Mormons

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Mormons The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

A Catholic Perspective by Jimmy Akin

All booklets are published thanks to the generous support of the members of the Catholic Truth Society

CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY PUBLISHERS TO THE HOLY SEE

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Contents Basic Questions about Mormonism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Mormon History and Beliefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 A Catholic Critique of Mormonism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Dealing with Mormons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

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Basic Questions about Mormonism What is Mormonism?

Mormonism is a religion that started in the United States in the 1800s. It was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr., who lived near Palmyra, New York. He reported visions of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and angels. Mormons believe that under the guidance of an angel he found a set of Golden Plates from which he translated The Book of Mormon. Those who adhered to this book became known as “Mormons.”

After the publication of the book, Joseph Smith founded a church, which was initially called the Church of Christ. It was not related to other churches with the same name. This church grew and changed names several times. Its headquarters also was relocated several times, to places in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. After Joseph Smith’s death, a succession crisis occurr ed in its leadership, causing the movement to fragment.

One of the resulting groups migrated to what is now the state of Utah, under the leadership of a man named Brigham Young, who established a new headquarters in Salt Lake City. This church today is formally known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and it is

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the largest of the Mormon offshoots. In 2005 it had twelve and a half million members worldwide, about half of whom are in the United States. The other offshoots of the original church are much smaller. The total number of individuals claiming to follow Joseph Smith may be about thirteen million. Because of the prominence of the Salt Lake City church in Mormonism, this booklet will focus primarily on it.

Members of this church often prefer to be called “Latter-day Saints” or simply “Saints,” though the term “Mormon” is in general use in America.

What do Mormons believe?

Mormons reject the doctrines of traditional Christianity.

According to Joseph Smith, who is regarded as a prophet, the early Church departed from the faith taught by Jesus Christ in an event known as “the Great Apostasy.” He was thus led to form his own church to introduce “restored Christianity” into the world.

The teachings that Smith imparted to his followers evolved over time and continued to evolve after his death.

Today the Mormon church teaches a set of doctrines that traditional Christians often find shocking.

At the core of Mormon teaching is the claim that there is more than one god, meaning that Mormons are polytheists. They hold that there is a race of divine beings that serve as the gods of different worlds. These

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gods are male or female and propagate by sexual reproduction. Furthermore, mankind is part of this species, and it is possible for a man to become a god with his own world to govern.

Mormons also hold that we, as individuals, were not created by God. Instead, we existed from all eternity as intelligences. At some point these intelligences were born as “spirit children” to God the Father and his wife (or one of his wives; some Mormon sources indicate that God is polygamous). To further our development, we were then born into this world as the children of our earthly parents.

This path, Mormons believe, was followed by God the Father himself, who began as an eternal intelligence and then took on spirit and flesh and eventually progressed to his current, glorified state. By following in his footsteps, we too can become gods, equal to where the Father is now, though technically he will always be ahead of us since he, too, is eternally progressing to greater degrees of glory.

What works do Mormons honour as scripture?

Mormons honour the Holy Bible as the word of God “as far as it is translated correctly” (Articles of Faith 8). The latter clause is important since it allows Mormons to assert that when Scripture appears to contradict their doctrines, it is an instance when Scripture has been mistranslated.

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Mormon History and Beliefs Who was Joseph Smith?

Joseph Smith Jr. was born in 1805 in the state of Vermont but spent much of his time growing up in New York state.

He came from a religiously unorthodox family and, according to the Mormon church’s official account, he experienced a spiritual awakening when he was fourteen years old. He claimed to have received a vision in 1820 of God the Father and Jesus Christ, who informed him that all existing churches were corrupt and that he should not join any of them. This experience - known as the First Vision - is pivotal to Mormonism and is often depicted in its art.

Subsequent to the First Vision, Smith claimed to be visited on several occasions by an angel named Moroni.

This angel informed him that he would be given the task of translating writings on golden plates that were buried in a local hill, now known as Hill Cumorah. Smith claimed to have received possession of the plates and began to translate them in 1827.

The translation method was unusual, as was the language in which the inscriptions were allegedly written.

According to Smith, the texts were composed in an

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unknown language he referred to as “Reformed Egyptian.” Not knowing this language, Smith required supernatural assistance to translate it. According to some accounts, he used a pair of stones set in silver eyeglass frames, which he referred to as the “Urim and Thummim.” Other accounts state that he used a “seer stone” that he put in his hat, into which he put his face.

He then saw the translation in these stones and dictated it to various scribes.

At the end of the translation process, Smith returned the golden plates, so they are not available for inspection today. In fact, they were not available for inspection in his own day, either. They were reportedly shown only to two select groups of individuals. These individuals signed statements that are printed in the front of the Book of Mormon under the titled “The Testimony of the Three Witnesses” and “The Testimony of the Eight Witnesses.”

The Book of Mormon was published in 1830, shortly before Smith founded the Mormon church. Originally he called it “the Church of Christ” (no relation to other churches of the same name), but he changed its name on several occasions - each time reportedly at the direction of God - until in 1838 he had settled on its present name.

The church also changed its headquarters frequently.

Though founded in New York state, it moved to Ohio in 1831, then to Missouri in 1838, and to Illinois in 1839.

These moves were motivated in part by conflicts between