Mormon
 

Anyone on here LDS, or former LDS? If so please PM me.

Most practicing people prefer the term LDS, for Latter Day Saints.

Oops...edited to fix that. :)

I know RxyCheerleader and I are for sure, not sure if there's anyone else.

I'll send you a PM!

So, your conversion period is over?

Not yet, but by choice. I want to wait until after my wedding for my baptism and some final things I need to do, because I feel like I just can't give it as much dedication as it needs right now.

So I'm taking things very, very slow :)

Can you get married in a mormon church without being mormon?

My cousin dated a LDS for a while and we were under the impression that the custom only allowed LDS persons in the church.

I am from the south and do not know anything about LDS. As you can tell, I do not have a clue about LDS beliefs.

My boyfriend and his family are former Mormon, that's 'bout all I know.

No. At least that's what I've been taught so far, there may be exceptions.

That's only partially true. Non-members are totally welcome at regular Sunday services at meetinghouses/wards. What you are not allowed to go to are services/ceremonies/what have you in the Temples. Not even all mormons are allowed to those - you need to get a special blessing that's good for a year to attend the temple. It's not hard to get or anything, but it still must be done.

If you or anyone else has more questions I'd be glad to try to answer them :) I may not have all the answers yet as I'm still learning, but I'd be glad to do the best I can :) Hopefully Rxy will stop by, too.... and Beta Rose knows quite a bit as well!

Edit: stupid HTML!

Out of curiosity, what is considered a greivious sin?

Ooh, now that's one I don't have an answer to, beyond an educated guess.

Beta? :)

Sairose-
I remember reading this book in English class, and you may enjoy it. The author is Terry Tempest Williams, and the title is "Refuge". She is a naturalist in Utah and the book is about all these women she knows being diagnosed and dying from cancer. There is a parallel with the Great Salt Lake being affected. Though it isn't a main theme, she talks about her LDS faith, and it gave me a new perspective. It is also a really well written book.

I am sure you'll get a giggle out of this Ginger...I went to Women's Relief Society with my friend one Sunday, at the single young adults Ward. The topic was "Where is Zion and what does it mean to you". Let's just say I was very confused as *my* idea of Zion had nothing to do with Utah, or LDS, but with National Parks and Judaism. I was teased briefly, and they let it go until...Munch and Mingle. I called it "coffee hour". ISUKappa and sageofages likely understand the post worship coffee hour phenomena I speak of.

I also left my bible at home at the National Gathering last winter, but my genius sister pointed out that there would be at least the New Testament in the drawer and I could use that. However at the Marriott The Book of Mormon is also is the drawer. You can guess which one I grabbed before I had coffee and went to worship...luckily no one else noticed.

The new Temple here in NYC is open to the public for a while and I cannot WAIT for my tour on Friday evening :) I have some distant family members who are LDS and it's gonna be neat to go there.

Ohh...jealous. I'd love to see a temple while it's open to the public. From the pictures I've seen, they are very beautiful!

One of my best friends is a LDS. I remember when I told him I was going greek he was opposed to it on religious grounds. Is this a common belief?

Okay so I can I re-ask what is a grevious sin. My aunt and her daughter are LDS, and they arent speaking with my side of the family, so I would love to know what it is.

There's a big castle-like thing off I-495 in Washington, DC with gold spires that someone told me was a Mormon building of some sort. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? It's beautiful, I just stare at it every time I go past.

I do, I drive past it all the time! It's got a gold statue on top (I think of Gabriel?) I've been told that the statue is 50 feet tall and it's pointing west, toward Salt Lake City. It's also the largest Mormon temple in the world.

http://www.lds.org/media/images/enr/...20D.C.3_TN.jpg

More info about the temple

My sister's husband is a LDS. She's been to church with him and was married by the bishop. It was in a different church, though, because they couldn't use the temple, and my sister did not want to convert. And if they had gotten married in the temple, none of my family or any of our friends could have gone. The LDS church is pretty small in my town, considering the town is run by Jerry Falwell :rolleyes:

I can't imagine why :( :confused: I've known quite a few greeks in real life and online (including my pledge mom!) who are LDS... I can't think of anything in Scriptures that would say why it was bad.

One of my good friends is Mormon and she took me and some other friends to the Mormon temple in Apex, NC when it was open to the public. It was a beautiful place although I have to admit that I found some of the things to be very odd, like the huge baptism tub (can't remember what it's called) that rested on a statue of oxen.
We always tease my friend that we don't want her to marry a Mormon boy because then we can't go to her wedding - because it would be in the temple. Seriously though, I kind-of wonder why a Mormon person would marry a non Mormon because they place such a huge emphasis on family and being together as a family even after death once you are in Heaven. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they believe that you don't go to Heaven, or at least the same part of Heaven if you're not Mormon.
As far as Mormons going Greek, my friend went through Recruitment (although she never joined anywhere) so I'm pretty sure that there are no rules about not joing a GLO. Your friend probably frowns on the idea because of the stereotypes associated with being Greek and the strong stance Mormons take against drinking, premarital sex, etc.

I've been looking at Mormon webpages all day at work today. Very interesting, to say the least.

I'm marrying a non-member, well, because I love him :) Honestly, the whole thing with me converting didn't come up well until after we were engaged, so there would have been no knowing :) but he doesn't have any interest in converting, though he supports me doing so fully.

The question about Heaven would require a really, really long answer that is more in depth than I can explain with certainty yet.

Short answer - everyone goes to Heaven.

We have a good number of LDS members in Alpha Phi. One of my good friends is LDS and she travelled for our fraternity and was a charter member of our chapter at Southern Utah. Her family members (parents, husband and children) are very supportive of her being greek and active in Alpha Phi.

