Smith claimed that polygamy was practiced by the "pre-Judaic" tribes (Harris). Polygamy was called "celestial marriage," and Joseph Smith claimed that he received his orders to practice polygamy in a religious vision ("The Mormons"). Polygamy was and still is illegal even though it was still a part of the Mormon traditions.
According to the BBC, there are "substantial differences" between the Church of Latter-Day Saints and the Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian Churches. Even though all the Christian Churches are based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, they all differ in their practices and beliefs. The Mormon Church also has a different leadership hierarchy than other Christian Churches, but one that still includes priests, bishops, and clergy. Unlike in the Catholic Church, the Mormon priesthood is not a professional one (BBC).
Besides the practice of polygamy, several things set apart Mormonism from other Christian faiths. The Mormons believe that "human beings…...
Stenhouse demonstrates remarkable insight into the gender roles and norms that plural marriage entails. The marriage is qualitatively different than a monogamous one. As Stenhouse notes, the husband "aims to be looked upon more as a ruler than as the head of a family," (149). Flowers confirms Stenhouse's observations, "the practice of polygamy tended to instill in people the attitude of despotism or authoritarianism" (22). Polygamy also reveals a deep contradiction in Mormon philosophy. "The irony is that a gospel of universal brotherhood…is so marked on every hand by borders, boundaries, and radical difference" (Givens 295).
Polygamy in America has almost become synonymous with Mormonism. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been at the center of a national debate that spanned the issues of religious freedom, federalism, and feminism. Plural marriage mirrored an unequal social structure that pervaded Mormon culture and indeed much of the culture of…...
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Works Cited
Flowers, Ronald Bruce. That Godless Court? Supreme Court Decisions on Church-State Relationships. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1989.
Givens, Terry L. People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Gordon, Sarah Barringer. The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth Century America. North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press.
Krakauer, Jon. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith. Doubleday, 2003.
For example, to attend the temple, advance in the Priesthood, or serve a mission, individuals must adhere to the Law of Chastity (e.g., no premarital or extramarital sexual intimacy) and abstain from alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs. They are also required to promise to care for others, including both family and other church members. Similarly, all physically and emotionally capable young men between the ages of 18 and 27 are expected to serve missions and young women are invited to do so as well. While serving a mission, young people leave all individualistic pursuits (i.e., jobs, scholarships, dating relationships, etc.) behind for an extended period of time (i.e., 2 years or 18 months, for men and women, respectively). During this time they are engaged full time (all day, every day with no trips home to see family) in sharing their beliefs with others and engaging in service projects.
The mission component…...
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Bibliography
Barry, Carolyn Mcnamara, and Larry J. Nelson. "The Role of Religion in the Transition to Adulthood for Young Emerging Adults." Journal of Youth and Adolescence 34, no. 3 (2005): 245.
Revision MemoWhat I believe I did well in this assignment:Although this assignment covered a lot of bases, I believe I did well because I addressed each prompt thoroughly using relevant scholarly resources and empirical observations and experiences.What I would work on if I had more time:It would be interesting to learn more about the debates that took place among early Church leaders concerning the Mormons policies about adherence to the Word of Wisdom. The prevailing views about healthful lifestyles in the 19th century and early 20th century clearly had an influence on these debates and learning more about any opposing views that were advanced during these conclaves would be informative for modern researchers.My view on the topic of debate changed as I worked this semester in this way:Upon closer examination of my observations regarding when and how members break the Word of Wisdom in relation to their membership, there may…...
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Works Cited
Abdussalam. Mohammed and Kiifersteinthe, Fritz. “Food beliefs and taboos.” World Health, vol. 496, no. 2, March-April 1998, pp. 10-12.
Badanta, Bárbara, et al. “‘A Temple of God’: A Qualitative Analysis of the Connection Between Spiritual/Religious Beliefs and Health Among Mormons.” Journal of Religion and Health, vol. 59, no. 3, June 2020, pp. 1580–95.
Ferguson III, John E., et al. “The Word of Wisdom in Contemporary American Mormonism: Perceptions and Practice.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol. 51, no. 1, Spring 2018, pp. 39–78.
plural marriages from the standpoint of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, commonly referred to as Mormons. The writer uses several published works to examine the history and beliefs regarding plural marriages as doctrine through the church. There were four sources used to complete this paper.
Ask most people one fact that defines the Church of Latter Day Saints, (Mormons) and they will answer, plural marriages. The belief that the Mormon church still condones and encourages plural marriages (Polygamy) remains prevalent throughout the nation, even though the practice stopped being sanctioned by the church years ago (Nearly, 2000). Young men still joke about converting to Mormonism so they can enjoy all of their girlfriends as wives, while women who catch their men looking at other women still joke that they are not Mormon so the husband might as well give it up. It has been years since the church…...
