What Is A Temple
Temples existed throughout biblical times. These buildings were considered the house of the Lord . Latter-day Saint temples are likewise considered houses of the Lord by Church members.
To Latter-day Saints, temples are sacred buildings in which they are taught about the central role of Christ in Gods plan of salvation and their personal relationship with God.
In temples, members of the Church make covenants, or promises, with God to live a virtuous and faithful life. They also participate in ordinances on behalf of their deceased ancestors.
Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are also used to perform marriage ceremonies in which the faithful are promised eternal life with their families. For members of the Church, family is of central importance.
Mormonism Came Out Of A Movement From Joseph Smith
Reports indicate that at 14 years old, Joseph Smith was confused about religion and went to the woods to pray. In 1823, Joseph Smith said the angel Moroni visited him. The angel told him about an ancient record that detailed Gods work with the former inhabitants of America. Smith said he found those records and translated them into what would become the Book of Mormon. In 1830, he organized the first Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and became its first president. He is believed by the church to be a prophet.
He is credited with establishing thriving cities in Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri, and also with growing the church from just six members to some 26,000. He also helped organize the building of church temples. However, he was persecuted by those who opposed him and was killed by a mob in 1844.
Basic Beliefs And Practices
The most referenced statement of basic beliefs is the Articles of Faith, as given by Joseph Smith to a questioning reporter of his day. This brief recitation by Joseph Smith establishes the basic beliefs of Mormonism, and is not intended to be exhaustive.
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$5m To Help Malnourished Children
Konata, a 24-year-old mother of two children, with her 1-year-old daughter, Mariam, at the Health Center of Bobo-Dioulasso, in the Southwestern region of Burkina Faso. Mariam is malnourished and was able to be given treatment and supplements.
The church has donated $5 million to a longtime United Nations partner.
On Wednesday, Sharon Eubank, head of Latter-day Saint Charities, announced the contribution to UNICEFs No Time to Waste campaign against global malnutrition.
The money will help young children in up to 24 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Middle East and the Philippines, according to a news release. It will assist with the prevention, detection and treatment of malnutrition, including wasting, the most immediate, visible and life-threatening form of malnutrition.
The funding was given by Latter-day Saints so that mothers will have healthier pregnancies and births, Eubank said in recorded remarks at the United Nations in New York, and they can offer therapeutic food and micronutrients to their children who might be at risk.
How Mormons Live And Worship
Mormons tend to have large families, due to their beliefs. They strive for a clean, family-oriented lifestyle and participate in family councils, family and individual prayer, hard work, and wholesome recreational activities. Mormons worship on Sunday in Christian societies, but may meet on Friday in Moslem countries, and Saturday in Israel. They believe in keeping the Sabbath day holy and avoid shopping, recreating, or working on the Sabbath day.
Sunday meetings usually last for three hours, divided into three types of meetings. “Sacrament meeting” consists of taking the sacrament in remembrance of the Savior. Sermons are given mostly by lay members requested to speak before the congregation. The first Sunday of each month is usually “fast and testimony meeting,” wherein the saints spontaneously bear testimony to the truthfulness of the gospel and reality of God the Father and Jesus Christ.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints address each other as “brother” or “sister” and then usually append the last name . Additionally, those that hold specific leadership positions may be addressed by their title and then their last name . Some frequently-used titles are as follows:
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Mormon Involvement In National Politics
Mormons and the women’s suffrage movement
In 1870, the Utah Territory had become one of the first polities to grant women the right to voteâa right which the U.S. Congress revoked in 1887 as part of the Edmunds-Tucker Act.
As a result, a number of LDS women became active and vocal proponents of women’s rights. Of particular note was the LDS journalist and suffragist Emmeline Blanch Wells, editor of the Woman’s Exponent, a Utah feminist newspaper. Wells, who was both a feminist and a polygamist, wrote vocally in favor of a woman’s role in the political process and public discourse. National suffrage leaders, however, were somewhat perplexed by the seeming paradox between Utah’s progressive stand on women’s rights, and the church’s stand on polygamy.
In 1890, after the church officially renounced polygamy, U.S. suffrage leaders began to embrace Utah’s feminism more directly, and in 1891, Utah hosted the Rocky Mountain Suffrage Conference in Salt Lake City, attended by such national feminist leaders as Susan B. Anthony and Anna Howard Shaw. The Utah Woman Suffrage Association, which had been formed in 1889 as a branch of the American Woman Suffrage Association , was then successful in demanding that the constitution of the nascent state of Utah should enfranchise women. In 1896, Utah became the third state in the U.S. to grant women the right to vote.
