“God has no religion.”
Raise your hand if you believe that God created this earth? Now raise your hand if you believe in the Big Bang Theory; if you believe that the world we live in today, everything that is around us, everything we see and experience was created by a gas. A gas that increased gravity and pulled more and more gas that formed a system and caused the world to explode. Maybe, you don't believe in anything. Today, I will be talking about the creation of the world. Along with that, I will explain Mormonism, Christianity, the Old and New Testament, Mormon’s perception on heaven and the external darkness, Christian’s perception on heaven and the external darkness, the differences between the Book of Mormon and the Bible and lastly “My Story.”
First, Who is Jesus? Who is God? What is a Christian? A Christian is a believer of Christ. It is an individual who follows the teachings of him and whom follows the teachings of the Bible. I want you to stand up if you have heard the expression, “Jesus, the Son of God.” Keep standing if you know what that means. I am going to read John 1:1-18 from the Bible to help you understand why Christians call Jesus, the Son of God. This passage also explains a Christian's view on the creation of life. “Before the world began, the Word was there. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was there with God in the beginning. Everything was made through him, and nothing was made without him. In him there was life, and that life was a light for the people of the world. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not defeated it. There was a man named John, who was sent by God. He came to tell people about the light. Through him all people could hear about the light and believe. John was not the light. But he came to tell people about the light. The true light was coming into the world. This is the true light that gives light to all people. The Word was already in the world. The world was made through him, but the world did not know him. He came to the world that was his own. And his own people did not accept him. But some people did accept him. They believed in him, and he gave them the right to become children of God. They became God’s children, but not in the way babies are usually born. It was not because of any human desire or plan. They were born from God himself. The Word became a man and lived among us. We saw his divine greatness—the greatness that belongs to the only Son of the Father. The Word was full of grace and truth. John told people about him. He said loudly, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘The one who is coming after me is greater than I am, because he was living before I was even born.’” Yes, the Word was full of grace and truth, and from him we all received one blessing after another. The law was given to us through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only Son is the one who has shown us what God is like. He is himself God and is very close to the Father.” (“The Holy Bible: containing the Old and New Testaments” 2010) Can someone tell me what a disciple is? Missionaries for example, are disciples. A disciple is a follower or a learner. A disciple is someone who learns from him to live like him. God said to love one another as he loved us. Share your love for God, share your faith for God. Be a witness and a worshiper. This passage talks about being a disciple and following the law of Moses.
Now that you hopefully have a clear image of who God is, why Christians call Jesus the son of God and a Christian's view on the creation of the world, we can move on to the Old and New Testament. The Old Testament is about the story of God. It explains the creation of earth and mankind. It talks about how humans turned away from God and the promises of God to restore the friendship of him. This testament is the beginning. The New Testament is the story of how God fulfilled those promises. It tells how Jesus was nailed to a cross and was physically beaten to a point where he died. He let this happen so that he could wash away our sins with his blood. He rose again and continued to preach. He died for us to live again. ("Old Testament vs. New Testament – What are the differences?" 2017)
Next, Mormons perception on heaven and the external darkness. Mormonism has evolved over time. It has changed tremendously from the older ages to now. As to Christianity has stayed the same since Jesus. Mormons believe there are three heavenly kingdoms, celestial, terrestrial, and telestial. Celestial, the highest kingdom of all, is a place where the superior depart. If you are sent to the celestial kingdom you are equal to Jesus. Terrestrial, the next in line, is a place where you don't receive all of God’s glory and love. Telestial, is the “worst” kingdom. You still get to go to heaven because you believe in God but you'll be the last to go because of your sins. These people are the sinners. Those who swear, lie, kill, cheat and many more. Only those who make it to the celestial kingdom will live in the father's presence and only a tiny number of those who were rejected by their spiritual “testimony” will go to the darkness.
Now, a Christian's view on heaven and the darkness. Christians believe there is one heavenly kingdom. Those who take God as their savior will forever live in his presence. There are two possible futures, heaven and new earth or the underground. All unregretful sinners, along with those who forever reject Christ in this life, will forever experience the underground with no possibility of release. We Christians believe that when you die you go to heaven, you go be with God. You don't reincarnate or come back as another.
That being said, let's move on to the contradictions between the Book of Mormon and the Bible. The Book of Mormon states that little children are incapable of sin. The Bible teaches that all humans are capable of being sinful, even from birth. The book of Mormon declares that the disobedience of Adam and Eve was intentional so that mankind would exist. It explains that God expected Adam and Eve to figure out that in reality you need to make difficult choices in order to have a good outcome. “be fruitful and multiply” The Bible explains that Adams violation of law was wrongdoing and unleashed the power of sin and death. I believe that we are all equally loved by God. No matter the sins we’ve made, the color you are, your ethnicity, gender, exc. “God condemns favoritism” As I said before the Book of Mormon has changed drastically over time. The Bible has stayed the same. Jesus himself constantly quoted from the Old Testament Scriptures.
Lastly, who am I? I am a Christian. I spread my faith to everyone. I believe that God created this earth. I believe that he created every single thing and person on this beautiful planet. As Ephesians 4:1-7 states, “I am a prisoner because of the Lord. So I am asking you to live a life worthy of what God chose you for. Don't be proud at all. Be completely gentle. Be patient. Put up with one another in love. The Holy Spirit makes you one in every way. So try your best to remain as one. Let peace keep you together. There is one body. There is one spirit. You were appointed to one hope when you were chosen. There is one Lord. There is one faith and one baptism. There is one God and father of all. He is over everything. He is through everything. He is in everything. But each one of us has received a gift of grace, just as Christ wanted us to have it.” Today I showed you that I am a disciple of God. I am a passionate person when it comes to my religion. I could talk about it for hours and that is because I have so much love in my heart for God. I do not love anything or anyone more than I love my father Jesus Christ. My mother didn't know who God was; she didn't have him in her life nor did she know how to have him in her life. Then by the age of twenty-one she was saved. She learned more about Jesus. She read the Bible. She went to church every Wednesday and Sunday and she did prison ministry training twice a week. I was raised to be a Christian since day one. I am NOT ashamed of who I am or what I believe. I have the opportunity of going to Youth Group every Wednesday night at First Baptist Church, also know as FBC. I love it. I get a chance to be around people who share the same
faith for God as I do. It's a safe place where you can let everything out and know that people aren't going to judge you. I think that when a person brings up religion, God, or any sort of religious topic people tend to panic. Religion shouldn't be a topic that we are scared of talking about. Religion should be a topic that brings us together, not something that tears us apart. It's just a conversation like any other. So, I encourage all of you to be more open to talking about religion, no matter what you believe.
Keep in mind that whatever you believe is right in your heart, is what truly matters. I am so glad I got to learn about Mormonism. I have been curious about this religion for a while and it was fun to learn about all of the interesting facts and teachings about it. Today I not only told you about Mormonism but I also told you about, Christianity, the creation of earth, the Old and New Testament, Mormon’s perception of heaven and the external darkness, a Christian’s perception on heaven and the external darkness, the contradictions between the Book of Mormon and the Bible, and I also told you about my beliefs and my life as a Christian. Be passionate, love God, trust in him, and remember God has no religion.