Fifteen Reasons You Should Hope the Claims of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Are True

The claims of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are so spectacular anyone should hope the message is true.  But coming to a conviction on that point requires more than mere hope.

The Book of Mormon prophet Alma taught that faith begins with a desire to believe.  (Alma 32:27.)  But a mature and burning faith will take some work.  It will require a serious study of the Book of Mormon with sincere pondering and prayer. (Moroni 10:3-5.)  A willingness to give up all one’s sins is part of the equation. (Alma 22:18.)  And it may involve acting for a time as if one were already an active Latter-day Saint, prior to receiving a spiritual witness.  (John 7:16-17.)  But the scriptures promise that one who completes these steps will invariably learn for himself that the message is true.  He will thereafter be able to rejoice forever in that conviction.  On the other hand, some may hope it is not true, so as to escape the corresponding consequences. The Lord will never impose divine knowledge on an unwilling believer.  

 

The following are some of the Church’s promises.  They should cause a sincere seeker to earnestly hope they are all true and resolve never to rest until he knows for sure:

1. The gospel doesn’t promise earthly ease or freedom from suffering, but it does guarantee “peace in this world and eternal life in the world to come.” (D&C 59:23.) 

Who could put a price on either?  This is what enabled the first latter-day prophet, Joseph Smith, to say as he went to a certain martyrdom in Carthage, “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter but I am calm as a summers morning.”

 

2. One aspect of the “peace in this world” promised to the faithful is a forgiveness of past sins.

Such forgiveness comes through faith, repentance, and baptism.  There is thereafter the opportunity for a weekly renewal of that sinless state through partaking of the sacrament. So many in the world are tormented by guilt and the memory of deeds they can’t undo, or words they can’t take back.  But through repentance and baptism we can all “roll back the clock,” as it were.  Like Alma, we can be “harrowed up by the memory of [our] sins no more.”  (Alma 36:19.)

3. The source of this inner peace is the gift of the Holy Ghost.

After baptism, one is entitled to receive the “gift of the Holy Ghost.”  This provides a myriad of priceless blessings, including “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, [and] temperance.” (Galatians 5:22 – 23).  One of the titles for the Holy Ghost is the Comforter.  Those enjoying its gifts will find they are comforted in times of trial.  They are strengthened and given courage to do any righteous thing that the Lord would have them do.

 

4. Baptized members are also, through the gift of the Holy Ghost, entitled to personal inspiration and revelation as needed.

This is sort of like the liahona as described in the Book of Mormon, or a spiritual GPS.  Only the President of the Church has authority to receive revelation for the entire Church.  But every member can receive divine direction for his own life and sphere of responsibility.  James promised:  “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally,…and it shall be given him.”  (James 1:5.)  That is just as true for each of us today as it was for the boy Joseph Smith.  Prompted by the same passage, he retired to pray in a grove near his home.  As a result, he received the vision which launched the latter-day restoration of Christ’s gospel.  

5. Worthy saints are also entitled to all the blessings of the priesthood.

These include not only such ordinances as baptism and confirmation, but blessings in time of sickness or other need.  Not only Church leaders can provide such blessings.  Every worthy male over the age of twelve is eligible to be ordained to the priesthood.  Every husband and father has the privilege of providing priesthood blessings for his own family and others.

 

6. The Lord has promised signs (miracles) to follow those that believe.

If we are observant, we will constantly see the hand of the Lord.  Today’s miracles are occasionally as spectacular as those recorded in the Bible.  But more often God intervenes in almost imperceptible ways.  But the faithful will find things constantly work out better than they ever could through mere coincidence.  

 

7. We have the revealed word of the Lord from thousands of years on two continents to guide and encourage us.

Some of those ancient prophets testified that they saw our day.  They knew what challenges we would face.  They therefore selected those materials they knew would be essential for our latter-day safety, success, and happiness.

 

8. Even more significantly, the gospel of Jesus Christ promises ongoing and timely guidance from living prophets and apostles.

At the earthly head of the Church today is 94-year-old President Russell M. Nelson, a former prominent cardiac surgeon.  Latter-day Saints consider him as much of a prophet today as Moses or Elijah were anciently.  As a modern witness of Jesus Christ, he testifies that the Lord Himself is the real head of the Church.  Under divine guidance, President Nelson is leading the Church forward with the energy of one half his age.  He, his two counselors (or assistants), and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, each April and October in General Conference provide a spiritual feast to Latter-day Saints and interested friends throughout the world through the marvels of satellite technology and internet communication.

 

 9. We can have our spouses and children sealed to us eternally, as well as have eternal ties to our parents and siblings.

For many, this may be the greatest enticement of all to find out if the gospel is true.  For Latter-day Saints, marriage was never intended to be merely “until death do us part.”  Truly, heaven would not be heaven to me without my wife and family.

 

10. The gospel teaches who we are—where we came from, why we are here, and what awaits us.

The gospel teaches not only that we can associate with loved ones eternally in the hereafter.  It promises that we can have endless spiritual posterity and the same  consequent fullness of joy that God enjoys.  Could anything be more exciting?

11. The Church offers us the opportunity to be part of the Lord’s championship team.

It is better than being sent into the Super Bowl with the score tied in the final moments, to be part of the winning drive.  Those who get all the way into the Church and serve with all their hearts will have a thrill at a great future awards ceremony that those who were merely spectators will never understand.

12. Statistics show that Latter-day Saints as a whole live longer and have better health than their non-Latter-day Saint counterparts.

While mortal health may not compare with eternal glory, it’s surely preferable to mortal sickness and weakness!

13. The Church allows us to be part of a local ward family or congregation—a support network. 

As members of the Church, we automatically have friends ready to welcome us wherever we move (and even to help us move). In times of temporal need, there are resources available to help until we are back on our feet.

 

 

14. The Church provides great organizations, activities, and teachings to help us raise our children and have happier families.

 

 

15. The gospel provides us with a reason for hope in a downward-spiraling world.

While the world will continue to deteriorate, the promise is that the “righteous need not fear.”  (1 Nephi 22:17.)  The Lord’s kingdom will grow, and the promised latter-day Zion will become a counterbalance to the evil of the world.  It will provide not only the promise of future salvation but temporal protection here and now for the righteous.  Such promises, of course, are general, and not specific.  Individual saints may still suffer and die from war, crime, sickness, and terrorism.  But as a group, the righteous will find protection from the calamities which the disobedient bring upon themselves.  And, going back to point #1, even those individual righteous saints who suffer the natural results of living in a fallen world will have a peace in the midst of their trials that the world knows nothing about.

 

The above promises obviously overlap and we could easily consolidate them  into ten or expand them  to twenty.  They are so spectacular that one cannot blame a non-Latter-day Saint for having initial doubts about whether they could really be true.  One can blame him, however, if he hopes they are not true, so that he can continue with his current lifestyle.  We might consider such a one to have the same level of intelligence as the child who would prefer a new quarter to a million-dollar bill—because the million-dollar bill isn’t as shiny and won’t fit into the gum machine!

This is why the Lord can justly warn that those who believe not will face condemnation  (another way of saying they will miss out on blessings)—because they prefer not to believe and are unwilling to take a careful look at the more than adequate evidence of the gospel’s truthfulness. The greatest blessing of my life is my testimony that all of the above fifteen points are true.  The blessings promised for this life really do come, giving me full confidence that those promised for eternity will also be fulfilled.