Who are the Mormons? Origins and beliefs of this religion

A summary of the characteristics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The popularly known as Mormons, officially called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are a variant of Christianity whose members consider their set of beliefs and rhythm of life to be a religious belief system.Mormons, are a variant of Christianity whose members consider their set of beliefs and rituals an update of the "original" idea of Christianity.

The essential particularity of the Mormons is the staging of their appearance. Contrary to the mythology and mysticism surrounding the recognized prophets of the three great religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) their founder and also considered Mormon Prophet, was an ordinary person who lived during the modern age: Joseph Smith Jr.

It happens that in every new branch of a monotheistic religion, controversy appears and expands from time to time. In the case of the emergence of the Mormons, their emergence from someone of flesh and Blood was at the time a great source of controversy.

Who are the Mormons? Origins of the movement

One of the curiosities of the Mormons is their recent creation and in a relatively recent environment. Shortly after the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, a humble boy of farm parents settled in the town of Palmyra, New York began to have revelations when he was still a teenager, at the age of 14.

According to his firsthand testimony, Joseph Smith Jr. had witnessed how Jesus of Nazareth himself had approached him to grant him the privileged title of "prophet on earth" to spread God's final message. and the restoration of the "Primitive Church of Jesus Christ" with a new prism, detaching itself from the Christian postulates and the official Catholic Church. It so happens that all this takes place in a time of national construction and identity of the United States.

This doctrine has its origin in the "First Vision" that Joseph Smith had in 1820.. A few years later, while Joseph Smith Jr. was praying, he had another apparition of the angel Moroni (son of the prophet Moron), which would give him the popular name we know today. It is at that moment where theologians set the most discussed polemic.

The testimony left by the prophet of the Mormons is that the angel gave him some concrete geographic indications so that he would pick up some plates of pure gold on which were engraved the true commandments of Jesus Christ. Smith did not hesitate to obey in the search for the evidence. After several unsuccessful attempts at digging, he finally came across these plates and was impressed by the event he had just witnessed.

The Mormon Text Controversy

Taking into account other aspects of Mormonism that we will discuss later, the essential basis of the controversy between this religion and the other variants of Christianity lies in the discovery of the buried works in a field on the outskirts of New York. Without evidence or testimony beyond Smith himself (as happens with other religions), the Mormons defend the idea that the plates were, as revealed by the angel Moroni, next to some "seer" stones that would help to translate the manuscripts.

Then the mother of all suspicions arises: these texts were intelligible, the language was unknown and, according to Joseph himself, it was a mixture of Greek and Hebrew.. However, the solution was found in a kind of mask with lenses that allowed him to translate the writings found into English. This led to the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830. However, making the credibility of the Mormon prophet even more difficult, historians claim that he could barely read and write. How could he then transcribe the original texts?

To the frustration of the defenders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Smith could not finish translating the entire contents of the Book because the angel who had designated him heir to his message took all the elements that he had exhumed along with all the complementary accessories. Likewise, Joseph also had time to put together a 15-volume work with relevant chapters and verses, with the same structure as any other book.The structure of the book was identical to that of any other religious book, but with a greater number of volumes.

Main differences with other branches of Christianity

Mormons have some very profound differential characteristics with other Christians, especially with regard to marriage.. In their fundamental bases, the Mormons allowed polygamy, as it happens with Islam, but with a greater number of spouses. Joseph Smith himself consummated a total of 40 marriages and had about fifty parents.

As could be expected, he was the object of endless suspicions about the true purposes of the Mormon prophet, whose detractors accused him of being a trickster and manipulator with women with the sole purpose of having sexual relations through the new prophecy he was spreading. In fact, historians suppose, the Mormons had to rethink this discordant element, and at present only monogamy is permitted..

Likewise, the Primitive Gospel Movement currently has the characteristic of accepting and adopting homosexual and transgender members, and has even explicitly offered support to laws protecting the LGBT collective in the United States, especially by the hand of Mitt Romney, who was the first Mormon candidate for the presidency of the country in 2012.

Persecution, expansion and current influence of this religion

The Mormons were victims of persecution since the beginning of their foundation.. Joseph Smith was accused of crimes of public disorder, sectarianism and sedition. In fact, the prophet and his followers had to found their own city to avoid persecution.

Thus, the persecution led to the birth of Nauvoo (La Hermosa, in Hebrew) in the year 1839, in the present state of Illinois, USA. There they wanted to settle and establish their headquarters after the Mormon War in Missouri, from where they were banished.

After countless escapes, accusations, lynchings and a long history of political and religious accusations, Joseph Smith was assassinated in 1844 by a group of anti-Mormons in the jail where he was confined in the city of Carthage, Missouri. in the city of Carthage, Illinois. With some internal tensions and divisions, the Mormons soon appointed their new prophet, Smith's disciple, Brigham Young, nicknamed "the American Moses", since he helped to continue expanding the creed throughout the country.

Today, this branch of Christianity continues to grow gradually throughout the globe. It has some 10 million parishioners and, according to some studies and reportsAccording to some studies and reports, a 120% growth is estimated for the year 2080. Its headquarters is located in Salt Lake City, in the State of Utah, whose founder was Smith's successor.

Referencias bibliográficas:

• Marquardt, H.M. y Walters, W.P. (1994). Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record. Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books.
• Russell, William D. (Winter 2005). An RLDS Schismatic Group Finds a Prophet of Joseph's Seed. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 38(3).
• Shields, S.L. (2012). Proposing an Academic Name for the Movement. Restoration Studies. 13: pp. 47 - 60.