Myths and Misunderstandings About Mormons-"The Secret World of Mormonism" and "The Godmakers" debunked!

-Mormons believe that we will meet God, Jesus and Joseph Smith on Judgment Day.
FALSE
Joseph Smith has as much say in my salvation as any other prophet of God has.

-Mormons are encouraged to have encounters with spirits/demons in order to do temple work.
FALSE
Sure, I like a good ghost movie, and I have scary ghost stories of my own. But seriously? A Christian church that encourages such encounters? Ya right! We are warned to stay away from this sort of stuff, for obvious reasons.

-Some footage from the movie "The Secret World of Mormonism" was taken by a guy who smuggled a camera into an actual ceremony.
FALSE
I will say that the clothes were very similar, so clearly people who have been through the temple were involved in giving information for this film. But did you love the perfectly black backdrop? Um, no. This was not actual footage. We don't have a black backdrop in our temples, just in case someone sneaks in a camera and needs to get a good shot. ;)

-Mormons have to be polygamists to enter into the celestial kingdom/heaven.
FALSE
Abraham had more than one wife. Israel had more than one wife. Clearly, at times, God sees a need for this. But he makes it clear that monogamy is what his intention is for us in general. Mormons did practice polygamy, but only about 3% of men did so. That is a rather small number! We believe in a modern day prophet and revelation, and God commanded them to do so. They didn't want to, who would? But the few that were called obeyed. The reason? Perhaps to grow the church, which it certainly helped that. Primarily, it was to help the women who lost husbands during their hard trek to escape religious persecution. Any study of history makes it clear that a single mother with a bunch of kids couldn't survive long back then. Joseph Smith married small girls and woman who already had husbands? FALSE! To be clear, those who practice polygamy now are NOT LDS. They are a branch off of the church, similar to all the branches of every other Christian faith. FLDs, the branch, are totally creepy and wrong and they practice polygamy far different then the early pioneers ever did. And by the way, if we have to have more than one wife to get into heaven, poor JD!!!!! Aint happenin! LOL Surely all Mormons today would be screwed if that were true, because we are monogamous.

-Mormons wear garments/underwear at all times, even during childbirth and sex.
FALSE!!!
False and funny!!! I mean, come on! Yes, we do wear garments. They are underclothes/wear that have sacred symbolism and meaning to us. Think of Jews wearing their hats. It is a physical covenant and reminder. It does relate to the temple, we don't wear them until we go through it. Um, heck ya I take them off for sex! And for working out, and swimming, etc. I wear them at times I would wear a bra and underwear like any normal person. They cover more to encourage modesty as well as to keep us safe. Do we believe that if a chain saw came at us they would magically save us? No. But there are those who have been in severe accidents and their garments truly protected them. I have family members who have experienced this. Think about it, if these symbolic reminders are in fact sacred, surely God could use them to protect us should it be his will. But they aren't like a shield, we aren't stupid about it. Also, they can protect us from evil. I know this is true. That's another long story, but just know that we wear them the way garments were worn in the bible. "Moses was commanded to place holy garments and priestly vestments upon Aaron and others, thus preparing them to officiate in the tabernacle. Said the Lord to Moses, “And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel … and thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty … that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office” (Ex. 28:1–3). Here is a full article on the subject with scriptural references: http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=92ba196b5a1eb010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=f318118dd536c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

-Mormons believe in and practice the blood atonement.
FALSE
It is true that Brigham Young talked about this and recorded it in his discourses. His discourses are NOT scriptures. It has greatly troubled me that a prophet of God could teach something so freaking insane, so I have actually researched the heck out of this. A lot of the questionable stuff in the discourses was taken out of context. Bottom line is this-we do not practice it and we NEVER did. Not once! Leaders have explained that he was referring to capital punishment and it has basically been dismissed as the fact that prophets are human and can make mistakes, and things can be misunderstood. There is a lot more that I have researched about this that makes me feel better, but just know that we do not believe that if you disobey your hierarchy, marry a black person, have an affair, etc. that you should be killed by your leaders. This has NEVER been practiced. The movie talks about this poor wife who had it happen to her, but to clear, they were not Mormons. They were part of the FLDS-Fundamental LDS church. They are not connected to us at all. We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and only through him can we be forgiven.

