Comparing the Mormon Religion to Catholic and Protestant Faiths
The Mormon religion is very unique in many of its doctrine. While technically a Protestant faith, the Mormons generally share more doctrine with the Catholics. Because of its unique nature, I will be analyzing the Mormon faith, its history, organization, and doctrine, in comparison with the beliefs held by both Catholics and Protestants.
Establishment
On April 6, 1980, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka the Mormon Church) was founded. [It is interesting to note that according to Mormon doctrine (Doctrine and Covenants 20:1), April 6 is the birthday of Jesus Christ.] 10 years prior to this event, in 1820, fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith knelt in a quiet grove in upper New York state and prayed for guidance in choosing a church to join. According to LDS historical records, his prayer was answered by the visitation of two heavenly personages. One, the Heavenly Father, spoke to him and said, pointing to the other, "This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!"
This second personage, Christ, told Smith that he should join no existing church, that the true church he had established upon the Earth had become corrupted and fallen away from the truth over the passing years. Smith was instructed that he was to aid in the restoration of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ in these latter days. Mormons consider this divine visitation and the restoration of Christ's church to be the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Apostle Peter when he said, "He shall send Jesus Christ. . .whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." (Acts 3:20-21).
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...rious sins such as murder, adultery, lying, and who do not repent in mortality.
There is a fourth place where souls can go after death – Outer Darkness. This place is only those who deny the Holy Ghost, have a perfect testimony of the Gospel and willfully deny it. The Mormon view of afterlife is discussed at great length in Doctrine and Covenants chapter 76.
These are just a few of the beliefs of the Mormon faith. Evidenced by the discussion of these is the fact that while Mormonism is technically a Protestant faith, it shares many doctrinal points with both Protestants and Catholics. Beyond its shared theology, Mormonism has several very unique teachings, ones generally not expounded by any other Christian faith. Perhaps it is these novel pieces of doctrine that appeal to people and have made Mormonism the fastest growing faith in the world today.
A handsome boy kneels down for prayer beside a tree in his father’s orchard. It is a nice sunny spring day with the warm rays of the radiant sun gently kissing the boy’s face. “God, give me a sign,” he pleads to his heavenly father. He is only 14, yet religion fascinates him. Confused by what Christian faith to believe in, he was not sure whether he wanted to become a Baptist like his parents, or a Methodist, which church’s teachings appealed more to him. A slight cool breeze passes through his chestnut colored hair. In a moment he finds himself paralyzed, unable to move, at the mercy of some evil force. A shadowy mist surrounds him. The boy is afraid and does the only thing he could think of: he prayed, “God save me!” Immediately a pillar of light descends over his head like a crown of gold. A strange calmness overcomes the boy, and the shadows around him recede. To the boy, who questioned God’s existence, this was a sure sign that his heavenly father was still there. That boy was Joseph Smith, who had just experienced the first of a series of visions that he would receive throughout his faithful life. Soon after his first vision, he received another in which he the angel Moroni visited him, who presented him with a map. Smith traveled to a nearby hill where he found several golden tablets, etched with mysterious characters of ancient languages long forgotten. Smith was ordered by the angel to translate the plates into what is now known as the Book of Mormon (from which the Mormons gained their name), the cornerstone of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or simply abbreviated as the LDS Church. (Millet 6-8).
Jackie Robinson played an important role in helping break the color barrier for all African Americans who had a dream to play major league baseball. Segregation was very high in the mid-1900s and there were separate areas for African Americans to eat, drink, and even use the bathroom. There was a separate baseball league that blacks had to play in and there were absolutely NO blacks in Major League Baseball. That all changed in 1947 when Jackie Robinson was signed to a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers. By signing this contract it gave Jackie the opportunity to do what he loved and help change the major leagues as well.
Smith, Joseph. "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. LDS Church, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
Jackie Robinson has made one of the biggest impacts on the game of baseball to date. Jackie was born in Cairo, Georgia on January 31, 1919. He was born to Mallie and Jerry Robinson and was the fifth child and the fourth son. Jackie’s father ran out on his family in hopes of a better life when Jackie was only one years old. After his father left, they moved to an all white suburb. At that time most neighborhoods were segregated, so his neighbors made a petition to relocate his family which fortunately did not work. Jackie was raised by a single mother and in poverty. When Jackie was about fourteen years old, he was part of a street gang. One of the people on his street told him that if he would keep hanging out with the gang he would disappoint his mother (Scott 31). In my opinion those words saved
These character traits allow the psychopath to commit his atrocious acts. However, because the psychopath is rendered incapable of moral reasoning, the criminal legal system has a problem in justifying the punishment of one, as psychopathy intervenes with the person’s ability to be a normally functioning adult. Currently, psychopathy is not recognized as a mental illness by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV-TR. Most psychopaths end up being diagnosed with ASPD, or Antisocial Personality
As you can see Jackie Robinson was a major impact on the society. Without him baseball and all other sports could be much different. Not only did he affect sports he changed life everywhere, he changed they way people thought about African-Americans. Jackie was a very courageous man for doing what he did when noone else would.
