2 of my friends & I were walking on 5th west in Provo in the winter of 1992/93, all of us late 20s-late 30s, long-haired and one of us bearded. As the roads were covered in icy slush, an elderly woman lost control of her cadillac and the rear wheel slid into a ditch and she couldn’t drive it out. We ran across the street and lifted the back end of her car enough to push the tire onto level and somewhat dry pavement. She offered to pay us but we refused. That act of kindness coupled with what she judged to be unhuman strength led her to exclaim that we must be the 3 Nephites! I pressed my index finger to my lips and winked at her before we walked away.
OK, dammit. Will you quit helping people when you look like that? :mad: 
Do Mormons have to wear their garments under bathing suits? Also does the church keep records of what people’s secret names are?
Surely this is a too-simple explanation, in that they may get to Heaven “just fine,” but you haven’t said which Heaven.
It is my (non-LDS) understanding that the LDS ascribe to the idea of a Heaven made of three kingdoms. Only Mormons, and married Mormons at that, have any chance of ascending to the highest, or celestial, kingdom. (Innumerable cites on the Web, one of which is here.) So if you’re a single woman, even the most observant and faithful Mormon single woman, you cannot ascend to the celestial kingdom. The fix for this is for you to be married after death (as previously alluded to) – quite possibly to a man who already has one or more wives, single men (living or dead) being in short supply.
Two points: First, as noted above, to say that single or divorced people will go to Heaven glosses over the fact that they won’t go to the best Heaven. Second, it is this extension of true Heaven to only the married (the truly faithful Mormon married) that is the fundamental rationale for polygamy.
IMO people who talk about Mormons having given up polygamy do not understand that many Mormons distinguish between “secular” or earthly polygamy, and eternal polygamy, which arguably is not merely a suggestion but a commandment. See Doctrines & Covenants 132, found here. Because without polygamy, how are all those unmarried folks going to get into the celestial kingdom?
Not to highjack your thread, and I would gladly take correction and clarification from you and/or DANGERMOM if my understanding is off-base.
Excellent thread. 
Thanks for answering all these questions- this has been a very informative thread!
I was wondering what you think about the Community of Christ, and how they are perceived by mainstream Mormons. Is there communication between the two groups, and is there any effort toward unification? Are they generally still considered “Mormons” by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and by themselves?
You’re right that it’s a simple explanation, but it does cover the bases. Sure, there are many divorced and single people. There are jillions who died before they got old enough to be married, for that matter–according to LDS theology any children who die are automatically saved to the highest kingdom.
But, Mormons believe that people who missed out on necessary ordinances in life, through no fault of their own (such as marriage or other things), will have the chance to receive them afterwards. So anyone who didn’t get to get sealed to a good spouse first time 'round will be able to later on. And while polygamy is something that will happen to many, it is not required or forced on anyone–it never was considered mandatory for every member of the Church, even at its height.
Your post seems to assume that there will be a huge number of women, but relatively few men, which I do not think is correct. Are you thinking that women are somehow intrinsically more worthy than men? Why would there be a shortage of men? Also, you say that “only Mormons” will go to the highest kingdom, but that doesn’t take into account that we expect many, many other people to be there as well. That’s why we do all those baptisms and sealings for the dead, after all. We hope that the Celestial kingdom will be quite large.
Anyway, gotta go make dinner.
OneCentStamp, you’ve used the phrase “the purpose of life on earth is to be tested and prove ourselves,” but I’m still perplexed – tested and prove ourselves for what? How? What exactly are we supposedly being tested on? And how do we prove ourselves – is it by becoming a faithful member of the church, or what?
DANGERMOM, I don’t mean to argue with you or disrespect your religion, but I don’t think an explanation that says single women can go to heaven but neglects to mention that they can only got to the best heaven if they are married to a man “adequately covers the basics.” That may not be – probably is not – an important distinction to someone raised LDS, but it is to someone outside the faith, especially a single woman. The fact that we women have the option to get married after death doesn’t change the fact that, no matter how you slice it, the bottom line is that a woman needs a man to reach the acme of paradise.
You make a similar distinction by saying that you hope to have lots of people – not just LDS – in the celestial paradise, glossing over the fact that (AFAIK) only those who are righteous LDS are eligible for the celestial kingdom – so, again, the “many, many other people” will be those who have accepted LDS, baptism, and sealing (either before death or after) and who therefore are all, by definition, “only Mormons”. Again, this may not seem like a big distinction to you, but, trust me, it is.
I will now stop pooping in your thread.
How are the secret names determined? Does someone choose it or does the priest or someone else “receive” the name from God?