Mormons and the debate over temperance and prohibition
Dfw Leadership Series To Host Attorney Dayle Elieson
Dayle Elieson, former Chief Counsel for the Drug Enforcement Administration and former United States Attorney for the District of Nevada will speak at the DFW Leadership Series on Thursday, September 22nd in Colleyville. Since November 2021, the DFW Leadership Series has hosted accomplished leaders and executives from diverse industries across the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Each speaker draws upon their vast experience to share insights and inspiration on ethical and effective leadership principles. The series is sponsored by the Colleyville Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All are welcome!
Dayle Elieson is currently the Principal of Dayle Elieson PLLC, a consulting and legal practice. She serves on various committees and boards, including the BYU Law School Advisory Board. Prior to her previously mentioned appointments in Nevada and Washington, DC, she served as the Chief Evaluator and Compliance Officer over the management and accountability program for United States Attorneys and their offices nationwide. Additionally, she has served as Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Texas, Assistant District Attorney in Denton and Dallas County, and an adjunct professor at the University of North Texas and SMU Dedman School of Law.
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Activity Rates And Disaffiliation
The LDS Church does not release official statistics on church activity, but it is likely that only approximately 40 percent of its recorded membership in the United States and 30 percent worldwide regularly attend weekly Sunday worship services. A statistical analysis of the 2014 Pew Religious Landscape Survey assessed that “about one-third of those with a Latter-day Saint background” outright “left the Church”, identifying as disaffiliated. Activity rates vary with age, and disengagement occurs most frequently between age 16 and 25. Young single adults are more likely to become inactive than their married counterparts, and overall, women tend to be more active than men.
Church humanitarian aid includes organizing food security, clean water, mobility, and healthcare initiatives, operating thrift stores, maintaining a service project website, and directly funding or partnering with other organizations. The value of all donations from the church in 2021 was $906 million.
Why Does The Church Send Out Missionaries
The missionary effort of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is based on the New Testament pattern of missionaries serving in pairs, teaching the gospel and baptizing believers in the name of Jesus Christ . Missionary work is voluntary, with most missionaries funding their own missions. They receive their assignment from Church headquarters and are sent only to countries where governments allow the Church to operate. In some parts of the world, missionaries are sent only to serve humanitarian or other specialized missions.
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Top Review Highlights By Sentiment
- “I’ve been able to work on meaningful projects here and there have been great people to work with.”
- “Great Benefits even though as a contingent employee my benefits come through Employer Solutions Group.”
- “Great work environment and coworkers”
- “Great environment to learn and help those who need our skills.”
- “Meaningful work and great coworkers”
- “low pay and very conservative”
- “Sometimes management just wants to paint everything great and not look at real problems.”
- “Low salaries for a place with a high inflation but not recognized by the government.”
- “I had 8 years of ‘exceeds’ and ‘greatly exceeds’ yet after 9 days at a new job at the Temple Department my job was threatened by an abusive manager and he made good on his threats to terminate me.”
- “The upper management is completely out of touch with what goes on on the ground level.”
Growth And Demographic History
The records of the LDS Church show membership growth every decade since its beginning in the 1830s, although that has slowed significantly. Following initial growth rates that averaged 10% to 25% per year in the 1830s through 1850s, it grew at about 4% per year through the last four decades of the 19th century. After a steady slowing of growth in the first four decades of the 20th century to a rate of about 2% per year in the 1930s , growth boomed to an average of 6% per year for the decade around 1960, staying around 4% to 5% through 1990. After 1990, average annual growth again slowed steadily to a rate around 2.2% for the ten years ending 2015, approximately double the average world population growth rate of 1.1% for the same period. The growth rate has not been greater than 3% per year in the 21st century and has decelerated steadily since 2012. The rate has not been above 2% since 2013. In May 2019, however, Phil Zuckerman, Ph.D., of Psychology Today expressed skepticism of how the LDS Church reports growth in membership, noting that while church membership was reported to be rising, separate analysis conducted by journalist showed that reports of Mormon retention, religious participation, teachings and belief have been declining since 2007. By 2019, Mormons represented 51% of the population in their longtime stronghold of Utah, in contrast with 75% in 2000.
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Informal And Abbreviated Names
Because of the belief in the Book of Mormon among Joseph Smith’s followers, in the 1830s people outside the church began to refer to its members as “Mormonites” or “Mormons” and the church as the “Mormon Church”. Smith and other church leaders considered these informal or abbreviated terms to be derogatory and inappropriate, as editorialized in 1834:
Others may call themselves by their own, or by other names, and have the privilege of wearing them without our changing them or attempting so to do but we do not accept the above title, nor shall we wear it as our name, though it may be lavished out upon us double to what it has heretofore been.
