Other names: Mormons.
Management.
President of the Religious Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) in Russia - Lokshin Alexander Germanovich. The mission president is Richard Chappil.
Location of centers.
The Church World Center is located in the USA, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The centers are located in Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg and Bern. The spiritual center of the Mormons (Zollikofen), which is their "God's house", is located in Switzerland.
In Russia, the administrative center of the Mormons is the Religious Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).
In Moscow:
Management Board - m. "Chistye Prudy", Chistoprudny Boulevard, 2, apt. 19, tel. 925-03-98, 921-58-32;
Suschevsky Val, 13/1, apt. 1-a, tel. 972-47-40.
Mormon missions operate in the following Russian cities:
Volgograd, Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Krasnodar, Magadan, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk (including at school No. 64), Rostov-on-Don (Novocherkassk), Samara, Saratov, St. Petersburg, Tver, Chelyabinsk and others.
As of November 1995, there were 12 congregations in Moscow.
The number of adherents.
There are currently about 10 million Mormons in 130 countries around the world.
1850 - 60,000 people, 1900 - 230,000 people, 1950 - 1,000,000 people, 1961 - 1,800,000 people, 1964 - 2,000,000 people, 1970 - 2,500 000 people, 1985 - 6,000,000 people
Mormons make up 75% of the population of Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah (USA).
The number of Mormons in Russia at the present time, according to the statement of the representative of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" in our country, Elder Schwartz in the summer of 1996, is about 5,000 people. It is known that there are about 40 Mormons in Chelyabinsk, 30 in Voronezh, 10-20 in Magadan, and 150 in Yekaterinburg.
Doctrine.
The foundations of Mormon doctrine are found in three books that they consider no less important than the Bible itself: the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.
The Book of Mormon is the foundation of Mormon doctrine. Where there are conflicts between the Bible and the Book of Mormon, the statements of the latter are assumed to be true. This book consists of 15 little books, about 500 pages in total. They tell the story of the ancient population of America. During the construction of the Tower of Babel, the tribe of Jaredites came to America, divided and ceased to exist as a result of internal enmity and struggle. In 600 BC, under the prophet Lech, representatives of the tribe of Manasseh came to America. Their descendants were divided into two groups: the Nephites and the Lamanites. Christ appeared to the Nephites after the Resurrection and gave directive instructions for the founding of the church. Because of guilt, this true Church disappeared, disintegrated. In the year 400 A.D. the last battles raged between the Nephites and the Lamanites near the Hill Cumorah. There the prophet Mormon and his son buried the above-mentioned plates with the events recorded on them (420-421).
Mormons view the "Book of Mormon" as a revelation because they believe it contains what Jesus preached in His "American days".
Much of the Doctrine and Covenants consists of Joseph Smith's revelations during his career and some of his followers (1823-1890).
The book "The Pearl of Great Price" also deals with revelations and translations from the golden plates of the "prophet" I. Smith.
The Mormon Creed consists of 13 points. It was compiled by I. Smith in 1841.
In their doctrine of God, Mormons proceed from the fact that man is made in the likeness of God, and conclude from this that God has a material body, just like man. Therefore, the Father is spatially limited by His body. But He is nonetheless the All-Knowing; angels inform Him about all the events taking place on earth. But the Father is not the only God. There are many other "Gods". And for people there is an opportunity to become God someday. "What a man is now - such was once God, what is God now - such can one day be a man." This is the basic idea of ​​the Mormon doctrine.
Since the motto of the Mormons is: "optimism and faith - progress," then they are all about development. Man is on the path leading up; he is "a god in the bud."
According to the Mormons, a person is not born a sinner; he has no hereditary sin. The sin of the Mormons is the indignation of man against the "foundations of progress."
According to the Mormons, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for sin gives all people life after death. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, an individual can be justified from personal sins if he himself makes an effort to do so. Redemption is a joint work of God and man. After death, a person becomes involved in varying degrees of glory. There are three degrees of glory: 1) underground; 2) earthly; 3) heavenly;
Mormons consider America to be the center of world events of the future, since Mormons are the people of God's end-time covenant - the new Israel. For Mormons, eternity is a continuation of progress.
In 1843, I. Smith received a "revelation" about the eternal duration of the marital union with the inclusion of polygamy. Plural marriage was introduced by Young in 1851, but under pressure from the American government, the Mormons abolished plural marriage in 1890. Until today, they believe in the correctness of this teaching, but do not practice it. Baptism means the forgiveness of sins and acceptance into church membership. Baptism can be received from the age of eight, while the recipient of baptism enters into an alliance with the Creator. He must make a vow that he will keep God's commandments.
The Supper can only be received by those who are "worthy". Mormons believe that the Supper has nothing to do with the sacrifice of Christ, but serves to renew union with God and to recognize membership. According to Mormonism, the laying on of hands gives the gift of the Holy Spirit. The laying on of hands is performed by priests. The act of the laying on of hands is what they call confirmation. The Holy Spirit is given for enlightenment, purification and sanctification.
Only the head of the church has the authority to seal. A sealed marriage will not end in death, but will find its continuation in the spiritual realm. All representatives of unsealed marriages in eternity will be ministering spirits and will not be able to marry.
Characteristic.
The religious organization The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is included in this guide because it has been classified as a totalitarian sect in:
some documents State Duma Russian Federation;
A. Dvorkin's book "Ten Questions to an Obsessive Stranger: A Guide for Those Who Don't Want to Be Recruited", 1995: "You need to know that all totalitarian networks to some extent use deception when recruiting ... 10 proposed questions: ... 5. Tell us about the past of the head of the organization ... The very first Mormon - Joseph Smith - began his spiritual career with spiritualism and treasure hunting "(that is, Mormons are also indicated in the book telling about totalitarian sects);
book by AI Khvyli-Olinter "Dangerous totalitarian forms of religious sects" (1996).
In the Definition of the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church"On pseudo-Christian sects, neo-paganism and the occult" (December 1994) Mormons are called "false Christianity and pseudo-religion."
The founder of this organization was the American Joseph (in another transcription - Joseph) Smith, who was born in 1805 in Jaron, Vermont, USA. At the age of 14, he received his first vision, in which it was revealed to him that he would in no case join the existing churches.
In 1823 he received a second vision. The angel who appeared to him called himself Moroni. He spoke of the hidden "golden plates" on Cumorah Hill, which contain important messages from America's ancient history. The angel Moroni called Joseph Smith to restore the "True Church of Jesus Christ." Only in 1827 was he allowed to take the buried treasure. The documents were written in "Old Egyptian script" that could only be read with the help of "prophetic glasses" in the same drawer as the script. His assistants were his future associates Harris and Oliver Cowdery. After the translation was completed, Smith returned the plates to their place.
In 1830, the Book of Mormon was published in an edition of 5,000 copies. On April 6, 1830, the six-member Mormon Church was founded in Fayeti, New York. This society spread relatively quickly, as its followers were active in proselytizing in some states. The hostile attitude towards the Mormons and their persecution led to the fact that they often had to change their place of residence. Mormons founded several cities where, based on revelation, Jesus Christ was to appear. Unfortunately missing from the Latter Day Saint books are the Smith trials, his failed banking scam in Kirtland, Ohio, his polygamy prior to revelation, his organized armies in Missouri and Illinois, and the order to destroy the printing presses of those who opposed him, the bloody clashes between the Mormons and the settlers in the middle of the last century.
In 1844, I. Smith ended up in Karthage prison, where the mob of the city shot him. Smith's successor was Briam Young. In his tenure, it came to a "sacrificial procession" to the Great Salt Lake. For 17 months (1846-47) exactly 1700 km were covered. There they founded the city of Salt Lake City (or New Jerusalem).
Negotiations between the Mormons and the government for their admission to the United States failed due to the admission of polygamy. When this practice was officially banned, the Mormons were admitted to Utah in 1896.
In 1838, Mormons adopted a "divine command" to give tithes. By actively recruiting about the world, the Mormons quickly spread their teachings. Each missionary does his work for free and voluntarily for 2-3 years. And if in 1850 the number of members of the sect was 60 thousand people, then in 1985 - 6 million people.
In 1843, the first Mormon missionary meeting was founded. In Switzerland and Austria, the Mormons began their activities in 1850. Mormons have a lot of influence in Western countries today. Their center is located in Frankfurt am Main, in Hamburg and Bern. Their spiritual center (Zollikofen), which is their "God's house", is located in Switzerland.
Mormons are willing to point out the strictness of their moral life: they do not smoke, drink alcohol, or drink beverages such as coffee and black tea.
The organization of the Mormon sect is based on a strict hierarchy. It is subdivided into "Kolas" (districts) and "Wards" (meetings).
In 1829 "John the Baptist" appeared to E. Smith and O. Cowdery and "ordained" them to the Aaronic priesthood. A month later, the "apostles" Peter, James and John appeared to them and "consecrated" them to the priestly ministry of Melchizedek. On this basis, Mormons claim to hold the priesthood of the Almighty and have access to all holy powers. The "Priesthood of Melchizedek" is in charge of spiritual affairs, while the "Priesthood of Aaron" is in charge of temporal matters.
It is customary for Mormons to be baptized instead of the dead. Only baptism is valid and necessary for the salvation of Mormons. In addition to baptism, a vicarious laying on of hands and sealing is also possible for deceased ancestors. To carry out these acts, the exact data of the dead must be given. This explains the diligence with which Mormons study their family tree. Since 1894, the Family History Library in the American city of Salt Lake City, created by Mormons, has been collecting and processing data from parish registers, censuses and other documents containing the names of people who previously lived on earth. These names are necessary for the Mormons to mysteriously initiate people into their cult followers in their temples, where "outsiders" (non-Mormons) are not allowed to enter. Mormons in absentia include the dead in the ranks of their cult, replenishing the lists of their organization with millions of deceased people of various nationalities, religions and beliefs (including atheists). This work, hidden from the uninitiated, is accompanied by large-scale Mormon activities to create a single "World Genealogy Center", controlled by the organization "Latter Day Saints". Since 1992, the Mormons began to actively work with the Archival Administrations of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, and Armenia in order to copy (microfilm) archival documents. Having entered into a contract with the State Archival Service of Russia, the Mormons gained access to the archives of Astrakhan, Tula, Tver, Tobolsk, Kazan and copied many parish registers (Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran) and other documents. Copies received from the Russian archives become the property of the Mormon President's Corporation, which are then provided to pedigree researchers through his own genealogical structure for a fee.
Now the "Church of Latter Day Saints" is an empire with an annual income of 3 million dollars (partly due to the collection of "tithes" from its members). 40 thousand of their missionaries work all over the world.
Special attention Mormons turn to their appearance: dress neatly and neatly, cultivate good manners, intelligent, polite, literate. The diligence of Mormon representatives in improving these qualities comes from their teaching, which says that a person is "a god in the bud" and their ultimate goal is to move up the path of progress through personal improvement and become equal to God at the finish line. That is, gradually "grow" into the heavenly Kingdom.
Below is an excerpt from Bulletin No. 60(220) of the State Duma of the Russian Federation dated December 4, 1996:
"Despite the name and use of Christian terminology, the teachings of the Mormons, in the unanimous opinion of all traditional Christian denominations, not only have nothing to do with Christianity, but also denies all twenty-century Christianity as a whole. This sect ... operates in Russia in an atmosphere of the most strict secrecy. Therefore, we know the least about the true goals and forms of their activities in our country.In the documents recently submitted by the sect to the Council for Cooperation with Religious Organizations under the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, it was reported that the Mormons since the early 90s have imported to Russia and distributed humanitarian aid worth 14 million STA dollars. It seems that humanitarian aid for such a huge amount could not have gone unnoticed. Nevertheless, few people have heard of Mormon aid in Russia. It is reasonable to ask: if this figure is reliable, then where did that money go?
The active work of Mormons in the Russian archives is costly and causes great concern. It should be noted that Mormon secret temple rites and their doctrine of salvation are closely related to the genealogical research carried out by CIHSMS. In Mormon temples, strictly secret "temple ordinances" are performed for the living and the dead (baptisms, marriages, and more), after which both of them become, according to the teachings of the sect, Mormons. The names of the deceased are included in the lists for Mormon ordinances in absentia, without asking for the consent of the relatives of the deceased. I note that every living Mormon can have countless dead wives, whom he married in absentia in his temple. All members of the sect, in addition to direct "missionary work", are constantly busy searching for new archival names and data for the correspondence "Orthodoxization" of as many people as possible. Special teams of Mormons study government archives, museum and university collections of documents, archives of city governments, vital records and parishes around the world. All recorded archival microfilms end up in the Mormon storage for eternal keeping, becoming their property... A convenient reason for the relevant authorities to become interested in the activities of the Mormons may be their direct violation of the fundamentals of the law. We know that they rent schools and other educational institutions for their worship meetings. Thus, in Moscow, they held services at secondary school No. 36 (on the territory of the Zachatievsky convent) and in the premises of the musical technical school at the Ulitsa 1905 Goda metro station. It seems that Mormons rent educational institutions in provincial cities on a much larger scale than in Moscow.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stands out among all the religious cults and sects operating in the United States with its extremely amazing history, which all students of the religions of the American continent would do well to know.