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REFERENCES
VERN ANDERSON, HISTORY OF MORMON FOUNDER'S 33 WIVES CASTS POLYGAMY AS 'TRAGICAMBIGUITY'., The Columbian, 01-09-1998, pp D. 8.
LYNN NEARY, Analysis: Existence of polygamy today, its history in the Mormon Church and the church's views on the practice., Talk of the Nation (NPR), 07-18-2000
BOB EDWARDS, Analysis: Polygamy trial to begin in Utah., Morning Edition (NPR),
Brigham Young
At first, Young was ambivalent towards the Methodist -- or any other -- Church. He "held back from joining the Methodists" like his brothers had because of an "independent, deliberate personality" that rejected belief under pressure (8). Methodist revival meetings also turned Young off because of their "loud, crowded, and hyperactive" qualities," (8). Yet while living in the Auburn-Port Byron area, during an economic depression, he was "swept up by religious enthusiasm" and joined the Methodist Church in 1824 (13). The conversion turned out to be integral to Young's "program of self-improvement," (14). The Church prompted Young to give up swearing, one of his self-admitted habits. He experimented with vegetarianism, too, in an attempt to live an overall cleaner and healthier lifestyle. The religion also helped him to overcome his shyness and fear of public speaking (14). In addition to helping him on his personal path, the Methodist Church…...
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5. The Gold Rush altered the course of westward expansion, driving increasing numbers of non-Mormons to western lands and especially to California. The Gold Rush was therefore instrumental in preventing Young from entertaining the idea of moving the Mormon camp to California. Young feared a "renewed Mormon/non-Mormon conflict," (94). Mormon Samuel Brannan struck gold and was later excommunicated because he refused to tithe on his huge fortune (94-95). A large number of fortune-seeking trailblazers had made the path to the Great Salt Lake basin easier, which solidified the decision to settle in what is now Salt Lake City (95). Therefore, the Gold Rush had a huge impact on the geography of Mormon settlement. The Gold Rush also directly benefitted the Mormons economically, as gold seekers would stop in Salt Lake City en route to California.
6. By the 1850s, Salt Lake City's Mormon businesses were prospering due to trade with gold seekers. Young encouraged economic self-sufficiency and diversification from what could have easily been an agriculture-dependent economy. Young and the Mormons had brought "to the Great Basin 75 to 100 black slaves," a fact that Young "tried to conceal from federal officials" due to the brewing controversy over slavery in the new territories (104). In spite of this, Young was ambivalent about the Civil War because it represented for him the spiritual end times. When it became apparent that the North was headed for victory, Young took an opportunistic stance of supporting the Union but for strategic reasons only. Young remained staunchly pro-slavery. In 1850 also, Young encouraged the development of an "Iron Mission" that would take advantage of the wealth of raw materials like iron in the region (108). By the end of the 1850s, Young was involved in three "broad categories" of business: first, deals involving partnership with the Mormon Church; second, those involving partnerships with other businessmen; and third, those in which Young was the sole investor (149).
7. Although the Transcontinental Railroad did not pass directly through Salt Lake City, it benefitted the Mormon economy. At the same time, Young feared the large numbers of non-Mormons it would bring to the territory (179). Young agreed with the prevailing patriarchal view that men have dominion over women; that women were inherently inferior to men; and were also less intelligent (192). Moreover, women represented sin, temptation, and spiritual corruption. The United Order was "a system of economic cooperation that called upon selected Mormon communities to pool their equipment, their property, and their energy and work together," (199). It was therefore a system of socialist cooperatives. Variations depended on different levels of economic commitment to the cooperative.
(Rood & Thatcher, 1)
Even here, the Mormons would be met with considerable challenges. The 'gentile' influence of American military force would ultimately push to confrontation the Mormons and various governmental groups set on obstructing effective settlement of the polygamist groups. Ultimately though, its brief history of reluctant nomadic behavior had prepared it better than such groups to shape the future of the Utah territory. Vying for American statehood in the face of much institutional and practical obstruction, the Mormons would nonetheless be able to out-wait other interested parties. As Rood & Thatcher report, "although the struggle for survival was difficult in the first years of settlement, the Mormons were better equipped by experience than many other groups to tame the harsh land. They had pioneered other settlements in the Midwest, and their communal religious faith underscored the necessity of cooperative effort." (Rood & Thatcher, 1)
These characteristics would precipitate considerable…...
ith regard to strong network ties, religions like Mormonism and Jehovah's itnesses will grow in communities with strong social connections that already exist. Thus, a few core members of the community become converted. Those core members are trusted in the community, and therefore community members are far more likely to embrace the faith through their trusted friends, neighbors, or family members than by total strangers. The growth of Mormonism and Jehovah's itnesses may also have to do with deeper psychological issues in places where these sects have been growing. Just as consumer behavior is linked to psychological theories, including theories of personality, so too is behavior regarding choice of religion. Mormonism and Jehovah's itnesses both demand a strict adherence to a set of rules related to personal conduct and social behavior. Proselytizing actively is also considered part of one's religious duty and social contract.