...to his officer training school and completed as a second lieutenant. After he left the military he hit his baseball career with the Brooklyn Dodgers where his fight for breaking the color barrier began. Branch Rickey the general manager and Jackie Robinson had the same idea of allowing those with skill, no matter what color, into the MLB. After retiring from sports Robinson did not let his career in fighting for equality stop. He wrote letters to the incoming candidates for president and to leaders in offices to help the civil rights movement gain momentum. Robinson made sure that his opinion was well known. He also created the Jackie Robinson Foundation to help colored students who have disadvantages. Still, Robinson will always be remembered as the first African American man to play major league baseball and preserver despite the racism and disadvantages he faced.
Russell, Wendy T. "12 Simple Differences Between Catholics and Protestants | Wendy Thomas Russell." Wendythomasrussell.com. Wendy Thomas Russell, 10 June 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
A large portion of the Book of Mormon describes the history of several pre-Christian civilizations that existed throughout America. A group of Israelites lead by a righteous man named Nephi established a society o...
"Growth of the Church - LDS Newsroom." LDS News | Mormon News - Official Newsroom of the Church. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. .
It all started with a fourteen year old boy, Joseph Smith, who was visited by God the Father and God the Son. Smith was praying for guidance in a forest in western New York when the two beings revealed themselves and told him not to join any churches because all the other churches were false (Bushman 56). They told him, Joseph, that he would start the true church of God. This encounter was called the “First Vision.” The events of the morning marked the beginning of the restoration of the Gospel (Bushman 56) . Three years later when Joseph would be seventeen years old, he was visited yet again by an angel. The angel, Moroni, told Joseph that he was chosen by God and that God had work for Joseph that would result in opposition (Bushman 62). The angel said that the “fullness of the everlasting Gospel” was engraved on golden plates written in ancient hieroglyphs (Bushman 62). The angel said these plates were buried in hill located nearby where Joseph would pray. Joseph would be the one to translate the tablets and he was responsible for bringing ...
Although Jackie Robinson was not the best African-American baseball player of his time, his attitude and ability to handle racist harassment led the way for the rest of his race to play Major League Baseball, amongst other sports. Being accepted into professional sports also helped African-Americans become more easily accepted into other aspects of life. Jackie's impact in the world for the black population is enormous.
To the average person, in the average American community, Jackie Robinson was just what the sports pages said he was, no more, no less. He was the first Negro to play baseball in the major leagues. Everybody knew that, but to see the real Jackie Robinson, you must de-emphasize him as a ball player and emphasize him as a civil rights leader. That part drops out, that which people forget. From his early army days, until well after his baseball days, Robinson had fought to achieve equality among whites and blacks. "Jackie acted out the philosophy of nonviolence of Martin Luther King Jr., before the future civil rights leader had thought of applying it to the problem of segregation in America"(Weidhorn 93). Robinson was an avid member of the NAACP and helped recruit members because of his fame from baseball. Jackie had leadership qualities and the courage to fight for his beliefs. Unwilling to accept the racism he had run into all his life, he had a strong need to be accepted at his true worth as a first-class citizen. Robinson was someone who would work for a cause - that of blacks and of America - as well as for himself and his team.
In 1820, at age fourteen, Joseph Smith Jr. was confronted with a decision to join a church. Being a man of no formal education or religious organization, he went to a grove of trees to pray and ask God which church was the right one to join. Smith said God and Jesus appeared to him as “Two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description.” (Book of Mormon: Joseph Smith History Ch. 1 Verse 17) They told him that none of the churches had it right, and he should not join any of them.
Jackie Robinson was one of the most profound individuals to ever walk on this earth. Robinson established a reputation as a man who never tolerated insults to his dignity (Kahn 6). One of his accomplishments was entering the major leagues and is one of the most remarkable and inspiring accomplishments in sports history. When Robinson became the first black to play in Major League Baseball, he changed Americans’ views on racism forever.