Early Life And Education
Russell M. Nelson was born on September 9, 1924, in , to Floss Edna and Marion Clavar Nelson . He had two sisters, Marjory E. and Enid , and a brother, Robert H. . Nelson’s father was a reporter for the and later became general manager of Gillham Advertising, Utah’s earliest . His parents were not active in the Latter-day Saint faith while he was a youth, but they did send him to , and he was baptized a member of the LDS Church at age 16.
Nelson studied at in his mid-teens and worked as an assistant secretary at a bank. He graduated from high school at age 16 and enrolled at the , graduating in 1945 with a and membership. While at the University of Utah, he was a member of the Beta Epsilon chapter of and . Nelson then attended the , graduating with a degree in 1947 ranked first in his class. Nelson began his first year of medical school while still an undergraduate, and completed the four-year M.D. program in only three years.
After medical school, Nelson went to the for his . While at Minnesota, he was a member of surgeon ‘s pioneering research team developing the that in April 1951 supported the first human using . Nelson received a from Minnesota in 1954 for his research contributions.
How Mormons Live And Worship
Mormons tend to have large families, due to their beliefs. They strive for a clean, family-oriented lifestyle and participate in family councils, family and individual prayer, hard work, and wholesome recreational activities. Mormons worship on Sunday in Christian societies, but may meet on Friday in Moslem countries, and Saturday in Israel. They believe in keeping the Sabbath day holy and avoid shopping, recreating, or working on the Sabbath day.
Sunday meetings usually last for three hours, divided into three types of meetings. “Sacrament meeting” consists of taking the sacrament in remembrance of the Savior. Sermons are given mostly by lay members requested to speak before the congregation. The first Sunday of each month is usually “fast and testimony meeting,” wherein the saints spontaneously bear testimony to the truthfulness of the gospel and reality of God the Father and Jesus Christ.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints address each other as “brother” or “sister” and then usually append the last name . Additionally, those that hold specific leadership positions may be addressed by their title and then their last name . Some frequently-used titles are as follows:
The Church Was Persecuted For Their Religious Beliefs
LDS beliefs were often at odds with the established religions of the day. First in New York, then Ohio, and finally Missouri, citizens and local governments violently persecuted Mormons, primarily for their religious beliefs, but also because of perceptions that the church was directed in a dictatorial fashion and that some of its tenets were illegal.
In 1838, the governor of Missouri issued an order for them to be driven from the state or exterminated. They then settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, but within a few years once again faced violent persecution, which led to the death of Joseph Smith at the hands of a mob who stormed a prison where he was being held.
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Restoration Of The Church Of Jesus Christ
While Jesus Christ was on the earth, He established His Church. Following His death and the deaths of His Apostles, some of the precious truths He taught and His sacred authority were lost for a time.11 This time period is known as the Great Apostasy.
In the spring of 1820, a young man named Joseph Smith prayed to God with great concern for the salvation of his own soul and to know which church he should join. God and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph12 and began to prepare him to bring back the precious truths and the sacred authority that had been lost from the Church Jesus Christ formed while on the earth. Under the Lords direction, Joseph Smith organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 6, 1830.
Through the power of God, Joseph Smith translated an ancient record written by prophets who lived on the American continents and taught and testified of Jesus Christ.13 This ancient record is called the Book of Mormon and stands alongside the Bible as another testament that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind.
What Are The Core Tenets Of The Mormon Religion
- Read the comments of historians, scholars and Mormons on and .
- Read the comments of historians, scholars and Mormons on and the .
- Read the comments of historians, scholars and Mormons on .
Many of the central concepts of the Mormon religion are laid out in the Articles of Faith, a 13-point list of the Latter-day Saints’ most important beliefs.
These key elements of the faith include belief in God the Father, his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit belief in modern prophets and continuing revelation belief that through Christ’s atonement all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of Christ’s Gospel belief in the importance of repentance and baptism by immersion for the forgiveness of sins and belief in the right of all people to worship God as they please. The Articles of Faith also affirm a belief in the Bible as the word of God, insofar as it is correctly translated, and in the Book of Mormon as an equally important scriptural source.
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Adoption Of The Current Name
In the late 1830s, Smith founded a new headquarters in Far West, Missouri. At Far West on April 26, 1838, Smith recorded a revelation from God renaming the organization the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints”. The church was known by this name until after Smith’s death in 1844 occasionally the name would be written with a hyphen between the words “Latter” and “Day”.
