Mormon Prayer

How do Mormons pray?  What gods do they pray to?  What kind of crazy wild stuff do they pray about?


http://primaryclipart.com/search.php?search=pray

Well, I have more information than you'll ever read.  http://www.lds.org/manual/aaronic-priesthood-manual-1/lesson-23-pray-for-guidance?lang=eng  This link is to a lesson taught on Sunday (this lesson would be taught about once every three years) to the young men ages 12-18 in church.  The Sunday meeting for Mormons is three hours long, consisting of a Sacrament Meeting, a Sunday School with many classes, and an Auxiliary meeting where Adult Men, Adult Women, Young Men, Young Women, etc. meet separately.  The linked lesson takes place in the third hour and is for the Young Men.  While I highly recommend looking over the lesson for Mormon beliefs on prayer, it isn't targeted to people that know nothing of how Mormons pray.


http://elderjohansson.blogspot.com/

So Mormons pray in a fairly simple pattern.  First, we address God the father.  For us, he is physically separate from Jesus Christ.  While they are one in purpose, they are different beings.  In John 17:22 (we use the King James version of the Bible) http://classic.scriptures.lds.org/en/john/17/22b Christ is praying to God the father, that his followers be one, even as he and God the father are one.  Mormons believe that Heavenly Father (God the Father) and Jesus Christ are one in purpose, vision, action, but not one in substance.  Christ wants his followers to be one.  Not physically or metaphysically or mysteriously, but one in purpose, vision, action, etc.  Ok soap box over.  We usually say dear heavenly father, dear kind father in heaven, or something like that, always directing the prayer to God the Father.  Not Jesus Christ.  Not Apostles, Prophets, Saints, the Holy Ghost, Mary, Peter, or anyone else.  We pray to God the Father.


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Second step usually involves giving thanks.  We believe all that we have comes from God.  And all that you have.  And all that anyone has.  :)  We thank him.  Not because he needs it.  We thank him, first of all because he said to.  In Alma 34:38 (In the Book of Mormon) it says "live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon (us)"  We also thank him to help us remember all the things he has done for us.  When remembering what he has done for us, it is that much harder to make bad choices that will bring sorrow and a need for repentance.  



http://rebeccairvine.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html


Then we ask him for things that we need.  I cut and pasted the following paragraph and scripture: Seek Heavenly Father's guidance and strength in all we do. Alma counseled his son Helaman: “Cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day” (Alma 37:36-37; see also Alma 34:17-26).  So we do ask God for things in prayer.  



http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2009/tidbits091223.htm


The last step in Mormon prayers is closing in the name of Jesus Christ.  This is found in John 16:23-26.  We usually say "In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."  I know in other church's, it's "In Jesus' name, amen" and, well, I don't think it makes much of a difference.  The important thing is that people are following Jesus Christ, and putting their hope for salvation in him.  



http://whatmormonsbelieve.org/prayer_mormonism.html


Wahoo!  Found another really good page on prayer the Mormon way.  http://www.lds.org/study/topics/prayer?lang=eng Kindof a topical guide on prayer.   



http://ldstalk.com/189/mormon-prayer-6


We don't do rote prayers in the Mormon church.  With few exceptions (like ordinances), each prayer should reflect the thoughts and feelings of the individual giving it at that moment, as opposed to what another person has come up with.  We believe that Heavenly Father answers prayers, so we try to pray sincerely, and we look for answers to prayer during prayer, after prayer, and in our daily lives.


http://www.lords-prayer-words.com/lord_traditional_king_james.html

Even the "unbiased" articles about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS(Mormon)) church tend to talk about two or three negative themes pretty consistently (polygamy, racism, $), and tend to hit on positive themes (welfare, education, growth) in regards to non theological areas, if at all.  I want to talk about beliefs and practices concerning God.  Sometimes people get the idea that Mormons are very different from other Christians because only the areas of difference are noted, such as non biblical scripture and modern prophets and apostles.  Very good LDS info can be found at http://mormon.org/  This is the church's own website designed for those that are interested in learning more about Mormons.


http://www.thechoicedrivenlife.com/seven-thoughts-on-prayer

I apologize for how boring the article may have been.  There's nothing too spicy and different about the way that Mormons pray.

