The characteristic features of the LDS Church--sacred temple rites, personal revelation, tithing and a history of polygamy--come directly from Smith. So does the emphasis on high moral standards, family ties and community service: Mormonism appeals to the fundamental human impulse for connection, security and a promise of rewards not only on earth but beyond time and space. Smith knew that his testimony required a leap of faith. The plates were buried in a hill near Smith's house and were accompanied by a Urim and Thummim--stones attached to a breastplate that were supposed to help him translate the text from "reformed Egyptian," an unknown tongue, into English.
His translation, known as the Book of Mormon, gave the sect its nickname and brought him national attention--but still didn't give him the "true church" he yearned for. In Smith was visited by resurrected prophets and apostles who, he said, finally conferred on him the authority to re-establish Christ's church on earth.
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He officially founded that church in Fayette, N. His missionaries, sent to surrounding communities, had luck in Kirtland, Ohio: This sudden influx of believers was unwelcome in Missouri, where the Saints were seen as a cultural, political and economic threat. As prejudice increased, Missouri Gov. Lilburn Boggs issued an "extermination order" in , and Smith and his followers fled to Nauvoo, Ill. Smith's increasing political activism there he was commander of the local militia, justice of the peace and a candidate for U.
After Smith ordered an antagonistic printing press destroyed, he was jailed. I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. His church survived largely because follower Brigham Young led most of the remaining Saints west to Utah and, years later, thrives--yet remains mysterious to many. Central tenets of Mormonism seem confusing--even literally incredible--to those outside the faith. An angel named Moroni?
- The Mormon Odyssey.
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- The Mormon Odyssey.
A resurrected Jesus visiting the New World? These are questions posed by potential converts, and also by historians and scientists testing Smith's claims. Moses' burning bush isn't around to be carbon-dated or dissected, but Smith and his followers left behind documentation that can be subjected to modern historical analysis.
The record reveals a complicated man. The church's early converts, many of whom learned about it from missionaries, were sometimes shocked when they met Smith in person. He was uneducated, he lost his temper, he enjoyed power--and perhaps most startling for converts was the fact that, on occasion, his ventures failed. Simply put, he didn't always seem like a prophet. By the end of his life, he had accrued some 30 wives, massive debt and hundreds of enemies. That's a matter of debate. While LDS scholars, of course, reject that conclusion, some are re-examining common theories about the Book of Mormon's geography, suggesting that it takes place near an isthmus in southern Mexico instead of across the Western Hemisphere, as many readers previously assumed.
Within limits, the church encourages internal debate, arguing that doubt can be an important precursor to faith. That which comes of struggle remains. In six LDS academics known as the September Six for the month of their disciplinary action were tried in church courts for issues related to spreading allegedly false historical and feminist teachings. In the late s LDS leaders limited access to church records, prompting charges that they were discouraging unauthorized accounts of church history.
Arrington, the then director of the church's historical department. The reins are looser now. The church is likely always to be more comfortable with orthodoxy than with inquiry, and this year's celebrations won't bring the unsolicited airing of dirty laundry a church-sponsored art exhibit about Smith made no mention of his polygamy, for example. But there is no longer the sense that documents are being squirreled away. Rough Stone Rolling," recently gave two lectures in which he tackled some of the more difficult elements of Smith's life in front of audiences that included high-ranking LDS leaders.
And that leads me to believe that we don't have to bury our stuff anymore. We're able to deal with the problems and accept them. No single mormon doctrine or practice has been more controversial than polygamy. Smith said he was commanded by God to take plural wives like Abraham and other Old Testament figures. Most historians agree that he married his first plural wife, a year-old who worked in his house, about and some 30 more in the next decade.
Not everyone believed God sanctioned the marriages.
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His associate Oliver Cowdery called the first plural marriage "a dirty, nasty, filthy affair" Cowdery later rejoined the church. Though the LDS Church stands by polygamy as a divine--albeit revoked--revelation, others are suspicious of Smith's motives. In Utah after Smith's death, polygamy was practiced openly: In , facing intense pressure from federal authorities, the then prophet Wilford Woodruff issued a "manifesto" forbidding the practice. While some breakaway groups still follow polygamist lifestyles, the LDS Church adamantly opposes the practice.
However, LDS doctrine holds that some polygamist marriages will exist in the celestial kingdom, the highest tier of heaven. One group of families came from Jerusalem in BC and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites.
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Another group came much earlier, when God confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel ; that group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites. The dominant and widely accepted view among Latter Day Saints is that the Book of Mormon is a true and accurate account of these ancient American civilizations whose religious history it documents. Joseph Smith , whom most Latter Day Saints believe to have translated the work, stated, "I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.