Mormons, as they are most commonly known, are divided into two main groups - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Independence, Missouri. Today, more than a century and a half after the movement's founding, Mormons number over 5.3 million, are major stockholders in America's agricultural and industrial potential, are active in many forms of missionary service, and are fierce rivals with evangelical Christianity. The first group, which will be the focus of this chapter, claims to have over 5.1 million members by April 1983.

The reorganized church has over 200,000 members worldwide and has even achieved recognition as a "fundamentalist sect" in some parts of the world.

The reorganized (Missouri) church, which denies the word "Mormon" itself, is only briefly described in this chapter, but there is no doubt that it has gained a strong position in recent decades and includes zealous ministers who constantly irritate the church in Utah by pointing out court rulings that it is the true Mormon church, and the church in Utah is simply schismatic.

Since its founding, the Mormon Church has been characterized by prosperity, zeal, and an amazing missionary spirit. Before the outbreak of World War II, more than two thousand of its missionaries made efforts in active, multifaceted ministry around the world. In the post-war period, the Mormons actively and widely expanded propaganda, and today they have more than 26,000 active missionaries in their ranks.

Joseph Smith - American false prophet, founder of the pseudo-Christian sect "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Mormons)

However, extreme missionary activity is explained by the fact interesting fact that the Mormon Church is targeting the most gifted young people, boys at the age of nineteen and girls at the age of twenty-one, calling them to dedicate two years of their lives to missionary service without the material support of the church. In some cases, parents help the youth during these two years, but it is important to note that about once every half a month, seventy to ninety young men and women enter the path of such activity. The number of Mormons is increasing every year by almost 200 thousand, and the birth rate among Mormons is approximately 28.1 per thousand (whereas the average birth rate in the United States is 15.9 per thousand). Mormon growth since 1900 is amazing. 1900 - 268.331; 1910 - 393.437; 1920 - 526.032; 1930 - 672.488; 1940 - 862.664; 1950 - 1.111.314; 1960 - 1.693.180; 1970 - 2.930.810; 1980 - 4.633.000.

According to Mormon teachings, they should keep their bodies in the best possible condition, be careful about using tobacco, alcohol, and even tea, coffee, and other caffeinated drinks, up to and including Coca-Cola. The Mormon Church strictly requires all of its members to adhere to the Old Testament commandment of tithing, which resulted in church donations of approximately $2 billion in 1982, for example, which is staggering for such a relatively small organization. For example, in April 1978, Reader's Digest published an eight-page advertisement for church events, the first of which, costing $ 12 million, was addressed to approximately fifty million readers of the magazine. In 1975, the Associated Press estimated the income of this church at least three million per day, with 60% of this fee tax-free.

The reader should remember that Mormons are investing this money prudently - to strengthen their church, becoming the owners of a rapidly growing amount of real estate used for commercial and ecclesiastical purposes. "Saints" now have more than twenty active temples, to which will soon be added about twenty under construction or projected on all continents of the earth. Brigham Young Mormon University in Utah is proud to have 27,000 students on its two campuses.

Relying on the donations of their zealous, missionary-oriented members who practice a practical "good works" religion and righteous living, Mormons spend millions of dollars each year to spread the teachings of their primary prophets, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, to any audience, regardless of church affiliation.

In addition to regular tithes, the Mormon Church also calls for so-called "fast offerings." This unusual practice suggests that on the first Sunday of each month, church members eat only one meal instead of three, and the amount received is given to the church as a voluntary contribution to support the needy and the hungry.

