Mormonism

LDS Standard Works

See also: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Mormonism is a religion, movement, ideology, and subculture that originated in the early 1800s as a product of the Latter Day Saint movement led principally by Joseph Smith, Jr. It is self-described as a form of Christian Restorationism, and it encompasses numerous religious denominations. Not easily categorized, Mormonism is generally understood as much more than a religion. The faith has been described at various times and in various contexts as "a sect, a mystery cult, a new religion, a church, a people, a nation, or an American subculture" (Ahlstrom 1972, p. 508).

Mormonism is distinct from the Latter Day Saint movement in that it applies to a subset of the branches of that movement. The term Mormonism is also often used to refer specifically to the theology and subculture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is the largest of many church organizations that claim to be part of Mormonism. Other prominent churches include the Community of Christ, which sometimes distances itself from the term Mormonism, and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Mormonism also includes numerous non-denominational adherents to the Latter Day Saint movement, and numerous cultural Mormons who are either non-religious or members of churches outside the Latter-day Saint movement.

Most people who associate themselves with Mormonism may be respectfully called Latter Day Saints (or the hyphenated Latter-day Saints in reference to the largest denomination). Other generally acceptable terms include LDS, Saints, and Mormons, although members of some sects (including a few of those belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) prefer not to be identified as Mormons. A small minority object to the terms Mormon and Mormonism, due to their early use as offensive slurs.

Mormonism as a theology

As a theology, Mormonism as a whole includes a highly diverse and eclectic cluster of religious beliefs. There is much in common with the Campbellite, Restorationist, and Universalist beliefs prevalent in the area where Joseph Smith was raised and where he began his ministry. Smith's theology was seen by contemporary Mormons as answering nearly all of the unresolved religious questions of his day.

The bedrock Mormon belief is the acceptance of modern prophecy. Joseph Smith and other early Mormon leaders taught that any person with a testimony of Christ is a prophet. Most modern members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that, although each individual may receive personal revelation to guide himself in his personal life, only certain people have been divinely appointed as prophets to authoritatively speak the mind and will of God, as in Biblical times. Central to this theology is the belief that Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, was such a prophet.

When asked in 1842 what members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believed, Joseph Smith wrote what is now known as the Articles of Faith. Though the Articles of Faith are not a complete representation of the beliefs of Mormonism, they do represent some fundamental beliefs of the faith. The Articles were intended to be a declaration of belief and not of practice, and as such they naturally fail to mention most Latter-day Saint ordinances, some of which are considered controversial by detractors of Mormonism.

Typical Mormon doctrines

Mormonism is based on belief in Jesus as the Messiah, in the Israelites as a covenant people, and in additional scripture such as the Book of Mormon; as a form of Restorationism, it professes a restoration to the earth of the original Church instituted by Christ himself and thought to have been lost in a Great Apostasy after the death of Christ. Consequently, it has had complex and uneasy relationships with both mainstream Christianity and mainstream Judaism, as discussed in Mormonism and Christianity and in Mormonism and Judaism.

Nature of God

The First Vision - God and Jesus Christ appear to the young boy Joseph Smith Jr. in 1820

1. Most modern members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe in a Godhead composed of God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. The Godhead is often described in scripture as one God (2 Nephi 31:21); however, the one Godhead is understood to be composed of three separate beings who are unified in purpose and heart (John 17:21-23). Two of the beings, God the Father and Jesus Christ, are understood to have tangible, perfected bodies of flesh and bone. The concept of the Godhead is distinguished from the concept of the Trinity as codified in 325 at the Council of Nicaea and in 381 at the Council of Constantinople.
2. The Community of Christ has rejected the concept of the Godhead in favor of Trinitarian theology.
3. Some modern Mormons believe in theosis and a plurality of Gods that pass through mortality to immortality and forever progress in knowledge and power, as taught by Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders.
4. Most Mormons agree that humans are children of a Father in Heaven, and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ they can return to Him and be joint-heirs with Christ of all that the Father has (Romans 8:17).

Jesus

1. Jesus Christ was the Only Begotten Son of God the Father.
2. Because of Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection, all mankind is saved from death and will rise again and receive a perfected physical body.
3. Furthermore, the Atonement satisfies the demands of justice; grace, forgiveness, and mercy (i.e. salvation) are extended to all who accept Christ as their personal Savior and become His life-long disciples.
4. A disciple of Christ follows His teachings in humility, with faith, hope, love, charity, and gratitude.

