An Address to the World
An Address of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints TO THE WORLD (adopted by vote of the Church in General Conference, April 5, 1907):
1. WE SOLEMNLY DECLARE … Our religion is founded on the revelations of God.
2. WE ACCEPT Jesus Christ in person and in mission as divine;
3. WE REVERE Him as the Son of God, the crucified and risen Lord,…
4. WE ACCEPT His teachings as a guide…
5. WE COMPLY with the requirements prescribed by Him as essential to membership in His Church, namely faith, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, …
6. WE BELIEVE in the Godhead, comprising the three individual personages, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
7. WE HOLD that man is verily the child of God, formed in His image, endowed with divine attributes, and possessing power to rise from the gross desires of earth to the enabling aspiration of heaven.
8. WE BELIEVE in the pre-existence of man as a spirit, and in a future state of individual existence, in which every soul shall find its place, as determined by justice and mercy, with opportunities of endless progression, in the varied conditions of eternity.
9. WE BELIEVE in the free-agency of man, and therefore in his individual responsibility.
10. WE BELIEVE that salvation is for no select few, but that all men may be saved though obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
11. WE AFFIRM that to administer in the ordinances of the Gospel, authority must be given of God, and this authority is the power of the Holy Priesthood.
12. WE AFFIRM that through the ministration of immortal personages, the Holy Priesthood has been conferred upon men in the present age, and that under this divine authority the Church of Christ has been organized.
13. WE PROCLAIM the objects of this organization to be the preaching of the Gospel in all the world, the gathering of scattered Israel, and the preparation of a people for the coming of the Lord.
14. WE BELIEVE in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, and in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
15. WE BELIEVE that all governments necessarily require civil officers and magistrates to enforce the laws of the same, and that such as will administer the law in equity and justice should be sought for and upheld…
16. WE DO NOT BELIEVE it just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members, as citizens, denied…
17. WE FAVOR the absolute separation of church and state; no domination of the state by the church; no church interference with the functions of the state; no interference with the functions of the church, or with the free exercise of religion; the absolute freedom of the individual from the domination of ecclesiastical authority in political affairs; the equality of all churches before the law.
18. WE REFUSE to be bound by the interpretations which others place upon our beliefs…
19. MORMONISM is in the world for the world’s good…
Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund, First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, March 26, 1907
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