Since education is highly valued among Mormons, it is not surprising that they launched a system of introductory and theoretical courses for university and college students, which reached more than 300,000 people. The church has more than fifty schools outside the United States, most of which are located in Mexico or the South Pacific.

Mormonism is thus not just a cult that appeals to the uneducated, as Jehovah's Witnesses do for the most part. The emphasis on education leads to an abundance of propaganda literature that comes out from under the printing presses at the rate of several million copies each year. Mormons are famous for building chapels and temples. Temples are used for weddings "in heaven", the baptism of the dead and other rites with the souls of the dead (only in 1982, about 4.5 million sacred rites were performed on the dead). Temples are forbidden to enter by Gentiles (as Mormons call non-Mormons), temples are unique structures, usually extremely exquisite in architecture and decoration.

Along with a heightened focus on education, Mormon religious activities include sports, hobbies, drama, music, home economics courses for future wives, dance, and theater festivals. The Mutual Improvement Association sponsors a huge number of such causes, literally thousands and thousands of dance and other events designed to attract and entertain young people. Mormon dances begin with a prayer and end with the singing of a hymn. Mormons use everything man can to make the church truly a second home for children and youth. The absence of juvenile delinquency is a striking feature of the Mormons and testifies to their success, which is centered on church work.

However, statistics from Utah, home to at least 70% Mormons, show divorce, child abuse, teenage pregnancies and suicide rates above the national level and on the rise.

As an example of the importance of missionary work, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir became known to all radio listeners. It has 350 choir members and has 810 hymns in its repertoire.

He recently celebrated 50 years of radio work. For those who want to dismiss Mormons as a minor force in the US, it would be good to remember that among the celebrities listed in the Who's Who in America, Mormons have more followers than any other religion. The same applies to honorable scientific societies in our country. Mormon leaders have influence in almost every rung of American power. The most prominent of these is former Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson, one of the Twelve Apostles who leads the Mormon Church. Secretary-Treasurer David Kennedy (using members of his cabinet as church plenipotentiary), Treasurers Angela Buchanan and Ivy Baker Priest, Secretary of Education Terrell Bell, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, Marine Representative S. Eccles, three United States Ambassadors to Scandinavia, a dozen US senators, not to mention others, dispel doubts about the influence of this organization. Mormons are indeed a significant political and social force to be reckoned with.

Historical overview

Church organization

The organizational and general management of the Mormon Church is carried out by the Committee of General Authorities. It is led by the First Presidency, which consists of the 88-year-old "prophet" Spencer W. Kimball and two assistants. The Presidency is assisted by the Council of the Twelve Apostles. The First Quorum of the Seventy and His Presidency, and the "Leading Episcopate" and the Patriarch of the Church. All power is in the hands of the Mormon priesthood, which is divided into Aaronic (junior) and Melchizedek (elder) and which includes essentially every active male Mormon over the age of twelve.

Administratively, the Mormon Church consists of territories divided into wards and stakes, with the latter including approximately five hundred to a thousand people.

Each parish is headed by a bishop (bishop) and two assistants. Wards are organized into stakes, each stake is overseen by a stake president and his two assistants, who, in turn, are assisted by twelve senior ministers who make up " high council Today, the Mormon Church has approximately 8,900 wards, about 1,400 stakes, 2,000 offshoots, and 180 missions. These structures form a powerful coalition promoting mutual aid among Mormons. Mormons felt quite confident, so that few Mormons experienced a lack of life's goods.

Mormons continue to treat their missionary work with great zeal. Their missionaries are dogmatic, they constantly quote the Bible, and many true Christians, unfortunately, have to fall silent under the pressure of the quick-witted and well-read students of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, who create the illusion of a perfect knowledge of the Scriptures in front of uneducated Christians who are utterly amazed and amazed by their arguments.

Like most cults, Mormonism survived an era of persecution and persecution, but, unlike many other cults that prefer the saying "who remembers the old," Mormons tried at times to protect their prophets, which put them in a difficult position more than once.

Mormons generally have sound moral character. They are generally friendly, almost always hospitable, extremely dedicated to their family and the teachings of their church. But, unfortunately, the vast majority of Mormons know almost nothing about the obscure historical and theological origins of their religion. Sometimes they are visibly amazed when their eyes are opened to the unattractive and wholly un-Christian foundations of their church. This little-known facet of Mormonism is the other side of the coin that numerous Mormon historians have either hidden from the people for years or distorted in an attempt to dismiss the undeniable and unpleasant evidence of history. It is these testimonies that the author will consider in order to ensure that readers have a complete picture of the religion of Joseph Smith.

Early Mormon History

The seeds that would later bear fruit in the form of the Mormon religion sprouted in the head of Joseph Smith, Jr., the "prophet" who was better known to the people of Palmyra, New York, in 1816 simply as Joe Smith.

He was born in Sharon, Vermont on December 23, 1805, the fourth child of Lucy and Joseph Smith. The entry of the future Mormon prophet into the world was marked by two historical "blows" on him in the form of his father and circumstances.

Joseph Smith Sr. was a mystic who spent most of his life in search of imaginary treasure, with a particular fondness for the legendary adventures of Captain Kidd. In addition, he sometimes indulged in monetary fraud, which at least once brought him into conflict with local authorities. This fact is, of course, well known to any informed student of Mormons, and it came to light in the testimony of Judge Emeritus Daniel Woodard of Windsor County, Vermont, a former neighbor of the Smith family. Judge Woodard later testified in the Historical Magazine of 1870 that Smith Sr. was clearly a treasure hunter and "also colluded with one Jack Downing in counterfeiting money" but managed to get away with it.

The mother of the future prophet, to the same extent as her husband, became a product of her era and environment, being extremely religious and believing in the most banal superstitions. Lucy Smith has published an "authorized" book titled Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith and His Ancestors Through Many Generations.

Published by the Mormon Church in Liverpool, England, however, the book was vehemently condemned by Brigham Young, Smith's closest associate, who essentially banned it, pointing out "numerous errors" and explaining that "if anyone thinks of publishing these sketches, then one must first carefully check ".

It was out of the question that Mrs. Smith would do such a job and Mrs. Corey became the ghostwriter in her place, diligently recording what later became known as "the story of Joseph Smith as told by his mother." In the course of the story, we will touch on this work, as well as the personal memoirs of Joseph Smith Jr. For now, we will simply mention that the Mormon Church and Smith's own mother had disagreements regarding family life prophet, his background and religious habits.

I now return to the central figure, Joseph Smith Jr. The year 1820 was destined to be the year of the prophet's call to ministry, for it was then that a miraculous vision appeared in which God the Father and God the Son materialized and spoke to the young Smith while he was fervently praying in the woods near his home.

The Prophet recounted the incident in detail in his book, The Pearl of Great Price (Joseph Smith, History 1:1-25), where he reported that these two "persons", not entirely approving of the Christian church, and therefore of the whole world, pointed out the need to revive true Christianity and allegedly chose him, Joseph Smith Jr., as the herald of the new era.

It is interesting to note that the vision did not make any noticeable changes in the life of Joseph Smith, as he continued to search for treasures with his father and brother, who made it their goal to unearth the treasures of Captain Kidd, following the instructions of magic stones, magic wands, or simply their own desire.

Fairy stones were supposed to be miraculous stones which, when placed in a hat and shielded from light, represent lost objects or buried treasure. And magical wands are branches that themselves turn in the direction of gold, water, etc.

History tells us that the Smith family never succeeded in this tortuous and painstaking pursuit of treasure, but numerous ditches in the vicinity of Vermont and New York are incontrovertible evidence of indiscriminate attempts to dig something up.

In subsequent years, the "prophet" extremely regretted these ridiculous expeditions of his youth and even denied in writing that he had ever dug up treasures at all.

Joseph Smith himself once said: “In October 1825, I was hired by an old gentleman named Josiah Stole, who lived in Chenango, New York. He heard something about the silver mines of the Spaniards in Harmony, Saskihanna County, Pennsylvania. Before working with me, he was already trying to find these mines. When I moved in with him, he included me among his workers in search of silver mines. I worked for about a month without success, and in the end we decided to abandon That's where the very common story that I was a treasure hunter came from."

This may be enough to explain the prophet's complete failure to find treasure to those who are faithful to him and ignorant of history, but for those who know the facts, it immediately becomes clear that Joseph Smith played uncontrollably with the truth, to say the least. worse, because in fact it often turned out that there was no truth in his words. Main source skeptical attitude to the explanations of the prophet, however, is nothing less than in the notes of Lucy Smith herself, his mother, who sets out the course of the same events as follows: "Stole himself came to Joseph, having heard that he could see hidden to human eyes things" (Linn, The Story of the Mormons, p. 16).

