Is The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints Mormon

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.

Are Mormons And Latter

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From time to time Mormons are asked to clarify what the correct name of their church is, and how to appropriately refer to a member of their religion.

‘Mormon Helping Hands’ Participate in’ Project Twin Streams’

The correct name of the church to which Mormons belong is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

While most members of the Church do not mind being called “Mormons,” a more formal way to refer to a person who belongs to the faith is “a Latter-day Saint,” or “a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

The nickname “Mormon” came about because of one of the Church’s sacred texts, “The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”

Book of Mormon

Latter-day Saints look to The Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price as scripture.

On some occasions media professionals and others refer to “The Mormon Church,” or “The Church of Latter-day Saints,” or “The LDS Church.”

While these names are not offensive to members of the Church, it is appreciated when the full and correct name of the Church is used. This is because Latter-day Saints are devoted followers of Jesus Christ and having His name included in the name of the Church is important to them.

Read more about media style for journalists reporting on the Church or any of its members.

Watch a video of Latter-day Saint leader, Elder M. Russell Ballard, talking about the significance of the name of the Church.

Finding Aids For Latter

The Studies in Mormon History Database includes citations to articles, books, theses, and Ph.D. dissertations dealing with the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, written from the time of its inception in 1830 to the present. It is intended to be comprehensive. It includes citations to over 2,000 Latter-day Saint biographies and 800 published Latter-day Saint diaries. The diary entries have abstracts describing dates of coverage and a summary of the contents. There are some links to full-text items.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a religious sect of the fundamentalist Mormon denominations whose members practice polygamy. The fundamentalist Mormon movement emerged in the early 20th century, when its founding members were excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , largely because of their refusal to abandon the practice of plural marriage after it was renounced in the Second Manifesto . The FLDS Church as a distinct group traces its origins to the 1950s in the Short Creek community , where the group is still based.

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The Book Of Mormon Is The Second Sacred Text Of Mormons

Next to the bible, the LDS church believes in the Book of Mormon. Mormon prophets who lived from 600 BC to AD 400 wrote the book. As we touched on above, the Prophet Joseph Smith translated the ancient book by what he called a revelation from God.

It has since been translated into more than 80 languages and more than 150 million copies have been printed. According to the book, Christ established his church in the Old World, or ancient America. People lived in unity for nearly 200 years after Jesus. Later, people abandoned Christs teachings and a war of extermination occurred.

The book refers to Jesus almost 4,000 times. The LDS church calls it another testament of Jesus Christ.

About The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter

Attending church each Sunday is a respite from fast-paced daily living. Attend church at 507 Mulberry Street to reflect, worship God, strengthen your spiritual connections, and focus on Jesus. Worship with a community of people who are trying to be more Christlike and learn from each other. There are two meetings in a two hour time. The main meeting is called sacrament meeting. This meeting consists of songs, prayers, and sermons given by different members of the congregation and take the sacrament . In addition to sacrament meeting, there are a variety of other classes for both children and adults. Theres something for everyone from 18 months old and up! Each meet together for a lesson and discussion that are based on a different section of scripture each week.

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Joseph Smith And The Early Church

Polygamy is perhaps the most controversial early LDS practice, and was a key contributing factor for Smith’s murder. Under heavy pressure Utah would not be accepted as a state if polygamy was practiced the church formally and publicly renounced the practice in 1890. Utah’s statehood soon followed. However, plural marriage remains a divisive issue, as despite the official renunciation of 1890, it still has sympathizers, defenders, and semi-secret practitioners.

Sarah Pratt, first wife of Mormon ApostleOrson Pratt, in an outspoken critique of Mormon polygamy, said that polygamy:

completely demoralizes good men and makes bad men correspondingly worse. As for the womenwell, God help them! First wives it renders desperate, or else heart-broken, mean-spirited creatures.

Pratt ended her marriage to husband Orson Pratt in 1868 because of his “obsession with marrying younger women” . Sarah Pratt lashed out at Orson in an 1877 interview, stating:

Here was my husband, gray headed, taking to his bed young girls in mockery of marriage. Of course there could be no joy for him in such an intercourse except for the indulgence of his fanaticism and of something else, perhaps, which I hesitate to mention.

However, Bushman notes that evidence of sexual relations between Smith and any wives of his followers is sparse or unreliable. Compton argues that some marriages were likely dynastic in nature, to link families.

Are Mormons And Latter Day Saints The Same

• Copied to Clipboard

From time to time Mormons are asked to clarify what the correct name of their church is, and how to appropriately refer to a member of their religion.

Mormon Helping Hands Participate in Project Twin Streams

The correct name of the church to which Mormons belong is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

While most members of the Church do not mind being called Mormons, a more formal way to refer to a person who belongs to the faith is a Latter-day Saint, or a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The nickname Mormon came about because of one of the Churchs sacred texts, The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

Book of Mormon

Latter-day Saints look to The Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price as scripture.

On some occasions media professionals and others refer to The Mormon Church, or The Church of Latter-day Saints, or The LDS Church.

While these names are not offensive to members of the Church, it is appreciated when the full and correct name of the Church is used. This is because Latter-day Saints are devoted followers of Jesus Christ and having His name included in the name of the Church is important to them.

Read more about media style for journalists reporting on the Church or any of its members.

Watch a video of Latter-day Saint leader, Elder M. Russell Ballard, talking about the significance of the name of the Church.

