DOCSLIB.ORG

The Doctrine and Covenants: a Roundtable Discussion

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Doctrine and Covenants: a Roundtable Discussion Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel Volume 11 Number 2 Article 17 7-1-2010 The Doctrine and Covenants: A Roundtable Discussion Richard Neitzel Holzapfel [email protected] Richard E. Bennett [email protected] Susan Easton Black Alexander L. Baugh Andrew H. Hedges [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/re BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Holzapfel, Richard N. [email protected]; Bennett, Richard E.; Black, Susan E.; Baugh, Alexander L. and Hedges, Andrew H. "The Doctrine and Covenants: A Roundtable Discussion." Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel 11, no. 2 (2010). https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/re/vol11/iss2/17 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. , © 2003 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. , © 2003 Intellectual Reserve, Jesus Christ Appears to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery Joseph Smith and Oliver Jesus Christ Appears to the Prophet Walter Rane, Rane, Walter The lesson of repentance and forgiveness is repeated numerous times throughout Church history, including in the famous vision in the Kirtland Temple in April 1836 when the Savior appeared to Joseph and Oliver. The Doctrine and Covenants: A Roundtable Discussion Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Richard E. Bennett, and Susan Easton Black are professors of Church history and doctrine at BYU. Alexander L. Baugh and Andrew H. Hedges are associ- ate professors of Church history and doctrine at BYU. Holzapfel: What do you think is an important topic, incident, or scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants? Baugh: Two important themes from the Doctrine and Covenants that really stand out for me are the Zion community Joseph Smith hoped to create, and then his efforts to create that Zion, including the element of consecration, in terms of bringing about temporal equality. Holzapfel: Why do those two come to your attention? Baugh: The first thing that stands out in the early revelations is Joseph Smith’s focus and effort to complete the translation and publication of the Book of Mormon. Once that was completed, the Saints needed an organiza- tional structure. They pushed forward to get the Church organized. But then the next major focus was on a revision of the Bible. What was Joseph Smith doing during the summer of 1830? He was translating the Bible. What did he find while translating? Among other things, he produced revelatory infor- mation about Enoch. There are eight verses in Genesis chapters 4 and 5 of the King James Version of the Bible that mention Enoch (Genesis 4:17–18; 5:18–19, 21–24). Joseph Smith added 115. 203 204 Religious Educator · vol. 11 no. 2 · 2010 What did Enoch do? He created this Zion community. What was Joseph Smith’s goal from 1831 to 1838? To establish a similar city, a Zion community of the Saints. I think it really devastated him after 1838–39 when he and the Saints were expelled from Missouri. He must have thought, “What should I do? Is Zion forsaken? Are we going to still be able to go with that program?” He came to Nauvoo with an idea of eventually establishing and returning to Zion, returning to Missouri. But then he received section 124, in which the Lord said that Zion was on hold. He required the temple no more at their hands (see D&C 124:48–51). So they decided to build a temporary gather- ing place in Nauvoo and hope that in the future the establishment of Zion would take place. The word Zion is mentioned 210 times in the Doctrine and Covenants in 192 verses. Now, that means some of those verses have the word two or three times. It appears in fifty-seven sections of the Doctrine and Covenants. If we add the term New Jerusalem, that is seven more times. I think that was Joseph’s focus and the Church’s focus in 1838. He was try- ing to do what Enoch did—create a Zion society. In fact, Joseph even used Enoch as one of his code names. Joseph was fascinated with Enoch, who was able to do it. The Lord had revealed the principles on how to create Zion, so Joseph thought, “Maybe we can do it in my lifetime as well.” I know that was his hope. Holzapfel: Section 21 was received the day the Church was organized, “Yea, his weeping for Zion I have seen” (D&C 21:8). So already, by the time the Church is organized, Joseph Smith was obviously dreaming, praying, and weep- ing for this