The Church of Latter-Day Saints: Mormonism

The subject of my examination paper is the Mormon religion. Especially the first type of the religion as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With this paper I will address the accompanying inquiries regarding where did the religion began, who were/are the principle chiefs and spots of love for the religion, are there any divisions or organizations that are related with the religion, how has the religion changed after some time, and what does the future hold for this religion? To discover my answers I looked through numerous online articles, books, and magazine articles.I found that the Mormon religion is much more perplexing than I accept numerous individuals think it is and there are numerous misguided judgments made about the religion. Mormonism isn't just a religion however a lifestyle for the individuals that call themselves LDS (Latter Day Saints). The religion was established by Joseph Smith Jr. furthermore, has dedicated devotees around the world. â€Å"Mormonism , is the unadulterated precept of Jesus Christ; of which I myself am not embarrassed. † This statement by Joseph Smith sums up how obvious and unadulterated the follows of this religion trust it is.With this paper I will give a concise history of the Mormon religion and attempt to address key issues and themes encompassing this disputable religion. Joseph Smith set up the Mormon religion in 1830 after a dream from God. He said that while supplicating in the forested areas God came to him in a dream and taught him to begin another genuine religion. At the point when God showed up, Joseph asked him what was the correct religion to follow. â€Å"The Lord addressed that he should join â€Å"none of them, for they were all wrong† and â€Å"all their statements of faith were a cursed thing in his sight. He said that they had a â€Å"form of godliness,† yet they denied â€Å"the power thereof† (Ingleton,2005). With this newly discovered comprehension and the in tensity of God’s words Joseph began The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The congregation was established with only six devotees to begin; a large number of which were Joseph’s relatives. (Ingleton, 2005) Three years after the First Vision, God sent Joseph a dispatcher to train him. The ambassador, Moroni told Joseph of gold tablets that had the expression of the Lord, the everlasting gospel composed on them they were covered in the hills.Joseph found the layouts and started deciphering them. The completed item would be known as the Book of Mormon. (Joseph Smith, Jr. Wikipedia) Joseph utilized the Book of Mormon as an optional Bible. He despite everything accepted the expressions of the Bible yet this was what came after the occasions depicted in the Bible. He believed in spite of the fact that this was a superior form of the Bible from God. He states, â€Å"I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most right of any book on earth, and the corner stone of our religion, and a man would get closer to God by submitting to its statutes, than by some other book. (McConkie, 1959) He started to lecture individuals utilizing the Book of Mormon as his premise. Many were not content with Joseph’s thoughts and they drove him and his kin out of the east. Joseph asserted the main spot the Mormon confidence would endure is in the mountains. He said he had a dream of a spot they would call Zion and he would lead his kin there. With his lessons he drew the consideration of a man named Brigham Young. Brigham Young contemplated the Book of Mormon for a long time before he was persuaded this was the one genuine book and religion.Therefore, after Joseph Smith kicked the bucket Brigham felt compeled to do the vision of Joseph Smith. Youthful was the person who lead the individuals to discover the Zion in what is presently Salt Lake City, UT looking for strict opportunity. This is the place the Mormon religion has been based since July, 18 59 when the pioneers requested of for statehood. (Joseph Smith Jr. Wikipedia) Joseph Smith had dreams of a Holy Temple that would be worked at the Zion where his kin could love without strict oppression and God had directed he construct the House of God. Four days in the wake of entering the Salt Lake Valley on 24 July 1847, Brigham Young assigned where the sanctuary would be assembled, and on 6 April 1853, he laid the foundation of the sanctuary foundation.That occasion denoted the start of a long development process. Work on the sanctuary extended from years to decades until at last, 40 years after it was started, the sanctuary was finished and devoted on 6 April 1893† (Abanes, 2003). The Church currently has numerous sanctuaries, or Houses of God. The Latter Day Saints see fabricating these sanctuaries as the satisfaction of the prediction found in Malachi 3:1. Abanes, 2003) â€Å"As of Dec 2008, there are 129 Temples in activity, 9 sanctuaries under development, and an ex tra 8 sanctuaries reported for development sooner rather than later. These figures give an amazing aggregate of 146 Temples that is destined to be or are in activity in the close future† (Abanes, 2003). The sanctuaries contrast from the congregation meeting houses that are utilized for week after week revere. They are just utilized for exceptional events, for example, gift functions and union with be fixed. A week after week meeting house or church can be discovered each couple of squares. There is one church or meetinghouse for each ward.A ward comprises of 200 to 500 dynamic church individuals that live inside a sensible good ways from the meetinghouse (Abanes, 2003). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is actually viewed as a sort of Christian religion. For the most part this is on the grounds that they have confidence in God and his child Jesus Christ. Past that their convictions vary and the LDS follow distinctive strict pioneers. There are numerous prop hets of God, for example, Joseph Smith that the congregation looks to for direction. These prophets additionally fill in as Presidents of the Church and direct the issues of the Church.There have been sixteen church Presidents since the start of the LDS Church. There isn’t a term to their administration and many remain President until their demise. The present President is Thomas S. Monson and he has filled in as the Church President since 2008 (Mormonism, Wikipedia). There are numerous factions related with the first Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before relocating to the Utah Valley the congregation split into a couple of various gatherings since they didn’t put stock in some of Joseph Smith’s practices, for example, plural marriage. The biggest of these, the Community of Christ (initially known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), was framed in Illinois in 1860 by a few gatherings joining around Smith's child, Joseph Smith III.Most groups existing today that follow the lessons of Joseph Smith, Jr. have some authentic connection with the development. † There were five fundamental groups of the LDS Church which incorporate, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Be that as it may, none of these have caused a remarkable mix as the latest category that split from the Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1935. FLDS, Wikipedia) The split happened to a great extent due to the LDS Church's renunciation of polygamy and its choice to expel specialists of plural marriage, who might not suspend the training. The present home office can be found in Eldorado, Texas where the FLDS Church assembled their sanctuary. The FLDS have been in the news as of late encompassing the contention of the polygamy rehearsed by their individuals. Not exclusively were they wedding various ladies however they would wed ladies that were under age.The most youthful lady of the hour of the pioneer of the FLDS was only 14 years of age. As you can envision, this made numerous individuals view the Mormon confidence in a negative manner. Polygamy is not, at this point rehearsed inside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or its different orders. The main gathering to follow along these lines of encouraging that comes from Joseph Smith are the FLDS. (FLDS, Wikipedia) This is only one of the progressions that have occurred after some time inside this religion. The LDS religion as we probably am aware it today is exceptionally across the board because of the inexorably huge quantities of missionaries.Every kid at eighteen years old is urged to go on a crucial for a long time. This makes up a huge bit of the evangelists. Likewise now that there are sanctuaries it is ideal of the LDS part to be hitched and fixed together in the sanctuary. Tithing is a major piece of the Church too. You are to give one-tenth of the cash you gain to the congregation to help develop the congregation and spread th e Lord’s word (Oakes,1994). The progressions that have occurred in the congregation are in support of the advantage of a developing strict network. The eventual fate of this religion looks bright.On the front of the November, 2007 issue of US News and World Report was an article about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the developing prevalence of the Mormon religion. One of the article’s primary concerns is the noteworthy development of the Utah-based religion, and the fascinating perception that the rise of Mormonism speaks to the main overall innovation of another religion since the prophet Mohamed gave the world Islam. Among the article’s progressively momentous proclamations is a forecast about the development in Church membership.It says: â€Å"If current patterns hold, specialists state Latter-day Saints could number 265 million worldwide by 2080, second just to Roman Catholics among Christian bodies. Mormonism, says Rodney Stark, educat or of human science and religion at the University of Washington, â€Å"stands on the edge of turning into the primary significant confidence to show up on Earth since the prophet Mohammed braved of the desert† (Sheler, 2007). With this expectation I feel it is protected to state this may get one of world religions that understudies later on will concentrate all the more intently in their World Religion classes.