Other evidence, in addition to Mrs. Smith's (that is, the most reliable), undoubtedly proves that the prophet suffered from the mania of "magic stones" and personally excavated, leading countless treasure-hunting expeditions, Joseph proclaimed that supernatural forces helped him in these searches.

In order to remove any doubt from the reader regarding Smith's treasure hunt and use of "magic stones", we will cite three of the most reliable sources, which, in our opinion, will dispel any doubt that Smith was considered a treasure trove by all who knew him personally. It should also be remembered that Joseph Smith, Sr., in an interview published in the Historical Magazine in May 1870, clearly stated that the prophet in his youth was an enthusiast of magic stones, a treasure digger and, moreover, that he predicted fate and found lost objects with the help of these magic stones, using their supernatural power.

Father Joseph's account of his rather strange activities is reinforced by the testimony of the Rev. Dr. John Clark, who mentioned that the Smith family had "thoroughly studied" the entire area.

"Long before the idea of ​​a 'golden bible' entered their minds, Joe was usually the instigator in search of buried money. He put a special stone in his hat that showed him where to dig."(Gleanings by the Way, 1842, p. 225).

The March 20, 1826, New York v. Joseph Smith trial records indicate that Smith had "a certain kind of stone, which he looked at from time to time to determine the location of treasures buried in the bowels of the earth ... and several once looking for Mr. Stole." Therefore, the court ruled that the defendant was guilty of treasure digging.

Joseph Smith Jr. in 1820 announced a heavenly vision in which he was called a prophet anointed by the Lord to serve in a new age, but the appearance of the angel Moroni, who shook Smith's bed and initiated the epic of Joe with ghostly "golden plates", the text of which became later the Book of Mormon, refers to 1823 only.

According to Smith's own account of this extraordinary revelation, which is recorded in The Pearl of Great Price (Joseph Smith, History 1:29-54), the angel Moroni, the glorified son of one Mormon, the man for whom the famous book is named, appeared before the bed Joseph and repeated his revelation three times to the shocked treasure hunter. Smith did not write anywhere about what happened for several years, but even this does not explain the contradiction that he allowed in the retelling of the words of the angel. This contradiction occurs mainly in the early editions of the Pearl of Great Price, where the former Moroni is already named as a messenger, and still later, with equal prophetic certainty, Joseph calls this messenger Nephi, a completely different person from the Book of Mormon! This embarrassing inconsistency in the "divine revelation" system was later rectified by painstaking Mormon scribes who took great pains to remove all historical and factual inaccuracies that are hard to explain in the writings of Smith, Young, and other early Mormons.

In modern editions, however, both "revelations" agree that they call Moroni the "heavenly messenger," and the Mormons themselves do not see much difference in whether Nephi or Moroni gave Smith the revelation.

In 1827, Smith claimed to have found the golden plates on which he claimed to have written the Book of Mormon. Shortly after this historic find on Mount Cumorah near Palmyra, New York, Smith began translating the hieroglyphs of the "altered Egyptian language" in which this book was written, using "Urim and Thummim," a sort of miraculous spectacle given by the prudent angel Moroni. supplied the newly minted seer Smith. Later we will touch on Smith's work in "translating" these sheets and the difficulties faced by Martin Harris, his wife, and Professor Charles Anton, a renowned scientist. We will now proceed with the story of events, the essence of which is quite obvious to anyone who is in any way familiar with the qualities of the character of Joseph Smith. The modified Egyptian language does not exist, as all the leading Egyptologists and philologists who have been approached with this question claim. However, the Mormons themselves do not doubt its existence at all.

When Joseph was busy translating the plates (1827-1829), a certain Oliver Cowdery, an itinerant schoolteacher, met Smith at his father-in-law's house (who let Joseph into the house for his daughter's sake) and accepted the religion of the prophet, soon becoming one of the "scribes" who wrote down Joseph's words are translated from the plates, although he himself had never seen these plates. Over time, Smith and Oliver became real friends, and the process of "translation" and spiritual zeal reached such heights that on May 15, 1829, heaven could no longer hold back their joy and Peter, James and John sent John the Baptist himself to the inconspicuous state of Pennsylvania with an urgent order anoint Joe and Oliver to the Aaronic Priesthood.

This miraculous event is described in "The Pearl of Great Price" (Joseph Smith, History, 1:68-73). It is not difficult to guess that then Oliver baptized Joe, and Joe Oliver. They blessed each other and foretold events that were "soon to come."

The prudent Smith did not expand on the prophecies, since Mormon prophecies were not usually fulfilled at the scheduled time, and this probably explains Smith's reticence in the presentation of details. From the ever-blessed state of Pennsylvania, which gained immortality by anointing Smith to the priesthood of Aaron by John the Baptist himself, Joe returned to the home of Peter Witmer in Fayette, New York, where he remained until he completed the "translation" of the plates and the Book of Mormon was published. under copyright protection in 1830. On April 6 of the same year, the prophet, in the company of his brothers Hyrum and Samuel, Oliver Cowdery, David and Peter Witmer, Jr., officially registered a "new religious society" called the Church of Christ (later renamed the Church of the Latter-day Saints and eventually the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). This is how Mormonism, one of America's most contagious cults, got its start.

After this "significant" event, the "prophet" called a conference on June 1, 1830, which was attended by 30 people. There plans were made for missionary activity and new elders were ordained to serve the Indians. In August 1830, an active preacher, Parley Pratt, was converted to Mormonism, and in September, Sidney Rigdon, a very strong Campbellite preacher from Ohio, "received enlightenment" and converted his congregation to the religion of Smith, which was the beginning of the Mormons' expansion outside the states of New York and Pennsylvania.

Sidney Rigdon and Parley Pratt, it should be noted, from the very moment of their "conversion" were doomed to fame in the Mormon hierarchy, as well as Orson Pratt, and it is their writings, along with the works of Young, Orson Pratt, Charles Penrose and James Talmadge, that are still used today. Mormons as fundamental. The role of Sidney Rigdon in the fate of the Mormons we will touch upon later, but for now I will only note that he was subsequently accused of apostasy and excommunicated from the Mormon Church, mainly for a sermon delivered in 1833 in Jackson County, Missouri.

Reading a sermon, Rigdon, in a fit of incendiary eloquence, took up arms against the inhabitants of the county, essentially giving the whole state a pretext to start a war with the "saints", who subsequently suffered severe persecution and were expelled from the state in November 1833.

Of course, inciting discord did not particularly contribute to the rise of Sidney among his fellow believers, and the sermon itself began to be bitterly called "Sidney's salty sermon" because it was based on the place in Matthew, which speaks of salt that has lost its strength. The shattering "prophet" Smith's "from within" criticism is a fine example of a clear controversy that should be known to all who are inclined to deify the dubious qualities of the first Mormon prophet.

Soon after the Fayette fellowships, the Mormons made their center in Kirtland, Ohio, where in 6 years their number reached 16,000. It was from Kirtland that Smith and Rigdon attempted to make a dash for Jackson County, Missouri. For Joseph and Sidney, persecution was not a new thing, however, here it came to an attempt to dump them in tar and feathers, a punishment that seemed to have long sunk into oblivion. In Missouri, Smith purchased a 63-acre property, christened it "sacred land," and mapped out the exact site where he said the temple of Zion, the earthly seat of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, would eventually be erected. It is curious to note that one of the minor offshoots of Mormonism today owns this land and claims that it once refused an offer from the church in Utah to buy this "holy place" for $5 million.

The first stake of Zion was established in Kirtland, and the first quorum of the twelve apostles was elected, led by the First Presidency of three, led by President Joseph Smith. The main reason for moving to Ohio was the extreme unpopularity of Smith and his revelations among people who knew him well, who considered his religion a fake and showed no hope of "conversion". Smith, of course, secured the "revelation" of God that the place where the center of the church should be changed.

From 1831 to 1844, the "prophet" he claims received more than 135 direct revelations from God that helped build Kirtland and later the Mormon capital at Nova, Illinois. Smith's infamous practice of plural marriage took hold in Kirtland and was later confirmed by "divine revelation." Sometimes ignorant people claim that Smith was not a polygamist, but then they should look at the famous Berea Collection in the New York Public Library, whose plump volumes of primary sources say otherwise, and they were written by Mormons of both sexes who themselves lived a similar life and frankly testified to the debauchery of Smith and the leaders of the Mormon church.

