Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Mormons Part 1

Several months ago I asked some of my friends, who are not members of my church, what they knew about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the "Mormons." Some of them knew quite a bit, others not so much. I promised them I would fill in the blanks and answer their questions. Then I got busy, and preoccupied with other things. I put it off because it seemed very daunting. But I promised them, and myself, that I would do it.

There is too much info to cover in one blog post. So I will be writing several posts on the topic. This will likely be a boring review for most of you, but bear with me. And feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I certainly don't profess to be an expert or a Scriptorian. I will begin with a very brief history of my religion.

LDS History 101

600 BC An ancient Prophet named Lehi lived in a very wicked Jerusalem. He tried to call the people of Jerusalem unto repentance. The people would not listen. The Lord told Lehi to take his family and leave the city, because He was going to destroy it. Lehi took his wife, children and one other righteous family and fled into the wilderness. They lived in the wilderness for many years. Eventually they came to the ocean. The Lord commanded them to build a ship and cross the ocean. The Lord was leading them to the Promised Land, which we now know was the Americas. Today's Native Americans are the descendants of this family. This family kept records of their lives. They engraved their records on plates of gold. These plates were handed down from generation to generation and from prophet to prophet until about 420 AD. At that time a righteous man named Moroni buried the plates in a hill to protect them from his enemies, as commanded by God.

Christ appeared to these people after his Crucifixion. His visit was recorded on these plates. In John 10:16 Christ speaks of having "other sheep who are not of this fold." It is these people, living in the Americas that He is talking about. He visited them, taught them the gospel, prayed with them, blessed their children, gave them the sacrament, and ordained Apostles.

When Christ died in Jerusalem, his Apostles were also killed. His power and authority was lost from the earth. This began the Dark Ages.

Fast Forward to New York in 1820. The time was filled with great religious excitement and fervor. A 14 year old boy, Joseph, was caught up in all the excitement. He attended many meetings of varying religions. He knew he needed to join the fold of God and be baptized. But he didn't know which church to join. He pondered much on the matter, and searched the scriptures. His greatest confusion came in that all these different religions preached the Bible, but they fought and argued over it's meaning. He was under much pressure to join a congregation. He did not take this choice lightly. Several members of his family joined the Presbyterian church. Joseph was feeling a pull toward the Methodists. But being as young and unlearned as he was, he didn't know how to decide who was right and who was wrong. One evening Joseph was reading in James. He came upon chapter 1 verse 5:

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

This verse of scripture hit Joseph with such force. He knew he needed wisdom. He could either remain in darkness forever or follow James' council and ask God. Early one morning Joseph went into the woods to pray. He found a quiet spot. He had never in his life prayed vocally before and felt anxious. What happened next is so sacred, I will let Joseph tell it in his own words:

"After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.

But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!

When Joseph regained his composure he asked the Lord which church he should join. He was told that he should join none of them. For they were all wrong. He was told that “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”

To Be Continued.

*I don't expect you to take my word (or Joseph's word) for any of this. Everyone is entitled to receive their own witness to the truthfulness of this. If you want to know if this is true I encourage you to pray about this personally, just as Joseph did.

Source: Joseph Smith History