Zion. Bennett: The expulsion from Missouri and the travel to Quincy and then eventually to Nauvoo were not the end of Zion. In fact, it was a refine- ment of Zion. We may not have been able to stay in the place of Zion. Like you said about section 124, Nauvoo was going to be the cornerstone of Zion; they were going to reclaim Zion. They were still a Zion people on a Zion mis- sion. I love section 124, verse 6: “For, behold, I am about to call upon them to give heed to the light and glory of Zion, for the set time has come to favor her.” And even though they were driven out of that place of Zion, the Saints redeemed and reclaimed and rescued the concept of Zion. Section 124 is a reclamation of Zion. Even though Zion might not be this place, we are still Zion’s people on a Zion mission. And it kind of goes with that foundation that you talked about, established there earlier. The Doctrine and Covenants never absolves us from that great hope of establishing Zion. The Doctrine and Covenants: A Roundtable Discussion 205 Baugh: Zion is still there in his mind when he writes the Wentworth letter in what is now Article of Faith 10: “We believe in the literal gather- ing of Israel, and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; [in] Zion (the New Jerusalem).” Hedges: You could say he replaces the focus on Zion with the focus on the temple, with Nauvoo, but the temple was all preparatory to, and feed- ing into, the idea of Zion. In section 105, when he calls off Zion’s Camp, he says, “It is expedient in me that mine elders should wait for a little season for the redemption of Zion—That they themselves may be prepared, and that my people may be taught more perfectly, and have experience. And this cannot be brought to pass until mine elders are endowed with power from on high” (vv. 9–11). The whole focus on the temple, with the idea of Zion in mind, is preparatory. We are going to get people their endowments and become prepared to do what we were not able to do the first time. Baugh: Absolutely. Joseph Smith clearly ties in the temple with becom- ing a Zion people. The centerpiece of Zion is the temple. Bennett: Yes, it is the centerpiece when we look at the plat of the city of Zion. Baugh: “Okay,” they probably thought, “if we cannot build a temple in Jackson County, we can build one in Kirtland. It is not the temple, but it will do what we need it to do in the meantime to prepare the Brethren— particularly, of course, for Zion.” Holzapfel: Elder McConkie gave a conference address years ago in which he talked about the covenants we make, and one of them was that we would, basically, consecrate our time to build Zion [see “Obedience, Consecration, and Sacrifice,” Ensign, May 1975, 50]. And so whatever language of the Church, whether it be Tongan, or French, or an African dialect, or Spanish, or Portuguese, wherever Saints are to go to the temple, that word Zion is repeated as a covenant, a central covenant. It is always striking to me that, no matter where you live, that word becomes part of your vocabulary. Black: In fact, we use the phrase “the stakes of Zion.” Baugh: I see the concept of Zion in several elements. Enoch’s city was Zion. We see the New Jerusalem, the holy city Joseph Smith hoped for and envisioned, as Zion. Joseph Smith definitely referred to the Church in Missouri during the Kirtland-Missouri period as the Church in Zion. Black: And in Brigham Young’s time it was also a government. In the state of Deseret, Zion was a people, place, and government. 206 Religious Educator · vol. 11 no. 2 · 2010 Baugh: And we often refer to the stakes of Zion, the whole element of the Church, as a Zion body. And then the scripture that we always refer to, section 97, verse 21, says that Zion is a condition. It is a pure-hearted people—people with pure motives, pure gospel intent. And so it is broad and yet it is narrow, but you look at the Book of Mormon and most of the verses or passages about Zion are Isaiah quotations. We get some in the Old Testament—again mainly Isaiah. Not a lot in the New Testament (seven verses total), but the Doctrine and Covenants is full of Joseph Smith’s vision of a utopian community of Saints. Holzapfel: I would like to add that the New Testament talks about building this type of kingdom. Jesus proclaims that the kingdom of God is at hand, and he prays, “Thy kingdom come.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Wentworth Letter
