Mormon Monday

So, over a month ago, I got an email from a friend asking questions about my faith. I promised to respond to her later that week. Well, that was the Monday before we found out I was going to move. Needless to say, I got a little busy and responding to her fell to the side. I didn't forget, but I just didn't have time to sit and think about what and how I wanted to answer her questions. 


Now that I'm all settled, and have free time, I finally answered her questions. And since I liked her questions, I thought I would share them here, for Mormon Monday. :D


How come the no coffee thing? At the time the Word of Wisdom was given to Joseph Smith, they didn't know that tobacco and alcohol was bad for them then, they just had to take it on faith and don't use them. That's the same way with coffee. There may or may not be something bad about, beside the flesh eating acid that causing ulcers, we just have to follow the commandment and have faith that God is helping us live a long life.And tattoos. And all that stuff? We believe that our body is the temple of our spirit. And just like the temples on earth, where no unclean thing can enter and that it shouldn't be defaced. The same too, applies to our bodies. So no tats, no extra pierces besides one per each ear. The same idea with coffee applies here, no unclean thing should enter our bodies. Drugs, alcohol, etc.

celestial levels...celestial marriage...the aversion to the cross...Although, the celestial marriage, I'm not sure that is something that they teach anymore? That makes me laugh. Celestial marriage is indeed still taught and practiced. My husband and I were "sealed" in the temple. 

Celestial levels. We believe that there are three degrees of glory, Telestial, Terrestrial, and Celestial. Each glory has a specific "qualification" to be able to enter. Certain things that must be done in order to gain entrance. The Celestial glory, you must repent, be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, receive the endowment and have a temple marriage, ie, Celestial Marriage. You always have to uphold the commandments of God, Love one another, read the scriptures and pray daily. Serve one another and try your hardest to live a good life. While enduring to the end. Sounds like a lot. And it's not easy. But with the power of the atonement, Jesus Christ makes up the rest so the unperfected man can enter the highest degree of glory.

In the Terrestrial glory are for those LDS people that are less valiant in the Celestial to-do list and for the non-members that are really good people that live the commandments as they know them and serve their fellow man. 

And last but not least, the Telestial glory are for those of us that either believe in God or don't, try to live a good life but fail, those of us that just live life for life and not for God. They get to go to a heaven too, ie they are able to receive a measure of the love and glory of God that they are able to receive.

Each person will be happy in their glory. They would be very uncomfortable in a higher or a lesser glory.

And then the cross....I know for the most part, I think, but it's always interesting to hear other thoughts! :)

It's not an aversion to the cross, but a difference in focus. The true saving act wasn't the death of Christ, but in the garden of Gethsemane where He bled from every pore. He felt every bad deed, thought and act that night. That's where part one the atonement happened. The second part was when He defeated death and lived again. Just like when a loved one dies, we don't focus on their death, but on their memory and how they were when they lived. That's what we do with Christ. We focus on His life and look forward to the time when He comes again.


If you have any question about anything about the LDS church, please ask away! I'm more than happy to answer them!


Merry Christmas!!