Latter Day Saints

During the weekend I involve myself with certain aspects of North American culture. I devoted this evening to the Mormon church. All of the red text comes from either lds.org or utlm.org if you are interested in checking the validity of my sources. UTLM is slanted against Mormonism, but if you compare with LDS you will see there are no discrepancies. (Only a few low-blows :) )

Such things as this perplex me:

The official name of the Mormon Church today is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith founded it at the age of 24, in the state of New York on April 6, 1830. It was originally named the Church of Christ, and then in 1834 the name was changed to the Church of the Latter Day Saints. In 1838 it received its current name (Doctrine and Covenants, Sec.115:4).

I would be concerned that a man of the age of 24 founded a church were this not the early 19th century.

To check the validity of this I went to josephsmith.net. Regrettably, I was proved wrong. He was actually 14 when this occurred.

On a spring day in 1820 14-year-old Joseph Smith sought solitude in a grove of trees and prayed to know which church was true. God the Father and Jesus Christ, "two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description," appeared and spoke with him.

.....

Joseph Smith proclaimed that God Himself had designated the LDS Church as "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth" (Doc. & Cov. Sec. 1:30).

How many other churches claim this? *sigh*

The LDS Church claims to have the only true priesthood that is required to act in the name of God. A Prophet/President and his two counselors govern the church. Under them are twelve apostles and a group of men called the Seventies. These are the highest offices in their church.

They have four books of scriptures: the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price

...was Steinbeck Mormon?

The LDS Church claims to be the "only true church" and the only church with the authority to act in God's name. They do not accept any other church's baptisms. According to their teachings, their baptism is the only one recognized by the Lord. This belief, coupled with their belief in the need for a Mormon temple marriage to gain eternal life, compels them to take their message to the world.

Attempted drowning in any building should have the same effect, right? Is the "Lord" so blind that he cannot understand that the intent is all that matters and not the venue/denomination?

What if a Mormon couple wants to get married outside in a pretty garden or if the temple is being fumigated?

This is a pretty interesting tidbit concerning Mormonism in France:

After World War II, as reconstruction had begun and Church humanitarian relief efforts had been mobilized, missionaries were once more sent into France and membership began to increase. In 1955, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir made its historic tour of Europe, performing in the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. At the time, Church membership in the nation was only about 1,500. France's first meetinghouse was completed in Nantes in 1962. By 1974, 29 French members were serving as missionaries for the Church.

Nobody has come to my door, regrettably. Trying to be converted to Mormonism by a French person would be an excellent opportunity to work on my communication skills.

Another problem is I have been told that Mormons are essentially just a different kind of Christian. Correct me if I am wrong, but this seems a little off:

No, the Mormon Church does not claim to be Protestant. It claims to be a divine restoration of Christ's true church. It therefore rejects the validity of any other church. Its basic beliefs place it outside the standard doctrines of Christianity. Mormonism teaches that the God to whom they pray is but one of a whole series of gods who at one time were mortal then progressed to godhood. The LDS Church teaches that their Heavenly Father was once born as a spirit child of a god and wife who ruled a different world. After maturing as a spirit being he was sent to another world where he was born as a human. There he grew to maturity, married, died, was resurrected, went to heaven, progressed and eventually became the God of our world. He and his resurrected wife continue to have spirit children born to them in their heavenly realm. The Mormon man, accompanied by his wife, who is faithful to his religion, pays his tithe, attends the LDS temple rituals, etc. is hoping to eventually progress to become a god of another world, just like his Heavenly Father did.

This means a few things:

• There is life on other planets. Mormon men who were good boys have their own little planet to take care of (or neglect).
  
• God's mortal life must have been pretty boring. He hit puberty, got married, and died.
• God gets it on in heaven.
• Women apparently don't get to be Gods.

The Doctrine and Covenants contains 138 sections and two Official Declarations. The first 135 sections contain Joseph Smith's revelations from 1823 to 1844, section 136 is a revelation by President Brigham Young in 1847, section 138 is one by President Joseph F. Smith in 1918. Declaration No. 1 is dated 1890 and is referred to as "The Manifesto" which declared an end to the practice of polygamy. Declaration No. 2 is dated 1978 and declared that "all worthy male members" could now hold the priesthood and participate in the temple ceremonies. This ended the LDS Church priesthood ban on Negroes.

• Joseph Smith was not a very fast thinker. I am pretty sure that most human beings who wanted to concoct a religion and write its corresponding scripture could do so within a matter of months.
• It took the Mormons until 1978 to feel that blacks could hold the priesthood and participate in temple ceremonies? LBJ missed a spot.

The eighth LDS Article of Faith states: "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly." The Mormons believe the Bible has gone through repeated editing that has changed the meaning of the text. Thus they are skeptical of any translation of the Bible. However, they view the King James Version as the least corrupt of the versions available today. They print their own Bible (King James Version) with additional LDS footnotes, dictionary and topical guide. These cross reference to their other books of scripture and provide LDS explanations.


If Mormons can believe that Mr. Smith is capable of translating ANYTHING, how can they scoff at reasonable modern-day translations?

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I don't know. I have to stop here. I unfortunately don't have the time to devote to understand this religion. It is most likely that I am incapable of comprehending this faith.

If you are a Mormon individual, please enlighten me...if you can.