Faith
What do Mormons Believe We Should Have Faith In?
What do Mormons have faith in? The better question would be who do Mormons have faith in. The term Faith, is sometimes used interchangeably when either referring to one’s religious institution or the expression of that religion. In this article the term faith is referring to that expression of religious beliefs. Mormons center their faith on Jesus Christ. It takes faith to follow Jesus Christ because none of us have met him. In the New Testament we read of several occasions where Christ said “come after me …and follow me.” Mormons believe that to follow Christ you must first have faith in Him. They also believe that salvation comes through Christ and that is why Faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation to our religion.(Acts 4:10-12) Examples of truth taught by Jesus Christ are love, service, obedience to his laws and commandments, forgiveness and repentance. You know if these ideas are true based on your faith in them and their effects for good in your life and the lives of those you interact with. To have faith in Christ is to have first have hope in his promises then to act on the commandments that he gives.
What is Faith?
Faith is sometimes hard to understand because it seems intangible. You may wonder how believers of Mormonism show they have faith in Jesus Christ? Mormons show faith through obedience. Obedience to what you might ask? Mormons are obedient to Gods commandments. Therefore, faith is obedience to true principles.
Faith is a principle of Action?
We believe that because faith is a principle of action(John 14:12), that the true marker of someone having faith in Christ is an actual change in behavior through thoughts and actions. Mormons don’t believe that to just think Christ is our savior is enough. Mormons also believe that when you have faith in Christ you will be acting with hope and confidence, without a perfect knowledge. In Hebrews 11:1 Paul states that “Faiths is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We cannot see Jesus Christ but we can feel the positive effects of living by his example in our lives. Just like we need to step into the sunlight to feel rays of warmth we cannot see, we must exercise faith by doing what he commanded us to do. All of Gods commandments are based on true principles. In John 7:17 we learn that Gods commandments will be obvious to us so we can know what is from him. If we follow and live these principles with faith, we will see joyful results in our lives. Through using the powerful tool of Faith, we are able to change our behavior for the better and have confidence in doing so.
