Mormonism

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the "Mormon" church) believe that Jesus Christ is the leader of the church. They believe that Jesus Christ leads the church through direct revelation to a living prophet and twelve Apostles.

There have been 16 prophets since the church was organized in 1830. They are: Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith, Heber J. Grant, George Albert Smith, David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Howard W. Hunter, Gordon B. Hinckley, and currently Thomas S. Monson.

When the the Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called the "Mormon" Church) dies, the First Presidency is dissolved, meaning there is a quorum of 14 Apostles and no First Presidency. The senior Apostle (usually the President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles) generally becomes the next Prophet.

As in the recent case of the death Gordon B Hinckley, his First Councilor Thomas S Monson was at that time also the Senior Apostle and the literal President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Thomas S Monson is now the new Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Brother Packer who was Acting President of the Quorum of The Twelve is now the senior Apostle and President of the said quorum.

Nevertheless, rather than just select the man who is next in apostleship seniority into the position, each Apostle takes time and prayer to seek the will of the Lord concerning the issue - to be sure that he is the right man for the leadership. Because the calling is received through revelation from God to each individual apostle, each receives the same Heavenly guidance from God and the decision is thus always unanimous. The new Prophet is then brought before the general membership of the Church at the next General Conference for a sustaining vote - so that all things in the Lord's Church are done with 'common consent'.

There are three events commonly referred to as the "Mormon War":

The Missouri Mormon War took place in 1838 between the Mormons and their non-Mormon neighbors in northwest Missouri. The Mormons ended up leaving Missouri due to the hostility they faced, so I suppose you might say that the Missourians won.

The Illinois Mormon War took place from 1844 to 1846 between the Mormons and their non-Mormon neighbors in western Illinois. The Mormons ended up leaving Illinois due to the hostility, so you might say that the Illinoisians won.

The Utah Mormon War took place from 1857-1858 between the Mormons living in the Utah Territory and the United States Government. James Buchannan, the President of the US, had heard a false rumor that the Mormons were planning a rebellious uprising, and sent troops to Utah to stop it. The Mormons thought that the troops were being sent to destroy them. The Mormons did all they could to hinder the progress of the troops and then packed up and moved south out of the path of the army. Eventually, the 'war' was won by negotiation, the Mormons agreed to allow the troops to stay in the territory, and the troops agreed to leave them alone unless they posed a threat to the nation.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is also known as the "Mormon" Church. It is a worldwide Restorationist Christian Church based in Salt Lake City, Utah with approximately 13.5 million members. The Church has many distinct beliefs and doctrines, including modern Prophets, an open canon of scripture, salvation for the dead, and eternal marriages and families. It rejects the notion of the Trinity and teaches that God the Father is a being separate from Jesus Christ. Church members are usually very active serving in their congregations, paying tithes, and adhering to a health code which advocates whole grains and fresh produce while outlawing alcohol, coffee, tea, tobacco, and illicit drugs.

Church members are always excited to share their faith with others. You can learn more about Church beliefs, chat with members, or locate and visit a worship service near you by visiting their offficial website, provided at the "Related Link" below.

This depends entirely on the style and location of the wedding.

As far as ceremonies go, if it is held in a church or temple, church dress is standard. (think business clothes - suits, button down collared shirts, and ties for the men, nicer skirts or dresses for the women) If it is held outdoors or in a home or rented hall, you may want to ask the couple what they suggest. They may have a casual "jeans acceptable" wedding, or a very formal one.

Many Mormon wedding receptions tend to be large and casual, but some couples choose to have a more formal gathering. Even if the reception is held in a church, it may be casual with many wearing 'everyday' clothes like jeans and sneakers. Most Mormon wedding receptions I have been to there was a pretty even mix of 'casual' dressers and 'sunday best' dressers. No matter the style of the reception, I would say a nice pair of pants (even nice jeans) and a collared/button down shirt for a guy, and a skirt/dress (even a casual style) or nice pants for a woman would fit in very nicely.

Check out the images under "Related links" below for photos of Mormon weddings to get an idea of what you might want to wear.