    BYU Studies Quarterly Volume 9 Issue 3 Article 5 7-1-1969 The Wentworth Letter Joseph Smith Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq Recommended Citation Smith, Joseph (1969) "The Wentworth Letter," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 9 : Iss. 3 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol9/iss3/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in BYU Studies Quarterly by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Smith: The Wentworth Letter THE WENTWORTH LETTER joseph smiths letter to mr john wentworth was published in the march 1 1842 issue of the times and seasons in nauvoo illinois although the whole letter runs about three full pages the rendition of the first vision events is only one half page long the prophet him- self called it a sketch a brief history the conclusion of the letter is joseph smiths statement of belief which has come to be known as the articles of faith ed Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1969 1 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 9, Iss. 3 [1969], Art. 5 vision and saw two glorious Zgloraglor3 he b glnginin called on the lord devoutly because we heavenly ZD 1 0 who resembled each in th it b0 v r had already come into the land of this personagest1ta exactly 0 conicconie 223 great na idolatrous nation other in features and likeness surround- ed with a brilliant light which eclipsed the gelgei0 ineasure
    [Show full text]
  • Primary 5 Manual
    Lesson Joseph Smith Writes 36 the Articles of Faith Purpose To strengthen the children’s desire to understand and memorize the Articles of Faith. Preparation 1. Prayerfully study the Articles of Faith, located at the end of the Pearl of Great Price, and the historical account given in this lesson. Then study the lesson and decide how you want to teach the children the scriptural and historical accounts. (See “Preparing Your Lessons,” pp. vi–vii, and “Teaching the Scriptural and Historical Accounts,” pp. vii–ix.) 2. Select the discussion questions and enrichment activities that will involve the children and best help them achieve the purpose of the lesson. 3. Materials needed: a. A Pearl of Great Price for each child. b. Articles of Faith charts from the meetinghouse library (65001–65013 or 65014, which contains all thirteen Articles of Faith). Suggested Lesson Development Invite a child to give the opening prayer. Attention Activity • What kind of mathematics are you studying in school? After the children respond, write the following algebra problem on the chalkboard: a2 +b2 = 25 • Why might this problem be difficult for you to solve? • Before you can do algebra problems, what do you first need to learn? Explain that before they learn how to do algebra problems, the children need to learn basic mathematical principles. Similarly, to learn and understand the gospel, we must first learn the basic principles of the gospel. Explain that the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote thirteen statements that briefly summarize some of the basic principles and beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
    [Show full text]
  • Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual Religion 324 and 325
    Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual Religion 324 and 325 Prepared by the Church Educational System Published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Salt Lake City, Utah Send comments and corrections, including typographic errors, to CES Editing, 50 E. North Temple Street, Floor 8, Salt Lake City, UT 84150-2722 USA. E-mail: <[email protected]> Second edition © 1981, 2001 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America English approval: 4/02 Table of Contents Preface . vii Section 21 Maps . viii “His Word Ye Shall Receive, As If from Mine Own Mouth” . 43 Introduction The Doctrine and Covenants: Section 22 The Voice of the Lord to All Men . 1 Baptism: A New and Everlasting Covenant . 46 Section 1 The Lord’s Preface: “The Voice Section 23 of Warning”. 3 “Strengthen the Church Continually”. 47 Section 2 Section 24 “The Promises Made to the Fathers” . 6 “Declare My Gospel As with the Voice of a Trump” . 48 Section 3 “The Works and the Designs . of Section 25 God Cannot Be Frustrated” . 9 “An Elect Lady” . 50 Section 4 Section 26 “O Ye That Embark in the Service The Law of Common Consent . 54 of God” . 11 Section 27 Section 5 “When Ye Partake of the Sacrament” . 55 The Testimony of Three Witnesses . 12 Section 28 Section 6 “Thou Shalt Not Command Him Who The Arrival of Oliver Cowdery . 14 Is at Thy Head”. 57 Section 7 Section 29 John the Revelator . 17 Prepare against the Day of Tribulation . 59 Section 8 Section 30 The Spirit of Revelation .