Gradually, of course, polygamous relations seeped into the entire Mormon Church, so that the United States government had to threaten the church with total dispossession and dissolution in order to stop the widely ingrained practice.

In 1890, President Wilford Woodruff officially abolished polygamy as a practice of the Mormon Church, thereby at the very least sacrificing Mormon religious beliefs for their political and economic survival, a fact that is increasingly the subject of debate among modern Mormons.

But the fact remains. In Kirtland, Nowu, Jackson County, the Mormons took advantage of the opportunity to convert erring people who had not yet heard of the prophet's qualities to the Smith religion. In New York, Smith was given the most unattractive characteristics, which was partly a consequence of acquaintance with the qualities of his character. Pomeroy Tucker, in his classic The Rise, Rise, and Growth of Mormonism (New York, 1867), collected a number of properly recorded testimonies from neighbors of the Smith family and especially acquaintances of Joseph Smith, Jr. According to the unanimous assessment of the witnesses of the time, Joseph Smith Jr. was known for "a habit of exaggeration and insincerity ... Owing to the extravagance of his statements, his word was treated with less confidence, the more he was known. He could express the most obvious fiction or bizarre absurdity with (p. 16) One of the most interesting testimonies about the youth of Joseph Jr. was given by E. D. Howe, his contemporary, who made grandiose studies during the life of Joseph, which no Mormon historian could convincingly dispute. Smith dared not answer Howe's arguments, although he knew them, so great was the strength of the contemporary testimony, Howe produced a document signed by sixty-two residents of Palmyra, New York, which no serious Mormon scholar can dismiss:

We, the undersigned, have been acquainted with the Smith family for a number of years when they have lived nearby, and we do not hesitate to declare that we consider them to be lacking in moral qualities that could give them public confidence. They were especially famous for their illusory projects, they spent a lot of time excavating treasures that, in their opinion, were buried in the ground, and to this day traces of their constant search for hidden treasures have been preserved near their house. Joseph Smith Sr. and his son Joseph were especially distinguished by their lack of moral character and adherence to vicious habits.

Perhaps someone will say, after reading this, that it is not fair to listen to only one side. You need to know what people who are well Mormons think. The answer is the curious fact that there are no credible testimonies favorable to Mormonism from people of that time who personally knew the Smith family and Joseph, but only wise Mormon chroniclers who cast their penetrating eye on the events of a hundred years ago and are able to seriously challenge the testimonies of neighbors, Joseph's father-in-law and many people who have parted ways with Mormonism, who knew what was happening and captured facts that Mormon historians cannot refute.

As the Mormons grew and prospered in Nova, Illinois, and their practice of plural marriage became known within the Mormon camp and beyond, distrust of the Prophet Smith grew, especially after one of his former assistants, John Bennett, spoke openly about the practice of polygamy in the New. When the prophet (or "general," as he liked to be called at this stage of his career) could no longer stand the mounting criticism and tried to use force against an anti-Mormon publication called the Novu Observer, the state of Illinois intervened. The "Prophet" and his brother Hyrum were imprisoned at Carthage, Illinois, before being tried for robbery at the Observer's office, but on June 27, 1844, a mob of two hundred men stormed the Carthage jail and massacred Smith and his brother Hyrum brutally. , forcing the apparently unwilling prophet to prematurely assume the halo of a martyr, thus securing him the title of a true "seer" in the annals of Mormon history.

After the assassination of Joseph Smith, the bulk of the Mormons came under the control of Brigham Young, who was then 43 years old and who had already led the Mormons to a safe place away from the angry Missourians. In 1846, Young announced that the "saints" would leave Nova as well. In 1847. after a torturous march through the deserts of the Southwest, Young led the first group of Mormons into the Great Salt Lake Valley and shouted "Here it is!" staked out the fate of the "saints". They were in what would later become the state of Utah.

Brigham Young led the Mormon Church for more than thirty years and, in a tradition that continues today, he inherited the God-ordained mantle of the first prophet. And after him, every Mormon president enjoyed the same authority as Joseph Smith and Briham Young - by unchanging prophetic succession. The "sign from heaven" that made the Mormons feel like they owned the Great Salt Lake Valley was given to them in June 1848, when the Mormons' first crop was saved from a locust invasion by a swarm of swooping gulls. Thus, according to the Mormons, God clearly testified to His favor with the Church of Latter-day Saints.

We will not go into the details of Mormon life under Brigham Young, which will shorten this book significantly, but only note that Smith gave the movement its initial impetus, while under Brigham Young it gained the necessary strength to be considered a "decent" religion. Young himself was a multi-faceted personality, and one cannot understand Mormon theology without knowing the profound influence of Young's "prophet" and his teachings. Smith and Young, along with successive presidents, have shaped modern Mormon theology, but it cannot be properly assimilated without knowing anything about Brigham Young.

Young was a man of indomitable courage, not without cunning, prone to bouts of cruelty, which Mormon historians deliberately do not recall. One manifestation of his eagerness to subdue Utah was the order to exterminate over a hundred non-Mormon immigrants, now known as the infamous "Mountain Meadow Murder." For reasons known only to him, Young instructed Bishop John Lee in 1857 to destroy a train of apparently helpless settlers, which Bishop Lee faithfully did, and for which, twenty years later, he was arrested, tried, and executed by the government of the United States as a foul display of totalitarianism.

In his noteworthy book, The Confessions of John Lee, which remains a thorn in the side of Mormon history, Lee acknowledged his role in the atrocity but swore that he was acting on the orders of Brigham Young. The testimonies of Lee himself and some of his assistants involved in the massacre point incontrovertibly to Young's leading role. As we study Mormon theology, we will see that this was not contrary to Young's character. It was the law in Utah, but as the wise saying goes, "Power corrupts, and full power corrupts completely."

Today's Mormonism is far from many of the principles and attitudes of its founders. But he certainly remains true to their core tenets, although, as in the case of plural marriage, when these norms came into conflict with state norms or political ambitions, "Latter Day Saints" wisely ignored (or, as they usually say, "rethought") the instructions of the first two prophets.

Mormon history is long and complex. It is truly a labyrinth of writings, testimonies, affidavits, photographs, rumors, opinions, and the true picture emerges only after a long analysis of the testimonies of contemporaries. Ordinary Mormons cannot be treated without sympathy and attention. They are for the most part sincere, generous, and diligent both in confessing and in spreading their faith.

One can only regret that they took at face value the carefully edited "history" of the origin and development of Mormonism instead of paying attention to sources that not only contradict, but completely refute the lies of their historical reconstruction. It is hoped that as the reader unfolds the drama of Mormonism and what it is about, the evolution of Mormonism and the fallacy of the gospels of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. History has delivered a verdict condemning Mormon "evangelism", especially the one sponsored by Smith and Young. There is extensive documentation that most Mormons ignore, but facts are even more stubborn than Mormons.

Theology of Mormonism

The New Revelation - The "Bible" of Mormons

Along with English translation The "King James" Bible, which Mormons recognize as part of the Word of God wherever it is "correctly translated," they include the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Book of Mormon in their canon, calling it all "true scripture." This chapter will focus on the Book of Mormon because it is central to Mormon theology and history.

There is already a huge amount of research on the Book of Mormon published, and I have tried to build as much as possible on the documented information available to me. Determining the authenticity of information is not easy, so I chose only the one whose reliability was beyond doubt and which is available today in leading scientific institutions - at Stanford University, Union Theological Seminary, in the Department of Research of the Library of Congress, at the New York Public Library and others). It is difficult to give a complete overview of the complex structure of the Book of Mormon, and I encourage readers to also check out other studies on the subject if they are interested.

History of the ancient people

The Book of Mormon claims to be the history of two ancient peoples in the Americas. According to the Mormons, the first of these peoples left the construction of the Tower of Babel (approximately 2,250 years BC in Mormon terms), crossed into Europe and then reached the east coast of modern Central America. The second people, according to the Mormons, left Jerusalem about 600 BC before its fall and the Babylonian captivity of Israel. According to the Mormons, this group crossed Pacific Ocean and landed on the west coast of South America. As for the Book of Mormon, it is a collection of major events from the history of these peoples. The author of the book is believed to be a prophet named Mormon. The book is a translation of an abridged text of the history of these civilizations and the history of the Jaredites, abridged by Moroni son of Mormon, taken from the record of Jared found in the time of the second people.

