Evolution and the Origin of Man
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GENERAL HANDBOOK Serving in the Church of Jesus Christ Jesus of Church Serving in The
GENERAL HANDBOOK: SERVING IN THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS • JULY 2020 2020 SAINTS • JULY GENERAL HANDBOOK: SERVING IN THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST LATTER-DAY GENERAL HANDBOOK Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints JULY 2020 JULY 2020 General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Salt Lake City, Utah © 2020 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. Version: 7/20 PD60010241 000 Printed in the United States of America Contents 0. Introductory Overview . xiv 0.0. Introduction . xiv 0.1. This Handbook . .xiv 0.2. Adaptation and Optional Resources . .xiv 0.3. Updates . xv 0.4. Questions about Instructions . xv 0.5. Terminology . .xv 0.6. Contacting Church Headquarters or the Area Office . xv Doctrinal Foundation 1. God’s Plan and Your Role in the Work of Salvation and Exaltation . .1 1.0. Introduction . 1 1.1. God’s Plan of Happiness . .2 1.2. The Work of Salvation and Exaltation . 2 1.3. The Purpose of the Church . .4 1.4. Your Role in God’s Work . .5 2. Supporting Individuals and Families in the Work of Salvation and Exaltation . .6 2.0. Introduction . 6 2.1. The Role of the Family in God’s Plan . .6 2.2. The Work of Salvation and Exaltation in the Home . 9 2.3. The Relationship between the Home and the Church . 11 3. Priesthood Principles . 13 3.0. Introduction . 13 3.1. Restoration of the Priesthood . -
The Secret Mormon Meetings of 1922
University of Nevada, Reno THE SECRET MORMON MEETINGS OF 1922 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History By Shannon Caldwell Montez C. Elizabeth Raymond, Ph.D. / Thesis Advisor December 2019 Copyright by Shannon Caldwell Montez 2019 All Rights Reserved UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA RENO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL We recommend that the thesis prepared under our supervision by SHANNON CALDWELL MONTEZ entitled The Secret Mormon Meetings of 1922 be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS C. Elizabeth Raymond, Ph.D., Advisor Cameron B. Strang, Ph.D., Committee Member Greta E. de Jong, Ph.D., Committee Member Erin E. Stiles, Ph.D., Graduate School Representative David W. Zeh, Ph.D., Dean, Graduate School December 2019 i Abstract B. H. Roberts presented information to the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in January of 1922 that fundamentally challenged the entire premise of their religious beliefs. New research shows that in addition to church leadership, this information was also presented during the neXt few months to a select group of highly educated Mormon men and women outside of church hierarchy. This group represented many aspects of Mormon belief, different areas of eXpertise, and varying approaches to dealing with challenging information. Their stories create a beautiful tapestry of Mormon life in the transition years from polygamy, frontier life, and resistance to statehood, assimilation, and respectability. A study of the people involved illuminates an important, overlooked, underappreciated, and eXciting period of Mormon history. -
The Mormons Are Coming- the LDS Church's
102 Mormon Historical Studies Nauvoo, Johann Schroder, oil on tin, 1859. Esplin: The Mormons are Coming 103 The Mormons Are Coming: The LDS Church’s Twentieth Century Return to Nauvoo Scott C. Esplin Traveling along Illinois’ scenic Highway 96, the modern visitor to Nauvoo steps back in time. Horse-drawn carriages pass a bustling blacksmith shop and brick furnace. Tourists stroll through manicured gardens, venturing into open doorways where missionary guides recreate life in a religious city on a bend in the Mississippi River during the mid-1840s. The picture is one of prosper- ity, presided over by a stately temple monument on a bluff overlooking the community. Within minutes, if they didn’t know it already, visitors to the area quickly learn about the Latter-day Saint founding of the City of Joseph. While portraying an image of peace, students of the history of Nauvoo know a different tale, however. Unlike other historically recreated villages across the country, this one has a dark past. For the most part, the homes, and most important the temple itself, did not peacefully pass from builder to pres- ent occupant, patiently awaiting renovation and restoration. Rather, they lay abandoned, persisting only in the memory of a people who left them in search of safety in a high mountain desert more than thirteen hundred miles away. Firmly established in the tops of the mountains, their posterity returned more than a century later to create a monument to their ancestral roots. Much of the present-day religious, political, economic, and social power of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traces its roots to Nauvoo, Illinois. -
