The Unauthorized Investigator's Guide to
The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints

The purpose of life is to have joy and to prepare to return and live with God.  In this life, we are subject to both physical death and spiritual death.  God has a perfect, glorified, immortal body of flesh and bones.  In order to become like God, we also need a perfect and immortal body of flesh and bones.  However, the Fall of Adam resulted in all of us having imperfect mortal bodies that will eventually die.  Because of Jesus Christ, we have hope for a future existence with our Heavenly Father.

In addition to physical death, sin is a major obstacle that prevents us from becoming like Heavenly Father and returning to live with him.  Here on earth, at least occasionally we yield to temptation and break God's commandments.  We all make mistakes.  While it might sometimes seem otherwise, sin always leads to unhappiness.  Sin causes us to feel guilt and shame.  Furthermore, sin causes us to be unable of returning to live with Heavenly Father, unless we are first forgiven and cleansed.

Here in our mortal lives, we have experiences that bring happiness, as well as experiences that bring pain and sorrow.  Sometimes this sorrow is caused by the sinful actions of others.  These experiences gives us opportunities to make choices, learn, grow, and distinguish good from evil.  God encourages us to be good, while Satan tempts us to sin.  Like physical death, we can't overcome sin by ourselves.  We need the atonement of Jesus Christ.

If you have a question or would like to discuss these topics, I suggest that you go to a Mormon-related bulletin board (here are some recommendations). If you'd like to contact me with comments or feedback, you may send an email to analytics@lds4u.com.