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Why Is Mormonism Sometimes Described As A Secretive Religion

The most common and visible target for charges of suspicious secrecy in the Mormon religion are the temples. After dedication, these buildings are closed to the public and church members do not talk openly about the rituals that take place within. The church holds that the temple and its rituals are sacred and therefore private, not secret. They maintain that early Christianity featured similar special practices and bodies of knowledge that were kept quiet to preserve their sacred nature.

Church finances are also kept confidential, provoking criticism that there is no way for church members or outsiders to know where money from tithing and other revenue goes. And the church has also been questioned about the secrecy surrounding their defense of doctrine. Latter-day Saints can face excommunication if, after being warned, they continue to publicly discuss problematic or provocative elements of Mormon theology that the church chooses not to draw attention to. Because disciplinary councils that can lead to excommunication are always private, the process of gathering information and the closed meetings that consider the fate of a disciplined member add to the perception of Mormon secrecy.

Jesus Wasnt A Teetotaler

The ancient Jews were a temperate peopletemperate used in the right sense. They used light wine as part of the regular diet . Jesus, you will recall, was called a wine-drinker , the charge being not that he drank, but that he drank too much .

The New Testament nowhere says the Jews claimed Jesus should have been a teetotaler. Wine was used also at weddings, and our Lord clearly approved of the practice of wine drinking, since he made wine from water when the wine was depleted at Cana .

Something Mormons seldom refer to is wines medicinal uses . You will recall that Paul advised Timothy to take wine to ease stomach pains . Such apostolic admonitions coexist uneasily with Mormonisms strictures against wine.

Mormons practice tithing, yet would be shocked to learn that in a key Old Testament passage where tithing is discussed, God says: you shall turn into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses, and spend the money for whatever you desire, oxen, or sheep, or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves and you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household . Were also told, Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress let them drink and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more .

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Religious Authority And Ritual

Smith’s teachings were rooted in . He taught that the restored through him was a of the early Christian faith, which had been lost in the . At first, Smith’s church had little sense of hierarchy his religious authority was derived from visions and revelations. Though Smith did not claim exclusive prophethood, an early revelation designated him as the only prophet allowed to issue commandments “as Moses”. This religious authority encompassed economic and political as well as spiritual matters. For instance, in the early 1830s, he temporarily instituted a form of , called the , that required Latter Day Saints to give to the church all their property, to be divided among the faithful. He also envisioned that the theocratic institutions he established would have a role in the worldwide political organization of the Millennium.

Smith taught that the High Priesthood’s endowment of heavenly power included the powers of , allowing High Priests to effect binding consequences in the afterlife. For example, this power would enable proxy baptisms for the dead and that would be effective into the afterlife. Elijah’s sealing powers also enabled the , or “fulness of the priesthood”, which, according to Smith, sealed married couples to their .

Social Events And Gatherings

Additional meetings are also held at the meetinghouse. Church officers may conduct leadership meetings or host training sessions and classes. The ward or branch community may schedule social activities at the meetinghouse, including dances, dinners, holiday parties and musical presentations. The church’s Young Men and Young Women organizations meet at the meetinghouse once a week, where the youth participate in activities. At the start of 2020, the church implemented a new initiative for children and youth worldwide, which replaced all other church youth programs.

In LDS theology, a temple is considered to be a holy building, dedicated as a “House of the Lord” and held as more sacred than a typical meetinghouse or chapel. In temples, church members participate in ceremonies that are considered the most sacred in the church, including marriage, and an endowment ceremony that includes a washing and anointing, receiving a temple garment, and making covenants with God. Baptisms for the dead are performed in the temples as well.

In order to perform ordinances in temples on behalf of deceased family members, the church emphasizes genealogical research, and encourages its lay members to participate in genealogy.It operates FamilySearch, the largest genealogical organization in the world.

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What Do Followers Believe

The church follows 13 articles of faith, the first of which states that members believe in God the Father, his son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. However, the church is non-Trinitarian: they are understood as three separate beings.

Salvation or individual exaltation requires repentance of ones own sins , baptism through immersion, confirmation and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, through the laying on of hands.

Members believe in three realms of existence: the premortal, mortal, and postmortal world. Souls move from the premortal, through mortal existence, into the spirit world, then to a resurrected state. Hence they live with God before and after their time on earth life is an intermediate stage of trial and improvement. The postmortal world is comprised of three kingdoms of glory: celestial, terrestrial, and telestial.

Exaltation, or eternal life, is salvation in the Celestial Kingdom. This is a doctrine of human theosis humans can become as God, if they choose to fulfil Gods plan.

Gods plan is seen as working through the family unit. Human beings, in marriage, partner with God to provide a mortal experience for Gods children. This is why members tend to have larger-than-average families.

The spirit world is believed to have a physical existence: families live together for ever there, so long as their relationships were sealed in the temple .

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.

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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.

Episcopal Government In Other Denominations

The and the in may sometimes be called episcopal. In these latter cases, the form of government is not radically different from the form, except that their councils of bishops have hierarchical over the local ruling bodies to a greater extent than in most and other . As mentioned, the Lutheran Church in Sweden and Finland are exceptions, claiming apostolic succession in a pattern somewhat like the Anglican churches. Otherwise, forms of polity are not mandated in the Lutheran churches, as it is not regarded as having doctrinal significance. Lutheranism, for historical reasons, has tended to adopt theories of episcopal authority . In the United States, the Lutheran churches tend to adopt a form of government more comparable to . A small minority of exists.

Most churches of the tradition follow an episcopal system, at least in name. Congregational governance is strongly emphasized, and each congregation elects its pastor. Bishops enforce inter-congregational unity and may discipline pastors for breaking from traditional norms.

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