-Missionaries lie to get people to join the church.
FALSE
If JD (my husband) can't even keep his mouth shut at work because he thinks something unethical is going on, do you think he could lie to people every day in regards to their salvation? Ya right! They teach what we believe, end of story.

-Deep doctrines are withheld at first.
Partially True.
We don't say, "Hey, interested in joining our church? Well first, we believe in baptisms for the dead, and we think that there was a pre-mortal existence, and we don't believe in the trinity." You have to understand the ingredients before you can bake a cake! We share the fundamentals first, our faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement for our sins, our belief in the Bible and Book of Mormon, and the Joseph Smith story. All things that have been attacked by anti's, mind you, so clearly we aren't holding back on the controversial stuff. But when we teach our faith, we start with the basics, as with anything. All questions are answered honestly, no one is taught to lie. That is absurd. What's the point? No one is making any money off new members or anything. We simply believe it to be true.

-Mormons believe that God has sex with tons of wives to bring about our spirits.
FALSE
This was a cartoon clip from the Godmakers, it was interesting to learn that the same guys who made that made this movie. I have seen the cartoon before. It is a cross between funny and creepy! We DO believe in a pre-earth life. It is mentioned in the Bible and because of our belief in modern day revelation, we have a deeper understanding of it. Job Ch. 38:
  4 Where wast thou when I ^alaid the ^bfoundations of the ^cearth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

  5 Who hath ^alaid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

  6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the ^acorner stone thereof;

  7 When the morning stars ^asang together, and all the ^bsons of God shouted for ^cjoy?

So we believe that we as spirits lived before we came to Earth. We weren't first created when we were born here on Earth. But did God have a bunch of sex to create us? You tell me! Whether we were alive before Earth or not, our spirits had to be created. You and I can make life in terms of bodies, but don't you believe God is the creator of our souls? So, how did he do it? Frankly, I don't know. But we certainly aren't taught that he had sex and popped us out that way. Christians believe God created our souls, just like we believe it, so I don't see why this is such a hot button.

-Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers.
TRUE.
God is the creator of all, and he is more powerful than Satan, so why is it so crazy to think that he is his father the way he is everybody else’s? If he isn't, then where did Satan come from? What is insane is to assume Heavenly Father is NOT his God. We do believe that in the pre-earth life, a plan was organized in order to test us and give us a body so that we could continually progress. Both Satan and Jesus proposed a plan; Jesus' included his atonement for our sins, free agency, and God getting all the glory. Satan was selfish and was cast out, we do believe that some of the spirits followed him and therefore they did not get bodies. I know, this story sounds like a bit much, which is why it can get confusing if you learn just this. But, it makes perfect sense to me. :)

-Spirits who were neutral in the pre-Earth life came with black skin as a punishment.
FALSE.
Whatever. There are some unfortunate rumors and things said, even by Mormons, but that doesn't mean we believe it. That doesn't mean it is part of our doctrine. But to be fair, we know what happened to Cane when he sinned...his skin was turned dark. So, Christians do believe that skin color can be sort of punishment, or protection, as it is argued it was in Cane's case. I think some people take that the wrong way…We don't think Negros are black because they were born sinners! It makes me sad that some people might say so. We are all God’s children, all equal.

-Mormons believe that Adam was really Jesus.
FALSE.
Funny! Not true! I believe this rumor started from, you guessed it, Brigham Young. He was making a point and things got misinterpreted. Sadly, the church was newly restored and so much information was coming at them, what with the Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price and all, that I think a lot of confusion spurred. It is only natural, and it was cleared up, but some rumors tag along. Be assured that we do not believe this, and we have never taught it. Adam was the son of God and brother to Jesus the way we are brothers to him.

-Mormons believe that God had sex with Mary.
FALSE.
Again, you tell me! As other Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ is God's only begotten son (though some think they are the same person, we do not) but we don't know what that entails. Sure, there is speculation, but in no way do we teach this or believe it as doctrine.