A Spot for the Temple”: Reclaiming the Temple Site in Independence, Missouri
42 Mormon Historical Studies City of Independence, Missouri, commemorative marker of the temple site. The inscription reads: “August 3, 1831, Joseph Smith, Jr., Prophet and Founder of the Church of Christ, with seven other Church leaders, dedicated this site for the Temple in the City of Zion, where this Church believes the Lord will come to His people in the Last Days.” Photograph by Alexander L. Baugh. Addams: Reclaiming the Temple Site in Independence, Missouri 43 “A Spot for the Temple”: Reclaiming the Temple Site in Independence, Missouri R. Jean Addams “There is not one who calls himself a Latter Day Saint that does not believe a temple is to be reared at Independence on the site of ground owned by the Church of Christ,” so stated the editor of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) newspaper, the Evening and Morning Star, in its July 1907 issue.1 Twenty-six years later the editor of that renamed newspaper, Zion’s Advocate, proclaimed: “Now after one hundred and two years have passed by, it is still the dream of all Mormons to see the erection of a beautiful temple on the Temple Lot.”2 In February 1831, soon after Joseph Smith had relocated the headquarters of the Church to the region of Kirtland, Ohio, he received a revelation: “The time shall come when it shall be revealed unto you from on high, when the city of the New Jerusalem shall be prepared, that ye may be gathered in one” and “it shall be revealed unto you in mine own due time where the New Jerusalem shall be built” (LDS D&C 42:9, 62; RLDS D&C 42:17b).3 To the members of the rapidly growing church, this announcement carried with it consider- able excitement and a great sense of anticipation. -
John Bytheway: 00:02 Welcome to Part Two of This Week's Podcast. with What We've Been Talking About
John Bytheway: 00:02 Welcome to part two of this week's podcast. With what we've been talking about... if we could go back to section 67 verse 13 to complete this whole thing we've been talking about, let's see, Hank, would you like to read that verse, verse 13? Hank Smith: 00:19 Yeah. 67:13, "You're not able to abide the presence of God now, neither the ministering of angels, wherefore continue inpatients until you are perfected." Dr. C. Robert L...: 00:29 Isn't that beautiful with all we've been talking about? God's admonition, not only to us individually, but the church too, and the restoration, right? Again, this infallibility narrative that we sometimes fall into, I think we need to be careful individually, and even as a church... speaking of patients, continue in patients, you know what I'm hearing from a lot of people with all the changes the church has been making? And there's been a lot in the last couple of years. Dr. C. Robert L...: 01:03 I'm hearing minister teach to some older people in my ward and I have acquaintances in ward, and these are really, really good, wonderful people. I mean, salt of the earth people, former bishops, former state Presidents, some of them are very concerned, not only about what's going on in society, but how rapidly a lot of the changes in the church are happening. Dr. C. Robert L...: 01:32 Yeah. When I teach Institute in BYU classes, a lot of my very faithful, young, single adult students, sometimes they don't think the changes are happening quick enough. -
The Spirit World ______
Teachings Concerning The Spirit World ______________________ Spirit World - The Next Phase of Existence Joseph Smith Heaven are synonymous terms, indicating one and The righteous and the wicked [upon death] all go to the same place. But in reality there is a wide the same world of spirits until the resurrection. difference between them. A State of rest, such as the (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.310) spirit life is understood to be for the righteous—though “rest” should not be interpreted Brigham Young as idleness or want of occupation—might easily • When you lay down this tabernacle, where are you pass for heaven, when contrasted with this life of going? Into the spiritual world. Are you going into pain, sorrow and trouble. But that is only relative. It Abraham’s bosom. No, not any where nigh there, is not saying too much—indeed it may be saying too but into the spirit world. Where is the spirit world? little—to affirm that there is just as much difference It is right here. Do the good and evil spirits go between the spirit world and heaven, as between the together? Yes, they do. Do they both inhabit one mortal and the spiritual phases of man’s existence. kingdom? Yes, they do. Do they go to the sun? (Cowley & Whitney on Doctrine, p 483) No. Do they go beyond the boundaries of this • Thus we see that the Spirit World is not Heaven, organized earth? No, they do not. They are brought except in a relative sense, and then only in part. -
