Mormonism: Difference between revisions

The movement was started by Joseph Smith, Jr, who described having several visions leading to the establishment of [http://www.churchofjesuschrist.org The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] in 1830. ("Saint" here means one who attempts to follow Christ, and refers to any member of the church; there's no implication of perfection or canonization.) While this church, commonly referred to as the "LDS Church" (colloquially as "Mormonism", even amongst some of its members) is the largest denomination of Mormonism, they are erroneously often presented as the only denomination. Consider it a parallel to [[Christianity Is Catholic]]: Mormons Are Latter-day Saints.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has an open canon<ref>Canon, from the Greek, meaning "measuring stick", in this means a list of authoritative books for a religion</ref> - meaning the works considered canonical can be expanded, contracted, or re-arranged at any time by unanimous agreement of the church's Presidency and presiding council, which would then be submitted to the membership for sustaining vote. Eminent Protestant Christian scripture scholar Bruce Metzger<ref>head of the translation committee for the RSV and NRSV Bibles, and long-standing editor of the New Oxford Annotated Bible until his death in 2005</ref> defined the difference between an "open canon" and a closed canon (common to all mainstream Christianity, even if the contents are disagreed upon) thus: "An open canon is a list of authoritative books: a closed canon is an authoritative list of books."

* The church teaches that all people, not just the righteous, will be resurrected, meaning their body and spirit will once again be united. Despite the limitations of mortality, a body is considered a good thing that will be missed when we die.

** There's also Outer Darkness, where you go only go if you deny the Holy Ghost, meaning you reject and deny Christ despite having perfect knowledge of his divinity. Satan and those who rebelled with him also reside here. Those who reside here, known as Sons of Perdition, do not receive a bodily resurrection.

The Mormons also believe that in order to go to the Celestial Kingdom, one must have undergone several "ordinances", such as baptism and temple marriage (though the later is only required to obtain the highest degree). Children under 8 are immediately considered pure of any sin, as 8 is the "age of accountability" when they become responsible for their actions -- this is why the Mormons baptize people at the age of 8 or older, depending on when they are introduced to the church. Because God understands that not everyone has a chance to be baptized during their lifetime, there is an ordinance called Baptism For The Dead, where righteous members are baptized as proxies for those who have died. Other necessary ordinances can also be performed for the dead by proxy members. Then those people can decide whether they accept it or not. Therefore, they still have a chance to enter the Celestial Kingdom. (Also, see below section on Temples).

A living prophet, who has been given the Priesthood, the authority of God given to mankind, continually guides the members of the Church in both practical and spiritual matters. Members of the Church believe that the prophet receives revelation from God for the benefit of the whole human family, and that a living prophet's words are as valuable as scripture - although, as Joseph Smith commented, "a prophet [is] a prophet only when he [is] acting as such."

The Church geographically organizes its membership across the world into "wards" and "stakes". In areas with less members, the resulting smaller groups are called "branches" and "districts", respectively. A ward is what other denominations frequently refer to as a "congregation"; each ward covers a certain area, and members living in that area are assigned to a specific building to meet in on Sundays at a fixed time. A ward is presided over by a bishop ("branch president" in branches), who calls counselorscounsellors to aid him in his duties as bishop, which include the spiritual and temporal welfare of both members and non-members of the Church. The ward is further divided into more specific groups for children, adults, and adolescents, and between male and female in order to provide more applicable teachings to each stage of life. These smaller organizations report to the bishop for his oversight.

A "stake" is composed of several wards, and ais stakeled hasby a stake president and his two counselors to preside over itcounsellors. The bishops within the stake report to the stake president. None of these leaders receive compensation for the work they do; they hold regular jobs outside of their "callings". The stake president supervises the activities and well-being within his stake and reports the status of his stake to the general authorities of the Church.

The world is divided geographically into "missions," such as the California San Fernando mission and the Mexico Tijuana mission, which are each presided over by an individual Mission President. He receives revelation from God about what needs to be done within the mission he presides for the benefit of the people living therein.

Following the injunction of Jesus Christ to love and serve others, the Church actively provides volunteer work in disaster-stricken areas of the world. Members of the Church are invited to offer what they can for humanitarian projects, such as clothing and canned food for the less fortunate. Members of the Church are asked to participate in service projects, ranging from ones so individual as helping someone move into a new house, to larger-scale rebuilding projects after natural disasters.

Often mistakenly called the preexistence, pre-mortal life was when wethe human race lived with God as His spiritual sons and daughters. Here, God introduced the Plan of Salvation, andincluding ordainedthe His spirit childrenopportunity to importantbe rolestested in a mortal life on Earth. Lucifer proposed a second plan which wouldhe said havewould ensuredensure that all the children of God would return to Him, but at the cost of alltheir free will by making Lucifer omnipotent. Free will, or agency, is more or less the entire point of existence. When God rejected Lucifer's plan, there was a "war in heaven," during which one-third of God's children chose to follow Lucifer. They were cast out of heaven as a result. The remaining two-thirds accepted God's plan, and Jesus Christ was chosen as the Savior who would make repentance possible. The Earth was then created to serve as mankind's home during mortal life. Please note that the LDS Church does not believe that Earth is the only planet bearing life -- God has created "worlds without number," and many of these are also inhabited by His children.