After Smith’s death, competing Latter Day Saint denominations organized under the leadership of a number of successors. The largest of these, led by Brigham Young, continued using “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” until incorporation in 1851 by the legislature of the provisional State of Deseret, when the church standardized the spelling of its name as “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”, which included a hyphenated “Latter-day” and a British-style lower-case “d”. In January 1855, the legislature of Utah Territory re-enacted the charter which incorporated the church under this name.
In 1876, the LDS Church issued a new edition of the Doctrine and Covenants which contains the text of significant revelations received by Joseph Smith. In this new editionâthe first revision since before Smith’s deathâthe capitalization and hyphenation of the church’s name in the 1838 revelation to Smith was changed to reflect the name format the church had since adopted:
Mormon Involvement In National Politics
Mormons and the women’s suffrage movement
In 1870, the Utah Territory had become one of the first polities to grant women the right to voteâa right which the U.S. Congress revoked in 1887 as part of the Edmunds-Tucker Act.
As a result, a number of LDS women became active and vocal proponents of women’s rights. Of particular note was the LDS journalist and suffragist Emmeline Blanch Wells, editor of the Woman’s Exponent, a Utah feminist newspaper. Wells, who was both a feminist and a polygamist, wrote vocally in favor of a woman’s role in the political process and public discourse. National suffrage leaders, however, were somewhat perplexed by the seeming paradox between Utah’s progressive stand on women’s rights, and the church’s stand on polygamy.
In 1890, after the church officially renounced polygamy, U.S. suffrage leaders began to embrace Utah’s feminism more directly, and in 1891, Utah hosted the Rocky Mountain Suffrage Conference in Salt Lake City, attended by such national feminist leaders as Susan B. Anthony and Anna Howard Shaw. The Utah Woman Suffrage Association, which had been formed in 1889 as a branch of the American Woman Suffrage Association , was then successful in demanding that the constitution of the nascent state of Utah should enfranchise women. In 1896, Utah became the third state in the U.S. to grant women the right to vote.
Mormons and the debate over temperance and prohibition
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Being Mormon During A Mormon Moment
Many Mormons say that the way their religion is portrayed in television and movies hurts societys image of Mormons in general. Far fewer say their image is helped by the portrayal of Mormons in entertainment media.
But Mormons are less negative in their assessment of the news medias treatment of Mormonism. About half of those surveyed say that coverage of Mormons and Mormonism by American news organizations is generally fair, though a significant minority says news coverage of Mormonism is unfair.
The survey also finds that despite the large number of Mormons who feel that Mormons are misunderstood and discriminated against, the overwhelming majority are satisfied in their own lives and content with their communities. Nearly nine-in-ten Mormons say they are satisfied with the way things are going in their own life more than say the same among the general public . And 92% of Mormons rate their communities as excellent or good places to live. Mormons are more positive about their communities than is the public as a whole, among whom 81% rate their communities as excellent or good places to live. Community satisfaction is higher among Mormons who reside in the western part of the U.S. than among those living elsewhere, and it is especially high among Mormons who reside in Utah .
Criticism Of Joseph Smith
In the 1830s, the church was criticized for Smith’s handling of a banking failure in Kirtland, Ohio. After the Mormons migrated west, there was fear and suspicion about the LDS Church’s political and military power in Missouri, culminating in the 1838 Mormon War and the Mormon Extermination Order by Governor Lilburn Boggs. In the 1840s, criticism of the church included its theocratic aspirations in Nauvoo, Illinois. Criticism of the practice of plural marriage and other doctrines taught by Smith were published in the Nauvoo Expositor. Opposition led to a series of events culminating in the death of Smith and his brother while jailed in 1844.
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Why Is The Mormon Temple Central To The Faith What Happens In The Temple Why Can’t Non
The Mormon temple is considered an earthly point of contact with higher spheres of being. Mormons believe that God is present in the temple space. This makes it a sacred place set aside to learn things that allow individuals to progress toward becoming like God — the temple ordinances, especially celestial marriage, make “eternal progression toward Godhood” possible. The family unit is central to Mormonism, and the primary ritual function of the temple is to perform ceremonies that seal families together, thus allowing them to dwell together for eternity when they pass on to the celestial kingdom. The specific rituals supporting this function are — in which a husband, wife and children are officially bound together — and baptism for the dead — through which individuals who died without accepting the Latter-day Saints’ Gospel and no longer possess the physical body required for baptism are represented by living proxies, thereby granting them the opportunity to join their families in the celestial kingdom.
