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

The Church At A Glance

The Goal: A Story of Faith, Friendship and Forgiveness

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What The Church Has Actually Said About Cremation

Editors note: This article was updated Nov. 2021 to include guidelines from the latest Church handbook. It is part of a series on what the Church has actually taught about various topics. To read more about the Churchs teachings on green tea, garments, beards, and more, click here.

Cremation is now more common in the U.S. than burial, and its popularity is expected to continue to rise, the Deseret News has reported. But what is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints position on cremation?

If youre looking for the most cut-and-dried answer, consulting the Church handbook is likely the best place to start. It states:

The family of the deceased person decides whether his or her body should be buried or cremated. They respect the desires of the individual. In some countries, the law requires cremation. In other cases, burial is not practical or affordable for the family. In all cases, the body should be treated with respect and reverence. Members should be reassured that the power of the Resurrection always applies .

While there have been several articles in Church magazines over the years regarding cremation, the Church has been fairly quiet on the issue since 1991 when an associate professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University, Roger R. Keller, wrote an article about Latter-day Saints and the practice of cremation.

Other Historical Documents Of Local Church Units

The Historical DepartmentArchive Search Room also has the following types of historical records:

Minute Books from 1837 to 1977. You will find minutes of priesthood quorums, Relief Societies, other auxiliary organizations, and general ward and stake minutes. The minutes may provide dates of blessings, baptisms, confirmations, and ordinations that you will not be able to find elsewhere.

Quarterly Reports of branches, wards, stakes, and missions. These reports provide the names of the leaders in the various organizations. Stake and mission reports are available to the present. The ward and branch reports are available between 1956 and 1983.

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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.

Chapel And Temple Services

As Latter

Weekly worship services, including sacrament meetings, are held on Sundays, in meeting houses, also referred to as “chapels” or “stake centers.” All people, regardless of belief or standing in the church are welcome to attend. The Sacrament, similar to Communion or the Eucharist in other churchesconsecrated bread and water in remembrance of the body and blood of Christis offered weekly.

The primary Sunday service is sacrament meeting and attended by the combined congregation. The foremost purpose of sacrament meeting is the blessing and passing of the Sacrament to members of the church. After the Sacrament, the service usually consists of two or three “talks” prepared and delivered by members of the congregation. Once a month however, usually on the first Sunday, instead of prepared talks, members are invited to bear their testimonies about gospel principles. Hymns are sung throughout the service.

During the other two segments, the congregation divides into smaller groups based on age and/or gender. The church publishes manuals for each type of class, usually including a teacher’s manual as well as a student booklet for youth and adult classes.

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Views On Historical Authenticity

Mainstream archaeological, historical, and scientific communities do not consider the Book of Mormon an ancient record of actual historical events. Principally, the content of the Book of Mormon does not correlate with archaeological, paleontological, and historical evidence about the past of the Americas. For example, there is no correlation between locations described in the Book of Mormon and known American archaeological sites. There is also no evidence in Mesoamerican societies of cultural influence from anything described in the Book of Mormon. Additionally, the Book of Mormon’s narrative refers to the presence of animals, plants, metals, and technologies of which archaeological and scientific studies have found little or no evidence in post-, America. Such anachronistic references include crops such as barley, wheat, and silk livestock like sheep and horses and metals and technology such as brass, steel, the wheel, and chariots.

Despite the popularity and influence of literature promoting Book of Mormon historicity among Latter-day Saint views, not all Mormons who affirm Book of Mormon historicity are universally persuaded by apologetic work, and some claim historicity more modestly, such as ‘s statement that “I read the Book of Mormon as informed Christians read the Bible. As I read, I know the arguments against the book’s historicity, but I can’t help feeling that the words are true and the events happened. I believe it in the face of many questions.”

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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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.

Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter

A Sacred House of the Lord | Washington D.C. Temple

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the “LDS Church” or the “Mormon Church,” is the largest and most well-known denomination within the Latter Day Saint’s movement. Founded in the United States by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1830, the Latter-day Saints regard Christ as the head of their church and count themselves as Christians, but do not consider themselves part of the Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant traditions.

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Why Do You Baptize For The Dead

Jesus Christ taught that except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God . For those who have passed on without the ordinance of baptism, proxy baptism for the deceased is a free-will offering. According to Church doctrine, a departed soul in the afterlife is completely free to accept or reject such a baptismthe offering is freely given and must be freely received. The ordinance does not force deceased persons to become members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, nor does the Church list deceased persons as members of the Church. In short, there is no change in the religion or heritage of the recipient or of the recipients descendantsthe notion of coerced conversion is utterly contrary to Church doctrine.

Proxy baptism for the deceased is nothing new. It was mentioned by Paul in the New Testament and was practiced by groups of early Christians. As part of a restoration of New Testament Christianity, Latter-day Saints continue this practice. All Church members are instructed to submit names for proxy baptism only for their own deceased relatives as an offering of familial love.

Read more on this subject here

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.

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Why Is Family Life So Central To Latter

  • about genealogy and the Mormon archives.

