Personal Story
My spiritual journey saw me raised throughout my formative years as a Catholic, never opening the actual Bible to read it, much less study it. In my early teens I made the acquaintance of two friends who were Protestant. They began to enlighten me about contradictions of Scripture with my Catholic faith. At 18 years of age I left the Catholic Church.
For the next few decades of my life I explored many of the mainstream Christian churches, and I have been baptised no less than four times at various points. One of the last churches I attended was the Mormon Church. I was a member for quite some time until they excommunicated me. I dared to question the hierarchy whose positions were, after all, “divinely appointed”.
Throughout those years I continued to learn of the Scriptures. It would be after leaving the Mormons that I would come into the Truth. I realized that our Almighty Father was preparing me for what was to come. Because of this I recognized the Truth as soon as it was presented to me. I was baptised on June 25, 2011. This was my fifth baptism all totalled, but I finally got it right. Ironically, in terms of biblical numerology, five is the number of grace.
Introduction
Formally established in 1830, the commonly referred to “LDS” (Latter Day Saint) church was originally founded in upstate New York. Here, a 14 year old boy named Joseph Smith Jr lived a rural farm life with his family. His father, a mason of many years, led a very devout and spiritual home. The reading of the Bible was a daily occurrence. Around 1820, one of the many travelling, evangelical “revival” groups visited the area.
There was great religious confusion at the time, leading the young boy to search for answers in the Scriptures. Citing “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God… and it shall be given him” (James 1:5), Joseph retired to a clearing in a nearby wooded area, now known among Mormons as the sacred grove. His intention was to pray for clarity; to ask of God which church he should join. As he knelt and began to seek such guidance, he states he had a vision. A light from above descended and two glorious figures apparently stood before him in the air. The one, the Almighty Father, addressed the boy stating of the other, “This is my beloved son; Hear him.” In Joseph Smith’s own words, “When I came to myself…,” he states that he was able to ask which church was representative of the true gospel. He was evidently instructed by our Lord Jesus Christ to attend none of them, to return home, and wait for further instruction. Upon arriving home Joseph went to join his father to work in the fields. He collapsed, and when he came to consciousness again, regaled his father of all that had taken place. His father, believing it to be of God, sent his son home to rest.
Shortly thereafter, Joseph Smith says that he received another vision. This time he was about to retire for the night. As he lay in the dark of his room, a light, he says, began to gather. It continued to grow in intensity until his room was as the noon day. A figure clothed from head to ankle in magnificent white stood in the air slightly away from his bedside. The apparition stated his name to be Moroni. The angelic figure explained that he was a leader in his day, and had lived as one of the ancient peoples of the Americas.
A lost tribe of the Jews had travelled from Jerusalem to America in around 600 B.C.E. The family consisted of the father (Lehi), mother (Sariah), three sons (La-man, Lemuel, and Nephi), and their wives and children. Lehi was well advanced in years when the journey commenced. The Americas were a sort of Promised Land that the family patriarch had been promised if he would heed God’s instruction to leave Israel before the destruction to come. Shortly thereafter Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. Indeed, the Mormons believe that America has been set aside as the place of the kingdom to come with the faithful being the new “peculiar people”. They believe that these people are whom the Saviour is referring to when he speaks of having “sheep which are not of this fold”. The LDS church believes that the three days that Jesus spent bodily in the tomb was the time when his spirit visited these ancient inhabitants of the Americas. The Mormons believe in going to a place of either spiritual paradise or spiritual prison upon one’s death. There, souls await the return of Christ and the judgement. If a soul is held in bondage, it can only be released into the spiritual paradise if it accepts a baptism performed vicariously through a Mormon in good standing. These baptisms are performed in Mormon temples. It is believed that family members, especially descendants of those who were not taught Mormon truth in life, can be baptised by proxy for those on the other side. They cite the apostle Paul speaking of baptisms for the dead. However, like Christ, Paul was referring to those still alive, but spiritually dead. Christ stated, “Let the dead bury the dead.” Of course this is impossible in the literal sense.
Of the three sons in the original family, the two oldest were of the rebellious character of Cain. The youngest, Nephi, was of the character of Abel or Seth. Nephi did not rebel and had a godly disposition. Obedient and diligent in following the laws of Moses, his descendants were known as the Nephites. They were at constant odds with the descendants of Laman and Lemuel (the Lamanites). Many wars were fought resulting in the eventual Nephite extermination. The angel Moroni was the last living Nephite. As a captain and warrior, he was charged with hiding the genealogical record of his people to prevent its demise. He knew that when the gospel was restored in the latter days by a prophet, the existence of his people would be known to history. The Lamenites are considered to be the ancestors of the North, South, and Central American Indians. Like the Moabites they participated in sacrificing to other gods. It was not uncommon, according to Joseph Smith, for them to sacrifice their children.
The book of Mormon which Joseph Smith published in 1830 consists of 15 divisions or “books”. They are as follows: 1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni, Words of Mormon, Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, 3 Nephi, 4 Nephi, Mormon, Ether, and Moroni.
The book of Mormon itself is regarded by the LDS church as “Another Testament of Jesus Christ”. It claims consistency with the Bible.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One