Hi, I'm Connie

I'm a mother, I'm a grandmother, I'm disabled, and I'm a Mormon.

About Me

I was a cook for a time, then decided to change careers and started working at a convenience store; I worked there for 7 years until my health began to fail. I am now retired and spend my time making cards, playing bingo, and visiting friends.

Why I am a Mormon

Here at this Church I feel at home. I believe it is the only true Church. I serve by making cards for the ward I live in. This covers everything from birthdays to if they are sick.

How I live my faith

I live my faith by attending Relief society functions, going to Sunday school and sacrament meetings. I read the Book of Mormon, and the Bible, and I pray often.

Why was a Restoration of the Gospel needed? Haven’t we always had the Bible?

Daniel answered...

When Jesus was on the earth he established his church. To guide it, 12 apostles were called by God and had priesthood authority to act in his name. When an apostle died, he was to be replaced so that there would always be 12 “special witnesses” of Christ (this is shown by the calling of Mathias as a member of the 12 in Acts:1)
The early years were troublesome times for Christians. The greatest antagonist to the church was the Roman Empire. During this era of persecution, apostles were killed and priesthood authority was lost. Centuries after Christ was crucified Rome pulled a 180 and adopted its own form of “Christianity” as the mandated state religion. To conform to previously held pagan traditions, ordinances like baptism were changed and creeds of faith, not found in the bible, were established.
Recognizing the discrepancies between this church and New Testament Christianity, righteous people protested and many of their followers formed new churches. This era of protestant reformation was critical in advancing religious liberty. But simply recognizing the errors of a church, does not give one God's priesthood authority (see Hebrews 5:4) Even those with the best intentions of following Christ’s teachings need proper priesthood authority to be baptized. The world needed a Restoration of Christ’s original church, not a reformation of an apostate version of it. And as soon as a nation was established with the religious freedom to allow it, the Lord did restore his church!
Todd answered...

Well, the Bible hasn't always existed, at least not in it's present form. The Old Testament is a collection of writing from ancient prophets and the New Testament is a collection of Christ's followers and apostles. Think about this, for thousands of years, God revealed truth about the purpose of life and direction of how we should live. Why, then did it stop?

After the Ascension of Christ into heaven, his Apostles carried on: teaching, building the church, acting under the authority of Christ. Not long into the growth of this newly founded church, others felt they knew better than these men (both in and out of the new Christian faith). Many leaders rejected the teaching of Paul and the other apostles (or at least distorted their meaning and intent) and taught things they found to be pleasing to their followers. This rejection/dstortion is called the Great Apostasy. It led to the death of the apostles and the withdrawal of God's authority on the earth. As a result, the Christian world claimed the Canon was closed and that we had all that needed to said from God.

The Restoration literally was the return of God's authority on the earth. We believe that God speaks to man and that the Canon is not closed, nor will it ever be. Revelation is the key to our salvation, because it is the only way we can truly come to know of the redeeming power of our Savior. That is why we needed the Restoration.

What does Mormonism teach regarding baptism?

Jerad answered...

For us, baptism is a two way promise or covenant with our father in Heaven. We promise to obey his commandments, take upon ourselves the name of Christ, and to always remember him ((D&C 20:77-78) and he promises to give us a remission, or forgiveness for our sins and his spirit to guide us (3 Nephi 27:19-20). However, we must keep our promise to maintain the blessings offered by our Heavenly Father. Baptism is preceeded by faith in Jesus Christ and then repentance. Once we repent of our sins and change our lives, we enter into the waters of baptism. We believe in being baptized by immersion, by someone holding the authority of God (3 Nephi 11:19-27), and at an age of responsibility, when we can recognize the difference between right and wrong (the age of eight is set as when we can do this) (D&C 68:27). There is symbolism in baptism by immersion in the death and resurrection of Christ and also the death of our past lives and a rebirth where we are cleansed from sin (Romans 6:3-6). Baptism must also be followed by receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands (Acts 19:1-6).The Gift of the Holy Ghost is a second baptism by fire and completes the baptism by water (Matthew 3:11 and John 3:5).