BYU is Stephenie a Mormon?

[debussygirl]

A very general definition of Mormon: A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, LDS, a sect of Christianity (yes, despite what people may tell you we are Christians).
Brief history of Mormon church: In 1820 in New York, a young man by the name of Joseph Smith was greatly concerned to know which church was right. He prayed, and God and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to him to tell him that none of the churches on their earth were correct, and to join none of them. Through the years, with angels and modern-day revelation, Jospeh Smith restored Jesus Christ's true church in 1830. The church's members, known as "Mormons" for the Book of Mormon, were persecuted and ran out of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and finally, after Brother Joseph's martyrdom, settled in the Utah Valley. Since then, the Mormon faith has gone global and now has 13 million members worldwide.
Basic Beliefs:
1. Belief in God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost as 3 separate and distinct beings.
2. We do believe in the Bible, and also have a second witness of Jesus Christ, The Book of Mormon, which Joseph Smith translated and is an account of God's people in the Americas. We also have modern-day revelation called The Doctrine and Covenants.
3. We do not believe that we have "original sin" inherited by our first parents, Adam and Eve. Rather, each person is accountable for their own sins. In fact, we believe the fall was essential for the Great Plan of Happiness.
4. We believe in baptism of immersion for the remission of sins, no earlier than the age of 8 and afterward recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost.
5. We believe that through the atonement of Jesus Christ all may be saved by obedience to the laws of the Gospel.
6. We believe in the offices held in the church at Christ's time (apostles, prophets, teachers, bishops, etc)
7. We believe God does not cut off communication to his children, but through revelation guides us with leaders and our own personal prayers.
8. We believe in the the gift of free agency, that man may not be forced to do something, but has a choice to do whatever he may, however he will have to pay the consequences for it.
^^These are just our basic beliefs, but if you have any questions on this or any other doctrine please post your questions. One thing to know about Mormons is that we love questions, don't feel shy to ask!!

[Valentina]

Spencer - I didn't mean to imply that Stephenie's faith is not important. I just mean that as far as religions go, people don't react the same way to hearing that some is a Mormon that they would if the person were Catholic, or Buddhist. Of course Stephenie's (and all practising religious people's) faith is important to them and does influence the way they act and their writing (if they are a writer, obviously), because of their values and beliefs. What I meant was that finding out that Stephenie is a Mormon didn't affect how I see her a writer, nor does it affect her ability to write something entertaining and relevant. Faith is a theme in the books, but Twilight doesn't deal directly with Mormonism specifically. So therefore, Stephenie's particular religion is less important to the understanding of the Twilight saga than her being religious and having a knowledge of how faith affects people, and how people who do believe in a 'higher power' and the idea of the soul will act.

I hope I got my point across better there. Basically, I wasn't belittling Stephenie's (or your) faith, just saying that her faith doesn't have any effect on her ability to write or my ability to enjoy her novels.

I actually find the Mormon faith very interesting... Well, I find religion in general interesting, but I don't know a whole lot about Mormon doctrine other than the basics (pretty much what debussygirl said).

I do have a question though. The terms LDS and Mormon, is one more preferred than the other? Is LDS more 'politically correct' or are they interchangeable? Or is it a personal choice which term a person would like to use? I've only just heard the term LDS (as an abbreviation, I mean) used very recently, so I was wondering.

Just a point of interest, the LDS church in my hometown always did the most wonderful Nativity play on Christmas Eve... they had real animals and everything. Everyone would come to watch and there were hay bales to sit on and hot chocolate... I wonder what my Baptist mother would think if she knew that the LDS Nativity play was a highlight of my childhood?

[sammydk]

sammydk-
Which question do you want first? What are Mormons is a big one, is there anything in particular you're curious about?
So I'll go with how I view Denmark...
It kinda made me laugh that you have to pay taxes. I mean, its not that different from tithing, but that its state condoned, and not really of your own free will just seemed a little odd to me.
And I don't condemn people for being atheist, I have a friend who is one, and I don't treat her any differently.
Its just a matter of how open you are to other people. *shrugs*

I suppose it just confuses me with all the different religions and different paths in specific religions there are today..
What's 'tithing'?
Well, the reason why we pay taxs to the church (which isn't much actually, it depends on how much money you make) is so we can be baptised, married, and burried on the church's cemetary.
To me it's a very old way of thinking of things and bascially treating people. I mean, I'm not a member anymore (because I don't believe in it, and because I will not pay the taxes to something I do not believe in) but I'm still free to enter the church. A few months ago my new little cousin was baptised and we all went, even though half of us don't believe in anything. It's more for the tradition of it, really.
There has been a lot of discussion on wether the Danish church should change their rules and thier way of saying and declaring things. A sort of an update really.
And the whole free will thing, well, as I said, it's not 100 percent free.. In any way..

