Fundamental to Our Faith

What do Mormons believe? What comes to mind when you think of Mormons? In my conversations with people over the years, I have heard some outlandish things but mostly I have found that people simply don't know or understand what we believe as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In February 2010, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke at Harvard Law School in an address entitled, "Fundamental to Our Faith," later excerpted and reprinted in the Church's magazine the Ensign. Elder Oaks spoke on three "clusters of truth" which he presented as "fundamental premises of the faith of Latter-day Saints. These truths are:

1. The nature of God, including the role of the three members of the Godhead and the corollary truth that there are moral absolutes.
2. The purpose of life.
3. The threefold sources of truth about man and the universe: science, the scriptures, and continuing revelation—and how we can know them.

Read over these premises and learn why the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe the way they do. My life is everything it is because of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and because Jesus Christ works through His living apostles and prophets today.

Elder Oaks concluded, "As an Apostle I am called to be a witness of the doctrine, work, and authority of Christ in all the world. In that capacity I bear witness of the truth of these premises of our faith."

Jeremy