Yeah, I guess that whole love thing does play a key role. :p

I know what you mean about the Heaven thing having a long answer because whenever my friends and I have religious conversations we spend hours asking our Mormon friend questions and getting answers.

I've known my friend who is Mormon for at least 8 years now and I did not find out until last summer that most Mormons, when they get older, wear garments. Could someone who is Mormon or who knows a lot about this stuff please explain this to everyone else? I don't want to explain it wrong.

Although I'm not LDS, I'm familiar with quite a few, because I'm so into genealogy.

Aren't there a lot of GLOs at Brigham Young? If so, that would negate that thought.

I've always heard the majority of the Chi Omega chapter at Univ. of Utah is Mormon. Also, one of their most well-known alums, Alice Sheets Marriott was a member.

Yeah, it does :)

Maybe BetaRose will step in on this one. I can give a basic explanation, but I don't want to explain it wrong either.

Nope, no GLOs at BYU

There are plenty at Utab, Southern Utah and Utah state

Great thread, BTW

Wow..so I haven't even read GC in about a month and a half, if not longer, but today I was compelled to and this was the first thread I saw. Bizarre! I am indeed LDS..and engaged to be married (civilly) in June (yay!). We'll be getting married in a Mormon church (not temple). I am a convert, but my fiance was raised in the church, went on a 2 year mission to Korea, wears Garments, etc. So you can ask me any questions you like and i'll definitely answer, but some things I don't feel are appropriate to post on a public message board so PM me if it's a deeper doctrinal question :) Nothing is really secret, but sacred. As far as being LDS in a GLO is concerned, I know quite a few members who are in them..but I converted after my DG days :) As for what KellyB was inquiring about the Garments, they are worn by members who have gone through the temple and made sacred covenants with the Lord and want to wear them in remembrance of those covenants. It's not a requirement or anything, it's just that they're worn by people who sort of always want a constant reminder. They wouldn't be recognizable as anything special to a non-member, but just as an undershirt or something. Hopefully I explained that decently..without offending any members who may be reading this by talking so openly about such sacred things. :)

eirian

Eirian I love this difference. It's perhaps not a big difference to some but in matters of faith I think it is. Thanks for all the info in the rest of your post as well!

This is such a neat and enlighting thread. Is alcohol forbidden also? I imagine Utah university GLO would have a lot of Mormons. Kinda like the South has Baptists.

I never knew there was a Moron temple in Apex. Thats 15 minutes from me.

There is a LDS student center near NCSU. I believe its LDS. I will check next time.

Alcohol is definitely forbidden along w/ tobacco and caffeine. They are considered unhealthy.
BTW, my dad is LDS. I am not tho.

Just a little clarification for everybody....caffeine isn't actually "forbidden" (well neither is the other stuff..it's up to each individual :) )...I drink a heck of a lot of Diet Coke. It's really more of a social thing to tell you the truth..like I wouldn't go to an LDS function with a bunch of Red Bull or anything! The deal is, we have something referred to as the Word of Wisdom that gives us an outline of sorts of things that are healthy and unhealthy for humans. Listed in it are of course alcohol and tobacco as unhealthy, as well as quite a few other things. Nowhere does it say specifically "caffeine," but rather every individual can decide for him or herself whether or not we think it is healthy for us. I'm not saying the church encourages soda drinking..not at all...but it's not by any means "forbidden."

you may read it for yourself, here It's from the official site of the Church

What do they mean by hot drinks?

Does that mean coffee, tea, hot chocolate? And is that because of the caffine, because it's not healthy?

What about caffine free teas, or hot milk?

I'm a little confused. Can someone explain it to me better?

Partially because it's unhealthy, and also because it's addictive. We are advised to avoid anything that is addictive.

I drink Caffeine-free soda, and that's fine. I sometimes drink regular soda, too, and I don't feel bad about it. Like Rxy said, no one is going to come and kick you out of the church for having a Pepsi or even an occasional drink (guilty as charged). It's more a matter of moderation.

A good way of thinking of the Word of Wisdom is explaining things to the lowest common denominator. Most people can handle having a soda, or a beer from time to time without becoming addicted or letting it control their bodies/lives. But some people can't, or don't realize that they shouldn't, so the Words of Wisdom advises against it. It's kind of like making saying "Stoves are hot, don't touch them". 99% of the population can operate a stove without burning themselves, but you've got to lay it out for the 1% who don't get it.

Does that make better sense?

Thanks for clarifying! I think my dad swore off everything but Sprite, but I never got details.

I think you're talking about the white house-looking building on Enterprise behind Sadlacks. I'm pretty sure that is a LDS building and it actually used to be the old Chi Omega house before we built our current house. It looks really pretty, but I've never seen the inside.

I feel pretty lucky to have one of these 'student centers', actually called an Institute of Religion, right across from my campus at Western Washington. It's a place to go between classes to hang out, a place to socialize, and also a wonderful place for knowledge. Last quarter I took a class there once a week on the biblical book of Isaiah. It's also where I attend church services on Sundays, with other University and Community College students from town. I'm not sure how many campuses have Institutes, but i'm glad i'm at one that does!

Manhattan Temple Tour
 

Last night I went and had a tour of the Manhattan Temple. Oh my it was AMAZING. I don't think I could really describe anything I saw and give it justice, I was so taken aback in the beauty of it all. The workmanship, attention to details everything was beautiful. So much white and beautiful gold and silver accents. The Sealing & Celestial Rooms....wow.

Hearing more about LDS itself made a lot more connections for me and the family members we have that are LDS as well. Why my dad's cousin is so interested in geneology, etc etc.

Outside the temple there was an anti-mormom group handing out literature and I was really surprised to see how calm those from the Temple were. It would definetly be difficult to put on a happy face when someone is using a bullhorn to spit out venom at your beliefs.