Salvation

The Mormon concept of salvation includes more than the difference between living in heaven or being punished in hell. God will judge all men "according to their works, according to the desires of their hearts" (Doctrine & Covenants 137:9) to inherit one of three kingdoms of glory (1 Corinthians 15:40; Doctrine & Covenants Section 76). Only those who outright choose Satan over God will be consigned to a place or state called outer darkness, similar to the traditional concept of hell (ie, eternal suffering, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, etc). Some key doctrines relating to Mormon beliefs of salvation are listed below:

1. Mormons believe that Jesus Christ, through his innate divinity and the Atonement, is solely responsible for the salvation of man.
2. Salvation is offered to everyone, both living and dead. Anyone who desires salvation may choose to accept it by obeying Christ's commandments.
3. All humans have been given the gift of free will, or agency. As such, all humans are responsible for the choices they make.
4. Without the Atonement, no one would be able to be saved, because all fall short of the perfection necessary to live with God.
5. The process of continually accepting Christ's grace is known as repentance. This involves correcting one's mistakes and changing one's behavior, and it is an essential element of salvation. However, repentance is meaningless without Jesus Christ and the Atonement.
6. Though individuals experience consequences of the Fall, specifically mortality, only Adam and Eve are responsible for their transgression in partaking of the forbidden fruit.
7. All mankind will be saved from their mortal condition because of Christ's atonement and resurrection. The spirits of everyone who has ever lived on Earth will be restored to a perfect physical body, regardless of their individual choices on Earth.
8. Little children who die before reaching the age of 8 years (the "age of accountability") are exempt from the consequences of their actions, and will be saved. Likewise, those over the age of 8 who for any reason are not capable of understanding the concepts of sin and repentance are unconditionally saved.
9. The first principles and ordinances of the Mormon gospel are: faith in Jesus Christ; repentance; baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. The latter two are sometimes referred to as "the baptism of water" and "the baptism of fire."
10. Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins by one who holds priesthood authority from God is, among other things, necessary for individual exaltation.
11. There are differences between the terms salvation and exaltation, the latter requiring the ordinances of baptism, confirmation, the Endowment and Sealing (Marriage).

Pre-mortal life, human existence, and the afterlife

The Plan of Salvation as taught by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Mormons generally believe the spirit passes through at least four stages of existence.

1. Pre-mortal existence as spirit children of the Heavenly Father.
2. A time of probation and gaining experience on earth, away from the presence of God (see spiritual death).
3. A spirit world where the spirits of the dead reside until the resurrection. There, those who died without the opportunity to accept the restored Gospel in life will be taught by those who did accept the gospel in life (this is the reason why some Mormon sects, such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, believe in vicarious baptism for the dead).
4. Post-resurrection judgment and inheritance (for most people) of a kingdom of eternal glory (either Celestial, Terrestrial, Telestial). However, those who knowingly deny and defy God, as Satan did, will become Sons of Perdition after coming forth in the last resurrection. They do not inherit a kingdom of glory, but instead are sentenced to receive a punishment reserved only for those who know God lives and still choose to follow Satan. Culturally, members of the LDS Church often refer to this punishment as Outer Darkness.

Scripture

The Standard Works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints printed in the Quadruple Combination format

1. The writings accepted as scripture by the church are collectively called the Standard Works.
2. The Bible is the word of God as far as it has been translated correctly. There are various opinions about how literally one should interpret the Bible, even if correctly translated. Latter Day Saints generally believe that the truths in the Bible can be supported and understood with the assistance of the Holy Spirit and the truths contained in The Book of Mormon.
3. The Book of Mormon is the word of God.
4. The Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Covenants are also the word of God.
5. Statements or Revelations given by a prophet-president may be presented to the Body of the Church to be accepted by common consent as official and binding doctrine (Encyclopedia of Mormonism, "Scriptures" p.1278) and some of it has been canonized as scripture and added to the Doctrine and Covenants.

Mormonisms' beliefs about other Christian and non-Christian religions

Mormons believe that:

1. Joseph Smith, Jr. was guided in restoring the Gospel of Jesus Christ and reestablishing the church organization that existed at the time of the New Testament Apostles, after many important contributions to the advance of Biblical knowledge among commoners by Reformers such as John Wycliffe, William Tyndale, Roger Williams, and many others.
2. All other Christian churches drifted away from Christ's Church as a result of the Great Apostasy, but nonetheless contain some truth and thus contribute much to the benefit of mankind.
3. Only the church restored by Joseph Smith has divine priesthood authority to perform ordinances necessary for salvation. Nevertheless, many other sects and faiths (even non-Christian religions) are valuable and teach some good morals.
4. All men will be judged benevolently on the basis of their actions in relation to the light and knowledge they have during their lives.

Polygamy and current Mormonism

Main article: Plural marriage.

