Well, there’s been a lot of posts in this thread; some good, some bad, some downright ugly. The bottom line is that if you want to know about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or any religion, for that matter), the best way is to get it straight from the horse’s mouth. There are plenty of places—both on the web and otherwise—where you can find out why someone believes something is false; this seems particularly true of The Church of Jesus Christ. However, I personally think it makes more sense to ask someone that actually knows what they’re talking about to explain it. Most often, this is someone who is affiliated with the organization in question.
I joined The Church of Jesus Christ just over 12 years ago, having grown up in a very mainstream Protestant family. My parents were understandably afraid that I was joining a “cult,” but a visit with their minister straightened them out. He informed them that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is exactly what the name implies—a Christian Church—and that they had absolutely nothing to worry about. (I truly thank God for this wonderful man, as I know of many, many others who will happily badmouth anything outside their own congregation.)
Anyway, I’d like to clear the air about some of the things I’ve seen posted on here, since it’s obvious that most people have, at best, a partial understanding.
Origins of so-called “Mormonism”
In the 1810s and ’20s, there was a huge religious fervor in New York State. Missionaries were coming from all over the place trying to gain converts to their various churches, so much that the area became known as “the burned-over district.” In the midst of all this fervor, a young boy named Joseph Smith, Jr., was very confused. Every preacher he spoke to was badmouthing all the others, so he finally gave up on them and turned to the Bible, eventually stumbling across James 1:5: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God….” Joseph decided to do just this, and one morning in early Spring, 1820 (historians now gravitate towards March 26), went out into a grove of trees near his home and started to pray. He wanted to know which church was the true one, and had faith that God would answer him. He never expected what the answer would be…. In Joseph’s own words:
“I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!“
Through this and many other experiences, Joseph Smith, Jr., was called to be a prophet of God, just like many of the earlier prophets (including those of the Old and New Testaments) who also saw God and were called to teach others.
The Book of Mormon
A lot of people think The Book of Mormon is “The Mormon Bible.” Actually, that’s kind of silly, since Latter-day Saints believe the Bible and use it quite regularly. (My wife and I, for example, read the entire New Testament this year.) The Book of Mormon is simply another testament—another witness—that Jesus is the Christ. The Biblical prophets taught the word of God in the area of Jerusalem; at the same time, however, there were other prophets in other lands, teaching the exact same word of God. Most of these records are still lost to history, but Joseph Smith Jr. was led, by revelation, to a summary of the records of the prophets on the American continent (the golden plates mentioned by Loudmouth). He translated these plates by the power of God; when he was done, the same angel (Moroni) who gave them to him in the first place took them back. As has also been mentioned, there were eleven “official” witnesses of these plates (imagine taking that to a court of law! At least eleven people will attest to the fact that he had them!), whose written testimonies were added as an introduction to the published translation of the Book.
Probably the most important thing about “Mormonism” is a promise contained in the Book of Mormon itself, made by the last prophet of the civilization (that same Moroni who, as a resurrected being, gave Joseph the plates): if you want to know if the Book of Mormon (or anything, for that matter) is true, don’t take my word for it; ask God. He’ll let you know, just like he let me, and Joseph Smith Jr., and at least 12 million other people know. It’s a little thing called prayer, and I can testify that, done with faith, it’s not just a one-way conversation.
Some less important stuff that’s been mentioned:
“Holy Underwear”
This is probably one of the most misunderstood, ridiculed tenets of “Mormonism.” Among the ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that of the endowment, in which several covenants are made with God (eg. help other people, no extramarital sex, etc.). As part of the endowment, the individual is clothed in the garment of the holy priesthood, which serves as a reminder of the covenants we make. This in and of itself is a phenomenally deep subject, but nothing to get hung up on.
Tithing
God made this law pretty clear in the Bible; I give you 100% of what you get; give me back a tenth of that, and I’ll bless you so much you won’t know what hit you. Until the day that the general public is unselfish enough to have all things in common (like the New Testament Christians), members of Christ’s Church will live this law. As for Loudmouth’s statement that people were being sent their own tax returns with a bill from the Church, I suppose it’s possible that some bishop somewhere was instructed by revelation to do this, but I think the story is more likely fabrication than anything. How would the Church even get someone’s tax returns?
Polygamy
Again, the basic law is simple: every man has one wife, every woman has one husband. However, sometimes this just isn’t practical for the society (eg. in ancient Israel, when plural marriage was often used for the sake of procreation.
True, some (about 2%) of the nineteenth-century Latter-day Saints practiced plural marriage, but it was more of a Church calling than anything. The local bishop would receive revelation that a certain man was to take a certain woman to wife; he would then call that man and his current wife into his office and invite them to accept this calling. Often this was done for the sake of procreation, but sometimes it was simply a means of caring for the widows. Many plural wives—especially older ones—lived in completely different houses than their husbands, never even having sex with them.
Latter-day Saints also believe in obeying the law of the land, but to use their Consitutional rights to protect their own freedoms. As such, when Congress passed an act that outlawed plural marriages, the Saints fought it all the way to the Supreme Court, which finally ruled the act Constitutional in 1889. At that point, the President of the Church checked with the Lord, who confirmed that they should obey the law of the land. Consequently, the Church issued an official declaration against any and all unlawful marriages, effectively ending plural marriage.
