The Mormon Faith A Myth Essays - Mormon Studies, Lamanite

The Mormon Faith: A Myth During the early 1800s many new religious sects were growing in the United States. Religious denominations tried to spread their unique set of beliefs. Joseph Smith found a new church based on revelation that was translated into The Book of Mormon. The work tells a story of a prophet named Lehi who sailed to North America from Palestine in 600 BC. Lehi's sons became bitter rivals and each formed a powerful army. Their followers, the Lamanites and Nephites, named after the brothers (Laman and Nephi), prepared for battle in the area that would become New York. A Nephite named Mormon recorded, on golden tablets, stories of the battle and of earlier events. The Lamanites slaughtered many Nephites, but Mormon's son, Moroni, survived and buried the tablets at Cumorah. Nearly 1500 years later, Joseph Smith claimed that the angel of Morone had appeared to him (Streissguth, 1995). Mormonism began when Joseph Smith attended a Christian revival in 1820 where he was encouraged to pray to God for guidance as to which church was true. In answer to his prayers he was visited by God the Father and God the Son, two separate beings, who told him to join no church because all the churches at that time were false, and that he was to bring forth the true church. This event is called the first vision (Beversluis, 1993). In 1823 Joesph Smith had another heavenly visitation, in which an angel told him of a sacred history written by ancient Hebrews in America. The history was engraved in Egyptian on gold tablets and buried in a hill. He was told the information was the history of the ancient peoples of America, and that Joseph would be the instrument for bringing this knowledge to the world. The angel gave the tablets to Joseph Smith in 1827. He then translated the Egyptian into English with the help of the spirit of God and the use of a sacred instrument accompanying the plates called the Urim and Thummim. The translation was published in 1830 as The Book of Mormon. In this book are passages that proclaim there only one God and that God can not change (Bloom, 1992). There are many facts that present a valid argument against Joseph Smith and his religion. The 'First Vision' story was unknown until 1838, eighteen years after its occurrence and almost ten years after Smith had begun his missionary efforts. The oldest version is in Smith's own handwriting, dating from about 1832 (at least eleven years afterwards), and says that just one form, Jesus Christ, appeared to him. It also mentions nothing about a revival. The religious history of the locale where Smith lived in 1820 shows that there was no trace of a religious revival there at that time (there were revivals in 1817 and 1824, but none in 1820). Also, the oldest version of the first vision story contradicts the later account as to whether Smith had already decided that no church was true. In 1828, eight years after he says he had been told by God himself to join no church, Smith applied for membership in a local Methodist church (Streissgarth, 1995). Although Joseph Smith said that God had pronounced the completed translation of the plated as published in 1830 correct, many changes have been made in later editions. Besides thousands of corrections of poor grammar and awkward working in the 1830 edition, other changes have been made to reflect subsequent changes in some of the fundamental doctrine of the church. For example, an early change in wording modified the 1830 edition's acceptance of the doctrine of the Trinity, allowing Smith to introduce his later doctrine of multiple gods. A more recent change occurred in 1981 when white was replaced with pure, apparently to reflect the change in the church's stance on the black race. Also, Joseph Smith claimed to be a prophet because he foretold future events--by the power of God. The dates have long past, leaving the deeds undone. Smith's doctrines weren't revealed to his church all at once or in their present state. From his first vision in 1820 until his death in 1844, Joseph Smith modified his doctrines, often altering them so much