What I Believe

The core of it Articles of Faith 1:1

We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

Articles of Faith 1:1

• Jesus Christ is the centre of it, not a detail of it

  Articles of Faith 1:3

  Latter-day Saints are Christians. We believe Jesus Christ is the literal Son of God, that He lived a sinless life, that He suffered and died and rose again, and that through Him every person can be forgiven and eventually made whole. The name of the Church is His name, and it is on the tag every missionary wears.

  This is worth saying plainly because it is the single most common thing people get wrong about us.

• The Restoration

  Joseph Smith — History 1:15–20

  We believe that the Church Christ organised was lost over centuries, and that in 1820 a fourteen-year-old named Joseph Smith, trying to work out which church to join, went into a grove of trees to ask God directly. We believe God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him, and that through him the authority, ordinances, and organisation of the original Church were restored.

  You do not have to take that on trust. It is a specific claim about a specific event, and it can be investigated.

  → The Restoration, in the Church’s words

• The Book of Mormon

  Articles of Faith 1:8 · Title page

  A record of people who lived in the ancient Americas, written by prophets among them, and translated by Joseph Smith. It exists alongside the Bible rather than instead of it, and its stated purpose is on its own title page: to convince Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ.

  It is the thing we ask people to read, because it is the thing the whole claim rests on. If it is what it says it is, everything else follows. If it is not, nothing else matters much.

  → Read it free online

• God still speaks

  Articles of Faith 1:9

  We believe God spoke to prophets anciently and has not stopped. The Church is led today by a President who we sustain as a prophet, along with apostles, and twice a year they address the whole Church in a general conference that anyone can watch.

  We also believe this personally: that an ordinary person can ask God a real question and get a real answer. That is not reserved for leaders.

  What would you like here?

• Families, and temples

  Doctrine and Covenants 132:19

  We believe that marriage and family can continue past death rather than ending at it, and that the ordinances which make that possible are performed in temples. Temples are not chapels — Sunday worship happens in ordinary meetinghouses that anyone may walk into. Temples are set apart for these specific covenants.

  Much of the family history work Latter-day Saints are known for exists for this reason: we are trying to find our dead so that the same promises can be offered to them.

  → Temples

• Where this life sits in a longer story

  Alma 34:32 · Moses 1:39

  We believe you existed before you were born, that this life is a deliberately difficult middle chapter with real choices in it, and that what comes after is not a single pass-or-fail gate. God’s stated work is to bring about immortality and eternal life — that is, He is trying to get people home, not trying to catch them out.

  → God’s plan for you

Straight answers

• Are you Christian?

  Yes. The name of the Church is the name of Jesus Christ, and He is the subject of nearly everything we teach.

• Is “Mormon” the right word?

  It is a nickname, from the Book of Mormon. The Church asks that its full name be used. “Latter-day Saint” is the usual shorthand for a member.

• Do I have to join to look into it?

  No. You can read, attend, ask questions, and meet with missionaries for as long as you want without joining anything.

• Can I visit on a Sunday?

  Yes, and you do not need an invitation. Sunday services are in ordinary meetinghouses and are open to anyone.

• Will someone pressure me?

  They should not. If you say you are not interested, that is meant to be the end of it. Anyone who does otherwise is out of line.

• What does it cost?

  Nothing. Missionaries pay their own way, congregations are run by unpaid volunteers, and no one is charged to attend or to join.

If you want to look into it Moroni 10:4

Every link goes to the Church’s own site. Nothing on this page collects your details, and nobody here is keeping a list.

• Come unto Christ The plainest starting point — who Jesus Christ is and what He offers, with nothing asked of you first. churchofjesuschrist.org ↗
• Get a Book of Mormon No charge and no obligation. Request one, read it, and ask God about it yourself. Request ↗
• Talk to missionaries Two people near you who will answer questions in person or over video, for as long or as short a time as you want. Arrange ↗
• Find a meetinghouse If you would rather just turn up on a Sunday and watch from the back, that is completely fine. Search ↗
• Ask me instead If you would rather put a question to one person than to an organisation. Connect →