According to OneCentStamp’s post above (“As I said, you have to be sealed in order to receive exaltation, but that’s true for men as well)” men need to be married as well to get to the highest level of heaven, so they can’t get there without a woman. Although it’s not terribly appealing to me, it seems fair enough (woman needs a man to reach exaltation, man needs a woman to receive exaltation).
In addition, a Mormon friend told me even the “worst” Mormon heaven is a VERY good place and that Mormon’s don’t believe in hell. He said everyone is going to a good place (compared to some of the “unfaithful will burn in the fires of hell” stuff from other religions, I think that’s rather nice).
I do wonder what will happen to “marriages for eternity” if a sealed spouse dies and the partner later remarries someone else for eternity. Is the first spouse stuck sharing for eternity? Can both men and women remarry if their first sealed spouse dies and be assured that they will see their first spouse in the best heaven?
What happened to people involved in plural marriages when the Church banned polygyny? Were they forced to seperate or was their some kind of grandfather clause?
You seem to have missed the part where men need to be married too. My husband can’t get there without me, either. And that really great guy in my ward who died tragically a week after he got home from his mission (yes, really, not kidding, he was killed by a hit-and-run driver who had stopped taking his medication and who deliberately aimed for his car)–he has to find someone too. The CK is a package deal, for everyone.
Well, as for “you have to be LDS”–shrug sort of. According to the Bible, you have to be baptized to be saved. That’s what we’re talking about. We wouldn’t call early Christians from the year 100 “Mormons,” 'cause they weren’t–but they had the same baptism, as far as we’re concerned. But, there’s still just one way to get to live with God, and that’s by baptism and all that. No actual members of the LDS Church would say that “you have to be Mormon,” because that’s clearly something that belongs to certain modern people in the world from 1830 to the present, and in eternity it’s not going to be a relevant word, and we expect to see ancient Chaldeans and all sorts of people. They have something to learn after death, but then, we’re quite sure that we have plenty to learn as well. (Everything, in fact. I’m hoping to be better at calculus by then.)
Oh, and then there’s the technicality that you can get to the Celestial Kingdom as a single person; just not the highest part. Forgot about that for a moment, sorry.
Oh, I guess I should add, Jodi, that it’s OK with me if you don’t like my religion. No sweat.
Wow. Could you expand on that one? The theology and stories mentioned in this thread are almost making me curious enough to request a copy of the Book of Mormon from an LDS friend. I think he might look at me funny though, as he knows I’m a pretty firm atheist.
Are there special Mormon holidays beyond the “regular” Christian ones like Christmas, Easter, etc? What are they like?
What does the Relief Society do? Is it a charity organization?
If I may direct the poop towards myself (not that I do such things in real life… really! L), I have to confess that I’ve adopted the Heavenly-Hierarchy model in my “Inclusive Evangelical C’tian” faith- basically, I see faithful C’tians as being granted something comparable to LDS Exaltation or the JW’s “Heavenly Inheritance” of the 144,000, while the vast throngs of decent but non-C’tian humanity being raised to a Blessed Eternal state but not the highest, while only evil predatory scum get the Brimstone alley (tho I also hold, with the Orthodox, that the Fire and Brimstone is how the Self-Damned experience the rejected Love & Light of God).
No and yes. 
Mormons don’t talk or think much about them. In fact, many Mormons I’ve spoken to still refer to them as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which they haven’t called themselved in quite some time. I don’t think there’s any real bitterness or hostility (at least that I’ve seen); they just aren’t much of an issue.
Mormonism is heavily grounded in both faith and deeds. In this, it is more similar to Catholicism than to many Protestant sects; in addition to believing the right things, one must do the right things to be worthy of God’s rewards.
The basic Mormon belief is that our spirits were sent here from God’s presence, clothed in physical bodies, and the memories of that former life hidden from us in order to test our faith and willingness to obey. That’s the test: can you accept and believe God’s word (and Mormons believe everyone will get the chance eventually), and then live a life of obedience to his laws? Ultimately, this means joining the LDS church, yes, because some of the things you need to do in order to show obedience (baptism, endowment, marriage) can only be done by a Mormon.
Well, I appreciate that, but I don’t in fact dislike your religion. I respect all people’s rights to practice the faith of their conscience, so long as they aren’t harming anyone else. As should be obvious, LDS is not my faith, and never could be, but I have never met a Mormon (and I know many) who was anything other than decent and kind. My raising issues that are IMO problematic should not be construed as having an axe to grind with your religion; people have problems with my religion too, and I’m just a garden-variety Methodist. So peace to you, my friend.