Joseph Smith III

is through this passionate testimony and faithful journey that a faith movement was born. As Joseph responded to his desire to serve God, he was surrounded by a culture that was experiencing great conflict in values and social division. These challenges shaped this prophets leadership and began a journey of discovering the value of all people. From that initial experience in the grove, we can find the impress of the mission of Christ through the hope and vision of Zion. And with each Era, the cause and hope of Zion responds further with a desire to understand God’s grace through Christ for all humankind. Joseph leads a group of people with a new hope for this place called Zion. They were convinced that they were the one and only true church, and any other religion was an apostate. They believed that Zion would be built in the “center place” in Independence, Missouri. Today, I believe the idea of Zion…

Derived from Christianity in 1830, the Mormon Church (also known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) was founded by Joseph Smith in 1830. Due to religious persecution, and after the murder of Joseph Smith in 1844, the newly appointed leader, Brigham Young, led the Mormons out west to a religious safe haven in Salt Lake City. In 1823, Joseph Smith claimed he was visited by an angel named “Moroni”, and this angel told him of an ancient record that contained God’s dealings. In 1827…

personal harem that acts like nothing more than slaves for that man's pleasure? But is that true? To quote Elbert Hubbard “Polygamy: An endeavor to get more out of life than there is in it.” So is polygamy evil as we believe? I believe that though the government has passed many laws that are against polygamy. I believe that it should be legalized. What is polygamy, polygamy is the practice of a man marrying more than one woman. According to the LDS, church polygamy was started in the U.S by a…

One can interpret faith as a subjective experience. Many of us approach religion in our own personal way. Whether that means rejecting the entire idea of religion or following in our family’s religious footsteps, it is a personal choice that we all come to make at some point in our lives. I’ve always been very open to the idea of religion. The air of mystery that surrounded The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the reason I chose it as my listening post. The Church of…

Sister Wives, should polygamy be legalized? Polygamy has been around for many years and with the TV show Sister Wives it can now be viewed in our homes weekly with each new season it brings. The show reminds us of the controversy that surrounds plural marriage. Should plural marriage be legalized? There are many opinions on this touchy topic. Should we, as a society, just leave it be, mind our own business as it were? Should we turn a blind eye to the accusations of abuse and underage…

The Theology and Anthropology of Mormonism Raley Ivester Murrell-A4 24 February, 2016 Mormonism is a modern day cult based loosely on Christianity. While the teachings of Mormonism claim to be Biblical,they are actually quite far from it. They have the same people, but often with a completely different background or role in the story. For example, Mormons believe that Jesus is the “ literal spirit-brother of Lucifer, a creation” . (Slick, “A Comparison…”). Mormonism was founded in 1830 by…

(Porter). Since its restoration, the priesthood has been an integral part of the lives of members of the church. Women are told to seek worthy priesthood holders for husbands, men are supposed to live life as a worthy priesthood holder, and children are supposed to be raised with the priesthood influence in their life. While all of these ideals are modern in thought, some of the ideals held by members earlier in church history are quite different from the ones members today believe. Through…

Krakauer connects the Lafferty brothers, and the murders to Mormon history, which implies focusing on its vicious and authoritarian perspectives. It’s noteworthy to say that the murders of Brenda and Erica Lafferty took place because of historical, psychological, anthropological, and sociological evidence. Historical being religions, psychological being the personal and familial psychological history, anthropological being family, culture, and religion, and lastly sociological, which was how the…

During the bitter winter of 1838-1839 some five thousand Latter Day Saints crossed the Mississippi River from Missouri and settled in western Illinois, where they soon established the city of Nauvoo under the leadership of their prophet, Joseph Smith, Jr. Situated on a bend of the Mississippi River in Hancock County, Nauvoo grew rapidly during the next seven years as a flood of Latter Day Saints settled in the area. Finally, it would seem that the Mormons had found a place, a holy city where…

The relationship between my faith and my work as a therapist is very interesting to me. I was born and raised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) also known as Mormons. When I was two my family moved to a home in Provo, Utah where my father became a professor at Brigham Young University which is owned and run by the LDS Church. The area where I lived was about 99% Mormon. In fourth grade there was only one student in my entire grade-level who was not a member of the…