Michael T. Nelson - Mormonism, The Mormon Church, Beliefs, & Religion (2024)

FAQs

Is LDS membership declining? ›

No, it is not. Membership is not growing as rapidly as in past decades, but overall membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to increase every year—without exception. Total membership now exceeds 17 million members—the highest number ever.

Who do Mormons believe Jesus Christ is? Like most Christians, Mormons believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Creator of the World. However, Mormons hold the unique belief that God the Father and Jesus Christ are two distinct beings.

Mormons accept Christ's atonement through faith, repentance, formal covenants or ordinances such as baptism, and consistently trying to live a Christ-like life. According to Mormon scripture, the Earth's creation was not ex nihilo, but organized from existing matter.

Mormon Church Admits Founder Joseph Smith Had Up To 40 Wives : The Two-Way : NPR. Mormon Church Admits Founder Joseph Smith Had Up To 40 Wives : The Two-Way The Church of Latter-day Saints never denied polygamy was part of its history. But in a series of new essays, it describes the now-banned practice in detail.

Reasons for leaving

Most ex-Mormons leave Mormonism and the LDS or RLDS Church because of intellectual reasons for finding the religion false or practices of Mormon organizations. The foremost reasons are disbelief both in Joseph Smith as a prophet and in the Book of Mormon as a religious and historical document.

One of the preeminent responses given by non-Mormons of why Mormons are not Christian is they do not believe in the Trinity. Ostling and Ostling state that the LDS Church rejects the Jesus Christ of Christian orthodoxy in that they believe that God the Father is greater than Jesus.

Mormons believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again so that all humankind could be resurrected and one day return to live with a loving Heavenly Father. As the only person who has ever lived a completely sinless life, the Savior was a perfect sacrifice, a lamb without blemish.

The LDS Church believes that a Heavenly Mother exists, but very little is acknowledged or known beyond her existence or the number of Heavenly Mothers as early LDS leaders did teach that it was "clearly shown that God the Father had a plurality of wives."

The Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant branches of Christianity reject Mormon claims of additional scriptures, and of the prophetic office of Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders; they disagree with Mormon charges that they have committed apostasy.

What do Mormons believe happens after death? ›

Many, although not all, believe that the soul leaves the body and is judged by God. If the soul is good, it ascends to a spirit paradise; if it is not, it finds itself in a spirit prison. However, a soul that ends up in spirit prison doesn't necessarily stay there for all eternity.

Mormons have a strict law of chastity, requiring abstention from sexual relations outside opposite-sex marriage and strict fidelity within marriage. All sexual activity (heterosexual and hom*osexual) outside marriage is considered a grave sin, with marriage recognized as only between a man and a woman.

The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, first published in 1830 by Joseph Smith as The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi.

Mormon men can lawfully have one wife. The practice of polygamy (polygyny or plural marriage), the marriage of more than one woman to the same man, was practiced by Church members from the 1830s to the early 1900s.

A substantial number of today's members descend through faithful Latter-day Saints who practiced plural marriage. Church members no longer practice plural marriage. Consistent with Joseph Smith's teachings, the Church permits a man whose wife has died to be sealed to another woman when he remarries.

The General Social Survey has found a 46% retention rate in the church for those born after 1981 — aka millennials. The amount of young people leaving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints may be climbing.

The LDS Church does not release statistics on church activity, but it is likely that about 60 percent of its members in the United States and 70 percent worldwide are less active or inactive. Activity rates vary with age, and disengagement occurs most frequently between age 16 and 25.

LDS Church is the second-fastest growing religion in U.S.

With a growth rate of 19.3 percent, the Church led the trend toward conservative religion in the United States. The next fastest growing religions were the Churches of Christ, the Assemblies of God, and the Roman Catholic Church.