    [Show full text]
  • The Pearl of Great Price Is a Selection of Choice Materials Touching
    INTRODUCTION he Pearl of Great Price is a selection of choice materials touching Tmany significant aspects of the faith and doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints These items were translated and produced by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and most were published in the Church periodicals of his day The first collection of materials carrying the title Pearl of Great Price was made in 1851 by Elder Franklin D Richards, then a member of the Council of the Twelve and president of the British Mission Its purpose was to make more readily accessible some important articles that had had limited circulation in the time of Joseph Smith As Church membership increased throughout Europe and America, there was a need to make these items available The Pearl of Great Price received wide use and subsequently became a standard work of the Church by action of the First Presidency and the general conference in Salt Lake City on October 10, 1880 Several revisions have been made in the contents as the needs of the Church have required In 1878 portions of the book of Moses not contained in the first edition were added In 1902 certain parts of the Pearl of Great Price that duplicated material also published in the Doctrine and Covenants were omitted Arrangement into chapters and verses, with footnotes, was done in 1902 The first publication in double-column pages, with index, was in 1921 No other changes were made until April 1976, when two items of revelation were added In 1979 these two items were removed from the Pearl of Great Price and placed in the Doctrine and Covenants, where they now appear as sections 137 and 138 In the present edition some changes have been made to bring the text into conformity with earlier documents Following is a brief introduction to the present contents: 1 Selections from the Book of Moses.
    [Show full text]
  • The Wentworth Letter: by Joseph Smith - Illustrated Online
    0nl7a (Free) The Wentworth Letter: By Joseph Smith - Illustrated Online [0nl7a.ebook] The Wentworth Letter: By Joseph Smith - Illustrated Pdf Free Joseph Smith DOC | *audiobook | ebooks | Download PDF | ePub Download Now Free Download Here Download eBook #4425943 in Books 2016-05-29Original language:English 9.00 x .7 x 6.00l, #File Name: 153342297430 pages | File size: 70.Mb Joseph Smith : The Wentworth Letter: By Joseph Smith - Illustrated before purchasing it in order to gage whether or not it would be worth my time, and all praised The Wentworth Letter: By Joseph Smith - Illustrated: 0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Loved this!By TracenThis is a powerful summary of the beginnings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It's amazing to read how much these early pioneers endured and yet still kept the faith3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Important text, some formatting errorsBy Thomas MurphyThis is a classic text on early church history and I am glad to see it on Kindle but there are some layout issues with artwork overlaying the text. Given the availability of the document, I would hope things like this would be cleaner since this is a paid for edition.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The Wentworth LetterBy Sharon HowesI love this because it tells our beliefs in a very simple way that all can understand. He is a great prophet! Why buy our paperbacks? Standard Font size of 10 for all books High Quality Paper Fulfilled by Amazon Expedited shipping 30 Days Money Back Guarantee BEWARE of Low-quality sellers Don't buy cheap paperbacks just to save a few dollars.
    [Show full text]
  • Mormonism's New England Ministry of the Forgotten E
    Barney: The Forgotten Eli P. Maginn 157 “There is the Greatest Excitement in This Country That I Ever Beheld”: Mormonism’s New England Ministry of the Forgotten Eli P. Maginn Ronald O. Barney Ronald O. Barney is editor of Mormon Historical Studies. He is past Associ- ate Editor of the Joseph Smith Papers, and an archivist and historian for the LDS Church History Department for thirty-three years. The story of Eli P. Maginn is an unusual Mormon story that speaks of activities conducted in the periphery of Mormonism, away from the puls- ing complexity that often characterized the center of Mormon gravity in its formative years. This outlying circumstance elevates the story’s importance because Eli P. Maginn (ca. 1818–1844) reminds us that much of the broad scope of the early church remains be mined, that more remains to be un- derstood and disseminated about the Mormon past for us to make sense of the genesis of the religion and its people. Maginn’s life not only augments what we already know about the early Saints but also adds angles and di- mensions requiring us to reconsider ensconced traditions. This is a story illustrating the early missionary work of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in North America.1 In the absence of Maginn’s personal records and institutional compilations of the church’s missionary records, which were not kept at this time, Maginn’s role during the formative period of Mormon history survives through a few items of 1 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, referred to hereafter in this study as the church or LDS Church, was founded as the Church of Christ and known as the Church of Latter Day Saints at the time of Maginn’s affiliation, ob- taining its current appellation in 1838.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of Denominations
    A Study of Denominations 1 Corinthians 14:33 (KJV 1900) - 33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. The Mormon Church - Introduction • Traditionally, the Mormon Church, now known as Latter-day Saints (LDS) believe that the authentic church, having gone underground for many centuries, was restored with the revelations given to their great prophet Jesseph Smith who published the Book of Mormon in the 1820’s. – “The authority of God to organize His Church and perform ordinances of salvation was lost because of apostasy after the death of Jesus Christ and His Apostles in the first century A.D. However, it was restored by the Lord to Joseph Smith through heavenly messengers during the 19th century.” www.churchofjesuschrist.org • In addition to the scriptures (OT & NT), the LDS Church basis its beliefs on the Book of Mormon (BOM) and two later day works by Smith, Doctrine and Covenants (D&C) and the Pearl of Great Price. – The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. www.churchofjesuschrist.org • The LDS Church is the largest but not the only denomination with roots back to Joseph Smith and the BOM: Church of Christ (Temple Lot), Community of Christ, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints The Mormon Church – LDS Church The Mormon Church – When They Come Knocking Our Conduct Toward Religious Persons With Whom We Disagree. 1. We follow the example of the Bereans who examined the scriptures (Acts 17:11). 2. We follow the example of Paul in defending the truth against error (Gal.
