(Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:...)
Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). o What is faith? o What is the role of revelation in developing faith? o What are the nature and attributes of God? o Why is a correct knowledge about God's character necessary in order to exercise true faith? o What is the relationship between sacrifice and faith? o What are the results of having faith? In this timeless series of lectures by Joseph Smith, he answers these and other questions on faith with a degree of clarity and truth that can be appreciated by all Christians.
The Holy Scriptures Inspired Version (Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible - Complete Text
(1st Facsimile Edition of the 1867 1st Edition of the Jose...)
1st Facsimile Edition of the 1867 1st Edition of the Joseph Smith, Jr. Inspired Translation of The King James Version of the Bible. This text is as good as it gets! When this work first came into the hands of Orson Pratt, he and his wife Sarah stayed up until 2 am in the morning reading and comparing it to the King James Version of the Bible (KJV) and Orson said, "Sarah, these men have done their work honestly! This translation is just as it was left by the Prophet Joseph in 1833. I could quickly have detected it had they tampered with or altered what he wrote. I am delighted with it, and I thank God that I have received this copy!" (A Plainer Translation Joseph Smiths Translation of the Bible: A History and Commentary, by Matthews, BYU Press, p. 228) Editions by other publishers have made some changes to the Joseph Smith, Jr. translation and have reverted back to the KJV text. This 1867 1st edition facsimile is as close to the original Joseph Smith Jr. translation as you can get! This Bible has the FULL COMPLETE TEXT of the Old and New Testaments, translations included, this is not just a side-by-side comparison of only the changed verses, which cannot be read in context of all the other verses, this is the full and complete text of the Joseph Smith Translation of The Holy King James Version of the Bible. There are also pages for family records, colorful maps, Bible helps, and a concordance. The page edges are white like a normal paperback book. Other copies of this edition are available with gold leaf and deluxe leather or hardback covers.
The Doctrine and Covenants: of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints
(The Doctrine and Covenants (sometimes abbreviated and cit...)
The Doctrine and Covenants (sometimes abbreviated and cited as D&C) is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. Originally published in 1835 as Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God, editions of the book continue to be printed mainly by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints).
(The Pearl of Great Price is an important part of the cano...)
The Pearl of Great Price is an important part of the canonical works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is a selection of key materials which touch on many significant aspects of the Mormon faith and doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
(For the twelve million members of The Church of Jesus Chr...)
For the twelve million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worldwide (six million in the United States), The Book of Mormon is literally the word of God, a companion volume to the Bible that contains the everlasting gospel. According to Mormon belief, The Book of Mormon was inscribed on golden plates by generations of prophets, quoted and abridged by the prophet-historian Mormon, and buried in the ground by Mormon's son, Moroni. Fourteen centuries later, in 1823, the angel Moroni led Joseph Smith to the plates hidden in a hillside in upstate New York. Smith translated the ancient language into English through divine revelation. The Book of Mormon narrates the historical, religious, political, and military events that shaped and continue to inform the Church's teachings.
Joseph Smith Jr. was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement.
Background
Joseph Smith Jr. was born in on December 23, 1805, to Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith at Sharon, Vermont. His father was a farmer and merchant.
He suffered from typhoid fever at the age of seven which led to a bone infection. After a couple of operations the infection was successfully cured although he had to be on crutches for three years and limped slightly throughout his life.
Following ill fate and monetary losses, his family shifted to Palmyra, New York during 1816-17.
Like his family members he also got involved in religious folk magic. His parents and maternal grandfather believed that the dreams and visions that they experience are nothing but messages from God.
In 1820, Joseph Smith had a vision when he turned to the woods to seek guidance from God. He said while he was praying God appeared and assured that all his sins were forgiven and that no church is right, thus he should not join any. When he narrated his vision to a minister he was rebuffed and scorned. At that time, the incident, referred to as the ‘First Vision’, made little effect. Most of the Mormons were also not aware of the event till the 1840s which is now considered as the very fundamental incident of Mormonism.
Education
His interest in religion began at twelve and he started reading Bible and attended church classes.
Career
In 1827 Smith began to talk of some golden plates he had discovered in these mounds under an angel's guidance, as well as magic spectacles that enabled him to decipher the tablets' hieroglyphics. Moving to Pennsylvania, he worked on the translation, which turned out, he said, to be a history by Mormon, an American prophet and historian of the 4th century, telling of two Jewish peoples who had migrated to North America and whom Jesus visited after his ascension. In 1830 the Book of Mormon appeared for sale and quickly became important in spreading the Mormon faith.
Smith soon announced the founding of a restored Christian church and proclaimed himself a "seer, a Translator, a Prophet, an Apostle of Jesus Christ and Elder of the Church. " Eventually, his claim to special revelations stirred hostility among the residents of New York and Pennsylvania, and in 1831 he summoned his ever-increasing flock to an exodus. Settling in Kirtland, Ohio, the Mormon community evolved into a utopian communal experiment in which the church held all property and each family received sustenance from a common storehouse. When dissension inspired some to move to Independence, Mo. , Smith joined them briefly to consecrate ground for a new temple.
