Exploring the Mormons Essay

A homegrown religion originating in the late 1820s, Mormonism arose as a rejection of the existing Christian sects and a return to what the Mormons considered to be pure Christianity. Similarly, the members believed their desire for a new kind of government stemmed from their disillusionment with what they believed was a corrupt government and a desire for the reestablishment of true American values and the original intent of the founding fathers. This sentiment is epitomized by Joseph Smith’s presidential platform, which states “No honest man can doubt for a moment, the glory of American liberty is on the wane; and that calamity and confusion will sooner or later destroy the

Brigham Young - predecessor of the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Joseph Smith; lead the pioneers across America and landed in Salt Lake City, Utah; church was founded in 1830

They then told him that he would be the prophet of the new church (Smith, n.d.). Joseph Smith’s own account of that day says,

After its founder’s assassination ■ (Joseph Smith Jr. in June 1844) and facing harassment by their neighbors, the Church of Latter-Day Saints knew it needed to move its headquarters from Nauvoo [Illinois]. With several factions competing for the Church’s control, the faithful debated possible destinations, including Oregon, Vancouver Island, Texas, and México’s Alta California province. In February 1846, with Apostle Orson Pratt’s backing, Samuel Brannan (1819–1889) led 238 stalwarts and set sail for Alta California aboard the 404-ton Brooklyn. Brannan hoped to pave the path for the Church’s eventual overland exodus.

Arias had a pattern of unstable interpersonal romantic relationships with men, and the dynamics repeated in her relationships. She alternated between extremes of idealization and devaluation, and she was a chameleon, changing herself to fit in the people around her, in this case joining the Mormon Church a short time after meeting Alexander. In the beginning of these relationships she displayed intense fascination and were intrigued by their personality quirks, when she was ready to move on she then made claims of sexual deviancy, physical and emotional abuse, and in the case of Alexander, even stated he was a pedophile.

Mormon culture has developed over the years in many different ways. I never knew its significance until I observed many different people’s lives on the Brigham Young University-Idaho’s campus. They all have the similar beliefs, ideas, knowledge, behavior, material creations that are learned and shared, which was transmitted through a language. The specific culture shares many beliefs, but yet there are differences in these subcultures that we find in Mormonism. The differences have to do with their personalities, personal influences, and the opinions that come out of those things.

Mormonism is known as one of the most successful (in present time) and government involved religions from the 1800’s. Joseph Smith, who had much curiosity in religion, and what was real and what was made up, founded the religion. He claimed that Jesus Christ and God himself visited him and that they told him, .all denominations have strayed from the truth and that he should not join any of them. After that event, he didn’t think much of it and moved on through his life. Once he told his father of his vision, he was scorned, and went to seek forgiveness. When praying for his sins to be relinquished he received a vision by the angel named Moroni, who spoke of a book written on gold plates and buried in a nearby hillside. As Smith went to the gold plates, he continued translating what became the Book of

He provided a good example due to the Market Revolution in the early 1800s. Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, or Mormonism, created another model of a religious utopia (Keene, 301). Smith grew up in western New York, where the fires of the Great Awakening burned hot. In Smith’s Christian Religion environment, had a revelation on which Mormonism was based (Keene, 301). The Book of Mormon was published in Palmyra, New York, in 1830 and this town became the site of one of the earliest Mormon communities (Keene 301). Smith was influenced by the widespread belief that the millennium was at hand, bringing with it an end to debt and the return of Christ and a new era of peace, happiness, and prosperity. Smith’s revelations detail struck a resonant chord with small farmers and etc whose experience with the expanding market economy had been largely negative (Keene 301). The revelation attracted thousands of followers. Joseph Smith members were popularly known as Mormons. With the exception of the first generation of Mormon converts, American society does not seem to have been receptive to him; they were pushed from one location to another, and eventually after Smith’s assassination, they moved to Utah. Prior to their exodus the Mormons endured a long period of internal dissension and harassment by their non-Mormon

On April 6, 1980, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka the Mormon Church) was founded. [It is interesting to note that according to Mormon doctrine (Doctrine and Covenants 20:1), April 6 is the birthday of Jesus Christ.] 10 years prior to this event, in 1820, fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith

Walker, Turley, and Leonard explain the reasons for high tension in Utah a different way. Instead of focusing about problems with the church like Denton, they explain about things happening around the church. They focus on how news of a coming U.S. army puts fear in the people. They quote Heber C. Kimball as saying “that the army wanted to take Mormon women back to the States” (Walker, Turley, Leonard 44). Also, the authors describe how Brigham Young also makes it seem like the second coming, where Christ comes to destroy the wicked, is near and that the people need to prepare for it. They also mention Brigham Young’s strict war policy. Within this war policy, they were to be frugal with all their supplies, and not sell or trade any of it to those of

Two of these denominations were the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the African Methodist Episcopal. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - commonly known as Mormons was founded by Joseph Smith; he was inspired to create a new church faction by the revivals he experienced in the western area of New York called the "Burned Over District-" implying it had been "scorched" by so many revivals. Although not regarded as a splinter off from an existing Protestant denomination but a restoration of primitive Christianity having distinctive post-biblical doctrines, the Mormon Church is now a flourishing, worldwide denomination. On the other hand, during the revivals, Baptists and Methodists converted large numbers of blacks. However, because of the mistreatment they received from their fellow believers, under the leadership of Richard Allen, the black population broke away from the Methodist church while creating their own denomination; the African Methodist Episcopal.10 Both churches mentioned above, having developed and sprouted out other denominations over the years, still stand even today.

Their wish for a peaceful life was not going to happen in Missouri. Eventually the governor of Missourideclared the Mormons public enemies and Joseph Smith was imprisoned. Rumours soon spread of how the Mormons were befriending Indians and trying to convert them to Mormonism. Also people started talking about how the Mormons apparently were freeing slaves. This caused public outburst and the Governor stated that the Mormons must be, "Exterminated or driven form the state if necessary for the public good".

The Mormons were a religious group of people who were driven to what is now Utah. As a result of being driven from their homes in Missouri and Arkansas, they grew suspicious of non-members of their group, especially Native Americans and people from their original homeland. The massacres were one of the worst things they can do to non-members. They even disguised themselves as Native Americans to frame them in some of the massacres to remove them from Utah. The Native Americans, like the Shoshone, were probably mistreated because some religious groups see their religion as paganism. Many Indians died fighting to remain in their homeland and keep their heritage. Today, it is illegal to violate human rights including religion, but many Native

Mormonism is a name meaning the spiritual principles of followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well known as Mormons. Mormonism defines the guidelines of the Church that were reestablished to the world by the Prophet Joseph Smith. If you would ask the question “what is Mormonism” to a member, there’s a high change they would respond by acknowledging their love of Jesus Christ, he is the dominant part of the religion. Where can you find a continuing participant of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, well they're instituted at every level of civilization. For instance, in a charity, business, education, science, political parties, government, news media, and lastly the entertainment productions. The originator of The Church, Joseph Smith, wrote, “the essential philosophies of our religion are regarding Jesus christ, he died and was buried, rose again and on the third day ascended into the heavens; all supplementary things which relate to our religion is only accessories to it.”The main beliefs and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are that Jesus Christ is the redeemer of the earth and the Son of our