No, the original founders were Catholic, actually. They just believed in a day of rest for themselves and their employees. See related links for their webpage.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the "Mormon" church) have experienced much prejudice and discrimination over the 180 years since their church was founded. In the 1800's, they were kicked out of several cities and states. They faced mob violence - homes were burned, property was stolen, and people were beaten or killed. Local governments also had sanctions against them, such as a "Mormon Extermination Order" in Missouri, which stated that the Mormons were to be driven from the state, by force if necessary. The church leaders faced nearly constant trouble, the Prophet Joseph Smith was taken from his home, beaten, and tarred and feathered. He was arrested on false charges and was eventually murdered, for which nobody was ever found guilty. Upon moving to Utah in 1847, the Mormons thought they had found peace, but the United States government was suspicious of them and sent military troops to keep an eye on them and monitor all their activities. Missionaries serving abroad continued to face trouble, usually just being mocked or chased out of town, but some were beaten or killed Books and pamphlets spreading crazy rumors about the Mormons (having horns, throwing women of the spires of the temple, kidnapping girls to be slaves, etc) were often believed because there was no way to verify if it was true or not, and some of these rumors persist today.

Today, the Mormons don't face such physical confrontation, but there is still much prejudice and discrimination against them. This is most often perpetuated by the media, which quite often spreads false information about Mormons or portrays the Mormons as a strange, secretive group rather than the regular open people that they are. There is also anti-Mormon activity, with churches being vandalized or burned, or meetings being picketed or surrounded by protesters. It is somewhat common for groups to go to highly Mormon areas in Utah distributing anti-Mormon pamphlets to Mormon members. Individual members often face mocking from others for their standards or doctrinal beliefs. I personally have been asked to leave (or not allowed to join) some Christian social groups once they discovered I was a Mormon, because they felt that I was not really a Christian. The internet has also served as a way for anti-Mormons to spread lies and misleading information about the church.

Check out the "Related Links" below for a few photos of modern discrimination against Mormons.

Well, he didn't find Utah, it was already there and he knew how to get there. He didn't found Utah either - the area was called Territory of Deseret until after Brigham's death. Utah became a state in 1896, but Brigham Young died in 1877.

Brigham Young moved to the area because the Mormons had been kicked out of their homes in Missouri and Illinois. Joseph Smith had previously said that they would find peace in the Rocky Mountains, so Brigham lead the people there.

I don't Know if church is considered to hold ceremonies it really depends on belief/religions. For example in the Jewish religion they celebrate passover which is a meal of unleavened bread and wine. To comemorate the time the angel of death passed through Jerusalem or israel( i can't recall which city or region so i apologize for that)When an angel of god visited certain families and their heads in dreams as a warning that throughout the land all the unriteous would be dead except for his followers and to wipe the blood of a lamb on their doorframe as a visual for the angel of death to pass their home and families over. I believe that all religions hold they're own holidays like Christmas , Easter , good Friday- in remembrance of Jesus being risen after his crucifiction , Christmas- the birth of Jesus , Black Friday- the day of Jesus' death. In the catholic religion they celebrate ash wendsday where a mark of palm ashes are smudged on the forehead by the priest to commemorate the time of christ and palm Friday to commemorate the time when Jesus passed through a city on a donkey and they laid palms branches before his feet. Acknowledgeing that he was the son of god.

Because:

1. People are close-minded.

2. Since that the LDS don't believe in the trinity, people automatically assume we aren't Christian.

3. They THINK that we do not believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior.

We ARE Christian, hence the name "The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints". We believe that Jesus is the Son of God and our Savior. We know that He died for our sins. Period. Just because we don't believe in the trinity doesn't mean we aren't Christian. We ARE.

"Mormon" is a nickname for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That is the church they go to - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are currently (as of February 2010) located in:

Nigeria

Ghana

South Africa

Philippines (2 temples)

Japan (3 temples)

Korea

Hong Kong

Taiwan

Switzerland

Denmark

Germany (2 temples)

Netherlands

Finland

Ukraine

England (2 temples)

Italy

Sweden

Spain

Australia (5 temples)

Samoa

New Zealand

Tonga

Tahiti

Fiji

Paraguay

Columbia

Argentina (2 temples)

Brazil (7 temples)

Venezuela

Chile (2 temples)

Ecuador

Peru (2 temples)

Uruguay

Canada (8 temples)

Dominican Republic

Guatemala (2 temples)

Panama

Costa Rica

El Salvador

Honduras

Mexico (12 temples)

United States (73 temples)

Mormonism (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is, in many ways, a universalizing religion. The church has over 15 million members around the globe, with over 60% of these living outside the US. It publishes materials and trains missionaries in over 100 languages and seeks to fulfill the Biblical mandate to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world.In many ways, the Church has sought to appeal or conform to other cultures, such as in holding worship services on Friday rather than Sunday in the Middle East. In other ways, the Church has strictly held to traditional Western Christian ideals, such as in rejecting centuries-old marriage traditions in India and Africa. For this it has sometimes been criticized as ethnocentric.

