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VIEWPOINTS: What’s more important to your faith- believing, behaving or belonging?

A survey released last week by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs reports millenials are increasingly detaching themselves from religious denominations.

Read the full Viewpoints question here or continue on to the response below.

Believing — Mormons believe a very important principle of the gospel is faith.

Believing — Mormons believe a very important principle of the gospel is faith.

Behaving — We also believe we are not saved by faith alone, but also by works, as well as grace and other necessary steps.  James 2:14 reads, "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?"

And from the Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:32 says, "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

Belonging — We believe baptism is a necessary ordinance for salvation.  That's part of why we practice genealogy and baptism for the dead. We believe it's an ordinance that must be performed on earth on behalf of every soul, whether that soul chooses to accept it or not. We believe everyone will at some point, (if they didn't in this life, then in the next) get a (good, complete, fair) opportunity to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ if they don't now have it.

Topics: Faith, Doctrine & Practice
Beliefs: Mormon
Tags: faith and mormon

Other Responses to This Viewpoint

Encouraging Doubt

Of these limited choices, perhaps each one could at moments come into the foreground of awareness, influenced by where one is in life, a temporary mood, or core beliefs and values. We each have our own unique life trajectory. One person may need belief, another may not identify a need for belief....
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From an Outsider Perspective

As one without faith, this is an intriguing question. Being social animals, the need to belong is innate and fundamental to our natures. One could likewise say that the need to behave is essential as well, for without this our species would be self-destructive. Faith certainly serves to foster bot...
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The three go together

The three go together, so I would prefer to think about this question not so much as which is most important, but which in healthy and organically growing human associations comes first.  In the best and healthiest organizations belonging comes first. We are born citizens of the United States, t...
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Belief is the foundation, it drives my behavior and is the reason I want to belong.

Belief is the foundation, it drives my behavior and is the reason I want to belong. Frankly, if I didn’t believe, I wouldn’t bother. If I have to pick one of the three, belief is it. My behavior, however, is the outward manifestation and visible expression of that belief. If my behavior doesn’t...
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It has been rough.

It has been rough. She has not been getting sleep lately. With her job, the return of her young adult son, and his starting a new job, she stays up and washes his only work shirt. She is faithful to her love for him. Few of those that pay for lotto tickets or gas know this about her. Her clerk job...
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When I was in the bright dawn of my faith, I was so sure the whole universe hung on “believing” all the right things.

When I was in the bright dawn of my faith, I was so sure the whole universe hung on "believing" all the right things. As I move out of the long sun of the mid day of my faith, I'm not so sure 'behaving'  is the nexus of eternity I've made it. Now I see the coming dusk of the life of my faith a...
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