God’s family
A_Christian cites some very interesting beliefs; unfortunately, everything he says is just a bit off the mark. Latter-day Saints do believe in a Heavenly Mother, but in a dozen years, I’ve never once heard her referred to as “Wisdom.” The doctrine is simple: every one of us—including Jehovah (Jesus Christ) and Lucifer (Satan) are spirit children of our Heavenly Father. (Was Lucifer the second-born? Maybe. We really don’t know, nor does it matter.) Our Heavenly Father’s plan was for us to come to earth, learn to make correct choices, and come back to Him. Not all of us would make it, but all would have the opportunity to do so through the atoning blood of the Savior (Jesus Christ). Satan had a different plan: he wanted everyone to be forced to do what was right (hence, no real growth) and volunteered to be the Savior himself. This in and of itself probably wasn’t a bad thing, but when our Heavenly Father made his final decision (to go with His original plan), Satan rebelled against Him and wound up being cast out, taking his followers—a third of our Heavenly Father’s children—with him. Anyway, getting back to our Heavenly Mother, she’s there, but I’m sure she does a lot more than “pump[ing] out spirit babies.” I’m guessing the reason we don’t know more about her is because so many people (ahem) degrade what little we do know.
Jesus Christ as Savior
Jesus Christ suffered in Gethsemane and died on the cross for our sins. He was resurrected from the dead so that we can also be resurrected. While it is vitally important to keep the commandments of God (doing “works”), no amount of works can ever save us. Only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ can we ever make it back to our Heavenly Father. I have read many, many teachings of many, many prophets, and I can conclusively declare that this is the only doctrine that has ever been preached by The Church of Jesus Christ. Bottom line: anyone who says that Latter-day Saints believe in anything but salvation by grace is sorely mistaken; we just believe that God asks us to do all we can, and then the atoning blood of Christ will make up the difference.
Masonry
It is a common misconception that Latter-day Saints Temple ordinances are based on Masonic rituals. While there are some similarities, any learned Jew will be happy to tell you where Freemasonry really comes from. Rabbi Isaac Wise, for example, stated that “Freemasonry is a Jewish establishment, whose history, grades, official appointments, passwords, and explanations are Jewish from beginning to end.” Much has been written on this subject, but the bottom line is this: it’s really not surprising that rituals based on God’s ancient ordinances would resemble the ones found in the modern Church of Jesus Christ.
Prophets
Comparisons to “Buffy” aside, new prophets don’t appear; they are called. In fact, at pretty much any given time, there are fifteen prophets on the earth: three in a Quorum of the First Presidency, which presides over the Church; and twelve in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who fulfill the mandate given to their Biblical predecessors to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. When the President of the Church (who, with his two counselors, comprise the First Presidency of the Church) dies, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles becomes the presiding quorum, with the president of this quorum as acting President of the Church. One the new President of the Church (traditionally the former President of the Twelve) is set apart as such, the First Presidency is reorganized, a new President of the Twelve is set apart, and a new Apostle is called to fill the resulting vacancy in the Twelve.
Prophecies
There’s plenty of people out there that will tell you that Joseph Smith Jr., Brigham Young Sr. (the second President of the Church), or any number of other people prophesied all sorts of ridiculous things. The “people on the moon” comment, for example, comes from a statement by Oliver B. Huntington, in 1892. He got the information from a journal entry he had made in 1881, in which he cited Philo Dribble. Dribble, in turn, just knew that someone once told him that Joseph made that statement in 1837. Joseph Smith himself, of course, had been dead for almost half a century and was unavailable for comment. Now, how reliable do you think that story is? The point is that these so-called “prophecies” are generally statements taken out of context (deliberately or otherwise) that have subesequently been grossly misinterpreted. Whenever this is the case, going back to the original source always proves these “prophecies” to be little more than a misunderstanding. (In this particular case, the somebody that passed the information along to Philo Dribble was probably actually remembering in 1835, when the New York Sun reported that people had been discovered on the moon; newspapers all across the nation picked up the story, eventually attributing these “moon men” with 1,000-year lifespans and “Quaker” hats.) Bottom line: if somebody tells you that somebody else—anybody else—said something weird, see if they can cite it. Generally, the answer is a resounding “no.”
The Three Witnesses
I’ll finish on this one: Jake22 states that “the cofounders of Mormonism denied the religion.” What he is almost certainly referring to in this vein is that the Three Witnesses of The Book of Mormon—Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris—all fell away from the Church over personal disagreements with the Prophet Joseph Smith. Oliver eventually came back; David and Martin did not. However, even though two of the three never came back, all three adamantly confirmed—even on their respective deathbeds—that their written testimony was true. All three maintained throughout their lives that they had in fact seen an angel, and that he had shown them the golden plates from which The Book of Mormon was translated. David and Martin each felt that Joseph had made some mistakes after that point (which he had; he never claimed to be perfect), but neither ever denied his testimony that The Book of Mormon was (and is) true.
Well, pretty lengthy response, I know, but there’s a lot to be dealt with (and much that I haven’t even touched on). If you want to know the truth about “Mormonism,” feel free to e-mail me. Better yet, check out the official web site. It’s certainly a lot more accurate than anything posted on here.
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“Death is not extinguishing
the light; it is putting out
the lamp because dawn
has come.”
—Rabindranath Tagore
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