James Holt

What Mormons like me really believe

The Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Oakland 
issue 03 April 2021

As one of the 200,000 British members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, my heart doesn’t leap when I hear about a new documentary made about us. Such films tend not to be flattering. But here’s the puzzle: if our faith is really based on nonsense, why is it growing? Why would people like me convert? If you can bear with me, I’d like to say a bit about who we are — and what we are not.

We’re followers of Jesus Christ (i.e. Christians). Our scripture is the Bible. We also believe that the Book of Mormon, another Testament of Jesus Christ, revealed to Joseph Smith and published in 1830, is the word of God. But we don’t revere a different Christ than the man — the only perfect man — whose death and resurrection we commemorate this Easter. There are billions of people who follow Jesus in many ways, us included.

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