Restorationism And Prophetic Leadership
The LDS Church teaches that, subsequent to the death of Jesus and his original apostles, his church, along with the authority to act in Jesus Christ’s name and the church’s attendant spiritual gifts, were lost, due to a combination of external persecutions and internal heresies. The restorationas represented by the church began by Joseph Smithrefers to a return of the authentic priesthood power, spiritual gifts, ordinances, living prophets and revelation of the primitive Church of Christ. This restoration is associated with a number of events which are understood to have been necessary to re-establish the early Christian church found in the New Testament, and to prepare the earth for the Second Coming of Jesus. In particular, Latter-day Saints believe that angels appeared to Joseph Smith and a limited number of his associates, and bestowed various priesthood authorities on them.
Migration To Utah And Colonization Of The West
Under the leadership of Brigham Young, Church leaders planned to leave Nauvoo, Illinois in April 1846, but amid threats from the state militia, they were forced to cross the Mississippi River in the cold of February. They eventually left the boundaries of the United States to what is now Utah where they founded Salt Lake City.
The groups that left Illinois for Utah became known as the Mormon pioneers and forged a path to Salt Lake City known as the Mormon Trail. The arrival of the original Mormon Pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, is commemorated by the Utah State holidayPioneer Day.
Groups of converts from the United States, Canada, Europe, and elsewhere were encouraged to gather to Utah in the decades following. Both the original Mormon migration and subsequent convert migrations resulted in much sacrifice and quite a number of deaths. Brigham Young organized a great colonization of the American West, with Mormon settlements extending from Canada to Mexico. Notable cities that sprang from early Mormon settlements include San Bernardino, California, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Mesa, Arizona.
Church Monitors Members’ Critical Publications
Richard Abanes and the Ostlings criticize the LDS Church for maintaining a group called the Strengthening Church Members Committee, led by two church apostles. According to the Ostlings, the purpose of this committee is to collect and file “letters to the editor, other writings, quotes in the media, and public activities” of church members that may be publishing views contrary to those of the church leadership. The committee has also recruited students to spy on professors at Brigham Young University who are suspected of violating the church’s dictates.
The Tanners state that throughout the 20th century the church denied scholars access to many key church documents, and in 1979 said that it had refused to publish Joseph Smith’s diary. Apologists point out that The Joseph Smith Papers project provides access to Smith’s journals.
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Polygamy Officially Discontinued In 1890
The Tanners argue that the church’s 1890 reversal of its policy on polygamy was done for political reasons, citing the fact that the change was made during the church’s lengthy conflict with the federal government over property seizures and statehood. The Ostlings say that, soon after the church received the revelation that polygamy was prohibited, Utah again applied for statehood. This time the federal government did not object to starting the statehood process. Six years later, the process was completed and Utah was admitted as a state in 1896. The Ostlings note that soon after the church suspended the practice of polygamy, the federal government reduced its legal efforts to seize church property. Despite this, Mormon leaders after 1890 continued to sanction and participate in plural marriages in secret, in smaller numbers, both in the U.S. and in Mexico, for the next several decades.
Mormons Ron Wood and Linda Thatcher do not dispute that the change was a result of federal intervention and say that the church had no choice in the matter. The 1887 EdmundsTucker Act was crippling the church and “something dramatic had to be done to reverse trend.” After the church appealed its case to the U.S. Supreme Court and lost, church president Wilford Woodruff issued the 1890 Manifesto. Woodruff noted in his journal that he was “acting for the temporal salvation of the Church”.
Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter
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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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.
Brigham Young’s Early Theocratic Leadership
Following the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young stated that the Church should be led by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles #Conference_of_August_8,_1844″ rel=”nofollow”> Succession Crisis). Later, after the migration to Utah had begun, Brigham Young was sustained as a member of the First Presidency on December 25, 1847, , and then as President of the Church on October 8, 1848. .
One of the reasons the Saints had chosen the Great Basin as a settling place was that the area was at the time outside the territorial borders of the United States, which Young had blamed for failing to protect Mormons from political opposition from the states of Missouri and Illinois. However, in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico ceded the area to the United States. As a result, Brigham Young sent emissaries to Washington, D.C. with a proposal to create a vast State of Deseret, of which Young would naturally be the first governor. Instead, Congress created the much smaller Utah Territory in 1850, and Young was appointed governor in 1851. Because of his religious position, Young exercised much more practical control over the affairs of Mormon and non-Mormon settlers than a typical territorial governor of the time.
For most of the 19th century, the LDS Church maintained an ecclesiastical court system parallel to federal courts, and required Mormons to use the system exclusively for civil matters, or face church discipline.
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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
The Plan Of Salvation
The term Plan of Salvation is used to describe how the gospel of Jesus Christ is designed to bring about the immortality and eternal life of humankind. It includes the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement, along with all God-given laws, ordinances, and doctrines. Members believe that after this life is the Resurrection and Judgment.
The gift of immortality is also believed to be freely given to all because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and his subsequent Resurrection, although salvation from sin is conditional. Entrance to the highest Heavenly Kingdom, the “Celestial Kingdom,” is only granted to those who accept Jesus through baptism into the church by its priesthood authority, follow Church doctrine, and live righteous lives. Faith alone, or faith without works is not considered sufficient to attain exaltation.