Therefore, what Stark and Iannacoone say about…...
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Work Cited
Lippy, Charles. Introducing American Religion. Routledge, 2009.
ay marriage violates the sacred texts, traditions, and beliefs among many religious organizations. For this reason, it must be banned. The American Baptist Churches, Association of Evangelicals, United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church, and the Catholic Church have all opposed same sex marriage. If marriage is expanded to incorporate, gay couples may encourage religious organization to marry same sex couples and schools will teach kids that opposite sex marriage is same as same sex marriage.
Marriage of children or underage girls has been closely linked to the increase in the spread of HIV / AIDS. The trend of men marrying young girls has been a condoned social norm. Therefore, it must be declared illegal based on the promulgation of the 2012 Children's Welfare and Protection Act. Evidently, the practice should be banned because of the conflicts with the provisions of the constitutional clauses. Old men…...
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Gay marriage violates the sacred texts, traditions, and beliefs among many religious organizations. For this reason, it must be banned. The American Baptist Churches, Association of Evangelicals, United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church, and the Catholic Church have all opposed same sex marriage. If marriage is expanded to incorporate, gay couples may encourage religious organization to marry same sex couples and schools will teach kids that opposite sex marriage is same as same sex marriage.
Marriage of children or underage girls has been closely linked to the increase in the spread of HIV / AIDS. The trend of men marrying young girls has been a condoned social norm. Therefore, it must be declared illegal based on the promulgation of the 2012 Children's Welfare and Protection Act. Evidently, the practice should be banned because of the conflicts with the provisions of the constitutional clauses. Old men marrying young girls who have just entered puberty are not a customary marriage. Although this has often been done, it cannot be tolerated.
However, times are changing: the prevalence of HIV is rising day by day. This practice has made significant contributions to the spread of HIV. Girl Child Rights and public health advocates have emerged victorious in the abolition of this practice. Research studies revealed that adolescents are greatly exposed to the risk of HIV / AIDS because most of them face sexual violence, come from plural marriage, and cannot negotiate for safe sex. In this regard, because plural marriage is a catalyst for the spread of HIV / AIDS, it should also be legally banned. Girls who engage in such practices have demonstrated a high illiteracy level, low contact with peers and limited access to health and media messages.
On June 27, 1844, hundreds swarmed the jail and brutally murdered the Smith brothers, leading their followers to conclude that they were martyred (Sisk).
At Joseph's death, righam Young was president of the Twelve Apostles of their church and became the leader of the largest faction within (Sisk 1992). Some who separated from Young's group formed their own, called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, under the leadership of one of the brothers of Joseph Smith. In 1846, Young's group declared that the "saints" would leave Nauvoo and they settled in Utah the following year and, for the next 20 or so years, many moved to Salt Lake Valley to join those "saints (Sisk)." The growth was so tremendous that many ascribe greater magnetism to Young than to Joseph himself in attracting followers. It is noted that the current-day Mormon Church has millions of such followers…...
Griffith, Michael T. The Book of Mormon - Ancient or Modern? Could Joseph Smith Have Written the Nephrite Record? Refuting the Critics: Evidence of the Book of Mormons in Authenticity. Horizon Publishers, 1993. http://ourworld.cs.com/mikegriffith1/id108.htm
Institute for Religious Research. Translation or Divination? Mormons in Transition. Institute for Religious Research, 1999. http://www.irr.org/mit/divination.html
Instead, it can be observed that the social environment changed, and the Mormons simply adapted to this social environment change in their society (rehm & Eisenhauer, 2006:406).
ased on McConkie and oss's (2006) analysis of Mormon culture at present, it was observed that Mormons still observed the basic theological principles that Mormons of the early years (i.e., fundamentalist years) have practiced. That is, they still subsisted to the belief that "[t]he doctrine that God continues to speak, by revelation, to Apostles and Prophets in this day...An underlying doctrinal theme that men and women are agents of Deity..." (110). This passage illustrated that among Mormons, there is consensus that there is a need 'to change constantly,' because it is only through change that the church of Mormons can grow, which is the ultimate (even central) goal of the religious institution.
Thus, change is already an inherent feature in Mormon culture, even before…...
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Bibliography
Brehm, J. And B. Eisenhauer. (2006). "Environmental concern in the Mormon culture region." Society and Natural Resources, Vol.19.
Malan, M. (2006). "Understanding methods of change in Mormon cultural attitudes beyond "official" doctrinal views and popular public image -- a reply to Christensen." Sexuality & Culture, Vol. 10, No. 3.
