Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 30s.
"The Family: A Proclamation to the World" is a 1995 statement issued by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which defined the official position of the church on family, marriage, gender roles, and human sexuality. It was first announced by church president Gordon B. Hinckley.
Sealing is an ordinance (ritual) performed in Latter Day Saint temples by a person holding the sealing authority. The purpose of this ordinance is to seal familial relationships, making possible the existence of family relationships throughout eternity. Sealings are typically performed as marriages or as sealing of children to parents. They were performed prior to the death of Joseph Smith, and are currently performed in the largest of the faiths that came from the movement, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. LDS Church teachings place great importance on the specific authority required to perform these sealings. Church doctrine teaches that this authority, called the priesthood, corresponds to that given to Saint Peter in Matthew 16:19.
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, most often simply referred to as the sacrament, is the ordinance in which participants eat bread and drink water in remembrance of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Normally, the sacrament is provided every Sunday as part of the sacrament meeting in each LDS Church congregation.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the term ordinance is used to refer to sacred rites and ceremonies that have spiritual and symbolic meanings and act as a means of conveying divine grace. Ordinances are physical acts which signify or symbolize an underlying spiritual act; for some ordinances, the spiritual act is the finalization of a covenant between the ordinance recipient and God.
Mormonism, or the Latter Day Saint movement, teaches that its adherents are either direct descendants of the House of Israel or adopted into it. As such, Mormons regard Jews as a covenant people of God, and hold them in high esteem. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest church in Mormonism, is philo-Semitic in its doctrine.
Agency, in the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is "the privilege of choice which was introduced by God the Eternal Father to all of his spirit children in the premortal state". Mortal life is viewed as a test of faith, where our choices are central to the plan of salvation in Latter-day Saint teaching. "It was essential for their eternal progression that they be subjected to the influences of both good and evil". LDS Church members believe that Lucifer rebelled against the God's plan, which resulted in a war in heaven, and Lucifer being cast out of heaven and becoming Satan.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, confirmation, is an ordinance essential for salvation. It involves the laying on of hands and is performed after baptism. Through confirmation, the initiate becomes an official member of the church and receives the gift of the Holy Ghost. Baptism and confirmation are administered to persons at least eight years old. The ordinance corresponds to the confirmation rite in many other Christian faiths. Confirmations were first performed on April 6, 1830, at the organizational meeting of the Church of Christ.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that Adam and Eve were the first man and the first woman to live on the earth and that their fall was an essential step in the plan of salvation. Adam in particular is a central figure in Mormon cosmology. Robert L. Millet, a Mormon author, wrote of the church's perspective:
Few persons in all eternity have been more directly involved in the plan of salvation—the creation, the fall, and the ultimate redemption of the children of God—than the man Adam. His ministry among the sons and daughters of earth stretches from the distant past of premortality to the distant future of resurrection, judgment, and beyond.
Symbolism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the process whereby objects or actions have been invested with an inner meaning expressing church ideas. The LDS Church and its membership have adopted a number of symbols that differ from those typically used in Christianity.
Community of Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are two denominations that share a common heritage in the Church of Christ founded by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830. Since Smith's death in 1844, they have evolved separately in belief and practices. The LDS Church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and claims more than 16 million members worldwide; Community of Christ is headquartered in Independence, Missouri, and reports a worldwide membership of approximately 250,000.
For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, prayer is a means of communicating with God. Such communication is considered to be two-way, with the praying individual both expressing thoughts to God and receiving revelation, or communication from God, in return. As such, individuals who pray privately often include time to listen and ponder, during or after a prayer is uttered. Communication from God is received through the Holy Ghost, which speaks to the mind and heart of an individual. Prayer is one of the central teachings of the church, and adherents believe that they are commanded to pray often. The LDS Church teaches that humankind has been commanded to pray since its first generation. There are no restrictions as to who can pray, and the LDS Church teaches that all should pray and that God hears and listens to all prayers. Members are taught to begin to pray from a young age, and young children are sometimes asked to offer public prayers. Individuals who are not members of the LDS Church are also encouraged to pray both publicly and privately.
In Mormonism, revelation is communication from God to man. Latter Day Saints teach that the Latter Day Saint movement began with a revelation from God, which began a process of restoring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. Latter Day Saints also teach that revelation is the foundation of the church established by Jesus Christ and that it remains an essential element of his true church today. Continuous revelation provides individual Latter Day Saints with a "testimony", described by Richard Bushman as "one of the most potent words in the Mormon lexicon".
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the priesthood is the power and authority to act in the name of God for the salvation of humankind. Male members of the church who meet standards of worthy behavior and church participation are generally ordained to specific offices within the priesthood.
Mormon cosmology is the description of the history, evolution, and destiny of the physical and metaphysical universe according to Mormonism, which includes the doctrines taught by leaders and theologians of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mormon fundamentalism, the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ, and other Brighamite denominations within the Latter Day Saint movement. Mormon cosmology draws from Biblical cosmology, but has many unique elements provided by movement founder Joseph Smith. These views are not generally shared by adherents of other Latter Day Saint movement denominations who do not self-identify as "Mormons", such as the Community of Christ.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other adherents, believe that there will be a Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth sometime in the future. The LDS Church and its leaders do not make predictions of the actual date of the Second Coming.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, baptism is recognized as the first of several ordinances (rituals) of the gospel.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints focuses its doctrine and teaching on Jesus Christ; that he was the Son of God, born of Mary, lived a perfect life, performed miracles, bled from every pore in the Garden of Gethsemane, died on the cross, rose on the third day, appeared again to his disciples, and now resides, authoritatively, on the right hand side of God. In brief, some beliefs are in common with Catholics, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. However, teachings of the LDS Church differ significantly in other ways and encompass a broad set of doctrines, so that the above-mentioned denominations usually place the LDS Church outside the bounds of orthodox Christian teaching as summarized in the Nicene Creed.
In religion, a covenant is a formal alliance or agreement made by God with a religious community or with humanity in general. The concept, central to the Abrahamic religions, is derived from the biblical covenants, notably from the Abrahamic covenant.
Exaltation is a belief among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that mankind can reach the highest level of salvation, to eternally live in God's presence, continue as families, become gods, create worlds, and have spirit children over which they will govern. Exaltation is believed to be what God desires for all humankind. The church teaches that through exaltation believers may become joint-heirs with Jesus Christ as stated in Romans 8:17 and Revelation 21:7. The objective of adherents is to strive for purity and righteousness and to become one with Jesus as Jesus is one with God the Father. A verse in the canonized Doctrine and Covenants states that those who are exalted will become gods, and a 1925 statement from the church's highest governing body said that "All men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother ... [and are] capable, by experience through ages and aeons, of evolving into a God." A popular Mormon quote—often attributed to the early apostle Lorenzo Snow in 1837—is "As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be."
