Why does the rlds churchs book of alm have only 30 chapters?

What is the difference between RLDS and Christianity?

The RLDS church is officially known as the Community of Christ. They are a Christian denomination which split with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after the death of Joseph Smith in the 1840's. The Community of Christ is headquartered in Missouri.

What is the Morman RLDS?

The RLDS church is officially called the Community of Christ. The RLDS/Community of Christ split with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the mainstream "Mormon" church) in the 1840's over a disagreement about who should lead the church after the death of Joseph Smith. The RLDS/Community of Christ still falls under the "Mormonism" category, because they believe in Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. However, they are not a part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is usually referred to as the "Mormon" church. While they have a similar history, they do have some pretty major differences: The RLDS/Community of Christ is based in Independence, Missouri and has approximately 250 thousand members worldwide. The RLDS differ from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in that are trinitarian, ordain women to the priesthood, follow the Revised Common Lectionary, use the Inspired Version of the Bible, put more emphasis on the Bible than the Book of Mormon, and do not perform special temple ceremonies (their two temples are open to the public daily for tours and prayer services). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is based in Salt Lake City, Utah and has approximately 14 million members worldwide. They are non-trinitarian, ordain only men, do not follow any lectionaries, use the King James Version of the Bible, see the Bible and the Book of Mormon as equals, and perform special ceremonies (such as baptisms for the dead and sealing marriages for eternity) in over 140 temples worldwide. You can check out the "Related Links" below to go to the official sites for both faiths to compare the similarities and differences.

Is the Church of Christ a break off of the LDS?

There are numerous breakoffs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Some of the more well known are the FLDS and RLDS churches. Some churches named the Church of Christ have also broken off of the LDS church, but the name is commonplace so not all of those churches are splits from the LDS church.

What has the author Gregory Prymak written?

Gregory Prymak has written: 'Authority in the RLDS theological tradition' -- subject(s): Authority, Doctrines, Mormon Church, Religious aspects of Authority, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Is there another name for the Reformed Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?

Actually, "Mormon" is the other name. The official name of the Church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Church members prefer to be called "Latter-day Saints" or "LDS". "Mormon" is a nickname given to them by those who oppose the Church.

How many sects or different denominations does Mormonism have?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has no denominations or sects that it claims as part of it. There are several groups that have LEFT the LDS church, but they are not considered Mormons by the LDS church, even though some of them call themselves Mormons. The two best known are the RLDS (Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), now called the Community of Christ, and the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), which is in the news a lot presently. The FLDS is the group that is polygamous.

What was the effect of Joseph Smith's murder?

Joseph Smith's murder or martyr took place on June 27, 1844 when a mob of about 100 to 200 men with faces painted black stormed Carthage Jail. The religious intent of Joseph Smith's murder was suppose to bring an end to the LDS/Mormon faith. After Joseph Smith's death many men stepped forward and claimed that they were Joseph Smith's successor. Some believed that Joseph Smith the III, Joseph's son should take the place as leader of the church, essentially this was the start of the RLDS church. Sidney Rigdon, also claimed leadership of the church as he had been in the leadership of the church with Joseph Smith in the early beginnings of the church. However, Sidney Rigdon's association with the church had been marred and at one time he had been almost excommunicated from the church. Rigdon believed that with Joseph Smith's death that no one could take Joseph's place and that there could only be a caretaker of the church. He pronounced that he should be that caretaker. The only other person who stood against this statement was Brigham Young, president of the twelve apostles, who claimed that Rigdon had not been there in many teaching and learning opportunities with the Prophet Joseph Smith. Priot to his death, Joseph Smith spent time teaching and giving instruction to the Twelve Apostles. Brigham Young claimed essentially that this was why Sidney Rigdon's position was faulty. In addition, many of the saints in Nauvoo believed they saw and heard the "mantle" of Joseph Smith fall upon Brigham Young. This was to confirm to many of the LDS Saints that Brigham Young was indeed the next prophet to lead the faith. Other Mormon sects as well sprung up from Joseph Smith's death such as: RLDS, Rigdonites, Strangites, etc.

Does Fred Grant realize that he should have written FLDS do practice polygamy?

He wrote RLDS and they do not practice polygamy and never did. The name of their church changed to The Community of Christ in 2001. The mainstream Mormon (LDS) Church banned the practice of polygamy among American members in 1890 and members outside the US in 1904. Today, anyone found to be in a polygamous relationship is promptly excommunicated. (I've actually witnessed this!) There are other groups in the Mormonism movement which do practice polygamy. Many know of the FLDS which have been the subject of national attention, but there are many smaller groups and thousands of independent families.

Does the reconized ladder day saints practice polygamy?