Are Mormons Christians? Or a cult?

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As a Mormon, I'm always interested in hearing about other groups' views of the church.  There has been a fairly long standing debate on whether Mormons are Christians.  What surprises me is all this talk about the difference being over the issue of the Trinity concept.  There are many differences between Mormons and any other Christian church.  Picking this one difference of the Trinity is such a minor thing.  Basically, Trinitarian Christians think that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are mysteriously and unknowably one.  Mormons think that they are physically separate, but completely one in purpose.  The trinity concept does not come from the Bible.  It comes 300+ years later. 

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http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=d2552bce258f5110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1
The preceding link is from a talk by Jeffrey R Holland, an apostle of Jesus Christ.  Or, for those that aren't Mormons, he would be called a "Mormon apostle."  He talks about the trinity idea vs. the LDS (Mormon) idea of the Godhead, which means physically separate but otherwise united in all ways.  For the most part, he uses verses from the King James version of the Bible.  And yes, Mormons believe in the same Bible as other Christians, although we believe in several other inspired works as well. 

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Percentage of Mormons in the population of each state as of 2006, I think. 

Anyway, one of my major peeves with this issue is, who gets to decide if a church is Christian or not?  Another article touching on the subject is: http://jenny-evans.suite101.com/the-mormon-alternative-to-the-trinity-a126543  I would guess this was written by a Mormon as well, because what is written seems to me to reflect the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints perfectly, and I don't read anything negative or attacking the church in it.  Either she is LDS or she is very objective and well studied about Mormons.

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Related articles

• Do Christian organizations consider Mormons Christian (wiki.answers.com)
• Mormons, BLOB-God, and Nicholas to Myra (lisadelay.com)

Communism, the first Christians, and Mormon clergy pay

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In the Bible in Acts 4 (King James Version is the official LDS bible version for the English language) we read:

34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses ^asold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,

35 And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and ^adistribution was made unto every man according as he had ^bneed.

36 And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed ^aBarnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,

37 Having land, sold it, and brought the ^amoney, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

http://lds.org/scriptures/nt/acts/4?lang=eng 

In Acts 2 we have similar scriptures

44 And all that believed were together, and had all things ^acommon;

45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had ^aneed.

http://lds.org/scriptures/nt/acts/2?lang=eng 

So what is this "All things in common" thing about?  Apparently a lot of people that were converting to Christianity were selling everything and then giving it away or giving it to the apostles to give away.  I found an article by a non-Mormon Christian referring to what we read in Acts, and I agree with what he (Jason Jackson) says for the most part: http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1204-should-christians-have-all-things-in-common  I would guess that some of the property and wealth of what became the Catholic and other Orthodox Christian churches originated in donations similar to these by faithful adherents. 

In the Book of Mormon there is a similar experience in 3 Nephi 26, shortly after the coming of Christ

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to the Americas (after his death and resurrection in Israel)

19 And they taught, and did ^aminister one to another; and they had ^ball things ^ccommon among them, every man dealing justly, one with another.

20 And it came to pass that they did do all things even as Jesus had commanded them.

http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/3-ne/26?lang=eng 

We as Mormons believe that the biblical Enoch was translated to heaven with a whole city, and that they had "no poor among them," probably at least in part due to this sharing of goods. 

Enoch  http://lds.org/scriptures/gs/enoch?lang=eng

Hebrews 11:5 By faith ^aEnoch was ^btranslated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this ^ctestimony, that he pleased God.

Bible: Hebrews 11: http://lds.org/scriptures/nt/heb/11?lang=eng

Moses 7:18 And the Lord called his people ^aZion, because they were of ^bone heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.

Pearl of Great Price: Moses 7: http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/moses/7?lang=eng 

In the early days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, this sharing of all things was again attempted.  http://lds.org/scriptures/gs/united-order.p2?lang=eng&letter=u 

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These ideas sound somewhat similar to Communism.  I think there is an underlying similarity in the
idea of holding things in common, but, as history shows, communism has been an epic FAIL in every measure that I can think of.  Scripturally, most of the attempts at having all things in common eventually ended without success. 

I actually wanted to shoot all this out as background for a question I've heard from multiple friends.  It goes something like this: How much do Mormon clergymen make/Where does all the Mormon tithing money go/Holy cow the Mormon church is rich. 