Anyways, I guess it'sa bit difficult to explain these things right, choosing the right words, etc. English is not my main language...

Erm.. Another thing... are mormons the type of religion that allows more than one wife? It might be a stupid thing to ask, but I did ask my mom about this a long time ago, and we discussed it. Wether it was this religion or another one...

[debussygirl]

I suppose it just confuses me with all the different religions and different paths in specific religions there are today..
What's 'tithing'?
Another thing... are mormons the type of religion that allows more than
one wife? It might be a stupid thing to ask, but I did ask my mom about
this a long time ago, and we discussed it. Wether it was this religion
or another one...

Tithing is when you give 10% of your earnings to the church. So say I babysit and make $20, then I give $2 to the church. That way we build all the pretty temples and chapels, we can print out Book of Mormons to give to everyone, and make our church function.
When the church first started, polygamy (having more than one wife) was acceptable BUT ONLY TO AN EXTENT. The man's wife or wives had to give consent, the woman being married had to give consent, and the man had to be found worthy and not greedy. And the prophet called on the man. The Lord only accepts polygamy at different periods of time, like when Abraham walked the earth, and then again in the early days of the Mormon church. This is because we were persecuted so much that there were a lot of widows and single women from the lack of men all being killed. Back then women couldn't support themselves, so polygamy began. Also, this brought more children into the LDS faith, which made our numbers grow and helped the church overall to expand. But now we DO NOT have more than one wife today. It is not acceptable anymore and a member will be excommunicated.

I do
have a question though. The terms LDS and Mormon, is one more preferred
than the other? Is LDS more 'politically correct' or are they
interchangeable? Or is it a personal choice which term a person would
like to use? I've only just heard the term LDS (as an abbreviation, I
mean) used very recently, so I was wondering.

LDS and Mormon are interchangable, and I don't really think there's any "political correctness". We're just used to being called both. Being called Mormon won't make us offended, it's who we are.

[awesomejen1]

I do have a question though. The terms LDS and Mormon, is one more preferred than the other? Is LDS more 'politically correct' or are they interchangeable? Or is it a personal choice which term a person would like to use? I've only just heard the term LDS (as an abbreviation, I mean) used very recently, so I was wondering.

A few years ago...well, I guess it was probably more then a few, the church leaders wanted members to refer to themselves as members of the LDS faith, and to try to get away from the "Mormon" term because that implied that the church was that of Mormon (who they believed was a prophet back in the time Jesus...well, after Jesus, but way back when...) Which is not true, so the church really wanted to focus on being called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, since that is what they believe they are. It never really took off though, and now I see ads for the church with the website mormon.org...so maybe they just decided to embrace that since it's what the world knows them as.

I think that there is a good comparison between the taxes in Denmark and the tithing members pay. In some ways, tithing is mandatory if you want to be a full member in the church. You can choose not to pay, but you are not able to fully participate in church functions.

[sammydk]

I suppose it just confuses me with all the different religions and different paths in specific religions there are today..
What's 'tithing'?
Another thing... are mormons the type of religion that allows more than
one wife? It might be a stupid thing to ask, but I did ask my mom about
this a long time ago, and we discussed it. Wether it was this religion
or another one...

Tithing is when you give 10% of your earnings to the church. So say I babysit and make $20, then I give $2 to the church. That way we build all the pretty temples and chapels, we can print out Book of Mormons to give to everyone, and make our church function.
When the church first started, polygamy (having more than one wife) was acceptable BUT ONLY TO AN EXTENT. The man's wife or wives had to give consent, the woman being married had to give consent, and the man had to be found worthy and not greedy. And the prophet called on the man. The Lord only accepts polygamy at different periods of time, like when Abraham walked the earth, and then again in the early days of the Mormon church. This is because we were persecuted so much that there were a lot of widows and single women from the lack of men all being killed. Back then women couldn't support themselves, so polygamy began. Also, this brought more children into the LDS faith, which made our numbers grow and helped the church overall to expand. But now we DO NOT have more than one wife today. It is not acceptable anymore and a member will be excommunicated.

I do
have a question though. The terms LDS and Mormon, is one more preferred
than the other? Is LDS more 'politically correct' or are they
interchangeable? Or is it a personal choice which term a person would
like to use? I've only just heard the term LDS (as an abbreviation, I
mean) used very recently, so I was wondering.

LDS and Mormon are interchangable, and I don't really think there's any "political correctness". We're just used to being called both. Being called Mormon won't make us offended, it's who we are.

That cleared out a lot for me, thanks
I was just curious anyway. And about the polyami thing, well, I thought there was something about it, and the way you explain kinda makes sence, what I mean is, I can understand why it happened back then. I suppose a reason why it's illegal now is because men and women are more equal now and therefore can support themselves?
Well, I don't know, just a theory really. Anyways, I respect people for who ever they are and what ever or who hey believe in. Another thing: do people in generel accept your faith in the US? And not just LDS/mormon, but other faiths/religions?
We also have Jehovas Witnesses here, and people leave them alone generelly, but the common 'joke' is to never let them into your house or they'll always return and never leave. That sort of thing.. I don't mind them, we never had anyone knocking on our door anyways and how they choose to live their lives is their decision.
We do have one religion, or it's more a sect than a religion, called 'Faderhuset'. It's a very very small group of people (down to 100 these days, we think) which is getting our of hand; the woman who runs 'Faderhuset' is insane, they have turned their backs on the world and live alone in a hotel. The families must obey what ever she decides and must have their children brought up in her ways of thinking.
If any of you guys have heard of what happened here about a year ago with the youth house in Copenhagen, you hav probably heard about her as well. It scares me that someone has so much power that she can brainwash innocent people and punish their children..
Sorry, out of topic I guess, it just bothers me, a lot..

[debussygirl]

Anyways, I respect people for who ever they are
and what ever or who hey believe in. Another thing: do people in
generel accept your faith in the US? And not just LDS/mormon, but other
faiths/religions?

In America people pretty much are okay with other faiths. After America was created, Mormons were they only seriously persecuted religion, or at least that I can remember. Obviously there are the jerks out there that can't stand certain religions, but they're not too common. I've only had 1 person actually say that they hated me because I was Mormon. But she never did anything, just the normal snobby girl stuff. But actually, now that I think about it, the missionaries in my ward, or congregation, have to carry knives around because someone attacked them once (but I live pretty close to the bad part of the city, so). I don't know if it was because they had the badge on or they were just there.

[Spencer_thefrappboy]

Uhhh, just to clear up some confusion, I did not post my last post on here!
Lidia is a very good hacker...
That would have been dandyvampgirl_13 talking, not me!
*shrugs* I'm not Mormon...

[Valentina]

It never really took off though, and now I see ads for the church with the website mormon.org...so maybe they just decided to embrace that since it's what the world knows them as.

Gotta pick your battles, I guess.

I usually type LDS cuz its faster. Lucky, cuz I'm Anglican. And it gets worse. In the States, we're called "Episcopal." Try typing that out and see how much fun it is, LOL.

I like how you explained the polygamy thing, Debussygirl. The women had a choice in it, and it wasn't something that anyone went into without a lot of thought and prayer and guidance. That's how any marriage should be.

Obviously polygamy is in our past, as in Biblical Old Testament times it was very common (Solomon had 700 wives... can you imagine? Most men think one plenty. XP) and I think in certain circumstances... for example, a missionary came to our church while on furlough and he was telling us about the people he was ministering to. One of the men had two wives, but they didn't make a big deal about it, because if they told him he could only have one wife, he would've killed one of them! Obviously he didn't marry anyone else after he became a Christian, but in that case it was much better to just accept that he had two wives, since the alternative was worse!

As for religious persecution here, its definitely not very bad! When you consider that people are still being killed for their faith in other parts of the world, I'll take a little teasing gladly. Christians I think definitely are the brunt of a lot of joking but joking is not going to kill us. If the joking isn't meanspirited, I often join in! Or if the joking is meanspirited, I'll make a joke that isn't, to get the conversation away from the mean things and onto something more goodnatured. I mean, we do funny stuff! One of the jokes about the Anglicans is that we over plan things... we have committees to form committees for events! And our choir (in my parish, specifically), sings every song so slowly sometimes you can't keep up! I personally believe that God has a sense of humour and occasionally stepping back and laughing at ourselves is just what we need. Not laughing at God, mind you, but at us as people.

[dandyvampgirl_13]

Haha, we Mormons make fun of ourselves all the time! Like in the New Era, our church magazine for the youth, there's generally a little comic section in the back, and those are really funny!
And have you seen Sons of Provo? Most epic joke everrrrrrr.