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Social & Cultural

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Culture

Same-Sex Attraction, Identity, and the Church

How can the restored Church both teach that marriage is between a man and a woman and still love, include, and minister to people who experience same-sex attraction?

The gospel of Jesus Christ does not make same-sex attraction a sin. It does teach that marriage, sexual relations, and the sealing ordinance are between a man and a woman. Members who experience same-sex attraction are children of God, to be loved, fellowshipped, and invited to every covenant they can keep.

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Culture

Women and the Priesthood

If God is no respecter of persons, why are priesthood offices such as elder, bishop, and apostle conferred on men, and what power do women actually hold?

In the restored Church, priesthood keys and offices are conferred on men, but priesthood power is not a male possession. Women are endowed with power in the temple, preside in Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary, and exercise gifts of the Spirit. Scripture already knew prophetesses, wise women, and female coworkers in the gospel.

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Culture

Race, the Gospel, and the Church

How should Latter-day Saints understand the former priesthood and temple restriction, the 1978 revelation, and the gospel’s teaching that all are alike unto God?

The restored gospel teaches that God invites all to come unto Him—black and white, bond and free. For a season the Church restricted priesthood ordination and temple ordinances for members of black African descent. That restriction ended by revelation in 1978. Folklore offered as explanation is not doctrine, and the Church has disavowed it.

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Culture

Tithing

Is tithing an Old Testament relic, a payment for blessings, or a covenant law still required of the Saints?

Tithing is a tenth, taught from the law of Moses through Malachi and restored in this dispensation as a standing law. It is not a fee for ordinances and it is not a prosperity contract. It is how a people fund the Lord’s work and learn to put Him first.

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Culture

The Word of Wisdom

Why does the restored Church forbid alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and tea, and is that more than nineteenth-century health advice?

Doctrine and Covenants 89 was given as a principle with a promise: a warning against conspiring enemies, a law of health, and a spiritual discipline. The current standard—no alcohol, tobacco, coffee, or tea, and care with other substances—is the way the prophets have applied that revelation. The body is a temple. Obedience is not a food fad.

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Culture

Church Finances and Reserves

Why does the Church hold large financial reserves, and is that a betrayal of sacred tithing?

Tithing is the Lord’s. The Church uses it to build temples, meetinghouses, education, humanitarian work, and the ongoing mission of the Restoration. Reserves are not a secret fortune for luxury. They are stewardship: grain in the storehouse so the work does not collapse when markets, disasters, or decades change.

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Culture

Polygamy Today

Does The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints still practice plural marriage, and what is its relation to fundamentalist groups?

The Church does not practice polygamy. It has not authorized new plural marriages for more than a century. Members who enter plural marriage today are excommunicated. Groups that still practice it are not the restored Church, however loudly they claim Joseph or Brigham.

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Culture

Abuse, Reporting, and the Church

What does the restored Church teach about abuse, and should it ever be handled only inside the Church?

Abuse is a sin and a crime. It is not a membership matter to be quietly managed. The Lord’s law in the Doctrine and Covenants already delivers thieves, robbers, and the violent to the law of the land. Anyone who knows of abuse should report it to civil authorities. The Church cannot, and must not, be a shelter for predators.

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Culture

Faith Crisis and Mental Health

What should a Latter-day Saint do with crushing doubt, anxiety, or depression—leave, pretend, or seek both the Lord and sound help?

Faith is not the absence of questions, and mental illness is not a priesthood failure. The father in Mark cried, ‘Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.’ Alma compared the word to a seed, not a finished tree. Saints are commanded to care for the body and the mind, including with competent professional help, while they keep offering the Lord an honest heart.

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Culture

Political Neutrality

Does the restored Church secretly run a party, or does it actually mean its teaching that it is politically neutral?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not endorse candidates or parties. Members are commanded to be subject to governments and to sustain the law, and they are expected to vote their own conscience. Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Do not baptize a platform and call it the gospel.

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Culture

Church Discipline and Belonging

Are membership councils a cruel exile, or a biblical and restored way to call people to repentance while protecting the flock?

The Savior gave a pattern: private reproof, witnesses, then the church. Paul did the same. Restored councils exist to help a person repent, to protect the innocent, and to keep the name of the Church honest. They are not a public spectacle. Withdrawal of membership is real, and so is the path back.

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Culture

Temple Garments and Modesty

Are temple garments a bizarre Mormon underwear test, or a biblical pattern of sacred clothing and covenant memory?

From Aaron’s holy garments to baptismal white, scripture is not shy about clothing that means something. The temple garment is a reminder of covenants made with the Lord, worn as instructed, not as a superstition and not as a fashion. Modesty is an outgrowth of that covenant, not a hemline police code.

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