Women of Faith: JoDee from A to Z for Moms Like Me

Welcome to the Women of Faith Series!

These women contributing have poured their heart and souls into these posts wanting to share their beliefs with you. I welcome them with open arms and I pray that you will as well.

A little about the series, I asked them all the same 12 questions to shed light on the beliefs of their faith and their personal journey. 

This is meant to be educational to expand your view of what others believe. I ask you to be respectful in any comments you leave and really start a conversation into exploring each of these faiths. Though you may not agree with their faith or beliefs, let's respect them by making this a safe place for them to share. 

Let's welcome JoDee from A to Z for Mom's Like Me!!

1. Please give an overview of your faith and what it believes.
The best overview I can give is what is called the 13 Articles of Faith, it was written by Joseph Smith to answer this question when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka Mormon or LDS) was founded- they can be found on lds.org

13 Articles of Faith

We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.

We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.

We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.

We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.



2. Was there a specific time of reason why you believe what you do?
Each person has the ability to pray and have their prayers answered, this is the answer to my prayers. I love how we have a living prophet just as in Bible times, we have Temples where sacred ordinances can be done and families can be sealed together forever- not until death do you part.



3. Does your faith have religious books? Please name them all if more than one and give a brief description of its purpose/origins.
As mentioned in the 13 articles of faith above- we believe the Bible to be the word of God, as long as it is translated correctly. We use the King James version. We also believe the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God. We have other books such as Doctrine & Covenants, The Pear of Great Price, and monthly magazines with talks from our Prophet and Apostles called the Ensign, and 2 magazines for teens and youth called the New Era and the Friend.



4. How do you put your faith into practice everyday?
Prayer, Scripture study, but most of all it's about living the standards and teachings we believe in. Showing love, serving others, etc..



5. Do you believe in Heaven? How do you get there? If you don't, what do you believe happens after you die?
Yes. We believe there are 2 places called Spirit Paradise and Spirit Prison that a person goes to after they die. The determining factor of which they will go to depends on if they have had specific works done either while they were on earth or done for them through Temple work after they have died. Those works begin with Baptism.



6. What do you/faith believe about the human condition? Is being a good person enough according to your religion?
Being a good person is important, since we are all judged by our own actions and not others. But it is necessary to have made certain covenants- just like Jesus was baptized, we must be also.



7. Who do you/your faith believe Jesus is? What do you know about him?
Jesus is the Savior of the World, the Redeemer, and so many other titles. He is our elder spiritual brother who came to earth to atone for our sins and was crucified then resurrected. He did everything for our sake that through Him we can return to our Heavenly Father.



8. Who do you believe God is? If you believe in God, what is he like? (Base this on your religious beliefs) If you don't believe in God, why not?
God is our Heavenly Father. The creator of our spirits. He loves us so much that he gave us the opportunity to get a physical body and come to earth that we might gain experience to learn and progress and some day be like Him.



9. Have you had to defend your beliefs? What happened?
When you believe in something good there are bound to be antagonistic people who are eager to prove you wrong, or prove themselves right. Some people ask questions honestly, while others are just looking for ways to belittle or attack beliefs. As far as defending my beliefs, there is no need. I have nothing to prove, if they don't believe what I do that's fine and their choice, but I know what I know and that's all that matters in the end.



10. How has your faith/beliefs changed you?
It keeps me focused on a bigger picture. That there is an eternal perspective in life and some problems are insignificant- yet we allow them to affect us with stress, worry, anger, depression, hatred, or any other unproductive energy that only leads to distract from living a happy successful life.



11. Have you ever questioned your faith? How did you question it? And did you get the answers you were searching for to keep believing?
I think everyone has doubts throughout their life, for me when I was a teen and wanted to know if what I believed was true I turned to scripture study and prayer and found my own answer. That's the great thing about prayer- it's available to everyone, and anyone can pray and receive their own answer!



12. What is something that you want to tell people about your faith?
Love matters most. Feel and understand to the best of your ability the love our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ have for us, and share that love with others.






JoDee Mason, Blogger at A to Z for Moms Like Me

Mom of 6 kids that keeps busy as a mom, blogger, book author, public speaker, Rapid Eye Technician, and learning/doing new things all the time! I live in a very rural area of Arizona and love spending my time doing new projects around the house and creating new programs to help others. My latest project is a program for teachers, parents and students called "Raising Superheroes" that I'm excited to share. It has consumed my free minutes lately. Life is all about learning and growing- but most of all for me it's about FUN and should be filled with passion, laughter, and joy.

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