-Jesus Christ had three wives and children.
FALSE.
I would love to see our scriptures that supposedly teach these things. They don't exist because we don't believe it as doctrine. These are rumors born of speculation. We wonder if Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, as do a lot of people, but we don't know.

-After Christ died, he came to the America's to teach the people on that continent.
TRUE.
We do believe this, the Book of Mormon teaches us about it. I have yet to understand why it is so hard for people to think that it's possible that God taught and cared for his people on all of Earth, not just the ones in the Jerusalem area.

-The Nephites (people from the Book of Mormon/America) were killed off, but first buried their records.
TRUE.
This is how we got the Book of Mormon. People outside of Jerusalem knew how to write too. :)

-Mormons believe they must keep the Word of Wisdom, pay tithing, stay away from porn, wear garments and do temple ordinances.
TRUE.
We don't drink alcohol or coffee, we don't smoke or do drugs, we pay tithing and avoid porn, and we go to the temple. If we mess up, we repent. As with any Christian.

-Mormons are not allowed to associate with apostate members.
FALSE.
SO not true. Some of my closes friends would fall into this category, though we don't refer to them as that. I even associate with anti-Mormons, but they get rather annoying and rude.

-Mormons believe they can become gods.
TRUE-ish.
Ok, this is the biggie, isn't it? No one can become equal to God. NO WAY! He is forever our God and Heavenly Father. The only one. Period. However, think of the word god as a general title, with a lower case g. Like, a king. Revelations chapter 2 talks about how we can become kings sitting on thrones next to God, what do you think he meant? Heavenly Father wants us to aspire to be like him, to be all we can be, I mean, eternity is a heck of a long time. He wants to teach us to create. Do you want your son to never have children and become a father, because you are his only father? That doesn't make sense. You will always be his only father, but he can still learn to be like you and have children. In this way, we believe we can become LIKE God.

-Joseph Smith claimed that he did more for mankind than anyone, including Jesus Christ.
FALSE.
Joseph Smith said no such thing, John Taylor said something similar. He was in the room when Joseph Smith was murdered, and he later became a prophet. Here is what he said, "Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it." So first, Joseph Smith did not say this about himself-how vain. And second, the person who did say it said SAVE Jesus, or expect Jesus. That is the opposite of what the movie said he said.

-Mormons aren't allowed to read anti-Mormon literature.
FALSE.
I have never been asked, before entering the temple, if I read anti-Mormon literature. Technically, I just watched a whole movie about it! But it is obviously advised to avoid it. If your kid or friend was questioning Christianity, would you say, "Hey, why don't you check out all those anti-Christian, atheist websites and books", of course not. You would say, go to the source. That is all we try to do. We believe our church is true, and therefore, the adversary does all he can to work against it. Hence there is sooo much junk out there to wade through, like this movie.

-Men who sin and don't repent will be castrated in heaven.
FALSE.
Ha, never heard this one before.

-Mormons believe in baptism for the dead.
TRUE.
We totally believe this. Let me explain. As Christians, we know that we must be baptized to enter God's presence. Well, most of us know that. Jesus Christ was our ultimate example. Many people believe that if you are not baptized, and/or do not accept Jesus Christ (born again) you will go to hell. End of story. How horrific! What of the billions of people who have lived and never heard of him? What of African tribes that are never taught? Well, too bad for them, right? Wrong. We believe that God does all he can to give his children the opportunity to come home to him. Hell is reserved for the very, very wicked in our faith. So, if someone dies without hearing the message of Christ and accepting him, we believe they have another chance. Right now, all the dead people are in the spirit world. They have the opportunity to be taught the gospel there. Some people, I recently learned, believe that our spirits are sleeping in our graves till Christ comes again. Hmm. As for the others, I don't know what they believe, that our spirits are floating around? Not sure. We can't be in heaven or hell yet, so....ya, confusing. But, that is what we believe. Meanwhile, as they are being taught, they can choose to accept Christ. On Earth, those of us with bodies can be baptized in their stead. So, we get baptized in their place, and they can choose to accept it. Again, something that sounds cooky at first, but if you believe God to be merciful and loving, it actually makes perfect sense. 1 Cor. Chapter 15, verse 29, "Else what shall they do which are ^abaptized ^bfor the dead, if the dead ^crise not at all? why are they then baptized for the ^ddead?"