What Is The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter
FX’s true crime show Under the Banner of Heaven explores how religious fundamentalism led to the tragic deaths of 24-year-old Brenda Wright Lafferty and her 15-month-old daughter Erica.
The drama, which is based on Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction book of the same name, examines this case in light of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the LDS church or Mormon church.
It does so by recounting the faith’s founding and also how Mormon detective Jeb Pyre struggles with his beliefs while investigating the horrific 1984 murders.
Here is everything you need to know about the Christian faith and its origins.
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Romney Was Concerned His Mormon Faith Would Hurt His Politics
In the political arena, while seeking the Republican nomination for the presidency, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney became concerned that his Mormon identity might be hurting him in the polls. In an attempt to assuage the publics misgivings, in December 2007 he gave a speech that some commentators compared to one John F. Kennedy delivered in 1960 to address concerns about his Roman Catholicism. While acknowledging his faith, Romney argued that if elected, his oath to the U.S. Constitution, rather than his faith, would outline his paramount duty.
Although Romney did not win the Republican nomination in 2008, he did run in 2012, and very little of the campaign centered around his religion or that of his running-mate, Wisconsin representative Paul Ryan, who was a Roman Catholic. A Pew study shows that the percentage of white evangelicals who voted for Romney was almost identical to the percentage of Mormons who did so .
This article was originally published in 2009 and updated in 2017 and 2019. Dennis Miles is a reference and instruction librarian at Texas Wesleyan University.
Latter Day Saint Movement
The Latter Day Saint movement is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s.
Collectively, these churches have over 16 million members, although about 98% belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . The predominant theology of the churches in the movement is Mormonism, which sees itself as restoring the early Christian church with additional revelations.
A minority of Latter Day Saint adherents, such as members of Community of Christ, have been influenced by Protestant theology while maintaining certain distinctive beliefs and practices including continuing revelation, an open canon of scripture and building temples. Other groups include the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which supports lineal succession of leadership from Smith’s descendants, and the more controversial Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which defends the practice of polygamy.
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Mormonism Came Out Of A Movement From Joseph Smith
Reports indicate that at 14 years old, Joseph Smith was confused about religion and went to the woods to pray. In 1823, Joseph Smith said the angel Moroni visited him. The angel told him about an ancient record that detailed Gods work with the former inhabitants of America. Smith said he found those records and translated them into what would become the Book of Mormon. In 1830, he organized the first Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and became its first president. He is believed by the church to be a prophet.
He is credited with establishing thriving cities in Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri, and also with growing the church from just six members to some 26,000. He also helped organize the building of church temples. However, he was persecuted by those who opposed him and was killed by a mob in 1844.
Mormonism Is The Core Theology Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter
Mormonism is the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Members of the church are often called Mormons. The term was originally considered derogatory, but today it is considered acceptable. However, the LDS church has explained that the word Mormon is sometimes used to describe other splinter groups that are not affiliated with the Church of Latter-day Saints, such as polygamist groups.
Mormonism is marked by several saving ordinances, or what other religions may call sacraments. These ordinances include baptism by immersion, confirmation, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, an endowment in the temples, and marriage.
Ordinances and covenants help us remember who we are, the LDS church says on its official site. They remind us of our duty to God. The Lord has provided them to help us come unto Him and receive eternal life. When we honor them, He strengthens us.
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Duties And Expectations Of Church Members
For members of the church, the greatest commandment is to love God with all their heart and the second is to love others as they love themselves. All other commandments are considered appendages to these great commandments /Matthew#22:37-40″ rel=”nofollow”> Matt 22:37-40). Members are encouraged to pray several times a day, to perform good works, and to read scriptures daily.
Members are expected to donate their time, money, and talents to the church, and those who have participated in the endowment ceremony make an oath to donate all that they have, if required of them, to the Lord. To be in good standing and to enter the church’s temples, church members are asked to tithe their income to the church, which is officially interpreted as 10 percent of annual income. In addition, members are invited to donate monthly charitable “fast offerings” , which are used to help the poor and needy in the community members are also encouraged to make other humanitarian donations through the church.
Church members are permitted to think or believe freely on any issue, but are discouraged from publicly criticizing local leaders or general authorities repeated public criticism of the church or its leaders may subject a person to church discipline for apostasy. The church maintains a Strengthening Church Members Committee which monitors members’ publications and refers critical material to local authorities for possible disciplinary action.