The Mormon Challenge
1 The Mormon Challenge A presentation of the other side of Mormonism using LDS-approved sources 2 Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................4 Sources ................................................................................................................................4 PART ONE: THE SCRIPTURES ....................................................................................5 The Book of Mormon.........................................................................................................5 Joseph Smith Sr. and the Tree of Life ............................................................................................................. 5 Ancient Evangelists ......................................................................................................................................... 7 Joseph’s Ability ............................................................................................................................................. 10 Possible Flaws Ch. 1 – Conviction and Moroni’s Promise ........................................................................... 11 Ch. 2 – A Precise Text .................................................................................................................................. 19 Ch. 3 – Testing the Book of Mormon with the Bible .................................................................................... 22 Ch. 4 – The Reality of the Law of -
Changes in Seniority to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 5-2009 Changes in Seniority to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Travis Q. Mecham Utah State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Mecham, Travis Q., "Changes in Seniority to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (2009). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 376. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/376 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CHANGES IN SENIORITY TO THE QUORUM OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS by Travis Q. Mecham A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in History Approved: _______________________ _______________________ Philip Barlow Robert Parson Major Professor Committee Member _______________________ _______________________ David Lewis Byron Burnham Committee Member Dean of Graduate Studies UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, Utah 2009 ii © 2009 Travis Mecham. All rights reserved. iii ABSTRACT Changes in Seniority to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Travis Mecham, Master of Arts Utah State University, 2009 Major Professor: Dr. Philip Barlow Department: History A charismatically created organization works to tear down the routine and the norm of everyday society, replacing them with new institutions. -
The Return of Oliver Cowdery
The Return of Oliver Cowdery Scott H. Faulring On Sunday, 12 November 1848, apostle Orson Hyde, president of the Quorum of the Twelve and the church’s presiding ofcial at Kanesville-Council Bluffs, stepped into the cool waters of Mosquito Creek1 near Council Bluffs, Iowa, and took Mormonism’s estranged Second Elder by the hand to rebaptize him. Sometime shortly after that, Elder Hyde laid hands on Oliver’s head, conrming him back into church membership and reordaining him an elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood.2 Cowdery’s rebaptism culminated six years of desire on his part and protracted efforts encouraged by the Mormon leadership to bring about his sought-after, eagerly anticipated reconciliation. Cowdery, renowned as one of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, corecipient of restored priesthood power, and a founding member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had spent ten and a half years outside the church after his April 1838 excommunication. Oliver Cowdery wanted reafliation with the church he helped organize. His penitent yearnings to reassociate with the Saints were evident from his personal letters and actions as early as 1842. Oliver understood the necessity of rebaptism. By subjecting himself to rebaptism by Elder Hyde, Cowdery acknowledged the priesthood keys and authority held by the First Presidency under Brigham Young and the Twelve. Oliver Cowdery’s tenure as Second Elder and Associate President ended abruptly when he decided not to appear and defend himself against misconduct charges at the 12 April -
Near-Death Experiences and Early Mormon Thought
