Mormon Story Part Two!
My first meeting with the Mormons was interesting, if only because of the tour they gave me of their temple. The religious conversation was mostly covering the basics of "this is what I believe tell me what you believe". They gave me a book of Mormon and asked me to read a few chapters from it. I read them, but it didn't stick. We agreed to meet in one week at the temple to talk again.
During that week I read the recommended chapters from the Book of (Nephi? Moroni? Mosiah?). It reminded me of Old Testament books, because the story was about a prophet telling people that they were sinners and would suffer God's wrath if they didn't repent. Standard stuff. But what struck me as odd about this reading was that Joseph Smith used "thee" and "thou" and "ye". That's fine if he was writing this in 1611, when the King James Translation was made. Except the Book of Mormon was started in 1829, long after that language fell out of fashion. My only guess is that he used those words to match the style of the KJV, which Mormons consider to be the most accurate translation of the Bible. At the second meeting I asked the Elders about it, and they didn't know the reason either.
The main topic of the second and third meetings was The Plan of Happiness. In short, this was the whole timeline from Pre-Creation to Post-Armageddon of where humans come from, what they must do to achieve total salvation, and the levels of "heaven" available to them. I have no intention of going through the entire Plan here, but can offer some comparisons between Mormonism and Lutheranism, since I know that one best. Here they are, in complete chronological order:
1) Pre-mortal existence: Mormons believe that all humans existed with God before being born, and at that time chose Jesus to be their Savior. If they had not, they would have been cast out of Heaven with the Devil. After being born on Earth, humans forget their pre-mortal existence. Lutheranism does not have this.
2) Spirit World: After death but before The Resurrection (2nd coming of Christ), human's bodies go into the ground and their souls enter the Spirit World. In the Spirit World the souls can exist in either Paradise or Prison, depending on the human's faith and behavior on Earth. Souls that enter Prison in the Spirit World can enter Paradise, but they must first accept Jesus and be baptized. The problem is, only a physical being can be baptized. This is why Mormons keep extensive genealogical records. They use these records for baptism-by-proxy where a person on Earth is baptized for a soul assumed to be in the Spirit World Prison. It is basically a second chance where if you rejected Jesus on Earth you can still accept him after death. Lutheranism does not offer such second chances. You screw up on Earth, and it's Hell for you.
3) Post-Resurrection: Again, depending on your faith and behavior humans have 3 different Kingdoms in which they can exist. The highest is the Celestial Kingdom, which is where God is. Only people who believed in Jesus and lived a good life on Earth go here. The next level is the Terrestrial Kingdom, where you are near God, but not with him. The Elders described this as a "type of Hell", because you will spend Eternity knowing you could of done better. They gave no description of flames and burning, though. I think you go here if you lived a good life but didn't believe in Jesus. Finally, the worst people (bad lives AND didn't believe) go to the Telestial Kingdom. The Elders didn't describe this place much, but they did say that all three places are considered Heaven. It's just that some Heavens were better than others. Lutheranism has one Heaven and one Hell. You must believe in Jesus to go to Heaven, where God is. All others go to Hell, where it is really hot. Too hot.
In general, the Plan Of Happiness wasn't much different from the Plan Of Salvation in Lutheranism. On Earth, you must repent of your sins, believe in Jesus, and live a good life. The only real differences between the two religions are in the details.
Stayed tuned for Part Three with the dramatic conclusion!
During that week I read the recommended chapters from the Book of (Nephi? Moroni? Mosiah?). It reminded me of Old Testament books, because the story was about a prophet telling people that they were sinners and would suffer God's wrath if they didn't repent. Standard stuff. But what struck me as odd about this reading was that Joseph Smith used "thee" and "thou" and "ye". That's fine if he was writing this in 1611, when the King James Translation was made. Except the Book of Mormon was started in 1829, long after that language fell out of fashion. My only guess is that he used those words to match the style of the KJV, which Mormons consider to be the most accurate translation of the Bible. At the second meeting I asked the Elders about it, and they didn't know the reason either.
The main topic of the second and third meetings was The Plan of Happiness. In short, this was the whole timeline from Pre-Creation to Post-Armageddon of where humans come from, what they must do to achieve total salvation, and the levels of "heaven" available to them. I have no intention of going through the entire Plan here, but can offer some comparisons between Mormonism and Lutheranism, since I know that one best. Here they are, in complete chronological order:
1) Pre-mortal existence: Mormons believe that all humans existed with God before being born, and at that time chose Jesus to be their Savior. If they had not, they would have been cast out of Heaven with the Devil. After being born on Earth, humans forget their pre-mortal existence. Lutheranism does not have this.
2) Spirit World: After death but before The Resurrection (2nd coming of Christ), human's bodies go into the ground and their souls enter the Spirit World. In the Spirit World the souls can exist in either Paradise or Prison, depending on the human's faith and behavior on Earth. Souls that enter Prison in the Spirit World can enter Paradise, but they must first accept Jesus and be baptized. The problem is, only a physical being can be baptized. This is why Mormons keep extensive genealogical records. They use these records for baptism-by-proxy where a person on Earth is baptized for a soul assumed to be in the Spirit World Prison. It is basically a second chance where if you rejected Jesus on Earth you can still accept him after death. Lutheranism does not offer such second chances. You screw up on Earth, and it's Hell for you.
3) Post-Resurrection: Again, depending on your faith and behavior humans have 3 different Kingdoms in which they can exist. The highest is the Celestial Kingdom, which is where God is. Only people who believed in Jesus and lived a good life on Earth go here. The next level is the Terrestrial Kingdom, where you are near God, but not with him. The Elders described this as a "type of Hell", because you will spend Eternity knowing you could of done better. They gave no description of flames and burning, though. I think you go here if you lived a good life but didn't believe in Jesus. Finally, the worst people (bad lives AND didn't believe) go to the Telestial Kingdom. The Elders didn't describe this place much, but they did say that all three places are considered Heaven. It's just that some Heavens were better than others. Lutheranism has one Heaven and one Hell. You must believe in Jesus to go to Heaven, where God is. All others go to Hell, where it is really hot. Too hot.
In general, the Plan Of Happiness wasn't much different from the Plan Of Salvation in Lutheranism. On Earth, you must repent of your sins, believe in Jesus, and live a good life. The only real differences between the two religions are in the details.
Stayed tuned for Part Three with the dramatic conclusion!
posted by ScottyB at
6:00 AM
2 Comments:
If I were playing Bible Risk, i'd put my money on the Catholics...
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/church_bodies.gif
By
Anonymous, at 20 April, 2006 13:37
That's an interesting graphic, Philipp. The Catholics seem to have dominion over area. In sheer number of counties, though, Baptists have the lead.
You also have an interesting name, Mr. Melanchthon. Only someone very familiar with Lutheran history would be able to come up with it, I think.
By
ScottyB, at 21 April, 2006 06:52
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