Mormon Church of the Latter Day Saints - Research Paper Example

Mormon Church of Latter Day Saints It is reality beyond suspicion that Almighty Lord created man out of rotten clay though blessed him with ‘superiority over fish of the sea and fowl of the air.’ (Genesis, 1:26) This human superiority lies on the foundations of vigilance, wisdom, knowledge and the aspiration to explore truthfulness out of the available information and existing sets of belief prevailing in his natural and social environment. God also sent His apostles and holy personalities for the spiritual guidance, uplift and welfare of humanity, the teachings of which brought tremendous alterations and constructive transformations in their individual and collective life. Somehow, born with the innate characteristics of rebellion and disobedience, humans started deviating from these holy commandments and noble teachings; and hence stuck to imitating the footprints of the satanic forces by getting indulged into revelries and merry-making. At last, the wise, prudent and intellectual individuals, by dint of their spiritual thoughtfulness and strong religious belief, rose to the occasion to warn and forbid the people from making alterations in the real teachings of the founders of the religion, so that the true spirit of faith could be rejuvenated out of the misconceptions and amendments inaccurately taken place with the passage of time; the Latter Day Saints Movement was also launched with the same motifs and objectives in view. Launched by Joseph Smith Jr. (1805-1844) out of some powerful, unabated and unremitting spiritual inspirations, the movement was determined to give up and eradicate every unnecessary addition from the religious norms and beliefs, which had no roots in the faith introduced by Jesus Christ and the saints belonging to the earliest Christian centuries. It is therefore the movement is frequently argued to be the fundamentalist movement of restoration for the real teachings of Christ, and its spiritual leaders are called the latter day saints in order to distinguish them from the early era saints of Christianity. Smith Jr. “was restoring the only true church which had been lost for centuries due to the corruptions into which all supposedly Christian groups, whether Catholic or Protestant or Orthodox, had fallen.” (Moorhead & Heuser, 1985:1) Hence, like Martin Luther’s reform movement, Mormonism was also interested to mitigate the corruption and exploitation of church being conducted at the hands of religious dogmatism. Mormonism refused to accept the false notion that the historical events, described in the Bible, were just parables; on the contrary, the church strongly believed that all the Biblical stories are based upon the real events occurred from God either as reward on the pious humans for performing excellent deeds, or the punishments for making mischief and going astray from the right path of glory and virtue. Consequently, Noah’s survival in the great flood was the sign of the Lord’s blessings upon Noah, his family and true followers, while the same was the token of His wrath on the disobedient and transgressors. Similarly, Abraham’s seed was bestowed upon with mercies and bounties in the form of spiritual and worldly leadership, while the latter generations had to lead the life of slavery because of the malpractices the children of Israel had stated committing. For instance, Judah’s scheme of throwing Joseph into the well, and people’s worshipping the golden calf in the absence of Moses invited the wrath of God on transgressors. All these incidents had occurred in reality, so declaring them as the parables and folklores really meant disclaiming the powers of the Lord and His universal system of justice and fair play. Mormon Church also disregards any claim regarding the evolution process, and declares Darwin’s evolution theory as baseless and imaginary one in nature and scope. Since the Old and New Testaments manifestly narrate the creation of Adam and Eve, declaring apes or some other races as the co-born or ancestors of humans as entirely against the real Christian belief and values as well. “Some prominent Latter-day Saints viewed the teachings of evolution as the theories of men or the wiles of Satan, others have viewed evolution as the method by which God created tabernacles for spirits.” (Ash, 2002:19) The Mormons vehemently state that creation of Adam came into being out of chaos, and thus no species, including dinosaurs, was vanished before the creation of man. Mormons are of the view that no one could refute that such manlike beings did at one time roam over the earth without the existence of humans at large. The doctrine rejects the fundamental Christian claim of Trinity, and views God and Christ as two different beings. Hence, unlike the traditional Anglican Christian Church, the Mormons view Jesus as the prophet of God, who communicated the sacred commandments of God as well as noble teachings of the Bible for their success in eternal life. However, Christ was sinless and savior of the sinful humans, the church states. Additionally, the Mormons maintain unflinching belief in the Second Arrival, which would