Diane Kipp is a life long member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). She graduated from Brigham Young University,“Long ago in the previous century,” she said. Kipp currently lives in Spokane Valley with two of her four adult children, her mom, one dog, three cats, and her “extraordinarily patient husband.” “I look forward to writing about how living the LDS faith looks in my daily life,” she said. Her daughter, Laura Kipp, is also a SpokaneFAVS blogger.
Looking forward to reading your posts. Good luck!
Bruce, I just received your book, Inflaton, from Amazon, and am looking forward to reading it as soon as Laura finishes it — she got to it first.
Questions – I’m not actually an encyclopedia of Mormonism, though there is one at http://eom.byu.edu/ and http://www.mormon.org is a great place to get questions answered. Or I can introduce you to some missionaries who would love to meet with you and answer your questions! But if you want my “in brief,” personal views:
Caffeine – There’s actually no Mormon prohibition against caffeine, but we are taught that our bodies are temples and that we should treat them as such, so many of us avoid casual caffeine intake as a common sense health practice.
This Mormon’s true stance on polygamy is that it played an important role in the church in the 1800s but has been forbidden for over 100 years, and I am glad to be living during the “forbidden” years and not the “important role” years.
I’m simply not qualified to answer a heavy theological question about gods/ planets/worship. I know what you are referring to, and it’s a good question, but I focus on principles that are relevant to my life right now; I’m just not a theologian.
Temples — We worship in churches and any and all are welcome to worship with us, any and all of the time, no preparation necessary. In our temples, we make sacred covenants (I think of it as a ‘graduate degree’ version of baptism) and perform sacred ordinances — even those of us currently qualified to enter the temples don’t go in casually. Anyone who enters needs to be qualified and prepared; everyone who enters, participates. And anyone who cares to qualify and prepare him/herself will be welcomed in the temples. A temple is egalitarian – only one’s beliefs and actions matter; gender, race, financial status, education, nationality, age, health, ‘class,’ etc. are all irrelevant.
Prophets — God rules; the prophet teaches and leads. I believe Thomas S. Monson is a prophet currently, just as I believe Moses and Abraham were prophets in the distant past. I believe a prophet is God’s mouthpiece on earth, so when the prophet speaks, I pay attention. I also communicate with God personally through prayer. I don’t see any sense in believing in God, but ignoring him.
It was great meeting you- looking forward to your posts!
Diane, I asked our Facebook readers what questions they had about the Mormon faith and this is what got:
“Wow…lots…like what’s the deal with hating on Caffeine. What is the Mormon’s true stance on polygamy. Do they truly believe that they will become gods with thier own planets to populate and will they receive worship? Why do they have temples and why can’t common folk, non-mormons enter them after they do their ‘open house’ when they are built? Do they believe that modern people are supposed to believe that a council of ‘prophets’ rule the one true church today and does their word equate with sacred law?”
Wow, Diane, looks like you have an important role to play in Spokane. I’m delighted to see that so many folks have a genuine interest in Mormonism, and I am excited to read how you address those questions in the upcoming months.
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