The Jaredites were destroyed for their atrocities and as punishment for their apostasy. The second nation that arrived in America around 600 B.C. was made up of righteous Jews led by a leader named Nephi. This people eventually suffered the fate of the Jaredites. He was divided into two warring camps - the Nephites and the Lamanites (Indians).

The Lamanites were cursed for their sins, and a sign of this curse was their dark skin.

The Mormon Record says that Christ came to the Americas, revealed Himself to the Nephites, preached the gospel to them, and gave the commandments of baptism and the sacrament. The Nephites, unfortunately, changed their righteousness more than the Lamanites, who defeated the first at the Battle of Cumor in about A.D. 385.

And almost fourteen centuries later, Mormons claim, Joseph Smith Jr. dug up a short Mormon record engraved in "corrected Egyptian hieroglyphs" on gold plates, and with the help of "Urim and Thummim" (supernatural spectacles) translated the text from "corrected Egyptian" into English. . Thus was born the Book of Mormon, published in 1830, which bears the name of Joseph Smith Jr. as "author and owner." There are four classes of plates that Smith is credited with discovering: (1) the plates of Nephi, (2) the plates of Mormon, (3) the plates of Ether, (4) the group of plates referred to in the Book of Mormon as the "plates of brass" or the plates of Laban. The plates of Nephi contain mostly secular history, although the "small plates" of Nephi are "filled with sacred writings." The second set of plates is Mormon's abridgement of the plates of Nephi, with Mormon's explanations and historical additions by his son Moroni.

The third category of plates is the history of the Jaredites, also abridged by Moroni, who, however, added his own notes to it. They are now known as the book of Ether. The fourth set of plates is believed to have been brought from Jerusalem and is included as passages in the Nephite Records. They are replete with quotations from Jewish scriptures and genealogies.

Joseph Smith is supposed to have received the plates from the hands of Moroni, "raised from the dead" in 1827.

Purpose of the Book of Mormon

Typically, Christian theologians, archaeologists, and anthropologists are confused as to what the purposes of the Book of Mormon are. The reason for this is the many difficulties it presents in the light of already accepted facts. Nevertheless, we will consider how the Mormons themselves state its task:

"The principle of divine and civil law is the proposition: "In the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall stand firm" (2 Cor. 13:1). The Bible, the history of the deeds and providence of God regarding people on the eastern continent, is one witness to the truth. The book Mormon is another witness of the same level, she points to the providence of God in the main and extremely important work of redemption, and also in general regarding the laws of nature and testifies that His purposes were not limited to the Eastern world. "God loved the world" (John 3: 16) and not part of it, and cared for the people of the vast Western continent equally.The throne of mighty nations, he experienced the consecration and care of his Father.The stated (in the introduction) purpose of the Book of Mormon is universal: to bear witness to the world of the truth and divinity of Jesus Christ and His salvation through the gospel He gave.He preached the gospel to Jews and Gentiles.The house of Israel rejected the Messiah and, as a result, was neglected, scattered, and its rulers were overthrown. The good news, which he did not accept, was preached to the Gentiles. Since then, Israel has remained in disbelief in Christ and. without God's help chosen people. The prophecies of the Bible often speak of the revival of Israel in the last days to the glory of God, the unification of Israel and the final settlement in the ancient homeland of Palestine. The coming of the hitherto unknown Book of Mormon was foretold by biblical prophecy, and it itself convincingly provides us with additional revelation from God concerning the Messiahship of Jesus Christ and covenants with the forefathers. She repeatedly predicts the restoration, union, and other blessings of Israel. The God of Israel was to make a "new covenant" with this people - not the old Mosaic covenant, but another, later one, according to which he would rise as a nation in his holy land (see also Jer. 31:34; Ezek. 20:33-38 and etc. - The Bible predicts the same). The Book of Mormon offers Old Testament prophecies of the same kind, proclaiming them through the mouths of the chosen people. She claims to be part of the new covenant with Israel.

She quotes the verses of the 29th chapter of Isaiah and interprets their hidden meaning. She points out that as a result of her revelations, Israel will come to realize Christ's message of salvation, that Israel will no longer be afraid, but will find safety and the greatest blessing by divine grace; that the result of her revelation will be the physical blessing of Palestine, redeemed from barrenness to fertility, which will be able to provide for the people of the poor, as in ancient times. Undoubtedly, after the appearance of this book, Palestine experienced a blessing. The earth bears fruit. Jews are allowed to return and found cities, develop industry and agriculture. Many Jews, in accordance with the prediction of this book, accept Christ. Proponents of this book argue that the fulfillment of the prophecies in this book cannot be the fulfillment of any other prophecy. The book also tells that the remnants of the peoples who once inhabited America in ancient times, scattered throughout North, Central and South America - the Indians - coming to the light of the revelations of their ancestors, will be converted and receive a part in the covenant concluded with their forefathers. She speaks of their transition from primitive life to enlightenment. It proclaims that the pagans who occupy their land will know the grace of coming out of a state of degeneration. That's just part of the purpose of this book.

The gospel of the holy apostle John 10:16 contains a statement of Jesus Christ made by believers in the divinity of the Book of Mormon. He said, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold, and those I must bring, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one Shepherd." Citing the words of Christ proclaiming: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 15:24), they believe that since Jesus did not appear to the Gentiles, but "salvation from the Jews," or Israel (John 4:22 ), the promise of the "other sheep" was fulfilled in the appearance of Christ to the Nephites.

Thus, for Mormons, the Bible itself predicts the appearance of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon interprets Old Testament prophecy and claims to be part of the new covenant with Israel. She is also considered "another witness" to the truth of the Christian gospel. Unfortunately for Mormons, this witness often contradicts the revelation of the Bible, as we will see later. The book undeservedly elevates itself, being devoid of any internal evidence, reliance on science or history, so consider it "part of the new testament", to put it mildly. not serious.

The evidence of science against the "Book of Mormon"

In an attempt to reinforce and substantiate the claims of the Book of Mormon, Mormonism's supreme authority, Joseph Smith Jr. made an attempt that, if successful, would have given considerable weight to the Mormons' claims regarding their "bible." Thankfully, this act of Smith has provided us with an important witness in the case against Mormonism.

Smith told the story in The Pearl of Great Price (Joseph Smith—History 1:62-64, 1982 ed.), and it is useful to read his account: "I started copying hieroglyphs from sheets. I copied a significant number of them and translated some of them through the Urim and Thummim ... Dr. Martin Harris came to us, took the transcribed and went with him to New York. What happened then, I will tell by in his own words after his return: "I came to New York and showed the hieroglyphs with their translation to Professor Charles Anton, a gentleman known for his literary knowledge. Professor Anton said the translation was correct, more correct than any other translation from the Egyptian known to him. Then I showed him hieroglyphs not yet translated, and he said that they were Egyptian, Chaldean, Assyrian, and Arabic scripts and authentic hieroglyphs"(part 2, art. 62-64).

So, according to Joseph Smith, Martin Harris, his colleague, obtained positive feedback from the scholar Professor Charles Anton of Columbia University regarding the translation that Smith allegedly made from the "altered Egyptian language" on the plates provided to him by Moroni. The only hitch is that Professor Anton himself never said anything of the sort, moreover, he wrote a detailed letter to Mr. E. Howe, a contemporary of Smith, who did the most thorough research on the life of the Mormon prophet and the origin of their teachings. Nobody refuted Howe himself, for which he is so disliked by Mormon historians and many Mormons. Upon learning of Smith's history with Professor Anton, Howe wrote to Columbia. The professor responded with a letter cited here as a classic example of Mormon debunking and as evidence that Mormons themselves want to get rid of as quickly as possible.

Dear Sir!

