1.
Mormonism
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Mormonism is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity. Joseph Smith founded the movement in Western New York in the 1820s, during the 1830s and 1840s, it distinguished itself from traditional Protestantism. Mormonism represents the non-Protestant faith taught by Smith in the 1840s, other sects include Mormon fundamentalism, which seeks to maintain practices and doctrines such as polygamy, and various other small independent denominations. The word Mormon originally derived from the Book of Mormon, a text published by Smith. The book describes itself as a chronicle of early peoples of the Americas. Based on the name of book, early followers of Smith were more widely known as Mormons. The term was considered pejorative, but Mormons no longer consider it so. It also accepts the Pearl of Great Price as part of its canon, and has a history of teaching eternal marriage, eternal progression. Cultural Mormonism, a lifestyle promoted by Mormon institutions, includes cultural Mormons who identify with the culture, Mormonism originated in the 1820s in western New York during a period of religious excitement known as the Second Great Awakening. After praying about which denomination he should join, Joseph Smith, called the First Vision, Smith claimed God the Father instructed him to join none of the existing churches because they were all wrong. Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and other followers, began baptizing new converts in 1829. Formally organized in 1830 as the Church of Christ, Smith was seen by his followers as a modern-day prophet. Joseph Smith claimed The Book of Mormon was translated from writing on plates in a reformed Egyptian language, translated with the assistance of the Urim and Thummim. Both the special spectacles and the stone were at times referred to as the Urim and Thummim. He said an angel first showed him the location of the plates in 1823, buried in a nearby hill, Smith began dictating the text of The Book of Mormon around the fall of 1827 until the summer of 1828 when 116 pages were lost. Translation began again in April 1829 and finished in June 1829, saying that he translated it by the gift, after the translation was completed, Smith said the plates were returned to the angel. During Smiths supposed possession, very few people were allowed to witness the plates, the book described itself as a chronicle of an early Israelite diaspora, becoming the indigenous peoples of the Americas, written by a people called the Nephites. According to The Book of Mormon, Lehis family left Jerusalem at the urging of God c.600 BC, the Nephites are described as descendants of Nephi, the fourth son of the prophet Lehi
2.
Latter Day Saint movement
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The Latter Day Saint movement is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 15 million members, the vast majority of adherents belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with their predominant theology being Mormonism. The LDS Church self-identifies as Christian, based on the teachings of this book and other revelations, Smith founded a Christian primitivist church, called the Church of Christ. The Book of Mormon attracted hundreds of followers, who later became known as Mormons, Latter Day Saints. In 1831, Smith moved the headquarters to Kirtland, Ohio. After the church in Ohio collapsed due to dissensions, in 1838, Smith and the body of the moved to Missouri. After Smiths death in 1844, a crisis led to the organization splitting into several groups. The largest of these, the LDS Church, migrated under the leadership of Brigham Young to the Great Basin, the LDS Church officially renounced this practice in 1890, and gradually discontinued it, resulting in the Utah Territory becoming a U. S. state. This change resulted in the formation of a number of small sects who sought to maintain polygamy and other 19th-century Mormon doctrines and practices, other groups originating within the Latter Day Saint movement followed different paths in Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. For the most part these groups rejected plural marriage and some of Smiths later teachings, the largest of these, the Community of Christ, was formed in Illinois in 1860 by several groups uniting around Smiths son, Joseph Smith III. Most existing denominations that adhere to the teachings of Smith have some relationship with the movement. The driving force behind and founder of the Latter Day Saint movement was Joseph Smith, Smith and Cowdery also explained that the angels John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John visited them in 1829 and gave them priesthood authority to reestablish the Church of Christ. The first Latter Day Saint church was formed on April 6,1830, consisting of a community of believers in the western New York towns of Fayette, Manchester, the church was formally organized under the name of the Church of Christ. In 1844, William Law and several other Latter Day Saints in church leadership positions publicly denounced Smiths secret practice of polygamy in the Nauvoo Expositor, the city council of Nauvoo, Illinois, led by Smith, subsequently had the printing press of the Expositor destroyed. In spite of Smiths later offer to pay damages for destroyed property, critics of Smith, some called for the Latter Day Saints to be either expelled or destroyed. These various claims resulted in a succession crisis, many supported Brigham Young, the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, others Sidney Rigdon, the senior surviving member of the First Presidency. These various groups are referred to under two geographical headings, Prairie Saints and Rocky Mountain Saints. Today, the vast majority of Latter Day Saints belong to the Utah-based The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the second-largest denomination is the Missouri-based Community of Christ which reports over 250,000 members