    [Show full text]
  • December 2013 Ensign
    THE Articlesand the Life of of Faith Joseph Smith The Articles of Faith can help us—and especially our children and grandchildren—see the Prophet Joseph Smith’s life in a meaningful framework. By John W. Welch Professor of Law at Brigham Young University and Editor in Chief of BYU Studies N PONDERING HOW I might make the history of Joseph Smith come to life for my grandchildren, the thirteen Articles of Faith came to mind as a helpful connector. It soon became exciting to see how well the Articles of IFaith brought to light the main stages in Joseph Smith’s prophetic mission and inspired life. Especially for children, who know these crystal clear declarations of belief, the Articles of Faith provide a familiar framework within which to understand Joseph Smith’s labors between 1820 and 1842, the year he wrote the Articles of Faith in his famous Wentworth Letter.1 In that letter, the Prophet looked back over his remarkable life and summa- rized the rise and progress of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the Articles of Faith, which close the letter, he summarized some key doc- BY DAVID LINDSLEY © 1998 BY DAVID trines of the restored gospel—doctrines that we can associate with certain events in his history. Consider some ways in which the Articles of Faith and the life of Joseph Smith are aligned. BROTHER JOSEPH, 70 Ensign We believe in God, the We believe that men will We believe that through the Atonement of Eternal Father, and in His Son, be punished for their own sins, and Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to Jesus.
    [Show full text]
  • Wentworth Letter
    Wentworth Letter from Times & Seasons volume 3 1841-42 706 yah, and 1 know the end from the begin-' called on the Lord del'ou tiy because we Ding, therefore, my hand shall be over had already come into the land of this thee, and I will make of thee a great na· idolatrou~ nation. tion, and I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all na· CHURCH HISTORY. tions, and thou shalt be a blessing unto At the request of l\h. John Wentworth,' thy seed after thee, that in their hands Editor, and Proprietor of the "Chicago they shall bear this ministry and priest­ Democrat;' I have written the following hood unto all nations; and I will bless them skotch of the rise, progress, persecution, through thy name; for as many as re­ and faith of the Latter-Day Saints, of ceive this gospel shaH be called after thy which I have the hOllOl', under God, of be­ name, and shall be acoounted thy seed, ing the founder. Mr. Wentworth say8~ and shall rise up and bless thl:le, as unto that he wishes to furnish Mr. Bastow, a their father, and 1 will bless them that friend of his. who i'l writing the history bless thee, and curse them that curse of New Hampshire, with this document. thee, and in thee, (that is, in thy As Mr. Bastow has taken the proper Priesthood) and in thy seed, (that steps to obtain correct information aU is thy Priesthood,) for I give unto thee a that I shall ask at his hands, is, that he promise that this right shall continue in publish the account entire, ungarnished, thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to and without mjsrepresentation.