I received your message in the mail this morning, to which I am replying immediately. The story, according to which I recognized the Mormon characters as "altered Egyptian hieroglyphs", is a fabrication from beginning to end. A few years ago, an inconspicuous, rustic-looking farmer came to me with a letter from our town from Dr. Mitchell, now deceased, and asked me to decipher, if possible, the notes that he handed me and which Mitchell himself could not make out. After reviewing the text, I quickly came to the conclusion that it was a hoax or a hoax. When I asked the person who brought them where he got these papers from, I, as I now recall, learned in response that a "golden book" was dug up in upstate New York, consisting of many gold sheets bound with wire from the same material, and along with the book huge "golden glasses"! These glasses were so large that when a person tried to look through them, both of his eyes fell on only one of the eyepieces, and for a human face they were clearly large. Whoever looked at the sheets through the glasses could immediately not only read them, but also fully understand the meaning. And this discovery belonged to one young man: a chest with a book and glasses was at his sole disposal. This man, behind a curtain in the attic of a farmhouse, hidden from view, put on his glasses or, more often, looked through one of the panes, deciphered the hieroglyphs of the book and, having written down the translation on paper, passed a copy behind the curtain to those standing outside. Not a word was said about the fact that the sheets were read with the help of the "gift of God." All done thanks to the big glasses, the farmer added that he was asked to contribute money to the publication of the "golden book", the meaning of which, he was assured, would change the whole earth and save the world from destruction. He was so persuaded that he decided to sell the farm and give the proceeds to those who wanted to publish the sheets. To make sure, he went to New York, wanting to know the opinion of a scientist about what was written in the paper he brought with him, which he was given as a copy of part of the book, although without the translation of a young man with glasses.

After listening to this strange story, I changed my mind about the document and, ceasing to consider it a hoax, suggested that someone was trying to lure money from the farmer, which I warned him about, advising him to get rid of the scammers. He asked me to give him a written statement, which of course I refused to do, after which he took his papers and left. In fact, papers I call a single scroll. It consisted of a variety of hook-shaped characters arranged in columns, and was clearly written by a person who had a book with various alphabets in front of his eyes. Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses and curlicues, Latin letters, inverted or placed on the side, were arranged in vertical columns, and under all this was a roughly drawn circle, divided into sectors marked with strange signs, and obviously copied from the Humboldt Mexican calendar, but so, so as not to give out the source from where it was taken. I clearly reviewed what was in the document and often talked about it with friends after the Mormon hype began. I remember well that the document contained anything but "Egyptian hieroglyphs". Some time later, the same farmer paid me a second visit. He brought a printed "golden book" and offered to buy it. I refused. Then he suggested that I keep the book for analysis. I refused to take it, although he behaved extremely insistently. I once again pointed out to him the possibility of cheating with him and asked what had become of the gold plates. He replied that the sheets with large glasses were in the chest. I advised him to take the chest to the authorities to have a look. He said that the "curse of God" would fall on him if he did so. When I tried to convince him to do just that, he agreed to open the chest if I took the "curse of God" upon myself. I replied that I was ready to do it with great pleasure and would take any risk of this kind, just to wrest it from the hands of crooks. Then he left.

I have fully described everything I know about the rise of Mormonism, and I ask you to do me a personal favor by immediately publishing the letter as soon as these unfortunate fanatics mention my name again.

Sincerely,

Charles Anton, PhD

Columbia University

Professor Anton's letter dispels all doubts and destroys the constructions of Smith and Harris. One cannot help wondering how the part shown to Professor Anton Martin Harris, copied by Joseph Smith himself from the Book of Mormon, had "Egyptian, Chaldean, Assyrian, and Arabic" letters, while the Book of Mormon itself claims to be written "altered Egyptian" language spoken by the Nephites. And if the language of the Book of Mormon was not known to "no other people," how was it that Professor Anton could judge the correctness of Smith's translation? To date, no one has yet been able to detect even the smallest signs of a language called "altered Egyptian", and all respected linguists who have studied the evidence provided by the Mormons have dismissed them as invented.

archaeological evidence

The Book of Mormon allegedly reports the emergence and development of two great nations. What their life was like, properly draw some parts from the book itself: "The whole face of the earth was covered with buildings, and the people were almost as numerous as the sand of the sea"(Mormon 1:7).

"... Rich in elegant woodwork, buildings, machines, as well as iron, copper, bronze and steel, producing all kinds of tools for agriculture ..."(Jarom 1:8, 2 Nephi 5:15).

"... Having grain, silk... livestock: bulls, cows, sheep, pigs, goats... also horses and donkeys... elephants..."(Ether 9:17-19).

"They multiplied and spread ... that they began to cover the face of the whole earth - from the south sea to the north and from the western sea to the east"(Helaman 3:8). "Two million brave men were killed" (Jaredians)(Ether 15:2). "... About their shipping and shipbuilding, about the structure of their temples, synagogues, sacred shelters"(Helaman 3:14; see also 2 Nephi 5:15–16 and Alma 16:13). "... My ten thousand were mown... and they... fell, each with his ten thousand"(Mormon 6:10-15).

"... Sabers ... swords ... chest armor and shields to protect the hands ... armor helmets"(Alma 43:18-19, Ether 15:15).

In 3 Nephi 8:9-10, 14 and 9:4-6, 8, the cities and the inhabitants sank into the depths of the sea and the earth. In addition to the previous account from the Book of Mormon, which testifies to the enormous spread of the culture of both peoples, the Book of Mormon lists approximately 38 cities, from which it follows that both of these civilizations, according to all the laws of archaeological science, should have left many traces. But everything turned out just the opposite. Mormons are still unable to explain why archaeological research not only does not confirm the Book of Mormon regarding the existence of these peoples, but also provides a fair amount of evidence that speaks of the impossibility of what is stated in their scripture. The following letter was sent to Rev. R. Brown, pastor of the Hillcrest Methodist Church, Friedrichsburg, Virginia, a zealous student of Mormons and their views. Dr. Brown, in the course of research, turned to the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University in New York. The answer received is of the greatest importance. He talks about the lack of truth and accuracy in the Book of Mormon in terms of archeology and anthropology.

Dear Sir!

I apologize for the delay in replying to your letter of January 14, 1957. We often have to answer questions about the Book of Mormon... I can say that I do not believe in the truth of any of the indications of the history of the American Indians from the Book of Mormon and I believe that the vast majority of American archaeologists will agree with me. This book is false from a biblical, historical, and scientific point of view. As for Dr. Charles Anton, I do not know who he is, and we will clearly disagree in our views, as the "Latter Day Saints" (Mormons) claim. I am not aware of the influence of Egyptian writing on both the Book of Mormon and American Indian history.

Yours sincerely

W. Duncan Strong (signed)

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington also raises a voice against the "archaeological achievements" of the Book of Mormon, a highly authoritative voice that Mormons can hardly ignore.

The Smithsonian has never used the Book of Mormon as a scientific source in any way. Institute archaeologists find no connection between New World archeology and the subject of the book. The physical type of the American Indians is basically Mongoloid, it is closely related to the peoples of eastern, central and northeast Asia. Archaeological evidence indicates that the ancestors of modern Indians moved to the New World (probably along the isthmus, which was supposedly located on the site of the Bering Strait during the last ice age) by small transitions, starting from the time of 25-30 thousand years ago. We now know that the first to enter the continent from the east were the Vikings, who arrived in northeastern North America around A.D. 1000. Nothing indicates that they reached Mexico or Central America. One of the main factors supporting the conclusions of scientists about the extremely small influence (if any) of the peoples of the Old World on the development of the civilization of the American Indians is that in the New World until 1492 there were no main agricultural crops and domestic animals of the Old World (with the exception of dogs). ). Before Columbus, the Indians did not have wheat, barley, oats, millet, rice, cows, pigs, chickens, horses, donkeys, camels, etc. The domesticated dogs of the Indians came with their ancestors from Northwest Asia. The sweet potato is distributed in both hemispheres, but apparently grew first in the New World and from there it came to the Old through the Pacific Ocean. Iron, steel, glass and silk were not used in the New World until 1492 (with the exception of unburned iron from meteorites). Copper nuggets were used in various places before Columbus, but smelting was limited to southern Mexico and the Andes region, where gold, silver, copper and their alloys were smelted at the end of prehistoric times, but not iron.

There is a possibility of cultures penetrating across the Pacific Ocean into Central America and the northwestern coast of South America several centuries before Christianization. However, any contacts between the hemispheres appear to be the result of random attempts made from eastern or southern Asia. There is no way to be sure that they were at all. It is certain that there was no contact with the ancient Egyptians, Jews or other peoples of Western Asia or the Middle East.

No respected Egyptologist or other specialist in Old World archaeology, and no expert in New World history, has found or ever reported any links between the archaeological remains of Mexico and Egypt.

Reports of the discovery of Egyptian, Hebrew, or other Old World writing in the pre-Columbian New World often appear in newspapers, magazines, and sensational publications. None of these reports have been confirmed by renowned scientists. No written sources of origin prior to 1492 related in form to the Old World have been found in any part of the American continent.