Privately, Joseph Smith, Jr. insisted that he had been required by God to follow the practice of plural marriage. Joseph told Mary Rollins Lightner that an angel "came to me three times between the year of '34 and '42 and said I was to obey that principle or he would [s]lay me." The practice was highly controversial before and after Joseph's death. As for his own personal feelings about plural marriage, no record from Smith himself has been found. Historians debate the real numbers but generally agree that between 1841 and 1843 Smith had married 28 to 33 women (Bushman, 440). Gouverneur Morris Professor of History, Emeritus at Columbia University, Dr. Richard Lyman Bushman recently has written: "Joseph himself said nothing about sex in these marriages." He goes on to explain that there were other "marriage experimenters" in those times that "focused on sexual relations" but Joseph "so far as can be told, never discussed the sexual component of marriage, save for his concern about adultery." (Bushman, 438-441.) Even Fawn Brodie, a critical author of Joseph Smith, said, "There was too much of the Puritan [in Joseph] to be a careless libertine." (Brodie, 297.)

Joseph Smith never publicly taught polygamy. However, the Church adopted the practice in 1852 when Orson Pratt, under the direction of Brigham Young (president of the Church at the time), publicly announced that the Church was practicing plural marriage under commandment of God. He further stated that the Church believed they had a constitutional right to practice polygamy, which view they held for decades. The United States government opposed polygamy for years but it was not until the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887 was enforced that the LDS Church began to abandon the practice. The Act officially dissolved The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a legal corporation, required the Church to forfeit to the government all property in excess of fifty thousand dollars, and stripped all Latter-day Saints of their voting rights, despite the fact that only a small percentage of members of the Church ever practiced polygamy.

The 1890 Manifesto officially ended the practice of plural marriage among Latter-day Saints. Today, polygamy is still practiced by a number of small splinter organizations, that are not part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. See Polygamous Mormon Fundamentalists for an overview of some of these groups. Currently, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are excommunicated for practicing polygamy, even in parts of the world where polygamy is lawful and culturally accepted.

Historical Book of Mormon

Reprint of the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon

See also: Archaeology and the Book of Mormon, Linguistics and the Book of Mormon.

The historicity of the Book of Mormon is the subject of some debate. The proponents of a historical Book of Mormon are almost exclusively adherents to Mormonism; those non-Mormons who find history in favor of the Book of Mormon usually convert (such as in the case of Father Jordan Vajda). Detractors of the historical efficacy of the Book of Mormon are typically non-Mormon. Most of the modern works aimed at the lay reader are published by evangelical groups opposed to the doctrine and theology of Mormonism. These books are frequently targeted at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have been known to mischaracterize Mormonism. Most of these authors come from the Christian countercult movement, and some have come under fire from other evangelical scholars. One recent example is a book by Grant Palmer, "An Insider's View of Mormon Origins." According to Louis Midgley, Grant Palmer is not in fact an "insider"; the title was allegedly suggested by the publisher in order to increase sales (Louis Midgley, "Prying into Palmer," FARMS Review 15:2 (2003), 408.). Latter-day Saint apologists have reviewed and rebutted the work as they have done for such works. Despite receiving theological criticism, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to strongly proclaim that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and the vast majority of Latter-day Saints believe the Book of Mormon is factual.

Current scholarship by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is increasing the historical understanding of the Book of Mormon. The effort to better understand the people of the Book of Mormon includes identifying traditions with local cultures; and locating possible regions for cities named in the Book of Mormon. The effort has generated controversy over the years with those both outside of the faith as well as in. One historical belief about the Book of Mormon is the view that all native Americans are descendants of the prophet Lehi and those who came with him to the Americas. Some scholars suggests that the Book of Mormon is the lineage history of only a small group of meso-Americans which were the descendants of Lehi. The Book of Mormon suggests that there were other inhabitants in the Americas at the time of Lehi's arrival and that his descendants may have integrated into existing populations, perhaps providing leadership and influencing culture and religion. The debate around DNA evidence and the Book of Mormon illustrates the differences between traditional beliefs and new scholarly thought. No DNA studies have yet suggested any semitic origins for meso-American people; however investigations continue.

Criticism

Main article: Criticism of Mormonism

In their early years, Mormons encountered frequent conflicts, which forced them to move westward, and eventually settle in Utah. Even after establishing a community in Utah, criticism of plural marriage and other beliefs prompted the Utah War.

Much criticism of Mormonism has been for theological reasons. Many Christians criticize Latter Day Saint doctrines as unorthodox, though Latter Day Saints claim Biblical support for those doctrines and practices. Mormonism also attracts criticism with its bold claims, such as that the authority to act in God's name was lost in apostasy, then restored to Joseph Smith.

National Significance

The establishment of the Mormon Church, along with the Great Awakenings that occurred in the nineteenth century, marked the movement towards the notion of North America as a place of religious significance, as the Anglicans had done in England, as the Catholics had done in Rome, and as all Christians do in the Holy Land. Mormonism is arguably the culmination of a distinctive impact by the American people on Christianity.

References

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Branch pages

• History of the Latter Day Saint movement
• Latter-day Saint theology and Judaism
• List of articles about Mormonism

See also

• Mormonism and Christianity
• Blacks and Mormonism
• Bloggernacle
• Exmormonism
• List of religions
• Mormon apologetics