Mormons believe that the family is an eternal unit and central to God’s plan. In fact, eternal progression toward Godhood is limited to those who marry for time and eternity in a ceremony conducted by a properly ordained member of the LDS priesthood in a Mormon temple. Church President Hinckley has also stressed the importance of the family during mortal life, saying, “If you want to reform a nation, you begin with families, with parents who teach their children principles and values that are positive and affirmative and will lead them to worthwhile endeavors. That is the basic failure that has taken place in America. And we are making a tremendous effort to bring about greater solidarity in families. Parents have no greater responsibility in this world than the bringing up of their children in the right way, and they will have no greater satisfaction as the years pass than to see those children grow in integrity and honesty and make something of their lives, adding to society because they are a part of it.” To strengthen families, many Mormons observe “family home evening.” This is one night a week — generally Monday — that a family spends together praying, learning about scripture, sharing things from their lives, and playing games or engaging in other fun at-home activities.

Events At The Organization

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Payson Temple  Spectrum ...

By later accounts, the April 6 organizational meeting was a charismatic event, in which members of the congregation had visions, prophesied, spoke in tongues, ecstatically shouted praises to the Lord, and fainted. At this meeting, the church formally ordained a lay ministry, with the priesthood offices of deacon, teacher, priest, and elder. Smith and Cowdery, according to their 1831 account, were each ordained as “an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of the church”. This account was edited in 1835 to state that Smith was ordained the “First Elder”, and Oliver Cowdery was ordained the “Second Elder”.

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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.

Location Of The Organization

Prior to 1834, all church publications and documents stated that the church was organized in the Smith log home in Manchester, New York. The first Smith log home was located on the Samuel Jennings property in Palmyra, just north of the town’s southern border and subsequent the Smith Manchester property. The Smiths may have constructed a second log home on their own property. Beginning in 1834, several church publications began to give the location of the organizational meeting as Fayette, at the home of Peter Whitmer Sr. The Whitmer home had been the site of many other meetings near the same time period. After 1834, several official church accounts said the meeting was in Manchester and several eyewitnesses said the event took place in Manchester.

Independent researcher H. Michael Marquardt argues that the evidence suggests the organization occurred in Manchester, and that the confusion was likely due to the effect of memory tending to conflate memories of several meetings in Manchester and Fayette years earlier. Critics suggest that the location of the organization was intentionally changed in 1834 around the same time the church’s name was changed to the “Church of the Latter Day Saints”, in order to make it seem like the new church organization was different from the “Church of Christ”, as a tactic to frustrate the church’s creditors and avoid payment of debts.

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The Gift Of The Holy Ghost

All honest seekers of the truth can feel the influence of the Holy Ghost, leading them to Jesus Christ and His gospel. However, the fulness of the blessings given through the Holy Ghost are available only to those who receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and remain worthy.

After a person is baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one or more Melchizedek Priesthood holders lay their hands on the personâs head and, in a sacred priesthood ordinance, confirm him or her a member of the Church. As part of this ordinance, called confirmation, the person is given the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The gift of the Holy Ghost is different from the influence of the Holy Ghost. Before baptism, a person can feel the influence of the Holy Ghost from time to time and through that influence can receive a testimony of the truth. After receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, a person has the right to the constant companionship of that member of the Godhead if he or she keeps the commandments.

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Continuing And Perfecting The Pattern

What Is The Book of Mormon? | Now You Know

During Jesus Christs mortal ministryas well as during His visit to the ancient Americas after His ResurrectionHe established His Church. It was called the Church of Jesus Christ , and the members were called Saints . Like the prophets who had preceded Him and testified of Him, Jesus received His instructions and His authority from God, our Heavenly Father .

During Jesus Christs mortal ministry and after His Resurrection, He established His Church.

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What Are Some Of The Rituals Of The Faith What Are The Restrictions And Prohibitions

  • Read the comments of historians, scholars and Mormons on .

The rituals of the Mormon faith include ceremonies performed in the temple — endowment, baptism of the dead, celestial marriage and family sealings — plus several ceremonies that take place in Mormon chapels. The naming and blessing of infants — performed by a priesthood holder, often the baby’s father — takes place in the chapel. Baptisms are held in the chapels when Mormon children turn 8 years old or when an adult converts to the faith. Family and friends generally attend both of these rituals. The Latter-day Saints also have a practice of annointing and blessing the sick if an ill individual so desires.

Like other Christians, Mormons celebrate Christmas and Easter as their two most important religious holidays. The Latter-day Saints also observe Pioneer Day on July 24, marking the date the first Mormon pioneers arrived in Utah’s Salt Lake Valley in 1847. It is around the time of this holiday that the church presents its elaborate history pageant at the Hill Cumorah in Palmyra, N.Y., where Joseph Smith found the golden plates.

Mormons are advised not to get tattoos and to limit body piercings to a single pair of plain earrings for women. They also follow a general dress code that teaches that modest dress not only shows respect for one’s own body and for God, but also has a positive effect on spirituality and behavior.

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