Kingdoms
According to the Church, the Celestial Kingdom is where the righteous will live with God and their families. This kingdom includes multiple degrees of glory, the highest of which is exaltation. Those who have had the ordinances of eternal marriage, which is performed in temples, and baptism may be exalted if they are found worthy by God. Accountable individuals must be baptized and repent to gain entrance to the Celestial Kingdom Latter-day Saints profess that all children who die before the age of accountability automatically inherit a celestial glory.
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Historical Names Of The Church
The LDS Church traces its founding to April 6, 1830, when Smith and five other men formally established the Church of Christ. The church was known by this name from 1830 to 1834.
In the 1830s, the fact that a number of U.S. churches, including some Congregational churches and Restoration Movement churches, also used the name “Church of Christ” caused a considerable degree of confusion. In May 1834, the church adopted a resolution that the church would be known thereafter as “The Church of the Latter Day Saints”. At various times the church was also referred to as “The Church of Jesus Christ”, “The Church of God”, and “The Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints”.
Official Websites Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sponsors many websites for the benefit of Church members, news media, and others who are interested in learning more about the Church. You can tell if a site is from the Church because it will have the Church logo. Individuals and Church units are not authorized to use the logo on anything they create.
In an effort to reflect the full name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and better convey the faiths commitment to follow Jesus Christ, LDS.org, Mormon.org, and other Church communication channels have made changes to reflect the full name of the Church. In the letter titled, “Using the correct name of the Church,” the First Presidency wrote, “Jesus Christ is at the center of His Church and we will be blessed as we strive to make Him the center of our lives.”
The following are the websites owned and managed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often referred to as “the Mormon Church.”
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Utah War And Mountain Meadows Massacre
In 1857â1858, the church was involved in an armed conflict with the U.S. government, entitled the Utah War. The settlers and the United States government battled for hegemony over the culture and government of the territory. Tensions over the Utah War, the murder of Mormon apostle Parley P. Pratt in Arkansas, and threats of violence from the Baker-Fancher wagon train , resulted in rogue Mormon settlers in southern Utah massacring a wagon train from Arkansas, known as Mountain Meadows massacre. The result of the Utah War was the succeeding of the governorship of the Utah territory from Brigham Young to Alfred Cumming, an outsider appointed by President James Buchanan.
What Do Mormons Believe
As stemmed from the teachings of Joseph Smith, the Mormons, like Andrew Garfields Jeb Pyre in Under the Banner of Heaven, believe in the basic tenets of Christianity in terms of the testimony of prophets and apostles about Jesus Christ and that he died, rose on the third day, and ascended to heaven. As such, Mormons also believe in the principles related to Jesus Christ of salvation, atonement, and baptisms. However, the Mormons believe in modern prophets, and continuing revelations in that God continues to reveal divine principles, which means they have an open scriptural canon. Mormons also believe that the Book of Mormon is equally important to the Bible regarding scriptural sources.
One tenet that makes Mormons unique is their belief in the second coming of Jesus, as they believe Jesus will return to Earth in order to establish Zion, specifically on the American continent. The Mormon characters in Under the Banner of Heaven also believe that after one dies, their spirit moves to the spirit world to wait for resurrection, where they will be sent to one of three kingdoms of Heaven and reunited with their immortal bodies. Family life, missionaries, modest clothing, and abstaining from harmful substances like alcohol, coffee, and illegal drugs are also important to the religion.
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Brigham Young’s Later Years
The church had attempted unsuccessfully to institute the United Order numerous times, most recently during the Mormon Reformation. In 1874, Young once again attempted to establish a permanent Order, which he now called the “United Order of Enoch” in at least 200 Mormon communities, beginning in St. George, Utah on February 9, 1874.In Young’s Order, producers would generally deed their property to the Order, and all members of the order would share the cooperative’s net income, often divided into shares according to how much property was originally contributed. Sometimes, the members of the Order would receive wages for their work on the communal property. Like the United Order established by Joseph Smith, Young’s Order was short-lived. By the time of Brigham Young’s death in 1877, most of these United Orders had failed. By the end of the 19th century, the Orders were essentially extinct.
Brigham Young died in August 1877. After the death of Brigham Young, the First Presidency was not reorganized until 1880, when Young was succeeded by President John Taylor, who in the interim had served as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Historical Authenticity Of The Book Of Mormon
Discussion regarding the historicity of the Book of Mormon often focuses on archaeological issues, some of which relate to the large size and the long time span of the civilizations mentioned in the book. Joseph Smith founded the movement in upstate New York in the 1820s. The faith drew its first converts while Smith was dictating the text of the Book of Mormon from golden plates which had reformed Egyptian writing on them which he said he found buried after being directed to their location by the Angel Moroni. The book described itself as a chronicle of early indigenous peoples of the Americas, known as the Nephites, portraying them as believing Israelites who had a belief in Christ many hundred years before his birth. According to the book, the Nephites are one of four groups which settled in the ancient Americas. The Nephites are described as a group of people that descended from or were associated with Nephi, the son of the prophet Lehi, who left Jerusalem at the urging of God c. 600 BC and traveled with his family to the Western Hemisphere, arriving in the Americas c. 589 BC. After the translation was complete, Smith said he returned the golden plates to the Angel Moroni.
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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.