First of all, there aren't really any paid clergymen as most Christians would think.  Our congregations (wards or branches) are run without pay from top to bottom.  Groups of... what 8-16 wards or branches are called stakes, and the leaders of these groups do not receive any pay. 

There are only two groups, as far as I know, that receive any actual money from the church.  Church employees, such as building construction people, facilities maintenance people, people that produce church materials, computer programmers, etc. are all paid.  Even though they work for the church, their jobs require secular education, and the nature of their work is secular, not religious.  They get paid. 

The other group is the general authorities and mission presidents.  This includes our prophet, Thomas S. Monson (http://lds.org/church/leader/thomas-s-monson?lang=eng) from the very top.  They take part in a fund that is set up, separate from tithes and offerings, that consists of money pooled from the private finances of people that make up this sub group, and, the profits from some business ventures and properties owned by the church.  I think the last time actual amounts were published was about 30 years ago, but the pay for each of them came to about 80,000/year in today's money. 

So none of them are off living the high life from members' tithing (which is 10% of our income) or even from the fund that they use.  In any case, members of the church would laugh at the idea of these leaders living the high life, because we know that they are extremely busy.  You can tell by how many talks they give and how much they have to do.  Do a search for any of them on the website, and you'll find an insane number of talks and things, and, at least for the apostles and first presidency, places in the world where they've met with members and been in meetings etc. 

I appreciate comments, clarifications, and questions. 

Jeff

Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers?

I find this question very annoying. So I want to explain some of the background beliefs of Mormons. We believe that you and I, and every person that has ever lived since Adam, are children of God. Not in some strange mystical sense, but in the sense of God is the father of our spirits.
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We believe that each of us is composed of a spirit (child of God) and a body (child of our biological parents). The difference, for Mormons, between animals and people, is that animals are creations of God, while people are children of God. So while scientists find more and more similarities between us and other animals, we see the huge differences as a natural result of our different provenance. To me it seems quite easy to understand: those with a mind that can think and a voice that can talk, etc. are children of God. Animals aren't that way.
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We believe that before this earth was made, we all lived with God (whom we often refer to as Heavenly Father). At that time, we were all spirit brothers and sisters. We also believe that angels are children of God. They too are our brothers and sisters. We believe that they are messengers of God, and follow the same path as the rest of us. Quite probably they were/are drawn from the very faithful children of God. Anyway, at some point, as it is written in the Bible, there was war in heaven. We believe a third of the hosts of heaven rebelled, and were cast down. Satan was the leader of the rebels, while Jesus and Michael (who we believe came to the earth as Adam) were the leaders of those that did not rebel.
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We believe that the rebellious third never received physical bodies, while those that followed Jesus did receive bodies, including everyone that has ever lived. In any case, we believe that all of these groups, including people on the earth, spirits that haven't yet been born into the world, those that rebelled against God, angels, etc... pretty much all sentient beings... are children of God. And because they are children of God, they are also brothers and sisters.
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So do we believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers? Yes of course. Not in any special, weird way. Just like you and I are siblings, or you and anyone else. Spirit children of Heavenly Father. When this question of Mormons believing that Jesus and Satan are brothers is brought up, it just seems to me that it's like... "How offensive! How could they believe that? They must be devil worshippers" or something.
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A person may not agree, or may not have beliefs as detailed or as simple as far as who we were before we were born... but a lot of these things are mentioned in the Bible. For example, when the bible refers to Jesus as the "first begotten" like in Hebrews 1:6, we see that as Jesus being the first/oldest spirit child of heavenly father, while references to the "only begotten" like John 1:14, refer to his birth to the Virgin Mary. All the rest of us have a biological father, whereas Jesus was "the" son of God.
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It's one of the things that I really like about the LDS church. We don't have a lot of questions about some of these very basic issues, like Where were we before we were born, Why are we here, What happens when we die, etc. We believe that we have prophets and apostles today that are similar to those of ancient times. They can answer all the burning questions about what we need to do to be saved and also about moral issues of today. The church's website is http://mormon.org/ if you have questions from a more official website.
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I appreciate comments, questions, opinions, and dialogue. Thanks!