What is your view of Mormonism?
You may see television ads that present Mormonism as just another "Christian denomination." This faith is does not hold to the standard Christian beliefs.
The Mormon sect was officially founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith. Smith claimed that God told him to reinstate the "priesthood" and that he had the "keys to the church on earth." Because of his strange teachings, Joseph Smith was murdered by an angry mob. His successor, Brigham Young, was responsible for moving the Mormon Church to Utah.
Listed below are several of Mormonism's major teachings that are direct quotes from church leaders and official documents:
God is an exalted man:
"God himself was one as we are now, and is an exalted man...I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form...like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man...He was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth" (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 305).
Joseph Smith will be Heaven's gatekeeper:
"No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith. From the day that the Priesthood was taken from the earth to the winding up scene of all things, every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are" (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 289).
The dead can be saved:
"We are the only people that know how to save our progenitors, how to save ourselves, and how to save our posterity in the celestial kingdom of God; that we are the people God has chosen by whom to establish his kingdom and introduce correct principles into the world; and that we are in fact the saviours of the world..." (John Taylor [Prophet], Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 163).
People living on the sun and moon:
"Nearly all the great discoveries of men in the last half century have, in one way or another... contributed to prove Joseph Smith to be a prophet. As far back as 1837, I know that he said the moon was inhabited by men and women the same as this earth, and that they lived to a greater age than we do, that they live generally to near the age of 1000 years. He described the men as averaging near six feet in height, and dressing quite uniformly in something near the Quaker style" (O. B. Huntington, Young Women's Journal, Vol. 3, p. 264, 1892). "Who can tell us of the inhabitants of this little planet that shines of an evening, called the moon?... So it is with regard to the inhabitants of the sun. Do you think it is inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you think there is any life there? No question of it" (B. Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 13, p. 271).
The Negro race is cursed:
"Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness, he became the father of an inferior race. A curse was placed upon him and that curse has been continued through his lineage and must do so while time endures. Millions of souls have come into this world cursed with a black skin and have been denied the privilege of Priesthood and the fulness of the blessings of the Gospel" (Joseph Fielding Smith [Prophet], The Way To Perfection, p. 102).
"You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind" (Brigham Young [Prophet], Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 290).
God has a wife:
"In the heaven where our spirits were born, there are many Gods, each of whom has his own wife or wives, which were given to him ...while yet in his mortal state" (Orson Pratt [Apostle], The Seer, p. 37). "This doctrine that there is a Mother in Heaven was affirmed in all plainness by the First Presidency of the Church" (Bruce R. McConkie [Apostle], Mormon Doctrine, p. 516).