Discussion regarding the historicity of the Book of Mormon often focuses on archaeological issues, some of which relate to the large size and the long time span of the civilizations mentioned in the book. A contemporary Mormon view is that these civilizations rose and fell in Mesoamerica. The Olmec and Zapotec civilizations developed a writing system that may have served as the model for the later Mayan writing system, which became highly developed. The Maya developed a complex calendar and were advanced in astronomy and mathematics. The Book of Mormon mentions several animals, plants, and technologies for which there is no evidence in pre-Columbian America.
These include asses , cattle , milk , horses , [10] oxen , sheep , swine , goats , elephants , [11] wheat , [12] barley , [13] [14] [15] [16] figs , [17] silk , [18] steel , [19] bellows , brass , breast plates, chains , iron working, [20] plows , swords , scimitars , and chariots. Adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement give varied responses to these criticisms.
Some point to what they claim is evidence for the presence of these items and locations. Some counter that the words used in the Book of Mormon refer not to the animals, plants and technologies that presently exist but to other similar items that did exist at the time. In a newsletter, Ferguson predicted that although nothing had been found, the Book of Mormon cities would be found within ten years. I had sincerely hoped that Book-of-Mormon cities would be positively identified within 10 years—and time has proved me wrong in my anticipation.
After this article and another six years of fruitless search, Ferguson published a page paper in entitled, "Written Symposium on Book-of-Mormon Geography: Response of Thomas S. I should say—what is in the ground will never conform to what is in the book. The archaeological investigations of NWAF-sponsored projects have contributed towards the documentation and understanding of pre-Columbian societies, particularly in Mesoamerica.
An additional criticism of the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon concerns linguistics. According to the text, the Nephites and the Lamanites initially spoke Hebrew BC and might have spoken a modified Semitic language until at least AD, when the Book of Mormon ends. Historical linguists who specialize in the languages of Native America are in agreement that the languages of Native America cannot be proven to be related to each other within the last eight to ten thousand years, let alone within the last thousand.
The " Anthon Transcript " also known as the "Caractors" document is a small piece of paper on which Joseph Smith wrote several lines of characters. According to Smith, these characters were from the golden plates the ancient record from which Smith claims to have translated the Book of Mormon and represent the reformed Egyptian writing that was on the plates. This paper was then delivered to professor Charles Anthon , a well-known classical scholar of Columbia College, Columbia University , for an expert opinion on the authenticity of the characters and the translation.
Adherents to the Book of Mormon claim that Anthon attested to the characters' authenticity in writing to Martin Harris but then ripped up his certification after hearing the story of Smith and the plates. The Book of Mormon tells of the people of Jared , consisting of several families from the Tower of Babel , who migrated to America from the Old World before Abraham's time; a group including Lehi's family who migrated to America from Jerusalem around BC; and another group the people of Mulek who migrated to America from Jerusalem about eight years later.
Although the Book of Mormon makes no overt assertions regarding the migration or non-migration of other groups to America, an introductory paragraph added to the edition identifies the Lamanites as the "principal ancestors of the American Indians. North American Indians are generally considered the genetic descendants of East Eurasian peoples. The Smithsonian Institution issues a standard reply to requests for their opinion regarding the Book of Mormon as an archaeological or scientific guide. Some Mormons believe that this was in part due to a critique [42] of their statement by John L.
Since the time of its publication, most Latter Day Saints have viewed and explained the Book of Mormon as a comprehensive history of all Native Americans ; [44] this understanding of the Book of Mormon is referred to as the "hemispheric model. Roberts states the inadequacy of the hemispheric model in Studies of the Book of Mormon:. To make this seem possible the area occupied by the Nephites and Lamanites would have to be extremely limited, much more limited, I fear, than the Book of Mormon would admit our assuming.
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The cities mentioned in the Book of Mormon have not been identified. This approach, often referred to as the " Limited Geography Model ," argues for a more limited view of the Book of Mormon, suggesting that the book is a history of only a small group of Native Americans in Central America. This theory has been gaining substantial support among LDS scholars since the mids because it more accurately represents the descriptions given within the text itself.
For instance, the populations and civilizations described in the Book of Mormon were likely too small only a few million to fill entire continents; moreover, there is much evidence that one common assumption of the past—that Book of Mormon civilizations were alone in America—is probably incorrect. Most LDS authors hold the belief that the Book of Mormon events took place within a limited region in Mesoamerica, and that others were present on the continent at the time of Lehi's arrival.
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Please discuss this issue on the article's talk page. Historical authenticity and criticism. Archaeology and the Book of Mormon. Linguistics and the Book of Mormon. Genetics and the Book of Mormon. Limited geography model Book of Mormon. Oxford University Press , pp.