Mormons

[bcbudrockz69]

The Latter Day Saint movement, including Mormonism, originated in the 1820s in western New York. Founded by Joseph Smith, Jr., the faith drew its first converts while Smith was dictating the text of the Book of Mormon. This book described itself as a chronicle of early indigenous peoples of the Americas, portraying them as Christ-believing Israelites, and calling for their "restoration" to the Christian faith. During production of this work in mid-1829, Smith, his close associate Oliver Cowdery, and other early followers began baptizing new converts into a Christian primitivist church, formally organized in 1830 as the Church of Christ.

Smith's church grew steadily, but from the beginning, the faith felt pressure from non-Mormons. To avoid opposition from New York residents who remembered Smith's earlier work as a treasure seer, the Latter Day Saints moved to Kirtland, Ohio and hoped to establish a permanent New Jerusalem in Jackson County, Missouri. However, the Saints were expelled from Jackson County in 1833, and a widespread apostasy forced Smith to flee Kirtland in early 1838. In Missouri, the Mormon War (1838) resulted in the expulsion of Saints from Missouri, and they settled in Nauvoo, Illinois. In 1844, Smith was killed by members of the Illinois militia, precipitating a succession crisis. The largest faction of Saints chose Brigham Young as their leader and emigrated to what became the Utah Territory, where they incorporated The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church began to openly practice plural marriage, a form of polygamy that Joseph Smith had secretly instituted in Nauvoo. Plural marriage became the faith's most famous characteristic during the 19th century, but vigorous opposition by the [[United States Congress] threatening the church's existence as a legal institution. In his 1890 Manifesto, church president Wilford Woodruff announced the official end of plural marriage, though the practice continued unofficially until the early 20th century.

Several smaller groups of Mormons broke with the LDS Church over the issue of plural marriage, forming several denominations of Mormon fundamentalism. Meanwhile, the LDS Church has become a champion of monogamy and patriotism, has extended its reach internationally by a vigorous missionary program, and has grown in size to nearly 14 million members. At least outwardly, the church has become part of the American and international mainstream. Like all Mormon faiths, however, it consciously and intentionally retains its identity as a "peculiar people", set apart from the world by what it believes is its uniquely favored relationship with God.


lol so in a nutshell, a bunch ppl from israel came to north america and buried some golden plates, this smith guy finds them and abricadbra we have mormons , , now if you realy reasearch them you will find even though the church dinounced plural wives, they only did it to please the goverment, kinda a bribe but the leaders still wish they could practice poligamy because the first dude smith said that if you wanted to be like god you must do like god, and accorrding to him, god had many wives lol


even though i believe in frreeedom of religeon, the world imo would be better with out all forms of religeion interfering in goverment bizness or laws

[Big ned]

Sadly, your ignorance is legion. You really have no idea of the difference between a radical (or fundamental) arm of a mainstream religion, do you?

Can you tell me what happened that you suddenly have an urge to post such negative tripe about a church that does so much good? Someone hurt your feelings?

Shall I start posting all of the things the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints has done in disaster relief, clean water programs in underdeveloped countries, microloans for people to get out of poverty in third world nations, wheelchairs for the disabled around the world... etc, etc. Then come back and tell me how much better off the world would be without the LDS church.

I guess you read something on wikipedia (which by the way was reasonably accurate)... I take it you are against polygamy, and that is fine... but to condemn a mainstream church based on two paragraphs from wikipedia is a bit silly. Get some more information because it is really pathetic that people would actually post on a website when they are so ignorant about a topic.

I mean, I believe in freedom of speech, but I believe the world would be (imho) better off without ignoramuses.

[Born_again]

S

Shall I start posting all of the things the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints has done in disaster relief, clean water programs in underdeveloped countries, microloans for people to get out of poverty in third world nations, wheelchairs for the disabled around the world... etc, etc. Then come back and tell me how much better off the world would be without the LDS church.

Don't forget the Californian Proposition 8 either, eh Ned?

[bcbudrockz69]

Sadly, your ignorance is legion. You really have no idea of the difference between a radical (or fundamental) arm of a mainstream religion, do you?

Can you tell me what happened that you suddenly have an urge to post such negative tripe about a church that does so much good? Someone hurt your feelings?