As of January 2015 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called the "Mormon" church) reported 15,372,337 baptized members worldwide. The UN recently estimated the world population at 7 billion (7,000,000,000). 15372337 / 7000000000 = 0.00220 This means that approximately 0.2% (two in every thousand people) of the world population is a baptized Mormon.

People don't hate Mormons for a reason, I'm sure, because we are pretty nice. The only explanation is some strange force propelling them to hate us for no reason. (When I say a strange force I mean something, I don't know... such as, maybe, the devil trying to prevent the spread of the one true church, but that's just an example; I'm not implying anything.)

Of course, there are also some old books written by authors were were not meaning any harm, but they found the Evil Mormon a very appealing villain.

Also, I think it goes further. Why did the people of America hate the Japanese during WWII? Out of fear. Not many people outside the LDS (abbreviation for Later Day Saint) faith knows what the church is about. Many people hear rumors and negative comments from people who left the church out of some form of personal grudge or were excommunicated (kicked out of the church for some sort of extreme sin). Most of the rumors are very untrue. A few rumors I've heard; Mormons aren't allowed to drink caffeine or eat chocolate because of the caffeine like substance in it. Mormons have horns and tails. Mormons are polygamist.

All of said statements are false. Mormons can drink caffeine and eat chocolate, but they are advised to only do so in moderation to avoid addiction. Mormons certainly do not have horns or a tail seeing as you can be baptized into the church after listening to missionaries. Also, Mormons are not polygamists. There is a sect of the church (just like there are many different sects of Christianity as a whole) who practice polygamy, but this is the Fundameltalist Church of Latter Day Saints, and do not reflect the views of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In fact, in the Doctrine and Covenants there is a chapter titled Official Declaration 1 is a letter from the LDS prophet at the time declaring these charges false.

I hope this helps, I'd be glad to answer any other questions about the "Mormon" or LDS church anytime. E-mail me at braydenbarber@yahoo.com.

I think why most people hate mormons is because either: lack of knowledge or too much knowledge on them. There is such a thing as too much and too little. I have NEVER heard of 'the mormons are devils with horns and tails' but then again growing up in Utah is kinda hard to hear negative rumors about the Church. After all if you speak out openly against the Church in public EVERYONE in town will know it if it overheard. Because every mormon I have ever known is one, and they will do their best to tear down ANYONE that is not of their faith, or rather is homosexual. Or at least that I my experience. Which mainly is from my Uncle.

First off is that many mormons I have been around are either 'too nice' or arrogant. There is such a thing as being too nice and a LOT of people find it disturbing that LDS missionaries are willing to stain their suits to help you pulls weeds. -If they will do it, cause they have NEVER helped out my 64 year old great grandma take care of her garden.- As for too arrogant I have know Mormons that will smile 'through their teeth' at you and then talk behind your back, or basically think they are better then you. This is from personal experience. Which has hardly EVER been good.

I try to keep an open mind, but anyone with the internet can look up a lot of unsavory details that CHURCH tries to keep hidden. One thing that makes me mad is that through all their kindness, and everything that the CHURCH will NOT donate funds to small schools. My school had an ANONYMOUS donor which helped a great deal, but still it is underfunded. If the CHURCH wanted to help even with the separation of church and state it can DONATE money to the school since they do give out 10% EVERY paycheck/Sunday. What is .5% of that going towards schools? Or even ROADS? Things we travel on. I know that the church needs money, after all how could they afford to send MEN to China to preach?

That is another reason for the hate, any hardcore feminist will LOATHE many things about the Church. One of them is what I experienced when I went to church with my cousin. The Bishops there told ALL of us to get married and have children. He baiscally wanted 16year olds in the crowd to marry their highschool sweetheart once they became of age. While this works for somepeople their are TEENAGERS he is preaching too, he can't say: "Wait for the one that is your soulmate to marry," or "wait till you know it is the RIGHT time to marry" it was 'get married as soon as possible and start making little rabbits.' This Bishop mind you soon after spoke of his abused daughter whom he apparently did nothing to help other then pray.

