Mormonism At a Glance

Instead of doing research on the wonderful Internet to find my information, I decided to interview a good friend of mine who is a Mormon, his/her name is unimportant. The interview was to get a basic overview of the Mormon religion, because, I don't think many students are familiar with Mormonism and I took it upon myself to clear up any misunderstanding about Mormonism. Before we start I would like to give some background knowledge, Mormons are a protestant sect of Christianity. They believe in Jesus the same way other protestants do, as the atonement for man's sin, but there are some key differences between other Protestants and Mormons.
Side note: I do not have the exact quotes of what my friend had said, but, I have done my best into putting his words into mine, while keeping the integrity of the meaning of them.

I asked my friend, What some key differences between Mormonism and Other Protestant sects?

-Mormonism's largest most widely known difference between other Protestants is the Book of Mormon, translated by Joseph Smith from sacred plates, similar to the sacred plates the ten commandments were written upon. The book of Mormon is an account of three groups of the "old world" to the American continents, according to the Church's website. I think that the "old world" is the same place the bible is set in, the middle east. In any case The book of Mormon is the account of these three groups, and of the visitations of Jesus Christ to the America's after his resurrection.
- Mormons do not believe in the trinity, which is God the Father, God the Son, and God the spirit all being one entity, rather they take them as three separate entities.
-Mormons believe in baptism by inversion, which is when you get baptized you must fully be immersed in the water, unlike the Catholics that believe you can just be sprinkled with the water to be baptized.

Second Question: I asked my friend to please, for the sake of the students of Cypress Bay, and the rest of the world for that matter, clear up any misunderstandings that we might have about Mormonism.

-Mormons do not support polygamy, They did in times of war so that one man could provide for more than one woman at a time, as to split the work load in the community.
-Mormons do not worship there prophets, the worship God and God only.
-There is no "magical underwear" as some people may refer to it. There is though temple clothing similar to what the Catholics might wear, which does have spiritual significance, but there is no "magical underwear"

Question 3: What is your Concept of Heaven and Hell
-There are three kingdoms, or "stages" in Heaven. There is the Telestial, which is the lowest "degree of glory" but according to Joseph Smith, the main prophet of Mormonism, the telestial kingdom is so great that people would die to go there, even though it is the lowest degree of heaven. The next in line is the Terrestrial Kingdom, or the Glory of the Moon. The greatest degree of Heaven is the Celestrial Kingdom, otherwise known as the Glory of the Sun.
Hell on the other hand is more of a concept in Mormonism than a place. Hell is defined as being totally out the presence of God. Hell is referred to as the Outer Darkness, complete separation from the presence of God.

I hope this was helpful to you in learning more about Mormonism, to find out more information go to the Mormon Church's main website