    [Show full text]
  • Joseph Smith - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Joseph Smith from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    3/26/2014 Joseph Smith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joseph Smith From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joseph Smith, Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader who founded the Latter Joseph Smith Day Saint movement, the predominant branch of which is Mormonism. At age twenty-four, Smith published the Book of Mormon, and by the time of his death fourteen years later, he had attracted tens of thousands of followers, established cities and temples, and founded a religion and a religious culture that continues to the present day. Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont, and by 1817 had moved with his family to western New York, then the site of intense religious revivalism as part of the Second Great Awakening. There, according to Smith, he saw and heard a series of visions beginning in the early 1820s; in the first of these visions "two personages" (implied to be God the Father and the Son) appeared to him, and in subsequent visions an angel directed Smith to a buried book of golden plates inscribed with a Judeo-Christian history of an ancient American civilization. In 1830, Smith published what he said was an English translation of these plates, titled the Book of 1st President of the Church of Christ (later the Mormon. Also in 1830, he organized the Church of Christ, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)[1] calling it a restoration of the early Christian church. Church members were later called "Latter Day Saints", or April 6, 1830 – June 27, 1844 "Mormons". Successor Disputed; Brigham Young, Sidney Rigdon, Joseph Smith III, and at In 1831, Smith and his followers moved west with plans to least four others each claimed build a communalistic American Zion.
    [Show full text]
  • The First Vision Grew out of the Process of Developing a Plan for Record Keeping in the Early Years of the Church
    The Earliest Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision Dean C. Jessee he direct, primary historical sources pertaining to Joseph Smith’s TFirst Vision that are now known amount to ten accounts in thir- teen documents—eight documents produced or reported in the first person by or from the Prophet himself,1 and five contemporary reports by others who heard him relate his experience and recorded what he said in the third person. The purpose of this essay is to iden- tify and present these accounts and to consider the context in which each was created. First Vision Accounts in Context From the beginning of his public ministry, Joseph Smith struggled to record the events of his life. The conditions in which he was raised did not facilitate a literary course; indigent circumstances, which required the labor of the entire Smith family to meet their daily needs, limited Joseph’s schooling. He later wrote that he had been “deprived of the bennifit of an education suffice it to say I was mearly instructtid 1. The discussion in “First Vision Accounts,” one of the Gospel Topics Essays, available on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, https://www.lds.org/ topics/first-vision-accounts?lang=eng#1, groups these eight first-person docu- ments as four accounts because the content is so similar. Steven C. Harper, Joseph Smith’s First Vision: A Guide to the Historical Accounts (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012), 31–66, groups the first-person documents into five accounts. 1 2 Opening the Heavens in reading and writing and the ground <rules> of Arithmatic which const[it]uted my whole literary acquirements.”2 In light of Joseph’s background, it is not surprising that the boy Joseph did not record his experience that spring morning in 1820 after returning from the grove.
    [Show full text]
  • Mormonism for Dummies Pdf
    Mormonism for dummies pdf Continue Religious Tradition of the Latter-day Saint Movement This article is about the Mormon religion. For the largest and most famous branch of Mormonism, see The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For people known as Mormons, see Mormons. For the general religious movement, see Mormonism of the Book of Mormon for other purposes, the prevailing religious tradition of the Latter-day Movement of the Restoration of Christianity, started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1930s. The word Mormon originally comes from the Book of Mormon, a religious text published by Smith, which he said he translated from gold plates with divine help. The book describes itself as a chronicle of america's early Native Americans and their relationship with God. Based on the title of the book, Smith's first followers were more widely known as Mormons, and their faith in Mormonism. The term was originally considered pejorative, but Mormons no longer consider it to be (although they usually prefer other terms such as Latter-Day Saint or LDS). After Smith was killed by a mob awaiting trial in 1844, most Mormons followed Brigham Young on his journey west to the area that became the territory of the state, calling itself the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Other sects include Mormon fundamentalism, which seeks to support practices and doctrines such as polygamy, and other small independent denominations. The second largest denomination of Latter-day Saints, the Christ Community (formerly the reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), does not call itself Mormon, but follows the trinitarian Christian theology of restorers and considers itself a Restorer in terms of Latter-day Saint doctrine.
    [Show full text]