McConkie, M. And R. Boss. (2006). "OD values and Mormonism: creating adaptive systems." Public Administration Quarterly.
Newell, Q. Review of "Excavating Mormon pasts: the new historiography of the last half century." American Society of Church History.
Testaments to Truth
Roman Catholicism and Mormonism Compared
There are many varieties of Christianity, some of them very old, and some of them of quite recent origin. The Roman Catholic Church boasts an uninterrupted existence of two thousand years. Its hierarchy, and its beliefs, have adapted to changed conditions. Yet truth is not so easily discovered. Rome may have purified her Church during the Counter Reformation, but not all were satisfied. The Protestant Churches of estern Europe spawned an even greater number of sects in the New orld. Some of these creeds held beliefs similar to those of the Roman Catholic Church, while others developed in remarkably different ways. In mid-Nineteenth Century New York, Joseph Smith was privileged to receive an entirely new Revelation. This Book of Mormon was at odds with the teachings of virtually all other Christian denominations. The followers of this brand new Church of Jesus Christ of the…...
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Works Cited
Barlow, Philip L. Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-Day Saints in American Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Coates, James. In Mormon Circles: Gentiles, Jack Mormons, and Latter-Day Saints. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1991.
Guelzo, Allen C. For the Union of Evangelical Christendom: The Irony of the Reformed Episcopalians. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994.
Posner, Richard A. Sex and Reason. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992.
In 1846, Young led the church to the Great Salt Lake in Utah, where they established Salt Lake City, yet tensions continued between the settlers and the Federal Government (Church Pp). The Edmunds Act of 1882 countered the Mormon's practice of polygamy, a practice that had prevented Utah being recognized as a state (Church Pp). In 1890 a revelation from God changed church beliefs and practices when the fourth Church president, ilford oodruff, issued the Great Accommodation, which basically banned plural marriages and in 1896, Utah became a state (Church Pp).
During the 20th century, the Church maintained a dominant role in Utah and as of mid-2001, the Governor and all Federal senators, representatives and members of the Supreme Court are all Mormon (Church Pp). During the 1970's the Church received political and economic pressure concerning its institutionalized racism, which prevented males of black ancestry from ordination, thus, the Church…...
Mormonism was founded by Joseph Smith in the early 19th century in New York. Its formal name is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. During the Second Great Awakening (a Protestant movement in America in the early 1800s), Smith generated and drew support for his vision of America's privileged place in the history of Christianity. Smith's vision was rooted in the reformist movement of the Great Awakening and the doctrines that Smith taught were of the omantic spirit that fueled the Awakening, attracting many people of the time who looked forward to the return of Christ to the world as foretold in the New Testament (Smith, 2004). The new message that Smith gave to his followers was that "on the morning of the 22nd of September 1827 the Angel of the Lord delivered" to him "a series of records of the aboriginal inhabitants of North America" -- records…...
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References
Bushman, C. (2006). Contemporary Mormonism: Latter-Day Saints in Modern
America. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
Jackson, A. (2012). The Mormon Faith of Mitt Romney: What Latter-Day Saints Teach
Sherlock Holmes is presently associated with a deerstalker hat, a pipe and a magnifying glass, but few people know that the first description of the character has nothing to do with these items (with the exception of the magnifying glass, which he rarely used in "A Study in Scarlet"). Every popular character, regardless of its importance, is bound to change in appearance over a period of years. This is probably due to the intervention of various factors, such as the public's opinion and trends changing along with the passing of time. The general image of Sherlock Holmes has been gradually influenced by various depictions of the character, as each depiction has provided material for the one after it.
Doyle lived to see his novel adapted to be put in plays and to be transformed into film scripts. The character is part of a great number of books, motion pictures, and articles…...
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Works cited:
1. Browning, Gary & Eliason, Eric a. "Crypto-mormons or Pseudo-mormons?," Western Folklore 61.2 (2002)
2. Childers, Joseph W. "Recent Studies in the Nineteenth Century," Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900-38.4 (1998).
3. Doyle, Arthur Conan. (2007). "A Study in Scarlet." Filiquarian Publishing, LLC.
4. Mitchell, Lee. "White Slaves and Purple Sage: Plotting Sex in Zane Grey's West," American Literary History6.2 (1994): 234.
Many people are familiar with the word “canon” as it is used when discussing fictional works. It refers to those books or other works that are an official part of the created world, as opposed to those created by others, like fan fiction. It also distinguishes the written word from speculation or theories built on that word, but not directly supported by it. Canon has a similar meaning in Biblical studies of the New Testament. It refers specifically to those books believed to have been divinely inspired and incorporated into the New Testament. This makes Christianity somewhat different from many....
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