The Organisation and Religion to Re-unite All Religions

A Short Treatise on Mormonism

 

INDEX

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Lifestyle
Joseph Smith
Rituals
After Word

 

MORMON

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)

Mormonism is a religion, which was founded by Joseph Smith around the year 1830.  The religion has its core basis in the original Christian Church.  Mormons place great emphasis on missionary work, and believe that only they can reach Heavens highest plain.  They hold the belief that Satan will be subdued and that Jesus Christ will rule the Earth on his return for 1,000 years.

Their headquarters is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, where they have been since 1846.

Lifestyle

The Mormons have a stringent way of life, which involves not drinking tea or coffee, or in fact anything with caffeine in it, and they definitely do not smoke or use alcohol.  They do however, place extreme value on sport and the value of youth.  Mormon families give 10 per cent of their earnings to their faith as well.

Joseph Smith
(1805 – 1844)

Joseph Smith, born in 1805, was to become the founder and first leader of this faith.  It is said that he prayed for guidance on which religion would be the best for him, and was apparently told to lead his own church, as this would become the only True Church.

In 1823 he received what we could call a second vision, where Angel Moroni appeared to him.  It was after this vision that he started to look for some ancient Golden Tablets, as he believed Moroni had told him to look for these.  After a few years of searching without joy he finally found them on a hillside close to New York.  These tablets in Egyptian dialect were translated by Smith to result in the Mormon holy book, The Book of Mormon.  This was eventually put into print and published in 1830.  Mormons claim that the original author of these tablets were said to be Hebrews who fled just before the battle of the Jews with Babylon.

I will mention also before leaving this section, that people who are non-believers in this faith, say that it is an authoritarian religion, which places a lot of emphasis on secret rituals.  It is also worth adding that Smith attempted to join a Methodist in 1828, even though this would have been against his own belief.  There are also people who believe Ethan Smith first published The Book of Mormon in his fictional work “View of the Hebrews”.

Rituals

Mormons have a ritual, which they call Endowment.  This is an initiation, or baptism of the dead, as they consider it possible for the dead to be able to marry and be baptised in order for them to find their way.  They will only baptise children from the age of 8, as this is the time when they believe, that they are accountable for their own actions.  Mormons do have many more rituals, which will be discussed in a later treatise, but for now I will mention that quite a lot of these rituals were kept hidden by the hierarchy from most of its members and the masses and some are still secret to this day.  One of these other rituals, Polygymy used to be a popular tradition, and was only made public in 1852, but this was abandoned in 1890 after Utah joined the United States of America.

“The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day and ascended to heaven, and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it”.

Joseph Smith

After Word

It is worth mentioning that the activities of Joseph Smith are very controversial and still cause problems to this day for Mormons and non-Mormons alike.  I would also like you to know that the leaders of this faith, are 12 men who have been chosen as modern day Apostles, and that the President of this faith is regarded as a prophet, who continues to reveal Gods word to Mormons.

 

 

Sources and Credits
Written by Robert Worrall
Joseph Smith
Church of Latter Day Saints