It represents the sacred and personal aspect of their relationship with God. It is worn under the clothing as a commitment to live good and honorable lives. The church believes in a spirit world after death. The second president of the church Brigham Young taught that after people die the spirits stay on earth while they wait, learn, and work until being resurrected. He also taught that all spirits are in adult form even when someone dies as a child. Those that have a righteous spirit get to experience a paradise of peace, happiness and rest.
The temple is considered an earthly point of contact with higher beings for Mormon followers. Mormons believe that God is always present in the temple space and therefore this makes it a sacred placed to learn things that allow individuals to progress towards becoming more like God.
The temple is used to perform the Mormon endowment ceremony which is a ritual where adult Mormons go through a series of exercises and lessons to help them deepen their faith. During this time they make covenants with God to keep His commandments. Once they receive their endowments they begin to wear distinctive underwear known as garments which we spoke bout above , where there are special marks embroidered.
The garment is meant to remind these individuals of the commitment they made to God and to their faith. Typically women receive their endowment before they marry and men receive it before they go on a mission. Unlike baptism, endowment is not a one-time thing. They are encouraged to go throughout their lives several times to help grow their faith with more endowment rituals.
Before going to the temple to receive their endowments they have to obtain a Temple recommend. This is a card that is signed by a church leader to certify that the person holding it is in good standing with the church.
Good standing is given after an interview process, keeping up with the tithing law, following the 10 commandments, following the Word of Wisdom, and having a strong testimony of the truth of the Gospel. Those that are not Mormons are not allowed into a Mormon temple because they want to preserve the sacred nature of the practices that take place within the temple walls.
They also want to avoid any distractions and disruptions from the outside world. The public is allowed to tour newly constructed temples before they are officially dedicated.
Sometimes Mormonism is described as a secretive religion mainly because of the temples being closed off to the public after they are dedicated. The public is no longer allowed to go inside and church members do not ever speak openly about the rituals that occur inside. The church states that they are not being secretive instead they are keeping everything private. They maintain that early Christianity also had similar practices that they kept private not secret in order to preserve their sacred nature.
Something else that is kept confidential are church finances. This is another reason that the public sometimes says that the church is being secretive. The church has been criticized for no one knowing where the money from revenue is going nor the money from tithing. Mormons celebrate Easter and Christmas as their most important religious holidays. Another holiday that is observed is Pioneer day which falls on July This date marks the day the first Mormon pioneers arrived in Salt Lake Valley in Every Sunday the Sabbath is also observed and this is when they attend a sacrament meeting at their chapel and have a few congregation speakers talk, there are readings, hymns, prayers, and communion.
In February , Smith and his brother were jailed on charges of treason. On June 27, , both Smith and his brother were murdered in jail by an anti-Mormon mob in Carthage, Illinois. After Smith died, the church divided. Young led a large group of persecuted Mormons from Illinois to search for religious freedom. During the s, Young organized the migration of about 16, Mormons from Illinois to Utah.
Young was named the President of the Church and kept this title until his death in Scholars believe Young significantly influenced the religious and political landscape of the American West.
Despite moving to a relatively isolated region in Utah, tensions between Mormons and other Americans continued. In September of , a Mormon militia murdered about people who were part of a wagon train from Arkansas. This event became known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The exact motive for the massacre is still debated today, and some records show that Mormon leaders attempted to cover up the attack. Scholars are also unsure who was directly responsible for the violence.
Some have blamed Brigham Young, while others say the local leaders in southern Utah were at fault. The text gives an account of ancient prophets who lived in the Americas.
It covers events that occurred from about B. According to the book, some Jews came to America to avoid persecution in Jerusalem. They divided into two groups who fought each other: the Nephites and the Lamanites. In A. According to the Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ appeared and preached to the Nephites in the Americas after his crucifixion. The book is divided into smaller books that read as narratives. The LDS church states that more than million copies of the Book of Mormon have been distributed as of A young man, 12 years of age or older, can enter into a priesthood known as Aaronic priesthood.
Those over 18 can enter into Melchizedek priesthood. Although the LDS church banned the practice of polygamy in , Mormons have historically wed many wives. In recent years, the church acknowledged that Joseph Smith wed as many as 40 wives, some as young as age Today, Mormons frown upon polygamy and choose to marry just one spouse. Still, a small number of fundamentalists, who broke from the church, continue to practice plural marriage. Mormon presidential candidate Mitt Romney brought the religion to the forefront of American politics in According to a Pew Research poll, about 62 percent of Mormons say Americans are uninformed about their religion.
There are Christians -- particularly among the modern evangelical and fundamentalist communities -- who argue that Mormons are not Christians. They base this contention on the fact that the Mormon conception of God -- summarized by LDS President Lorenzo Snow, who said, "As man is God once was, and as God is man may become" -- differs from traditional Christian ideas. They also point to the Mormons' avoidance of the cross as a religious symbol Mormons believe it is a symbol of Christ's death, and they prefer to focus on his life, his suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, and his resurrection ; their belief in the fallibility of the Bible because of its human translation ; their acceptance of continuing revelation which gives Mormonism an open canon ; and their rejection of the Nicene Creed, a list of common Christian beliefs originally authored in AD and subscribed to by most denominations.
