Mormonism is a faith practiced by hundreds of thousands around the globe. And but, many who’re unfamiliar with it typically depend on obscure stereotypes and popular culture references to outline it. In actuality, it’s a theologically advanced faith with an uncommon historical past. Right here, we reply among the most typical questions on Mormonism, with context from non secular consultants and Mormon literature.

What do Mormons imagine?

Mormons imagine in a Christian view of God and Jesus. The Bible and the Ebook of Mormon are the 2 most essential sources for the Mormon religion. The Ebook of Mormon is described by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as “a set of writings from historical Christians who traveled from Jerusalem to the Americas throughout biblical occasions,” transcribed by the church’s founder Joseph Smith, who is taken into account by believers to be a prophet. This marks one of many largest variations between Mormonism and different Christian religions.

Are Mormons Christians?

A number of different particulars of Mormon historical past and perception additionally diverge from most Christian understandings. (These are described beneath within the part “What does the Ebook of Mormon say?”)

Mormonism does outline itself as a kind of Christianity. Nevertheless, the reply isn’t that easy.

“Right here’s the issue. Who decides what Christianity is?” says Matthew Bowman, affiliate professor of faith and historical past and Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Research at Claremont Graduate College in California.

“Mormons reject trinitarianism – the concept that God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are the identical entity. This can be a central tenet of mainline Christianity that was determined in early Christian councils. So to a whole lot of Christians, believers in Mormonism should not Christian. It’s an inner debate.”

Nevertheless, trinitarian beliefs can range amongst Mormon denominations. Whereas the LDS Church, the most important denomination of Mormonism, states a perception that “God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are one in will and function however should not actually the identical being or substance,” the Group of Christ, a smaller denomination, defines the trinity as “God who’s a neighborhood of three individuals,” a view that extra aligns with different Christian traditions.

What’s the distinction between Mormonism and Latter-day Saints?

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the most important Mormon denomination, have requested individuals cease referring to church members as “Mormons.” Nevertheless, Bowman says there’s a distinct relationship between the 2.

“Mormonism is a spiritual custom with a variety of denominations inside it, however to equate the 2 erases these a number of different teams,” Bowman says. “There are three pretty giant Mormon church buildings: The LDS based mostly in Salt Lake Metropolis, the Fundamentalist Church of (Jesus Christ of) Latter-day Saints, which is the group related to polygamy, and the Group of Christ. They’re the Mormons who didn’t go west and settle in Utah, and they’re fairly completely different theologically.”

So, logically, all followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are technically Mormons. However not all Mormons are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

How did Mormonism start?

The origins of Mormonism set it aside from different Christian traditions. The faith was based by Joseph Smith within the 1820s in Palmira, a small city in upstate New York.

Mormons imagine Smith, confused about what denomination of Christianity to comply with, obtained a imaginative and prescient from an angel named Moroni, who led Smith to a field containing a ebook inscribed on gold plates. The ebook was mentioned to be written by historical prophets who lived within the Americas, and Moroni requested Smith to translate the traditional textual content into English.

Within the introduction to the Ebook of Mormon, Smith describes the textual content as “probably the most right of any ebook on earth, and the keystone of our faith, and a person would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by every other ebook.” It was first printed in English in 1830. In these early life, Smith and a few shut associates additionally claimed to have been visited by different essential biblical figures like John the Baptist and three apostles of Jesus, based on the LDS Church web site. With this small group, Smith fashioned the primary Mormon church.

What does the Ebook of Mormon say?

The Ebook of Mormon assumes an alternate historical past to different Christian texts. Most notably, the textual content claims a powerful presence of historical Christianity and pre-Christianity in what’s now the USA. In keeping with the Ebook of Mormon, Jesus appeared within the Americas after his crucifixion in 33 AD and preached to a gaggle of Nephites, descendants of historical Israelites who traveled to the continent round 600 BC. One in every of these Nephites was the prophet Mormon, who would ultimately write a part of the Ebook of Mormon, later transcribed by Joseph Smith.

Different biblical particulars are additionally mentioned to have existed within the Americas. The Backyard of Eden, as an illustration, is extensively assumed within the Mormon religion to have existed someplace in Missouri.

As a result of this assumed Christian heritage within the Americas, Joseph Smith believed Native People had been additionally descendants of historical Israelites.

“Smith and his early followers had a perception that Native People needs to be honored,” says Bowman. “However then there was frustration when, as Mormonism moved west, Native People weren’t receptive to that.”

How did Mormonism come to be related to Salt Lake Metropolis?

Although the Mormon faith started in New York, it shortly unfold west, by Ohio and Illinois and later to the contested frontier of Utah. Missionaries, who instantly grew to become an essential a part of the church, had been one motive for the growth. The opposite was that Smith, together with his visions and controversial concepts, grew to become more and more unpopular outdoors his Mormon neighborhood and selected to relocate a number of occasions.

“Smith claimed that since Abraham and Isaac and Joseph and all of those Biblical patriarchs are polygamists, that’s the biblical order of issues,” says Bowman. “On the very least, he knew that individuals wouldn’t like this, and so he begins doing it secretly and finally ends up marrying someplace between 30 and 35 girls.”

This apply sowed distrust not solely amongst non-Mormons, however amongst a few of Smith’s closest associates.

In 1844, Smith and his brother Hyrum had been arrested in Illinois and charged with treason after making an attempt to quash public dialogue of polygamy and utilizing a neighborhood militia. (Smith had additionally introduced his intention to run for president of the USA earlier within the yr, attracting much more consideration.) A mob broke into the jail and killed the brothers earlier than they might be tried.

