interview at a smaller LDS Church in Louisville, KY. It was a discussion between me, a female leader (who I will refer to as Sister Rita) in the church and two teenage male missionaries.
What do you think is the most misunderstood thing about being Mormon?
The idea that we have multiple wives and are heavily engaged in polygamy because it is a part of our history. Also, the belief that we are not considered Christians because we have a different idea of the trinity. We believe father, son, and holy spirit are three distinct/separate beings, not one. We believe we have both a mother and father in heaven. Both have similar characteristics. *Went on to clarify that the Mother is not Mary, and that Mary is the mother of Jesus. *
2. Why are you a member of the Church of LDS?
I was born into it, but I am still a member because I believe the Book of Mormon is true. That it testifies of Jesus Chris, and that our church gives me access through the priesthood, to God’s ordinances and covenants that lead back to him.
3. From a Mormon lense, what is the Gospel?
We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
4. Does the Book of Mormon hold more authority than the Bible?
Mormons follow three books:
1. Doctrine and Covenants (doctrine and revelations given to Joseph Smith)
2. The Book of Mormon (Translated the golden plates into the Book of Mormon, we believe it is the most correct scripture because it was translated the least, believe it is completer and more reliable than the Bible, and easier to read)
3. The Bible
5. What do you all believe about the afterlife?
We believe there are three kingdoms of Glory. You will go based on your decisions in your life. You will go where you are comfortable/belong. The three sects:
Celestial Kingdom: highest of the three kingdoms of glory. Those in this kingdom will dwell forever in the presence of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
Terrestrial Kingdom: Receive the presence of the Son, but not of the fulness of the Father.
Telestial Kingdom: This is for individuals that never heard the Gospel.
We also believe there is a spirit prison. Spirit prison is where you are taught about Jesus Christ and the Gospel, and have the opportunity to accept/reject salvation, this is before the judgment.
There is also outer darkness which is for those that have knowledge of God and Christ but still reject it, this is where they go. This is the version of Hell.
7. What happens if you don’t go on the mission?
First of all, it's a large process to go, but if we have people that choose not to, we are asked to not give people a hard time about it but to love them regardless of if they choose not to go. *Missionaries in the discussion did feel that they are pressured to go*
First chance to go as a man is 18 and as a woman is 19.
Expected for men to go, a lot more common for women to go these days.
8. What happens to those who deny Joseph Smith?
Nothing, he is just a prophet. But if you do not believe that he is a prophet, nothing salvific or anything to do with the afterlife happens if you reject him.
9. How does Joseph Smith compare to Jesus?
He was just a prophet; Christ is perfect and the redeemer.
10. Did Joseph Smith really marry a 14-year-old, if so, why?
Personally, I do not believe in polygamy. The answer the big church would give you is that God needed the church to grow so allowed polygamy. Personally, I found it wrong. Whoever you ask you will most likely get a different answer.
11. Do exorcisms occur in the church?
Early church there might have been more of that but personally I have never known of that going on. Probably in the past it was the product of mental illness, we do not discuss that stuff in church.
12. Is there anything about the Church that you wish was different?
I have to go through a man to get my decisions approved as a female leader in the church, the power of women in the church is getting much better.
13. Is the church moving away from the phrase “Mormon”?
We have been asked to use the full phrase of Church of Latter-Day Saints. I personally say both. Mormon did actually start as a nickname in a derogatory way.
14. Is there a consensus on why Joseph Smith had so many wives?
It is theorized that God told Joseph Smith to have multiple wives so he could have more children and spread the religion as quickly as possible.
15. How big of a deal is it to leave the church? How do you treat people who leave?
I would say it's culturally challenging to leave and can really be hard on families. I don’t think anything really happens to them.
17. What do Mormons believe is the best evidence for their belief?
I don’t think there is physical evidence. Our biggest evidence is personal revelation from God.
Missionaries answer: We ask people there is not clear evidence for what we say is true, but we ask that you pray and ask.
The Book of Mormon does have testimony of others that saw the gold plates that were revealed to Joseph Smith from God.
18. Have you had a supernatural experience while being a Mormon?
*All three have not had a supernatural experience*
19. Is there anything in the book of Mormon that you personally reject?
There is some racism in there that I would reject.
20. How do you all see Jesus? Was Mary a virgin when she had him?
Jesus is the Son of God and Mary, so he is human in that he has a body of flesh and blood. But also, his father is God so he is unique in that way. Mary was a virgin, and she was just a human being. She is not worshiped.