Thought Communication, Speed of Movement, and the Spirit's Ability to Absorb Knowledge: Near-Death Experiences and Early Mormon Thought Brent L. Top, Ph.D. Brigham Young University ABSTRACT- Three of Charles Flynn's (1986) "core elements" of near-death experiences (NDEs) have special interest to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) because of their striking similarity to the doctrinal teachings of 19th-century Mormon leaders and theologians. This article illustrates these three NDE characteristics-thought communi cation, speed of movement, and the ability to "absorb" knowledge-by com paring contemporary NDE accounts with both the religious teachings of 19th-century Mormon church leaders and the accepted doctrines of modern Mormonism. Virtually all of the recent studies of near-death experiences (NDEs) have included accounts of those who have "died" discovering en hanced abilities, far beyond earthly abilities, in the areas of commu nication, travel and movement, and the acquisition of knowledge. These three different aspects of the near-death experience, included in Charles Flynn's (1986) list of "core elements" of the NDE, have special interest to Mormons. There are striking similarities between the modern descriptions by NDErs concerning thought communica tion, the speed of their movements, and their ability to absorb knowl edge, and the theological teachings of early Mormon leaders in the Brent L. Ibp, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University. Reprint requests should be addressed to Dr. bp at the Department of Church History and Doctrine, 316-E Joseph Smith Building, Brigham Young University, P 0. -
I Hear a Symphony: the Many Meanings of “The Word of God” by Scott Hahn, Phd
I Hear a Symphony: The Many Meanings of “the Word of God” By Scott Hahn, PhD hat’s the Word? All Together Now The 2008 Synod of Bishops spoke of “the Word of God as a WYou and I might answer that question in many dif- Symphony.” ferent ways, depending on the context in which it’s asked. “The word” could mean the latest news (“The word on the A symphony: When we think of God’s Word in this way, we street is . .”). Or it could mean a decisive command (“The come to understand the diversity of meanings in a different word from the corner office is . .”). Or it could simply and better way. mean a word—a basic unit of language, like the little clus- ters of the alphabet that make up this sentence. What is a symphony? It’s a piece of music scored for many different instruments, all “sounding together”—that’s the There are many definitions of “the word,” and we don’t meaning of the Greek root symphonia. In a symphony, vari- reduce them by much if we clarify the phrase by speaking of ous elements combine in unison and harmony. Winds, per- “the Word of God.” In religious language, and even in the cussion, brass, and strings are not contradictory, but rather Bible, “the Word” can mean many things. It can involve, complementary. They blend together to make music that for example, a simple sacred upgrade of the definitions I inspires us to great love, contemplation, and action. already mentioned—as when “the Word of the Lord” means news that comes to a prophet (see Ez 15:1), or when some- This comparison of “the Word” to a symphony became thing happens by the command of “the word of God” (see popular a generation ago, around the time of the Second Ps 33:6-9, Is 55:11). -
Sin, Guilt, and Grace: Martin Luther and the Doctrines of the Restoration,” in Let Us Reason Together: Essays in Honor of the Life’S Work of Robert L
Format for citations: Brent L. Top, “Sin, Guilt, and Grace: Martin Luther and the Doctrines of the Restoration,” in Let Us Reason Together: Essays in Honor of the Life’s Work of Robert L. Millet, ed. J. Spencer Fluhman and Brent L. Top (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: 2016), 311–28. “The First Principles of Man Are Self-Existent with God”: The Immortality of the Soul in Mormon Theology Brent L. Top “I am dwelling on the immutability of the spirit of man,” Joseph Smith taught in April 1844. “Where did it come from?” he rhetorically asked his Nauvoo, Illinois, congregation.1 The emphatic answer was as much a repudiation of traditional Christian teachings on the immortality of the human soul as it was a declaration of unique Mormon doctrine—what Smith believed to be lost doctrines taught in antiquity, tenets that had been restored to earth through divine revelation: “I must come to the resurrection of the dead, the soul, the mind of man, the immortal spirit. All men say God created it in the beginning. The very idea lessens man in my estimation; I do not believe the doctrine, I know better. Hear it all ye ends of the world, for God has told me so.”2 Other than on a very superficial level, it is highly unlikely that Joseph Smith was familiar with the great philosophical issues of the ages regarding man’s immortality. While he may have heard of Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato, there is no evidence that he studied Greek philosophy or the works of the world’s great thinkers.