Are you referring to the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the largest of the above, but changed its name to "Community of Christ" in 2001, and therefore is no longer referred to as "RLDS". They do not practice polygamy and often deny that Joseph Smith taught or practiced the doctrine. The Restoration Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a smaller group that broke off from the Community of Christ in 1991. They do not practice polygamy either. The Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is another small group which broke off of the Community of Christ. Their origins are in the year 2000. They do not practice polygamy. Don't get the above confused with the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ, which broke off from the main body, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are known for their open practice of homosexuality, and at least a handful of members are in openly homosexual polygamous relationships. It is the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), not the RLDS that is known for its practice of polygamy.

When did the Mormons move west.?

== == the Mormon Church was formally established by Joseph Smith, Jr., on April 6, 1830, in upper New York State, there were but six members. When Joseph Smith Jr., was killed by a mob, leaderless, the Mormons split into two groups. JS' wife Emma chose to stay and Brigham and his group went westward and finally settled in Utah. The two major denominations tracing their origins to Joseph Smith are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with over 11 million members, and the much smaller Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, with 250,000 members. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, as of April 6, 2001, the RLDS Church will now be known "as the Community of Christ.... The RLDS name still will be used for some legal and official work." === === Most likely this question is in regard to the movement of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Illinois to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Before Joseph Smith's death on June 27, 1844 at the Carthage Jail, the leaders of the Church had began to search for a more permanent home away from the persecutions they had encountered in Missouri and Illinois. The pioneers began their voyage from Nauvoo, Illinois and surrounding areas in February of 1846, two months earlier then originally planned. After more then 1,000 miles of rough terrain, they would finally arrive in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847 which is now celebrated in Utah as Pioneer Day. Over the next many years, members of the Church migrated from Europe and the Eastern and Midwest states of the US to join the main body of the Church. With the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, most members would travel by train to Utah.

Where did Joseph Smith and his followers originally plan to have their headquarters?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was established by Joseph Smith on April 6 1830. Members of this church believe Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that there is a living prophet on earth today.It is the 4th largest christian church in America. Often referred to as the Mormon Church. There have been a few splinter groups from the LDS church. The first and largest was the RLDS church, which has since melded into the community of christ for financial reasons, and has renounced the prophet-hood of Joseph Smith. There is also the polygamist group lead by Warren Jeffs that was recently in the news. This group beleives in the Book of Mormon, but is unaffiliated with the LDS church.

How many underage wives did Joseph Smith have?

At one time during the early years of the church there were many widows that needed to be taken care of. For this reason, and a few others, the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that he and other men in the church should take more then one wife. So yes, Joseph did have more then one wife. We don't know how many because of the reason listed above--since so many of the marriages were political contracts with older widows to allow them to keep their property, to assure that he would pay their mortgages, etc., it is assumed that there were many polygamous relationships that were not only non-sexual, but where the two may have never met one another. The church hasn't practiced polygamy since 1890. The answer above gives an apologetic view to Mormon Polygamy and in some areas not 100% accurate. There is no historical evidence for the amount of widows compared to men in the Church in the early 19th Century. That argument is not accepted by historians and holds no water. The reason for the revelation calling Joseph Smith to live "the Principle," as it is called among some Fundamentalist groups, or Polygamy is contained in the revelation itself. He received the revelation because he was inquiring of the Lord concerning David, Solomon and Abraham's practice of plural wives. Historian Todd Compton in his book "In Sacred Loneliness" provides ample evidence that Joseph Smith had at least 28 plural wives and possible up to about 32 maximum. So, to answer your question, yes, Joseph Smith did have more than one wife. The argument above that Joseph Smith was married to them only to help them financially also holds no water, he was steeped deeply in debt and could not have rendered much, if any, financial support for those women. Joseph Smith did meet his wives and there are arguments for sexual relations between the two. However, the sexual relations must have been few and rare because in that time period there were no serious contraceptives and if Smith were running around with nearly 30 women on a regular basis there would be nearly dozens of documented and plausible illegitimate children. The thing is there are none. No one has found evidence supporting that any one person was an illegitimate child of Joseph Smith through any of his wives other than Emma Hale Smith. There are possibly 3 cases that could argue to be Smith's illegitimate children however none are accepted by scholars as plausible, let alone true. While many Latter-day Saints would like to think that all polygamy ended in 1890 there were many Members who did not accept the Manifest from President Wilford Woodruff and continued to perform and engage in Polygamous marriages. This is why we see so many fundamentalist Mormon sects today like the one Warren Jeffs once lead. There are two camps to this question; (1) Brother Joseph was only married to Emma, and (2) Brother Joseph had between 40 to 80 other wives. From my high level of scholarly research, I have found not one single shred of credible historical evidence that Brother Joseph had more than one wife. While it is "cool" to say that he did, a rigorous academic investigation will show that claims that he had more than one wife hold no historical weight.