To most of us it seems like the Mormons have been around forever. They actually date back to the 1820s. In 1823 a young lad by the name of Joseph Smith sought Gods wisdom as to what church he should belong to. Some speculate that he went into the woods to do this while others claim that he did it from his bedroom. He states that the Angel Maroni summoned him and called him by name and stipulated to him that he had great works for God to do. He was directed to finding some golden plates where the instructions and historical episodes that had taken place centuries ago. Joseph claimed that the everlasting gospel was contained on these plates.

Joseph apparently was able to locate these plates through a vision. The plates were buried in a hill called Mora. The instructions also included that he was not to remove the plates nor was he to show them to anyone. The story goes that the next day Joseph was so exhausted from these visions that his father had to send him back home from work. During that time he collapsed. and apparently the Angel Maroni appeared to him again and repeated the message. Joseph told his father about these happenings.

Ironically Joseph’s father believed him and sent him to where he was to find the plates. Apparently Joseph found them as per instructions and buried them again for a period of four years. The Angel Maroni returned and instructed Joseph and every year he made a pilgrimage to this site. Then in 1827 Joseph came up with the plates but was forced to hide them because of those that wanted to sell them.

Apparently during this translation time other people did witness these plates as there are testimonies in the book of Mormon concerning this. After Joseph finished translating the gold plates then the book of Mormon came into being.

It is ironic that with Josephs three years of formal education that the book was very complex and articulate. Joseph claimed that it was the power of God that gave him the ability to be able to do this. According to the story Joseph would just concentrate and have a great deal of faith. Due to the difficulty of the translation it was said that Joseph would sit with the plates and verbally give the translation. His wife gives quite an account of this tim and states that Joseph was working on this book and how he would be able to return to where he left off with no problem. One would think that this would take many years to do but apparently the translation only talk a matter of three months and there were several scribes that would write as Joseph dictated.

One of these scribes was Oliver Cowdery that upheld the validity of the book with great fevor, to the point where he stipulated that by only obeying the book of Mormons would one get into the kingdom of heaven.

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Understanding the Mormon church can be quite a difficult task because what seems to be on the surface is really not what it is when one starts to study it further. Many individuals will say that they are not aware of the Mormon church but if you have any knowledge of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints then yes you do know of the Mormons.

This was an organization that was actually formed in 1830. The biggest stance of this particular church is that they believe that they are the only restored Church of Christ and this was all to have taken place through a revelation of Joseph Smith there past leader. What the Mormons believe is that prior to the formation of this church that the entire world was caught up in massive religious confusion called the great apostasy. This was a time where people were living in darkness and it wasn’t till the Mormon church came along where their church put things back on track again.

One of the frustrations that the Mormon Church runs into is that they believe that too often there is misinformation about them and this is leading people to many misconceptions. This is the reason that most individuals that are not of the Mormon belief don’t understand what position they take in Christianity or their doctrine. In many ways the Mormon church uses the same vocabulary as what the Christian church believes as well. The biggest out of many discrepancies according to the Christian belief is that they believe that Joseph Smith was a God himself.

One of the things that the Mormon Church believe or promote is that there are many other religions that share the same doctrines as theirs and therefore are entitled to the same salvation. They will often in their approach to preaching their beliefs will encourage individuals to embrace the true Church of Jesus Christ. This not necessarily referring to the Church person with whom they are talking to but to the Latter-day Saints Church because they believe that this is the one that Jesus restored through Joseph Smith. They firmly believe that this is the concept that Jesus taught when he was here on earth and therefore has to be the true church.

It’s interesting to note that after the supposed prophecy of Joseph Smith he wrote 13 articles on faith. What these articles pertain to are now what the basic Mormon beliefs center on. Basically the beliefs are broke down into several categories such as the Church of Jesus Christ, gospel and principles, family purpose ,and the life and nature of God. The Mormons believe that after the last apostle died that there was no authority left to lead the Church and that all of the doctrines that Jesus had taught were changed over the years and eventually this led into living in darkness.