That is another reason for the hate. Or MY hate, a lot of this is anger because I know mormons far too well. I won't conform to them because it is NOT my nature to do so. I am NOT a mormon. It does not make me feel happy/enlightened to hear the doctrine, I am a Taoist personally and though I should not hate I do. This is from PERSONAL experience of my trying to explain why the hate. Plus I've known a few people that have left the church and their FAMILIES kicked them out, and regard them as nothing. This is yet another reason why former Mormons spill out the hate. Because they feel BETRAYED by the church, they are supposed to feel welcomed no matter what. But when they leave maybe only for a few months their friends and family will not speak to them.

Again anyone with the internet can go search up 'mormon blood antoment' and see that apparently MANY people were KILLED for their 'sins' in the early days of the church. Many people were killed when Christianity began to spread, but I have NEVER heard of a Christian walking up to a priest and BEGGING them to kill them because they have sinned to much. So another reason.

As much as it pains the church to say this, they need to up front and open about their HISTORY, because no amount of covering up in the media is gonna save them from the internet. If the church was willing to just be 'so what this happened, people still believe and there are believe ready to join we will make them as happy as they can be with us' or something like that.

Hate is a strong and sometimes irrational thing. If the CHURCH would be less like...a CULT then people I think would hate less.

Lastly, tell people that 'polygamy' is not practiced by mainstream Mormons is basically like Christians saying "Hey it is not OUR fault it is going on." They need to crack down more on that instead of being hesitant to even talk about it.

There were a couple of reasons:

1) At the time Brigham Young was the President of the Church and the Territorial Governor at the same time. This made people back East very nervous, manly because the were worried that he would set up a little theocratic kingdom and mess up their plans for a US that stretched from coast to coast.

2) The South was prepping for the Civil War, and needed a distraction, so they claimed that the Mormons were in rebellion out west. President Buchanan then sent out an army to put down the rebellion and install a new governor. Long story short, there was no rebellion, a good chunk of the army was occupied out west during the first couple of months of the civil war, and the Utah Territory got a new governor anyway.

3) It was profitable. When Congress outlawed polygamy one of the punishments they used was seizure of property. The vast majority of Church land (chapels and etc) were seized immediately and the Church ended up heavily in debt from having to buy back the land and buildings that they had settled and built originally.

Askenazi Jews gave up polygamy in Europe, in the eleventh century. However, Arab Jews continued the practice right up until the twentieth century. The state of Israel banned polygamy, but made an exception for Jewish immigrants from Arab areas such as Yemen.

In the 1800's they were one of the major groups involved in the 2nd Great Awakening. They wanted to help the other Americans to become better people then they had been in the past which was also a major part of this religious reform.

Mormons were the ones that started the California gold rush when they started building Jhonson's mill.

All members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the "Mormon" church) are asked to pay a tithe, but it is not a requirement for membership in the Church.

You can learn more about what Mormons believe about tithing at the "Related Links" below.

Well I don't know what the Church of Latter Day Youcs is, Google says there isn't one. But I can tell you how to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

First, you should get in contact with a member of the church or with the missionaries. If you don't know any members and don't know where the church nearest you is, you can go to www.mormon.org, click "Ask a Question" and then "Have missionaries contact me". Next, you will be invited to have the missionaries in your home or at another location teach you about the church. You are welcome to ask them any questions, and they will continue to meet with you until you decide you are comfortable with being baptized. Once you are comfortable with making the commitment to be baptized a member of the church, and have kept the commitments that the missionaries have asked you to keep, the missionaries will arrange a baptism service for you. Visitors are welcome at our Sunday church services any time! You can find the local congregation's meeting time and learn what to expect at a Sunday worship service at www.mormon.org as well, click "worship with us".

They can be, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the "Mormon" church) are not against having stock in Union Pacific. However, since Mormons don't report their stocks to the church, and don't report their religion to the companies they have stock in, it would be impossible to know if or how many stockholders for Union Pacific are Mormon.

The cast of Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir - 1995 includes: Brassworks Clay Christiansen as Organist John Longhurst as Organist Jerold Ottley as Conductor Donald Ripplinger as Conductor Mormon Tabernacle Choir