Hannah Honigfort

Honigfort 1

Hannah Honigfort

Gregory

HE 10-4

25 October 2011

A New Life

Silence hangs in the air. I watch in anticipation as she carefully steps down along with him. Forever passes, as it seems, before soft words fall from his lips. She is laid back into the pool of water. He brings her up and a sense of relief flows through my body. It is over. She has been baptized into a new religion. This past summer, my sister converted to Mormonism. Now, what is the first word that comes to mind when you hear of the Mormon religion? I have come to find that for most their first thought is the practice of polygamy. Every time, I even mention this, I am asked “Isn’t that the religion where a man marries many women?” This is perfectly fine. In fact, at one point, I would have questioned it as well. Also, I cannot say for certain that I was pleased with my sister’s decision to convert. I was, however, glad that at least she was taking to a path of faith in the heavenly father. In order to be as supportive as possible, I attended missionary meetings along with her to learn more about this religion. Through doing so, I learned that much of the information I had learned prior to her conversion was false.

Mormonism really is not that different from Christianity. Both religions have the same commandments, same values and faith in God. There are, however some differences. The biggest difference being that Mormons do not believe in a “hell”. The way they see it is if God loves all his children, why would he let them suffer for all eternity? When in my perspective, God gave humans free will. Therefore, it is not God who turns his back on his children, but it is his children who turn their backs on him. Instead of there being a “hell”, Mormons believe that there are three kingdoms of Heaven: Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial.

The Celestial kingdom is the highest of the three kingdoms. It is where those who have accepted the teachings of Jesus Christ and followed it to the best of their ability before physical death reside along with God and Jesus Christ. Also, any child who dies before the age of eight automatically inherits the Celestial kingdom. This is because of the belief that a child under eight years of age does not have the ability to know right from wrong.

The Terrestrial kingdom is where those who"are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus" after having received itreside. It also includesthose who received the gospel after death. Ultimately, the first two kingdoms (either the Celestial or the Terrestrial)received by those who accept the testimony of Jesus Christare based on God's knowledge of whether they have received the gospel with all their hearts as shown by their works and desires.

The Telestial kingdom is basically spirit prison. Those who reside within this kingdom include those who have not received the gospel or the testimony of Jesus Christ. It also includes those who have sinned and have not repented for their sins. Those who have done so will pay for their sins, but not for all eternity. In the afterlife, these “sinners” still have the opportunity to accept the gospel and repent while they reside in this kingdom. If they choose to do this, they will move up to the Terrestrial kingdom.

Another difference between Mormonism and Christianity is that Mormons cannot take in anything that can harm their body. This is called the “Word of Wisdom”. This scripture discourages "hot drinks", the non-medicinal use of tobacco, the consumption of wine or "strong drinks", and encourages using meat sparingly. It also discourages the intake of any substance with caffeine. As practiced by the Latter-Day Saints Church, there is no firm restriction relating to meat consumption, but there are additional restrictions against narcotics, and all alcoholic beverages are forbidden.Also, the church interprets “hot drinks" to mean coffee and tea.

Now, to clear up some misconceptions. Mormons do notpractice polygamy.Those who do are a sect of people who broke off of the Mormon religion. Mormons believe that a man should have only one wife. In fact, if you were to ask any of the Mormons that I have befriended, they would say just that. Another misconception that I was quite surprised to hear is that Mormons are Satanists. This obviously is not true.

Although I may not agree with a lot of the beliefs within this religion, I am glad to have learned more about it. This way, I can disseminate the information to others, so they know what is true and what is false. Hopefully, someday, there won’t be any more misconceptions of this religion, but then again maybe that is asking a little too much of the human race.