-Mormons take a blood oath and will be killed by the priesthood if they repeat temple secrets.
FALSE.
If that were true, wouldn't the maker of this video be, um, dead?? Or whoever it was that spilled the beans? There were, after all, sacred things depicted in this film that were not to be repeated. So we do not believe this. But, we do believe it is a huge sin to repeat the things that go on. Let me be clear, nothing weird goes on! The ordinances are beautiful and sacred and frankly, I didn't think they were that strange at all my first time. I was prepared to run out and forsake the church the first time I went though if it felt wrong, and trust me, I would have! But it was so right, so peaceful, I knew it was true. The temple marriage was the most spiritual, powerful experience I have ever had. It was just....right. The Bible speaks of temples, such as Solomon, what do you think went on there?  A lot of symbolism, that much we know. So what's so funky about the idea of having a temple with sacred ordinances and symbolism now? In either case, we are told that it is a sin to repeat the things we learn, for they are from God and sacred, not to be cast out for the world. But as for the whole slitting throats, spilling guts out, etc,? NOT TRUE. However, in fairness, I do know that in the past, the warning we are given about repeating things (when we are given the option to leave if we aren't ready) used to be a lot heftier. But the Bible is filled with people being struck down dead for different things, so, I'm just sayin....it's not that insane to think that Heavenly Father still uses intense warnings.

-Mormons do family history work.
TRUE.
Family history work is a big deal. We are able to do temple ordinances, such as baptism for those that were unable to do so in their own lives. We do believe that some of our ancestors may be waiting for us to perform ordinances for them. JD's best friend was killed at 16. He recently was baptized for him, so that if Freddy so chooses, he can accept it and be born again. It was a beautiful thing, nothing weird or creepy about it.

-Mormons use eternal family talk as a recruiting tactic.
Uh...TRUE?
Of course we teach that we believe in eternal families. It is true!

-Joseph Smith practiced witchcraft.
FALSE.
What the creepy??! Ha no this is not true! He dug up his dead brother’s body and took a few parts of it with him for some voodoo thing? Um...prove it!!!! It amazes me the lies that circulate. If JS was into witchcraft, that means he was listening to the devil, not God. If that were true, the Book of Mormon was written by the devil (no 14 year old boy with a grade school education could do that, so it had to come from one of them) and if that were true, then the whole church is led by the devil. If that were true, then why do I feel sick to my stomach when I learn stuff the video teaches, and completely at peace and happy when I enter the temple and read my scriptures? I am not fooled, I assure you. I know good, and I know evil. This whole witchy thing is a load of crap. If Joseph Smith is a sorcerer or something for saying that he spoke with angels, then what does that make every other prophet in our Bible? And the part about him wearing some medallion to get women? Whatever! People make up the strangest things!

Here is what I don't get about the whole Joseph Smith thing. Say, it's not true. Say he was some liar who liked to make stuff up. Why??? True or not, he must have believed it! People who think he did not, are uneducated. JS had the crappiest life, he was persecuted to no end! He was beaten, tarred and feathered, and when he was dragged from his bed, his babies died from the cold. He was in prison's that were too small to stand in, and was fed human meat. He had death threats left and right, and knew he would eventually be murdered, which he was. If he was a con artist, what the?! I'd say he sucked, but he would have to be been super good to have gotten such a following, right? But, not good enough to make it benefit him at all? Absurd. No doubt, he believed it.

-Mormons don't wear crosses.
TRUE.
I don't think there is anything wrong with a cross, and I respect people who wear them to symbolize their own faith. (You see, you have symbols too!) But we focus on his resurrection, and the cross often comes with an image of Christ hanging on it, his body all twisted, eyes rolled in the back of his head... (we see that a lot in Catholicism) would you want to be remembered like that? I don't mean this disrespectfully, but if Christ died by being hung, would we wear nooses around our necks? It isn't that we don't respect the cross and recognize the extreme sacrifice he made, we just don't focus on the weapon that caused his death. Again, I think it is wonderful that so many Christians demonstrate their faith with the cross and I don't mean to put it down in any way, just explaining why we don't have them on our churches. I could have a cross in my house, or wear a necklace, if I wanted. We aren't like told not to or anything like that.