21. When did you doubt it the most and how did you overcome that?
Absolutely doubted it before. What keeps me here is my desire to be like Jesus Christ. I believe in God, it's hard for me to not believe in him.
22. You guys can’t have hot caffeine? What else can you all not have?
It’s not specifically caffeine, we can’t have coffee, or tea cold or hot. This Is found In the Doctrine of Covenants; we believe God does not want us to have it.
23. Anything about Mormonism that you wish would change?
Polygamy and the racism in the book of Mormon
25. What are the biggest controversies surrounding Mormonism?
I think the idea that the church has all this money, specifically $150 billion. Which is frustrating because we give 10% of our income to the church and we do a fast offering. We also do a fast on the first Sunday of every month and use that money to donate to the needy, the money we would have used for the meals, not to mention the fact that we have members of the church clean our restrooms because we do not have a janitor.
26. How is it marrying outside Mormonism? Whether it's a non-Christian or someone that is Christian but not Mormon.
You do not have to get married in the faith. When you get married in the temple the ritual views the marriage as something that transcends past death, so if you do not get married in the temple your marriage is not viewed that way. But yes, there is cultural pressure for Mormons to marry Mormons.
27. The misconception about receiving your own planet in the afterlife? Is that true?
Not really a planet but we believe you can progress and become a god. When it comes to owning a planet that is sort of deep doctrine, we do not have strict doctrine on it, it seems to be more of people’s thoughts within the church.
28. Is it true that Mormon doctrine states that God was once a man?
Not that I know of, but we may assume that. We also accept that there are other planets with people out there in the universe.
29. What do you do when one prophet contradicts another, older prophet? How do you know which is right?
Prophets do contradict each other; we are told to listen to the most recent prophet if there are contradictions.
30. Is it a belief that the Garden of Eden was in Missouri?
I think some people believe that. I’m not sure that everyone does or that it’s a core belief. It’s not doctrine. People like to speculate.
I spent around 1.5 hours talking with the church members. They were kind enough to give me a tour of their church before we started the interview as well as giving me a Book of Mormon. First of all, the congregation size was smaller than I anticipated, maybe around 100+ members were what I was told. The demographics are pretty split amongst men and women. One thing I found particularly interesting was how communal the church was. A lot of different rooms dedicated to certain events and activities, very similar to a common protestant church. Even the area where they conduct their services was also used as a Church gym. You could even see a basketball hoop folded away on the ceiling. They also give church members the opportunity to preach with a couple weeks of preparation. Sister Rita explained to me the connection between the churches all over America and the world, all churches globally have a very similar layout of the interior. They even operate on the same sermon message from time to time. The LDS Church headquarters has a very close authority to all the churches globally. For example, Sister Rita explained to me how The Headquarter church is very interested in renovating their local church.
As far as their worldview goes, what stood out to me was the connections between Joseph Smith and Muhammad. Two individuals that were seen as uneducated men that received this apparent divine text that jump started both of their respective religions. Although there are more similarities on top of this, both religions are immensely different. Furthermore, I do respect the commitment the Mormons have. The idea of being expected to take two years of your life going to another state or country at random with devotion to spreading and persuading your religion to others is no trivial feat. Especially at such a young age. But I can’t help but think there must be a lot of struggles, especially since this is a religion that can only use its own book as evidence for its religion. Their approach is asking the individual they are talking to simply pray and ask God to reveal himself to them. I have been wrestling with the idea of if it is even fair of me to find any kind of absurdity to the answers they gave me. Surely, we have different beliefs but if an atheist asked me to explain some of the Old Testament stories and events, they too would find a quite large amount of absurdity in my beliefs. They could be equally if not more challenged in fathoming my beliefs as I am fathoming the beliefs of the Mormons. Overall, I felt blessed to have a conversation like this but challenged due to some of our belief systems aligning, although most of them seemed rather far apart. Especially since they identify as the same religion as me. Based on the conversation I had with Sister Rita, she seemed very in tune with the divinity of Jesus Christ and less in tune with the significance of Joseph Smith. Which did make me wonder that maybe there were a significant number of Mormons in the church then personally rejected The Book of Mormon, and only acknowledged The Bible but are too afraid to capitalize on those beliefs because of the implications of leaving. But then again, isn’t it possible I personally know a protestant brother/sister wrestling with something similar?