In 1833 Smith published the "Word of Wisdom, " which encouraged members of the church to abstain from tobacco, alcohol, and hot drinks and to eat meat only in winter. In 1836 Mormon temperance advocates forced a vote for total abstinence. Increasing criticism over his inept management of Kirtland's financial affairs caused Smith to rejoin his Missouri followers. That colony, too, attracted hostility, and Smith had to flee under sentence of death, leading a migration to Nauvoo, Ill.
In the 1840s Smith published a work which elaborated upon the "Hamitic curse" in such a way as to exclude blacks from the Mormon priesthood. At the same time he undertook a history of the Mormon Church. He had also arrived at a doctrinal position which permitted polygamy. He kept this potentially dangerous practice a secret, revealing it only to a privileged few. By 1844 Smith had come to regard Nauvoo as an enclave independent of the United States, and the leaders of his church crowned him king of this new kingdom of God on earth. That same year Smith offered himself for president of the United States, advocating the establishment of a "theodemocracy" and the abolition of slavery.
In 1844 an apostate published an exposé of Mormon polygamy. Smith ill-advisedly permitted his followers to destroy the defector's press, which gave the surrounding "Gentiles" an excuse to retaliate against the Mormons. The Illinois governor sent the militia to arrest Smith for riot, but the militiamen exceeded their orders and brutally murdered Smith on June 27, 1844.
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 faith taught by Smith in the 1840s.
The word Mormon originally derived from the Book of Mormon, a religious text published by Smith, which he said he translated from golden plates with divine assistance.
Mormonism shares a common set of beliefs with the rest of the Latter Day Saint movement, including use of and belief in the Bible, as well as in other religious texts including the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. It also accepts the Pearl of Great Price as part of its scriptural canon, and has a history of teaching eternal marriage, eternal progression, and polygamy (plural marriage) (although the LDS Church formally abandoned the practice of plural marriage in 1890). Cultural Mormonism, a lifestyle promoted by Mormon institutions, includes cultural Mormons who identify with the culture, but not necessarily with the theology.
Politics
While campaigning for President of the United States in 1844, Smith had opportunity to take political positions on issues of the day. Smith considered the U. S. Constitution, and especially the Bill of Rights, to be inspired by God and "the (Latter Day) Saints' best and perhaps only defense. ". He believed a strong central government was crucial to the nation's well-being and thought democracy better than tyranny—although he also taught that a theocratic monarchy was the ideal form of government. In foreign affairs, Smith was an expansionist, though he viewed "expansionism as brotherhood".
Smith favored a strong central bank and high tariffs to protect American business and agriculture. He disfavored imprisonment of convicts except for murder, preferring efforts to reform criminals through labor; he also opposed courts-martial for military deserters. He supported capital punishment but opposed hanging, preferring execution by firing squad or beheading.
On the issue of slavery, Smith took different positions. Initially he opposed it, but during the mid-1830s when the Mormons were settling in Missouri (a slave state), Smith cautiously justified slavery in a strongly anti-abolitionist essay. Then in the early 1840s, after Mormons had been expelled from Missouri, he once again opposed slavery. During his presidential campaign of 1844, he proposed ending slavery by 1850 and compensating slaveholders for their loss. Smith said that blacks were not inherently inferior to whites, and he welcomed slaves into the church. However, he opposed baptizing them without permission of their masters, and he opposed interracial marriage.
Smith declared that he would be one of the instruments in fulfilling Nebuchadnezzar's statue vision in the Book of Daniel: that secular government would be destroyed without "sword or gun", and would be replaced with a "theodemocratic" Kingdom of God. Smith taught that this kingdom would be governed by theocratic principles, but that it would also be multidenominational and democratic, so long as the people chose wisely.
Views
Quotations:
“I was grieved to hear that Hiram [Hyrum Smith] had lost his little Child I think we Can in Some degree simpathise with him but we all must be reconciled to our lots and Say the will of the Lord be done. ”
“I know that Zion, in the own due time of the Lord will be redeemed, but how many will be the days of her purification, tribulation and afflictions, the Lord has kept hid from my eyes; and when I enquire concerning this subject the voice of the Lord is, Be still, and know that I am God!”
“Zion shall yet live though she seemeth to be dead. ”
“And as to yourself if you want to know how much I want to see you, examine your feelings, how much you want to see me, and judge for yourself, I would gladly walk from here to you barefoot, and bareheaded, and half naked, to see you and think it great pleasure, and never count it toil. ”
“Mormons can testify whether I am willing to lay down my life for a Mormon; If it has been demonstrated that I have been willing to die for a Mormon I am bold to declare before heaven that I am just as ready to die for a Presbyterian, a baptist or any other denomination. ”
Connections
On January 18, 1827 John Smith married Emma Hale. The couple had nine biological and two adopted children of which only five of the infants survived.
In 1852, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) acknowledged that Smith had practiced plural marriage and produced a written revelation of Smith's that authorizes its practice. Smith's son Joseph Smith III, his lawful widow Emma Smith, and most members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church) attempted for years to refute the evidence of plural marriages. They pointed to the historical record that Joseph Smith publicly opposed the practice of polygamy; the suggestion of the RLDS Church was that the practice of Mormon polygamy began in Utah under the leadership of Brigham Young.