Naturally everybody is entitled to their own opinions and their own beliefs. The same is applicable to the Mormons. If they so choose to follow the doctrine of Joseph Smith then they have that right. Christianity in its authority takes offense that the Church of Latter-Day Saints is standing on the basics of Christianity and yet have taken all those basics and misconstrued them into what they feel is the true gospel.

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If someone were to tell that in order to be a true believer in Christ that he only came to America, or you had to wear unique underwear would you perhaps not think that was a little unusual? Combine this with the omission of consuming acohol, tea or coffee and the fact there is one remaining prophet on earth then you may be learning about the Church of Latter Day Saints, or aka “Mormons”. If you are thinking that not too many people would pick up on these beliefs then you will be surprised to hear that this particular Church is the 4th largest in America.

What argument do Mormons make? Mormons create brave statements about their attitude. For instance, they stipulate that the Church of Latter Day Saints is a ?restored? edition of the unique Church recognized by Jesus Christ 2000 years before. They purport that they themselves know the beginning of existence, why we even exist and what the purpose of our death will be. The basis of their believe stems on that every being can gain individual knowledge in order to become familiar with what to do by means of their existence. They state that weddings and families can last for all time without end.

There are some various fascinating claims. In some cases though they are actually a spin off of what Christianity as we know it claims. Although many of the claims made by the Mormons are classified as weird or crazy, their argument is that so is many of the claims made by the Christians when made to the non believers.

The Mormons retort to the unbelief of those that approach them with accusations of being weird or crazy is that it is all based on their lack of knowledge of their faith. They will point out that the Mormons believe that the Son of God came to earth, died for everyone’s sins, and came back to life. They go on to stipulate that this sounds crazy to the non believer yet many Churches outside of their own teach these concepts.

While this is true that there is every indication that the Mormons do stand on this belief its what they have added to the Christian doctrine that causes the upheaval in what to believe. For example they believe that they themselves can become Gods by doing the right thing. They further believe that God himself was once bone, flesh and blood. It is all these add ons that really hurt the credibility of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Ironically enough many people to this day do not realize that this church is based on the Mormon beliefs. They are considered as two distinct entities. Another interesting factor about the Mormons is that their rituals are very much conducted in the same form as that of the free masons, yet neither of these entities claim any tie to the other.

The important lesson to learn here is that when considering any religion whether it be Mormonism or Christianity that one look at the religion in its entirety and not just its basics.

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If one were to ask at the Mormon what their beliefs are they will more than likely refer you to the 13 articles of faith. These are points at that were written by their founder Joseph Smith in order to explain what the Mormon church is based on. The Mormon church incidentally is the Church of latter-day Saints. Some of the points covered in the 13 articles are based on what they believe in God as being the eternal father and that his son is Jesus Christ and they also believe in the Holy Ghost. If one goes a little further to research this they will soon find that be are not considered as one and the same as Christian belief teaches but the Mormons believe they are three separate Gods.

They believe that man is punished because of what they do not because of what Adam did. They will tell you that they believed in the atonement of Christ and that all mankind will be saved but going a little further they will stipulate that saving comes from obedience to the Gospel. In essence they are taking away being saved by grace which was the payment Christ made when he died on the cross in accordance to the Christian belief

They believe that the important sectors of their faith is first to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ then following that must be repentance after that comes baptism and then the laying on of hands. These again on the surface appear very closely related to the standard Christian religion

In order to be of any type of leader or significance then you must be an individual that has been called by God through prophecy and also all by the laying on of hands of those that are in authority now.

They believe in the organization that goes back to the New Testament days referring to apostles and prophets etc.

They believe in the gift of tongues and prophecy as well as visions and healings. Again many of the beliefs are tha of whicht the Christian religion holds true.

One of the interesting and most substantial factors to bear in mind is that they do believe that the Bible is the Word of God only when it is translated correctly. They will also tell you in the same breath that they believe the book of Mormon to be the word of God as well. It must be noted that the book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith himself.

They do believe in the revelations that God gives. They do stand on the premise of the restoration of the 10 gatherings of the tribes but this is to be built upon the American soil.

They believe that all men should be allowed to worship how, where or what they may. However based on this if your beliefs are not following the Mormon belief you would never take a position of authority in their organization. They believed in obeying the government and the laws. They also hold the promise of doing good to all men.

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