Adam and Eve were put in the garden of Eden after the creation of the Earth as described in Genesis. Adam and Eve were commanded to not eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. They were simultaneously given a commandment to multiply and replenish the Earth through having children -- this was impossible while they remained innocent. When Adam and Eve sinnedbroke one commandment by eating the fruit, they became imperfect and could no longer be in the presence of God, but they were able to learn and progress and to have children who could learn and progress as well, in the hope that they (we) would become perfect enough that God could bring them (us) the rest of the way to become like Him.

The history of the world then proceeds as indicated in the Bible. AsSome mentionedpeople followed aboveGod, theothers Bible contains many inaccuracies about many events due to mistranslationsdidn't, and deliberate omissions, but the Biblepeople isof stillIsrael acceptedgrew asand thewere wordeventually of Godconquered. However, aroundAround 600 BC, just before the Babylonian Captivity, a Jewish man named Lehi was warned by God to flee intofrom the wildernessJerusalem with his family in order to escape the approaching Babylonian captivity. They were eventually led to the American continent where Lehi's sons founded two main peoples, the Nephites and Lamanites. The Book of Mormon is the history of these peoples' dealings with each other and with God from a period of about 600 BC to 400 AD, asalong well as a history of another people (the Jaredites) who descended from a group brought to the Americas by God just after the fall of the Tower of Babel. The most significant event related in the Book of Mormon is a visit by Jesus Christ to the peoples of the Americas just after His resurrection. Though the people live in righteousness forwith a few hundredwords yearsabout aftertwo Christ'sother appearance,groups some of them eventually turn to evil and destroy the rest of the people, resulting in the true gospel being lost from thethey earthencountered.

The LDS Church teaches that there have been multiple apostasies throughout Earth's history, but the longest began in the early centuries AD. After the deaths of the apostles of Christ (both in the Old World and the New), priesthood authority was eventually lost because of deviations from the true word of Christ. Thus the world entered an age of apostasy that would last from about the second century AD to the Restoration (see below) in the early 19th century.

In 1820, Joseph Smith, Jr. was a 14-year-old boy who, like many in the United States at the time, was caught up in the Second Great Awakening, a time of great religious fervor and evangelism. His family was greatly interested in religion, and different members ended up joining different sects. After reading the Bible (and James 1:5 in particular) he decided to pray for direction in which sect to join. He went into a grove of trees, knelt, and prayed. He then saw a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ, who instructed him not to join any church, but that the "fullness of the gospel" would be made known to him. This is known as the First Vision, and its end result would be the establishment of a new religion, nowclaiming calledto Mormonismbe a ''restoration'' of Christ's original church.

Three years later, Smith was visited by an angel named Moroni, who told him of golden plates hidden in a hill near the Smith family's farm. Moroni directed Smith to the plates' location, but warned him not to take them just yet. Moroni told Smith to return to the spot once a year for the next fourthree years to receive instruction. TheIn fourth year (1827) Smith was allowed to take the plates, and was orderedinstructed to translate the writing thereinon them into English. This was the source material for the Book of Mormon, which was published in 1829.

The LDS Church also ran an extensive social-support network and effectively ran much of the economy in Utah from essentially the beginning until the 1950s or so. This tradition is derived from a system used in early Mormon communities, called the United Order, which an objective analysis could not fail to call a form of Christian socialism. Indeed, in the early 20th century, leftists and Mormons often found common ground on several issues, particularly on matters concerning the working poor. However, a desire not to be associated with the Left during the [[Red Scare]] led the Church to change its tune, hence the current association of Utah Mormonism with the political Right in general and the Republican Party in particular.

In the early decades of the Church, converts from outside Utah were encouraged to move there to help build up the church and avoid persecution. This migration continued into the twentieth century, but eventually it slowed, until the Utah membership and, by the late 1990s, the whole USA membership, was in the minority.

Being that the church is well established in the United States and all over the world as well as being in a very visual position with the missionary Elders, thereThere have been plenty of references to the church and its members in all forms of media. A near-guaranteed joke to Mormons will be had if there is any mention of a man having multiple wives, which has already been well discussed on this page.

The church has put out many different movies in an effort to help broaden understanding of church doctrine, history, and scriptures. Many are meant to be used within the Church Education System, but others are designed for non-members and shown in various visitor centers or offered for [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist download]. These videos cover both LDS-specific beliefs, such as Eternal Families, and universal Christian beliefs such as the Atonement of Christ.

There has been a slowly growing industry of [[Mormon Cinema|Mormon filmmakers]] who are producing movies that are unabashedly made for the LDS culture. They are not directly connected to the church, and individual quality and subject matter varies widely from film to film as well as the ability to connect to viewers not familiar with that culture. For more information on that, see [[Mormon Cinema]].