fill the world with peace, justice and tranquility. The church associates success in the world Hereinafter with the performing of noble deeds along with having unflinching love for and belief in God and Christ. Thus, like Lutheran doctrine, Mormons also reject the Pope’s power of granting pardon and forgiveness to the followers. Nevertheless, the Mormon Church appears to be deviating from the basic monotheistic belief, which was the source of inspiration for the entire faith. “Traditional Christians say that there is only one God. Mormons, on the other hand, assert that there are many gods. This is the most fundamental difference between the two faiths. Christians adhere to monotheism, which is defined as belief in one God, whereas Mormons embrace polytheism, which is belief in the plurality of gods.” (Abanes, 2007: 108-109) Hence, while searching the true light of wisdom and foresight, Mormonism deviated from the right path of glory, and embraced the pagan concept of pluralism, against which the saints belonging to earliest Christian centuries, including St. Perpetua, Felicita and several others sacrificed their lives and comforts. Another important tradition of the Mormon Church that distinguishes it with the Anglicans includes practicing of polygamy, which is widely observed by the followers. “The FLDS is one of numerous splinter groups that broke away over the controversial doctrine of “plural wives” or polygamy. In the early years of his movement, the Prophet Joseph Smith introduced the controversial practice of Mormon men receiving multiple wives.” (Walker, 2007:130) Somehow, the practice was later adopted as a doctrine of the Church. Another fatal misconception in the belief of the Mormons includes adopting of racial discrimination particularly against the African Blacks. The complexion of the skins of African Blacks, according to the Mormons, is the reflection of the sins their ancestor Ham committed by disobeying his father Noah. (Genesis, 9:22) It is therefore they led the life of slavery and humiliation for centuries. On the contrary, Anglican do not consider poverty and backwardness of the Africans as the outcome of the sin their ancestor committed. Instead of taking the Africans as inferior and slave racial community, they strived to fight against slavery and discriminative attitude against the Africans. They cite that since St. Ambrose, St. Augustine of Hippo, respected St. Perpetua and several others are also the descendants of Ham, who sacrificed their comforts and even lives for the cause of Christianity, so the could not be degraded on the basis of their physical features and complexion altogether. “Anglican theologians such as William Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect (Atlantic trade) and the Universities Mission to Central Africa (East Africa) were at the forefront of the fight against slavery in the nineteenth century. African Anglicans like Philip Quaque (Ghana) and Samuel Crowther were ordained in the 19th century.” (King, 2007: 2-3) By critically examining the Mormons’ teachings and beliefs, it becomes evident that the teachings maintain great significance even in the present day. The contemporary world has also been undergoing the same problems and difficulties, which had forced Smith Jr. to raise a revolt against traditionalism and alterations made in Christianity. The Mormons’ doctrine of salvation and pardon from the Lord has close affinity with the ancient Christian beliefs; additionally, Mormon’s having faith in the creation procedure defined in the holy Bible as well as regarding the incidents mentioned in the Scriptures are certainly the essential elements of actual Christian religion. Somehow, the plurality of gods and apartheid and ethno-racial hatred, particularly against the black race, create suspicion and abhorrence for the same. The contemporary world looks for the imposition of real Christian teachings, where belief in Oneness of God, performing good, avoiding evil and observing justice, equality and brotherhood are the most desired sets of beliefs, which must be adopted in the same spirit as presented by Holy Jesus Christ by seeking revelations and inspirations from the Creator of the world. Works Cited Abanes, Richard Inside Today's Mormonism: Understanding Latter-Day Saints in Light of Biblical Truth Harvest House Publishers 2007 108-109 Ash, Michael R. The Mormon Myth of Evil Evolution Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 2002 18-26 Retrieved from http://www.mormonfortress.com/evolution.pdf Moorhead, James H. & Heuser, Frederick J. Jr. Presbyterians and Mormons: An Introduction Journal of Presbyterian History, 1985:1 Retrieved from http://oga.pcusa.org/perspectives/jan03/jan_pres_mor.pdf Walker, James K. The Concise Guide to Today's Religions and Spirituality Harvest House Publishers 2007 25-156 King, Revd Dr Fergus Some Differences between Anglican & Latter Day Saints’ (Mormon) Beliefs August 2007 1-22 Retrieved from http://kotaraang.angelfire.com/Mormonism.pdf The Holy Bible Book of Genesis Bible Gateway King James Version Retrieved from http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+9%3A22-24&version=KJV Read More