The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Mormons, Essay Example

Introduction

All people in the world are scattered in various religions that are distributed in various parts of the world. Christianity is the leading religion in terms of popularity with followed by Islam Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism ( Melton, G. 1996). The various religions have their differences in the ideologies and teachings that are adopted by the founders of such religions but the commonality shared by all the religions of the world is the observation of a deity who has powers beyond nature and human. Mormonism is a funny religion began by one individual called Joseph smith junior. It began in the nineteenth century when smith is allegedly said to have been met by an angel and asked to start the religion as a form of rebellion against Christianity. This john is said to have been inspired to translate writings of ancient American immigrants from the Middle East. This led to the start of a gathering called the Mormonism. It grew and spread out to various parts of the Americas. But it was highly unpopular and when Joseph and his brother were jailed fro attacking and destroying some media house that had published some damning report about the sect, members of the public broke into the jails and beat the two men to death. This turn of events left the movement without a leader and this propagated a break up. The movement broke into two, one led by one of the twenty seven wives of Joseph smith junior and the other by another faithful named young. The former group moved to Missouri and is what developed into the present day Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Smith, J. 1938).

Comparing and Contrasting Mormonism and Christianity

Mormonism differs pretty much with other religions and there are several highlighteddifferences between the movement and Christianity in terms of beliefs and practices. According to the Mormons for example, there are up to four religious writings that they follow. In addition to the bible, the book of Mormon, the great pearl rice and the doctrine and covenants are additional recognized authoritative writings (Smith, J. 1938). This is in contrast to the Christians who purely belief in the bible as the sole authoritative writing. And while the Christians belief in one immortal and omnipotent god, the Mormons believe in the presence of many gods, though they don’t give a number of gods that are there. According to the bible, the Christians holy book, the god is a supreme being without flesh or bones. God exists in the form of spirit. But the belief among the Mormons is that their god is in the form of a human being and adorns the body of a man. You can touch and feel the physical figure of god. While Christianity beliefs that god almighty has existed since before the beginning of the world, the movement of Mormonism beliefs that their god attained this status after pursuing certain traits in the movements philosophy and thus achieved the status of god. Thus the Mormons present a path that can be trodden through to godhood. And this god can be striped of his goodness if the eternal attributes such as intelligence and wisdom are withdrawn from him. This is in stark contrast with the Christianity where god is unchallengeable and cannot be thwarted by any natural machinations.   In regard to creation of man, sin and Jesus Christ, Mormonism is a complete antithesis of Christianity. They belief that man was eternally present and coexistent with god before the beginning of the earth, a belief contrary to the Christianity’s that man was created (made from  nothing). They (the Mormons) also belief that Jesus Christ was a man and thus a brother (the elder brother) to all Mormons. But according to Christians, Jesus Christ is god, one of the three persons of the holy trinity that’s comprised of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. And even as Christians look at the fall of Adam and eve as the beginning of sins, the Mormons don’t consider this a sin! They see it as blessing for the humanity to be able to live through life and progression to eternal life.  The Christians belief that the birth, suffering and death of Jesus Christ on the cross was the ultimate culmination of the god’s plan for salvation of humanity. That the death of the son of god on the cross cleared all Christians from original sin. And that man could reunite with his creator and get eternal life reconciling their lives with their creator and accepting the son of god as their savior. Not all are therefore forgiven of the sin, only those who repent and follow in Christ’s ways and commands (couric, 2008). According to the Mormons the salvation was brought to all men irrespective of their status. Whether righteous or wicked everyone got salvation the moment the son of god died on the cross. And the eternal life that man will get is not on the account of his deeds but in accordance with god’s plans. And to the Mormon movement, there is no role of the individual in their acquisition of the eternal life; it is purely a work of the creator to decide.

Conclusion

Christianity is the most common religion in the world. Mormonism is a splinter religion from the mainstream Christianity religion. It is a splinter that began by an individual after claims of apparitions by an angel and interpretations of some hitherto hidden writings on a gold plate. It is a religion that soon split into two major factions controlling American Jews and Indians. The Mormon approach to spiritual life takes a big departure from the mainstream pillars of religious teaching by the Christianity although fully appreciating the bible. In this movement the movement leader yields authority to put in place powerful spiritual teachings and writings that influence the future of the movement and the philosophy of its followers. It is hard to argue whether Mormonism is a true religion or just a rebellious group brought together by their common rebellion against the bible, given their step-by-step contradiction of the various provisions and the teachings (Hinckley, G1990).

Works cited

Couric, R. A. (2000). The King James Study Devotional Study Bible. The Bible League

Hinckley, G.B. (1990). “Mormon Should Mean ‘More Good,'” Ensign, p. 5 Introduction, Book of Mormons Web Retrieved 20 December 2009 <http://scriptures.lds.org/en/bm/introduction>

Melton, G. (1996). Encyclopedia of American Religions. Detroit: Gale.

Smith, J. Jr. (Joseph F. Smith ed., 1938). Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book

Paradise Inc. (2004). The Holy Bible. Florida: Paradise Press.