After Smith’s demise, the church was taken over by Brigham Younger, who continued the push westward.

“(Younger) was very satisfied that (Mormons) had been going to have the flee the US,” says Bowman. “He consulted with a whole lot of explorers and mapmakers, and selected the Salt Lake Valley. On the time, it was nonetheless a part of Mexico due to the Mexican-American struggle. There have been Indigenous individuals there, however no Mexican or Americans.”

By 1877, a majority of Mormons within the US settled within the Salt Lake Valley. Teams that break up off additional east grew to become what at the moment are Mormon denominations outdoors of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Why may be very little recognized about Mormon customs?

“This goes again to Joseph Smith and the early church,” says Bowman. “In his ultimate church, everybody would stay in the identical metropolis, all of the property can be owned by the church and everybody would get what they wanted from the church.”

Bowman says Brigham Younger strove to proceed this custom when the church settled in Salt Lake Metropolis, encouraging followers to work together solely with Mormon-led teams and companies.

Immediately, a whole lot of Mormon church life stays a thriller to outsiders, and that’s by design.

“What goes on inside their temples, that are their predominant locations of worship, is taken into account sacred, and also you don’t discuss it in public,” Bowman says.

He provides that, within the LDS Church, solely members might enter the temple.

“Even then, it’s just some members. Many members should get a suggestion to attend.”

Is missionary work a giant a part of Mormonism?

“Missionary work has been a part of the church because the very starting,” says Bowman, noting that missionary work is a part of what initially led the early Mormon church to develop. “In Mormonism, the management of the church will lengthen a name so that you can go on a mission. That’s what distinguishes it from different Christian church buildings. There, it’s private and voluntary. And whereas it’s not technically required within the Mormon church, it’s nonetheless a cultural expectation.”

In keeping with the LDS Church, there are about 53,000 full-time missionaries around the globe, in additional than 400 places. These missionaries are usually younger males, who undertake missionary duties for 2 years, and younger girls, who undertake missionary duties for 18 months.

The nations with the most important variety of LDS-aligned Mormons, after the US, are Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines, based on LDS statistics.

Do Mormons actually apply polygamy?

The apply of polygamy within the early Mormon church was extremely controversial. The unfold of Mormonism even led to authorized battles with the US authorities, culminating within the federal criminalization of polygamy in 1882.

Nevertheless, polygamy shouldn’t be extensively practiced amongst Mormons at present.

“The Church doesn’t authorize and sternly prohibits polygamy at present,” reads an LDS Church rationalization of the topic. “As early as 1890, the apply of polygamy got here to an finish when Church President Wilford Woodruff was impressed by God to subject a declaration.”

The disavowal of polygamy resulted in a schism. The group that refused to cease the apply of polygamy grew to become the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Immediately, the FLDS is an especially controversial group whose most outstanding leaders have been convicted of significant crimes. Many members of different Mormon church buildings are not looking for their faith related to the FLDS.

What’s Mormonism’s view on social points?

Public notion of Mormonism usually focuses on the social and cultural values of its followers. It’s true that Mormonism teaches the abstinence of issues like alcohol, espresso and premarital intercourse. Additionally it is true that the LDS Church doesn’t totally affirm LGBTQ believers or acknowledge identical intercourse marriage.

The LDS Church’s official insurance policies describe their stance on homosexuality:

“If members really feel same-sex attraction and are striving to stay the regulation of chastity, leaders assist and encourage them of their resolve. These members might obtain Church callings, have temple recommends, and obtain temple ordinances if they’re worthy. Male Church members might obtain and train the priesthood.”

In one other part, same-sex marriage and intimacy is condemned:

“Solely a person and a lady who’re legally and lawfully wedded as husband and spouse ought to have sexual relations. Another sexual relations, together with these between individuals of the identical intercourse, are sinful and undermine the divinely created establishment of the household.”

Mormonism has additionally been closely criticized for its historical past of racial prejudice. Each Joseph Smith and Brigham Younger superior a theological concept that Black individuals bore the “curse of Cain,” relating them to the Previous Testomony story of the covetous, murderous brother.

“The Pearl of Nice Value,” an essential assortment of Mormon teachings written by Smith, repeatedly describes the descendants of Cain as having darkish pores and skin. An entry within the chapter of Moses reads:

“And Enoch additionally beheld the residue of the individuals which had been the sons of Adam; they usually had been a mix of all of the seed of Adam put it aside was the seed of Cain, for the seed of Cain had been black, and had not place amongst them.”

Smith, Younger and subsequent leaders of the Mormon church repeatedly made disparaging and racist feedback about Black folks that typically additionally served as commentary on justice actions like abolitionism.

“Cain may need been killed, and that may have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was to not be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nostril and black pores and skin,” Younger wrote in 1859. “Hint mankind right down to after the flood, after which one other curse is pronounced upon the identical race—that they need to be the ‘servant of servants;’ and they are going to be, till that curse is eliminated; and the Abolitionists can’t assist it, nor within the least alter that decree.”

Due to these racist beliefs, Black males had been barred from LDS church priesthood from the 1850s till 1978.

Because the disavowal of its founders’ views on race, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has sometimes made statements condemning racism. Its church insurance policies additionally make clear this stance.

“Immediately, the Church disavows the theories superior prior to now that black pores and skin is an indication of divine disfavor or curse, or that it displays unrighteous actions in a premortal life; that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or individuals of every other race or ethnicity are inferior in any option to anybody else,” a present LDS-issued guide reads. “Church leaders at present unequivocally condemn all racism, previous and current, in any kind.”

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