Animosity between fundamentalist Christians and Mormons peaked in the s, when the Southern Baptist Convention held an annual meeting in Salt Lake City, partly in hopes of converting Mormons to Protestant Christianity.
More recently, some high-profile fundamentalist Christians have gone on record apologizing for past discord and accepting Mormonism as a branch of Christianity, but some tension remains.
The Mormon temple is considered an earthly point of contact with higher spheres of being. Mormons believe that God is present in the temple space. This makes it a sacred place set aside to learn things that allow individuals to progress toward becoming like God -- the temple ordinances, especially celestial marriage, make "eternal progression toward Godhood" possible.
The family unit is central to Mormonism, and the primary ritual function of the temple is to perform ceremonies that seal families together, thus allowing them to dwell together for eternity when they pass on to the celestial kingdom. The specific rituals supporting this function are marriage and family sealing ceremonies -- in which a husband, wife and children are officially bound together -- and baptism for the dead -- through which individuals who died without accepting the Latter-day Saints' Gospel and no longer possess the physical body required for baptism are represented by living proxies, thereby granting them the opportunity to join their families in the celestial kingdom.
The temple is also used to perform the Mormon endowment ceremony. During this ritual, adult Mormons go through a series of lessons and exercises to deepen their faith, and they make covenants with God to keep his commandments.
After receiving their endowments, Latter-day Saints wear a distinctive underwear on which special marks are embroidered. Known as "garments" , this underwear, worn next to the skin at nearly all times , is meant to remind individuals of their commitment to their faith and to God.
Men generally receive their endowment before going on a mission and women before they marry, but it is not a one-time ceremony like baptism. Saints are encouraged to return to the temple throughout their lives to continue growing their faith by experiencing the rituals of endowment. Before Latter-day Saints can go to the temple to receive their Endowments, they must obtain a Temple recommend, a card signed by a church leader to certify that the bearer is in good standing within the church.
Good standing, ascertained by an interview process, includes having a strong testimony of the truth of the Gospel, keeping up with the law of tithing, following the 10 commandments and the Word of Wisdom, and otherwise proving one's faith and commitment. Inside the temple, men wear all-white suits and women wear floor-length white dresses.
Non-Mormons and Mormons without a temple recommend are not allowed into the temple. The church says this is to preserve the sacred nature of the practices that take place inside and to avoid potential distractions and disruptions. Non-Mormons are, however, welcome to attend the Latter-day Saints' chapels, where weekly Sunday services and meetings take place.
The general public are also allowed to tour newly-constructed temples during the brief window of time before they are officially dedicated. The most common and visible target for charges of suspicious secrecy in the Mormon religion are the temples. After dedication, these buildings are closed to the public and church members do not talk openly about the rituals that take place within. The church holds that the temple and its rituals are sacred and therefore private, not secret.
They maintain that early Christianity featured similar special practices and bodies of knowledge that were kept quiet to preserve their sacred nature. Church finances are also kept confidential, provoking criticism that there is no way for church members or outsiders to know where money from tithing and other revenue goes. And the church has also been questioned about the secrecy surrounding their defense of doctrine.
Latter-day Saints can face excommunication if, after being warned, they continue to publicly discuss problematic or provocative elements of Mormon theology that the church chooses not to draw attention to. Because disciplinary councils that can lead to excommunication are always private, the process of gathering information and the closed meetings that consider the fate of a disciplined member add to the perception of Mormon secrecy.
The rituals of the Mormon faith include ceremonies performed in the temple -- endowment, baptism of the dead, celestial marriage and family sealings -- plus several ceremonies that take place in Mormon chapels. The naming and blessing of infants -- performed by a priesthood holder, often the baby's father -- takes place in the chapel. Baptisms are held in the chapels when Mormon children turn 8 years old or when an adult converts to the faith.
Family and friends generally attend both of these rituals. The Latter-day Saints also have a practice of annointing and blessing the sick if an ill individual so desires.
Like other Christians, Mormons celebrate Christmas and Easter as their two most important religious holidays. It is around the time of this holiday that the church presents its elaborate history pageant at the Hill Cumorah in Palmyra, N. Mormons also observe the Sabbath each week. On Sundays, they attend a sacrament meeting at their chapel, which includes readings, hymns, prayers, communion and testimonies from a few speakers from the congregation.
The rest of the Sabbath is observed by spending a quiet day at home, visiting friends or family, or performing charitable works. Latter-day Saints believe that the body is a gift from God to be cared for and respected, not to be polluted or abused.
In their daily lives, Saints follow a set of health guidelines Joseph Smith received from God in called the Word of Wisdom.
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