-Mormons don't think the Bible is as valuable as the BOM.
FALSE.
Here is what an apostle taught the world in a talk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoelCqUEVLo Due to how old it is, and all the translations that have taken place, it is easy to believe that there are some mistranslations. There are parts that say that Satan did something when it should have said Jesus, etc. So Mormons believe that some was not translated perfectly, but they are minor things. Ultimately, the Bible is absolutely priceless and no more valuable than the BOM. How could it be?

-There are nine versions of JS's first vision, LDS leaders hide them.
FALSE.
Obviously, anyone can argue that I am being fooled because they are hidden. I argue, prove it! They can't! Rumors....

-There is no evidence that the Book of Mormon is true.
FALSE.
Here is a great source of information that both cross references the Bible and describes scholarly discoveries that serve as evidence that the BOM is true. http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=0117196b5a1eb010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=f318118dd536c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD But, the bottom line is, you will hear arguments on both sides of the fence. Just like those that say that Noah and such were such nice, fake stories. Prayer and the Holy Ghost are the only way to truly find answers.

-The Mormon church is a corporation and scam.
TRUE/FALSE.
Sure, the church is super smart and business savvy. Wouldn't God's church be? Debt free, growing, etc. But, a scam? I must say, if that were true, then the leaders of the church must be both the smartest people to pull such a huge thing off, and the stupidest people to not have figured out how to profit from it! Do you know that we have no paid clergy? None. No one makes a dime. It is 100% service. Tithing goes to building the church, not to paying leaders. Fast offerings go to helping those in need. As we mentioned, the church's humanitarian program is huge. Those in need are served left and right because the church is so business savvy and thus able to serve.

-Mormons are not Christians.
FALSE.
Says who? I believe in Jesus Christ, he is my savior. He died for my sins so that I may be forgiven and return to the presence of my heavenly father. The only reason someone can say we aren't Christian, is because of our belief in continued revelation and a modern day prophet. We believe that God didn't leave us hanging, not in such perilous times. Therefore, we do have more information that other churches. False information? Some may say so. But we are certainly Christians. If not, what are we??? We believe in Christ, end of story. A different Christ than what the Bible teaches? How so? That is simply not true. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus Christ is the son of God, we aren't crazy for believing that. Christ was resurrected, and thus has a body, so we believe that too. We have modern day prophets and apostles; a church set up just as it was when Christ was on Earth. So...what's so wrong with that? We have direct guidance from God and the holy priesthood, every LDS church teaches the same things. We don't have to pick and choose between baptist churches because each one teaches different doctrine.

Lets see...we believe in three kingdoms of glory, so they say that means we aren't Christians. Hmm...it is mentioned in the Bible, and why would God put a good person who lived a life of service in Hell because she wasn't baptized? Sure, she didn't believe, so she can't go to exhalation. We know that. But...hell? God is not so cruel. 1 Cor. Chapter 15:

  40 ^aThere are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the ^bcelestial is one, and the glory of the ^cterrestrial is another.

  41 There is one glory of the ^asun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the ^bstars: for one star ^cdiffereth from another star in ^dglory.

  42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in ^acorruption; it is raised in incorruption:

Oh, we believe in works and grace, so some people say that is why we aren't Christian. And yet, plenty of Christians do understand and agree with this concept, they just seem to word it funky. Can I sin and kill people, over and over, and say, "It's cool, works don't matter. I have God's grace, I accepted Jesus once." Then what is the point of repentance? Why even bother wasting time doing good things? It is silly to me; grace without works is dead. Here are two great talks from our apostle on why we are Christians, despite a couple specific beliefs that supposedly make us not. http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=00d51b3e50cf5110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=f318118dd536c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD   http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=ab64279c7c699110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=f318118dd536c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD