Jesus Christ – Page 3 – What Do Mormons Believe?

Question Box: Why did Jesus not visit every place on earth?

Question: If you believe Jesus went to America because he died for them just as much as Peter or Mary, as you said in another post, why did he not visit every place on Earth?

One of the “why not?” reasons Mormons often give in support of our unique belief that Jesus visited the American continent after his resurrection is that Jesus loves everyone, and died for everyone, so it’s not unreasonable to think He might choose to visit other groups of his children. But, as you point out, if Jesus’ loving people were a sufficient reason for Jesus to personally visit them, then He would have visited every person on earth in every place. So the question is: why did Jesus choose the Nephites of the Book of Mormon, and did he choose to visit anywhere else?

The Book of Mormon has the answers, given by Jesus himself in the book of 3 Nephi, chapter 15. We learn that Jesus visited the Nephites because they were a branch of the House of Israel, led away from Palestine by God, and his visitation was part of a fulfillment of his covenant with the House of Israel. He also explains that the “gentiles” (those who are not of the House of Israel), will receive the gospel through the preaching of his apostles rather than through a personal apperanace. We also learn that there were other groups of the House of Israel scattered throughout the world, and in chapter 16, Jesus explains that he will visit them too:

1 And verily, verily, I say unto you that I have other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister.

3 But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall hear my voice, and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; therefore I go to show myself unto them.

The obvious next question is: if the Bible is from Palestine, and the Book of Mormon is from America, are there records of Jesus’ other personal appearances? The answer is: we don’t know. If so, God has not revealed them. One thing that makes Mormonism very unique among religions is that our canon is not closed– we expect that God is not done talking to his children.

Question Box: Do Mormons believe in Jesus?

Absolutely!

Sometimes people hear about “Mormons” but don’t realize that the actual name of the religion is “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”. Jesus Christ is our Savior, Lord and Redeemer. We believe that He was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem as described in the New Testament. As the Son of God, He came to save all mankind through his suffering in Gethsemane, death on the cross and resurrection on the third day.

The Third Article of Faith

We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the central tenet of our faith. The word ‘atonement’ or ‘at-one-ment’ was done to bring us to be “at one” with God. In other words, we can be reconciled with God through the atonement. The reason we are estranged from Him in the first place is because of our mortality. Because we are mortal, we will all die because our bodies are imperfect. Not only that, our spirits are imperfect. No matter what we do, on our own, we cannot remove past disobedience from our heart. These imperfections of body and spirit bring on physical and spiritual death. Physical death is a separation from our body and spiritual death is a separation from God.

Through the atonement, our bodies will be made perfect after this life, that much is guaranteed to us. In order to perfect our spirits, we must accept the terms and conditions set by Jesus Christ. The atonement was accomplished by Jesus Christ by His suffering for our sins in Gethsemane and on the cross and through His resurrection.

Judge not . . .

When I was a kid I used to think that everyone was just like me and that for the most part their lives were like mine–they had a warm, safe place to sleep, more than enough to eat, and that they felt safe and knew that their mom and dad loved them. When I got to be a teenager, I realized that that wasn’t always the case, but I erroneously thought that it was their own fault if they weren’t happy, or if they had “problems”. In the last few years, but in particular the last few months, I have seen and heard a lot of sad stories, heart wrenching really, that have truly changed my perspective .

I see a lot of people who have been shot, stabbed, hit by a car on their bike, run over while waiting at the bus stop, and in one case, a drunk woman hit a van with a woman and three or four kids, killing them all and yet she lived with a broken ankle. Meanwhile there was a husband and child, who were lucky enough to not be in the van, whose lives were changed forever that night.

We are all quick to point our fingers at the drunk lady and say, “how could she do that– drink and drive. She should be the one who is dead.” But, I would almost guarantee that if you were to ask this woman about her life she would have a heart-wrenching story of her own to tell, which would probably turn your stomach in knots. I would almost bet that her life was so bad that the only way that she could deal with it was to drink until it didn’t hurt anymore.

We all do it; we all judge each other. Christ taught, “judge not, that ye be not judged” (St. Matthew 7:1) He was speaking with a some experience, remember He was Mary’s son, who was pregnant before she and Joseph were married. I am sure the young couple was the talk of Nazareth for a while.

I have thought about those seven words a lot and the more I hear these sad stories and see the scars, either emotional or physical, that people carry, the more I realize that I have no room to think, “well, if you would just . . . then you wouldn’t be like this.” If I had to go through what some people have, maybe I would drink myself to death too. Or how can you not be violent to others, when all you have experienced was violence from those who you are supposed to trust?

I am not advocating that people should not be punished for their actions, or that sin as defined by God’s laws is excusable, but what I am saying is that we should all have a little more compassion. We can hate the sin, but still love the sinner (as a contributor to this website put it). We should all view people as who they really are–sons and daughters of an Eternal Father in Heaven, who have divine and unlimited potential. So when that guy flies by you on your way home tonight and then proceeds to slam on his brakes and cut you off to get in the turn lane, take a deep breath and say, “I bet he is on the way to the hospital to see his wife who is taking her last breaths.”

Question Box: The Atonement

Question Box: Do Mormons believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died on the cross and rose again? That He paid the price for our sins once and for all? And that there is no other way to the Father but through Jesus? Thank you.

Yes, we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, that He died on the cross, and that he rose again the third day. We believe that Christ’s atonement (his suffering and death/resurrection) was for our sins, making it possible for us to repent and become clean again. His perfect life provides an example for us in how to live and love others as He does. We can become like Him as we give up our sins and change our lives to follow His teachings. We believe “that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.” (Helaman 5 :9)

I know Christ loves us by the things He taught and the way He lived His life, culminating in His atonement for our sins. I’ve added a short video below that the Church has produced to help demonstrate how the atonement works.