Salvation

• Mormons:  There is a general salvation for almost everyone, including non-Mormons. However, the highest level of heaven requires faith plus works. Mormons believe in faith through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, but you actively participate in your salvation by repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins combined with the laying on of hands by the priesthood to bestow the Holy Ghost, and striving to live according to God's commandments.

• Christians: Faith in Jesus Christ alone, with good works as a result of that faith. 

Authority

• Mormons: Four books - the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Bible (King James version) though they claim some text is corrupted when it doesn't align with their other three books.  

• Christians: The Bible (sola scriptura).

Joseph Smith - founder and prophet (1805-1844)

• He published the Book of Mormon at the age of 24 in 1830 and died 14 years later.

• The angel Moroni told him where to find "seer stones" and a book of "golden plates" - with Egyptian engravings buried in a stone box in New York. Seer is a "SEE-er" of visions.

• He used the "seer stones" to translate the "golden plates" into the Book of Mormon. He placed the seer stones (held together with a metal rim like a pair of glasses) into a hat and pressed his face into the hat and watched sentences appear on the stones from the covered-up golden plates lying nearby. He also used a single seer stone and later received direct revelation without the need for seer stones. After completion, the angel retrieved the golden plates.

• He was ordained to the priesthood by the original apostles who came down to earth from heaven. John the Baptist ordained him to the Aaronic priesthood. Peter, James and John ordained him to the Melchizedek priesthood.

• He falsely prophesied a temple will be built in Missouri - within a generation of 1832, which never happened, even a 100 years later. (Doctrine & Covenants 84:1-5).

• He secretly married 30-40 wives - including a 14-year-old, and ten of them were already married.

• He was murdered at age 38 by an angry mob - after he and his brother were jailed for inciting a riot to burn down an anti-Mormon newspaper building that wrote against polygamy.

Brigham Young - second president and prophet (1801-1877)

• He married 56 women and had 56 children from 16 of them.
  Note: Polygamy (multiple wives) is no longer allowed in the Church.

Mormon differences with Protestants

• God was once a mortal man - then he was exalted to a god and humans can be exalted to godhood too.

• Jesus was one of many of God's sons - as was Satan, and Jesus is not fully God.

• They deny the Trinity - God and Jesus are separate and have flesh and bones. The Holy Ghost is a spirit.

• Three levels of heaven - Highest level is for those who follow all of Mormonism. 

• Man can become a god - Inside the highest level in heaven you can become a god.

• Baptize for the dead - members are baptized on behalf of a dead person to offer their spirit the chance to accept the gospel and progress to the Celestial Kingdom.

Mormon Practices

• Abstain from coffee, tea, alcohol, gambling, drugs (except medicines).

• Two year mission - young members serve two years as full-time missionaries.

• Temple garments (underwear) are worn under clothes at all times - by adults after a temple endowment ceremony promising to keep God's commandments. 

• Give 10% of earnings annually - plus a donation to the poor each month.

• No Mormon black priests were allowed until the church president and apostles received a revelation and updated the Doctrine and Covenants book in 1978.