Shall I start posting all of the things the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints has done in disaster relief, clean water programs in underdeveloped countries, microloans for people to get out of poverty in third world nations, wheelchairs for the disabled around the world... etc, etc. Then come back and tell me how much better off the world would be without the LDS church.

I guess you read something on wikipedia (which by the way was reasonably accurate)... I take it you are against polygamy, and that is fine... but to condemn a mainstream church based on two paragraphs from wikipedia is a bit silly. Get some more information because it is really pathetic that people would actually post on a website when they are so ignorant about a topic.

I mean, I believe in freedom of speech, but I believe the world would be (imho) better off without ignoramuses.

i watched a documentary on pbs about mormons , and by with out i ment all religeon not just mormons ,i applaud them for denouncing plural marriage but the first leader believed in it and said if u want to be like god you must do as god and have more than one wife, anyways the point i was making by starting the thread is how many ppl know how the mormon church actualy started and what it was first based on? nothing more, nothing less lol

[Big ned]

By what you posted, you don't have any idea how the LDS church started or what it stands for. Why did you change your name westside bud?

If you were refering to all religions, why does the subject heading say Mormons?

Proposition 8 was voted on by all Californians, not just Mormons. The LDS church does believe that marriage should be and has traditionally always been between man and woman. They have as much right to voice their opinion on that as you and others do about their distaste for polygamy.

[Mr Danksworth]

By what you posted, you don't have any idea how the LDS church started or what it stands for.

http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/59507/detail/

Ned has to be right. Look at how prescient he was on the whole "Acorn scandal'.

[bcbudrockz69]

By what you posted, you don't have any idea how the LDS church started or what it stands for. Why did you change your name westside bud?

If you were refering to all religions, why does the subject heading say Mormons?

Proposition 8 was voted on by all Californians, not just Mormons. The LDS church does believe that marriage should be and has traditionally always been between man and woman. They have as much right to voice their opinion on that as you and others do about their distaste for polygamy.

first jo and me decided i should have just 1 name and this was my original name so im going with this, secound i called it mormons because thats the subject i was interested in exploring,and if it did not start with sum smith dude haveing a vision and finding gold plates supposedly, then how did it start? lol


see the odd thing here is your getting upset over something thats not even here lol. fill us in on the massacre in the meadows in utah? whats your version of that? ill give you a chance before i post what discouvered , thats fair right?

[bcbudrockz69]

fill us in beg ned fill us in , this thread is about how the mormon church started, its not about what they do or what they stand for now , so fill us in on how it first started. i read that joe smith used a seer rock to find the gold plates, is that true big ned?

[Big ned]

No, it's not true. I'm not upset either... Do you honestly think these discussions cause one ounce of emotion? Please. You've got about 10 people that participate on these boards with any regularity and half of them do it just to see if they can get a rise out of someone. Not really anything to get upset about.

Try going to www.LDS.org if you want to read about how the church started instead of watching some slanted presentation on PBS. Yes, I know the documentary that you watched. Most of it was actually pretty accurate, but if you came away with Joseph finding the plates by the use of a seer stone, you need to go back and do a little more research.

As for the mountain meadow massacre, there was no church authorization for that. I think the documentary made that quite clear ... It was some very scared farmers in southern Utah that were expecting another attack from the mobs who had driven them from their homes and slaughtered their people several times already. Interesting that you don't mention how the governer of MIssourri put a bounty on the Mormons heads in that state... were you aware that the state government of Missouri made it legal to kill human beings on sight? Do you know how many Mormons were slaughtered before the unfortunate incident in Southern Utah occured? Do you think maybe they were a little frightened and defensive by then? The leaders of the church had nothing to do with that action, it was a handful of frightened farmers that just wanted to be left alone.

[bcbudrockz69]

No, it's not true. I'm not upset either... Do you honestly think these discussions cause one ounce of emotion? Please. You've got about 10 people that participate on these boards with any regularity and half of them do it just to see if they can get a rise out of someone. Not really anything to get upset about.

Try going to http://www.LDS.org if you want to read about how the church started instead of watching some slanted presentation on PBS. Yes, I know the documentary that you watched. Most of it was actually pretty accurate, but if you came away with Joseph finding the plates by the use of a seer stone, you need to go back and do a little more research.

As for the mountain meadow massacre, there was no church authorization for that. I think the documentary made that quite clear ... It was some very scared farmers in southern Utah that were expecting another attack from the mobs who had driven them from their homes and slaughtered their people several times already. Interesting that you don't mention how the governer of MIssourri put a bounty on the Mormons heads in that state... were you aware that the state government of Missouri made it legal to kill human beings on sight? Do you know how many Mormons were slaughtered before the unfortunate incident in Southern Utah occured? Do you think maybe they were a little frightened and defensive by then? The leaders of the church had nothing to do with that action, it was a handful of frightened farmers that just wanted to be left alone.

i never mentioned it because i never got a chance, you started accusing me of stuff , but please go into more detail about it , i agree it was a sick thing to do and that sttate should be ashamed of its self . i agree the mormons are the lest of our worries as far as churches go, one only has to look to the pope to see bigger acts of covering stuff up about realy bad things .

so for educational purposes, if it wasnt by a seerstone, how did joe find the plates? how does plural marriages fit in and whats the reason behind them? and how does the story of lost israelite being in america before columbus fit in? why did that become a belief?

[Big ned]

www.lds.org. I'm not going to write an essay on something when it already exists a click away.
Have fun... hope you learn something.

[Glacier]

Big ned, I am not here to mock you or anything, I just want to figure out the truth. I have not spent much of any time studying any brand of Christianity, so I will have to start at basic questions.

Here a few things I have read in the Bible:

Matthew 22:36-38

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.

John 3:36

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Romans 10:13

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

My question is, why do I need to become a Mormon? According to the Bible I read, it said something along the lines of "all who confess with their mouths and believe in their hearts that Jesus is Lord shall be saved." Is this not so? Is there some special hidden passage I don't know about? An honest question from an inquiring mind.

[bcbudrockz69]

http://www.lds.org. I'm not going to write an essay on something when it already exists a click away.
Have fun... hope you learn something.

i did read the history on that link thanks, but it wasnt as indepth as the pbs documentary imo but still out lined most things.

now i wont dout that the mormon church does good things, and yes the extreme fundamentalist are probaly not welcome in the main church , i was just interested in the way the church came about, and am fascinated that some of the first beliefs were believed lol goldplates and ppl from israel in northamerica before columbus, the way they moved around from town to town and state to state .

infact i find the whole subject of ppl believing in some type of god intreeging , anyways i ment no disrespect, im just rather straightforward

[don_pepe]

Is it true that when a Mormon leaves the church that he/she is shunned by their family?

[Big ned]

Thanks to those who ask respectfully and I will answer respectfully. Note to BCbud.. when you put lol behind something that pertains to the establishment of a person's faith, it shows disrespect and as a result will not gain cooperation. Try again.

Glacier, thank you for asking questions with respect and sincerity. Many people ask that question about all religions "why do I need to join a church?" There are no hidden passages that explain this, it is actually quite clear. He that believes on Christ will be saved is absolutely true. When you believe on Christ, you will follow His teachings.. let's examine some scriptures based on His teachings.

Rom. 6: 4
4 Therefore we are buried with him by bbaptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.


Mark 10: 38-39
38 But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
39 And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:


Eph. 4: 5
5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

This last one is one of the scriptures that prompted Joseph Smith to enquire of God which of all the churches that existed in his day were true.

Now, the question is... which church has been given the authority by Christ to perform the saving ordinances? Christ did organize a church while he was on the earth. Why do you think he authorized the twelve apostles to continue the church after he left? Why do we have apostles writing letters of instruction to the saints in the area? To correct misconceptions that were sneaking into Christ's true doctrine.

So who has the authority today? After the apostles died, the authority was taken from the earth. People wonder why God's church would do things like the inquisitions and murder and plunder etc. That's because it wasn't God's church, it was man's church. Then we have the protestant churches. Let's take Martin Luther for example. He told his followers he didn't have the authority to start a religion, but the Lutheran church was created based on his points of disagreement with the Catholic church. So none of the protestant churches received authority.

There is only one church on earth that claims to be a restored church. There is only one church on earth that can trace it's priesthood authority back to Christ... that is the one that was restored exactly as Christ's church through authorization given by Christ. A prophet, 12 apostles etc.

Now I know there will be many that will come on and mock what I have just said. Save your breath. No one is converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ by reading a posting on the internet. You need to study the scriptures, ponder what you have read and then sincerely approach God in prayer and receive your own answers.

You asked, that is my belief.