âSecond Elder Oliver Cowdery,
Today, it remains common for individuals and media outside of the church to refer to it as the “Mormon Church”. Church leaders have resisted these practices and have asked members not to refer to the church in these ways.
In 2001, the LDS Church Saints issued a style guide on its name, requesting that those writing about the church adhere to the following guidelines:
- In the first reference, the full name of the Church is preferred: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
- Please avoid the use of “Mormon Church”, “LDS Church” or the “Church of the Latter-day Saints.”
- When a shortened reference is needed, the terms “the Church” or “the Church of Jesus Christ” are encouraged.
- When referring to Church members, the term “Latter-day Saints” is preferred, though “Mormons” is acceptable.
Utah War And Mountain Meadows Massacre
In 1857â1858, the church was involved in an armed conflict with the U.S. government, entitled the Utah War. The settlers and the United States government battled for hegemony over the culture and government of the territory. Tensions over the Utah War, the murder of Mormon apostle Parley P. Pratt in Arkansas, and threats of violence from the Baker-Fancher wagon train , resulted in rogue Mormon settlers in southern Utah massacring a wagon train from Arkansas, known as Mountain Meadows massacre. The result of the Utah War was the succeeding of the governorship of the Utah territory from Brigham Young to Alfred Cumming, an outsider appointed by President James Buchanan.
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When Mormons Aspired To Be A White And Delightsome People
A historian looks at the legacy of racism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
So many recent events in American life have been a call for the country to grapple with its legacy of racism and white supremacy, including the violence in Charlottesville and even the 2016 election. These events have created turmoil among some conservative Christian groups, who have triedin fits and startsto confront their own racial divisions.
One group, however, has taken a slightly different path: Mormons. While a majority of Mormons voted for Trump in the 2016 election, he fared far worse than previous Republican presidential candidates among the minority religious group. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, many in Mormon-heavy Utah doubted the presidents moral character and strength as a role model.
Leaders Launch African Tour
General authority Seventy Thierry K. Mutombo and Brad Wilcox in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sept. 10, 2022.
Two high-ranking general church officers have launched a five-nation tour of Central Africa.
Brad Wilcox, of the Young Men presidency, and Milton Camargo, of the Sunday school presidency, will be training leaders, meeting with missionaries and providing support to members.
After a training session in Nairobi, Kenya, the two were to travel to Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda and the Republic of Congo.
The stop in Ethiopia represented a homecoming of sorts for Wilcox, who lived there as a child.
I am from Africa. I dont look like it, but I grew up here, in Ethiopia, he said in a news release. I left when I was 7 years old, and so I say, Jambo!
Earlier this year, Wilcox, a BYU professor, made what were viewed as dismissive remarks about Black Latter-day Saints and the faiths former priesthood/temple ban. He later apologized.
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Imagine Dragons Singer Dan Reynolds And His Wife Separate Leaders Launch African Tour Church Donates $5m To Unicef A New Di Opens In Utah
Latter-day Saints offer their sustaining vote to the church’s leadership in April 2019.
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What Is The Book Of Mormon
In addition to the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, the Book of Mormon, named after one of its ancient prophets, is another testament of Jesus Christ. It contains the writings of prophets, giving an account of Gods dealings with the peoples who lived anciently on the American continent. For Latter-day Saints it stands alongside the Old and New Testaments of the Bible as holy scripture.
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Church Donates Us$5 Million To Benefit Unicefs Global Malnutrition Program
Contribution is part of the No Time to Waste Campaign
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced a US$5 million donation to UNICEFs newly launched No Time to Waste global malnutrition campaign. The contribution will help malnourished children who are five years old and younger in up to 24 countries in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Middle East and the Philippines.
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We are pleased to support UNICEFs efforts to assist children experiencing malnutrition since this program closely aligns with the Churchs global focus on early childhood nutrition, said Bishop L. Todd Budge, second counselor in the Presiding Bishopric of the Church of Jesus Christ.
“The scale of this crisis requires actions that go beyond the immediate humanitarian response, said Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, at a recent conference in Berlin. We also need to invest in building stronger, more resilient food, health, and social protection systems that all children rely on and that help communities and countries prevent and respond to future crises. Up to 41 million children currently suffering from malnutrition could be impacted in the first year of programming.
The Churchs contribution may benefit: