Posted by:
baura
(
)
Date: March 04, 2014 12:18PM
Mormons say, repeatedly, "if you want to know what Mormons
believe, ask a Mormon."
I would like to know where I can get a clear, authoritative
answer to the following questions about what Mormons believe:
1) Do faithful Mormons get their own planet in the afterlife?
I was taught this and there are tons of quotes from the Church
to this effect. The recent essay on becoming gods talked
about how Mormons don't like a "cartoonish" treatment of the
topic, but it didn't come out and actually say it was false.
anon 1 0 recently posted links to various headlines showing
that the media has interpreted the essay to say that the idea
that Mormons get their own planet is false.
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1191587But the essay doesn't come out and actually say it's false.
So Where can I get an authoritative answer to this question?
2) Was the 126-year policy of excluding Blacks of African
descent from holding the priesthood wrong?
In the essay on "Race and the Priesthood" the Church listed
various things that were taught including the "Curse of Cain"
teaching (declared by Brigham Young while claiming his
prophetic mantle) and the "less valiant in the pre-existence"
idea that every active Mormon my age remembers being taught.
Then, however, the essay goes on to say "Church leaders today
unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any
form." You'd think that this would include the policy of
exclusion based on race that was the main racial problem the
Church had for over a century. However my brother, an
Institute director, informs me that the condemnation does not
cover the priesthood-denial "policy."
So does it or not?
Where can I go to get answers to these simple questions about
what Mormons believe? What Mormon can I go to who can give me
answers I can rely on?
Russell M. Ballard, in an interview for ABC News, made the
statement that "We want to be understood; we don't want to be
misunderstood."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFxIUxKhVBYI posit that the LDS Church WANTS to be misunderstood.
However it wants to control exactly HOW it is misunderstood.