It is clear from the text that the cities mentioned in the Book of Mormon are imaginary, that elephants never existed on the continent, and that the said metals were not found in any place inhabited by New World civilizations of that time.

Here it is no longer theologians, but generally recognized expert archaeologists who are trying to debunk the Mormons, declaring a contradiction in their book with the achievements of science. Mormon missionaries are usually reluctant to discuss these facts, but the facts do not cease to exist, and the facts are from the most reliable sources.

Mongoloid factor

One of the main tenets of Mormon theology is that the American Indians are the descendants of the Lamanites and that they are of Semitic origin, i.e. Jews. As we have seen, this position is found throughout Mormon literature, and if there is evidence to refute the relationship of Indians and Semites, then the whole story of Nephi and his journey to America in 600 BC. becomes a fantasy.

Therefore, there are good reasons to heed the findings of anthropologists and geneticists. And they claim that the various physiological features of the Mediterranean peoples (which include the Jews or the Semites) are not found or almost never found among the Indians! They do not have correlations by genotype, but by phenotype, the Indians are considered Mongoloids, and not Mediterranean Caucasoids.

So, if the Lamanites, as the Book of Mormon claims, were the descendants of Nephi, who was a Mediterranean Caucasian Jew, then his descendants, the American Indians, must necessarily have a genotypic blood relationship with him and inherit the features of the phenotype, that is, have external resemblance.

But everything is just the opposite. American Indians, according to anthropologists, are not of Semitic origin; they are Mongoloid in phenotype. A close examination of anthropology and such authors as W. Boyd (The Role of Genetics in Anthropology) and Bentley Glass, talented geneticists at Johns Hopkins University, shows that the claims of the Book of Mormon are not consistent with the achievements of these sciences. There is simply no evidence to suggest that the American Indians (Lamanites, in Mormon terms) are in any way related to the people to which Nephi supposedly belonged (the Semites).

Corrections, inconsistencies and errors

There is a sea of ​​information on the materials of the Book of Mormon, pointing to various kinds of plagiarism, anachronisms, false prophecies, and other unpleasant phenomena associated with it. We will try to give the main, most documented data.

Since the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830, its first edition has undergone various "corrections." Some of them are worth mentioning. The book of Mosiah (21:28) says that "King Mosiah had a gift from God", and in the first edition this king is called Benjamin, a blunder corrected by prudent Mormon scribes. This is clearly not a typographical error, as there is nothing in common between the names Mosiah and Benjamin. That is, either God made a mistake when He shared His Word, or Joseph when he translated it. And the Mormons do not want to recognize either one or the other and, so to speak, stumble before the contradiction.

1 Nephi 19:16-20:1 contains more than fifty corrections from the "inspired Book of Mormon" edition, such as deleting words, changing spellings, adding words, and altering phrases. Very strange methods of dealing with the Word of God!

In Alma 28:14-29:1-11 there are more than thirty discrepancies from the original, and on page 303 of the original edition, the phrase "yes, bequeath to them those commandments that never change" just crossed out. (Alma 29:4).

Us. The 25th edition of the 1830 Book of Mormon declares: "And the angel said to me: This is the Lamb of God, yea, even the Eternal Father." And in later editions we read: "And the angel said to me: This is the Lamb of God, yea, the Son of the Eternal Father!" The Roman Catholic Church will read with admiration on p. 25 of the original edition of the Book of Mormon is one of their dogmas that Mary is the mother of God: "Behold, the virgin that you see is the mother of God."

Noticing this unfortunate intrusion into the realm of Catholic theology, the tactful editors changed 1 Nephi 11:18 as follows: "Behold, the virgin you see is the Mother of the Son of God." The cases cited are only a fraction of the approximately 4,000 word changes in the Book of Mormon, some of which were made as early as 1981, and the reader can see that it cannot be recognized as the Word of God. Scripture says: "The word of the Lord endures forever"(1 Pet. 1:25), and our Savior asked: "Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth"(John 17:17). The Word of Scripture is true. The Book of Mormon is clearly wrong on so many occasions that they cannot be considered mere coincidence.

In addition to various "revisions", the Book of Mormon also contains borrowings from the King James Bible, anachronisms, false prophecies, and factual errors that cannot be brushed aside. They are worth mentioning, although many of them are already known to students of Mormonism.

The "Certificate of Three Witnesses" (Oliver Cowdery, David Witmer, and Martin Harris) at the beginning of the Book of Mormon states that "an angel of God, descending from heaven, brought them and laid them before our eyes, so that we looked and saw the plates and engravings on them... ".

Here it will be very appropriate to recall that Martin Harris, in a conversation with Professor Anthon regarding "translated" from those wonderful plates, denied that he had seen them at all. When he was "pressed", he declared that he saw them only with the "eye of faith", and here he noticeably diverged from the revelation received from the prophetic messenger. Mormons are extremely reluctant to recall that all three of these witnesses later renounced Mormonism, and Mormon contemporaries called them "thieves and swindlers."

In early Mormon literature, we find three articles by Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum denouncing the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, which in itself raises doubts about their honesty.

Borrowings from the King James Bible

A close examination of the Book of Mormon reveals that it contains at least 25,000 words from the King James Bible. And borrowing phrases, sometimes quite long ones, has been a bone in the throat of Mormons for many years.

Comparison of Moroni 10 and 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, 2 Nephi 14 and Isaiah 4, 2 Nephi 12 and Isaiah 2 shows that Joseph Smith freely used the Bible to support the so-called "revelation" from the gold plates. Mosiah chapter 14 is a rewrite of Isaiah chapter 53, and Nephi 13:1-18 is a copy of Matthew 6:1-23.

Mormons naively believe that if Christ had come to the Americas after His resurrection and preached to the Nephites. He would use exactly the words that are written in the Bible. They also believe that Nephi brought copies of the Hebrew Scriptures with him to America and explain the quotations from the Old Testament with this. The problem here is that the miraculous plates on which the revelation was recorded contained a text that almost coincided with the King James translation made in 1611, a thousand years after their appearance. Such reasoning of the Mormons undermines all confidence in them, and only they themselves believe in it. There are other forms of borrowing from the 1611 Bible, including paraphrasing of verses. One of them (1 John 5:7) is reproduced in 1 Nephi 11:27,36. The hitch with this verse is that scholars consider it to be a late insert, missing from the main New Testament copies, but introduced into the Bible translation in question, which Smith redid without knowing the details.

Another example of this type of error is found in 3 Nephi 11:33-34—almost direct quotation Mark 16:16, a verse that many New Testament scholars see as the addition of an overzealous scribe to the gospel. But Joseph Smith did not know about this either, so he even copied translation errors, proving once again that God did not give any revelation on the golden plates. It is worth mentioning two more borrowings from the King James Bible that hit the Mormons from the rear.

In Acts chapter 3, Peter paraphrases Deuteronomy 18:15-19 in his classic sermon. In coming up with the book of 3 Nephi, Smith put this paraphrased text into the mouth of Jesus when Christ allegedly preached to the Nephites. The little thing that escaped the "prophet" was that at the time of Jesus' instruction, the sermon itself had not yet been delivered by Peter.

In addition, 3 Nephi makes Christ a liar when, in chapter 20 verse 23, Christ attributes Peter's words to Moses as a direct quotation, but Peter actually rendered Moses' speech in a very different way. Smith cared little for such discrepancies, making obvious mistakes.

Second, the Book of Mormon, following the King James Bible, mistranslates Isaiah 4:5 "For over all that is honored there will be protection" (cf. 2 Nephi 14:5). Modern translations of Isaiah give the correct translation of "protection," not "protection." The Hebrew word chuppah does not mean protection, but a protective curtain or canopy. translators of King James, whose work he used.* In the Russian translation in both cases - the Bible and the Book of Mormon - we see the word "veil" - Approx.

There are a number of other errors. Revised Standard Version in Is. 5:25 translates "and their corpses shall be as rubbish in the streets", faithfully conveying the meaning of the Hebrew word "suchah", and the King James Bible says, "And their bodies were torn to pieces in the middle of the streets." The Book of Mormon (2 Nephi 15:25) repeats King James text word for word, and with it a mistake in translating the word suchah, depriving himself of any opportunity to be an authority.

Anachronisms and contradictions

The Book of Mormon not only constantly borrows text from the King James Bible, but distorts so many facts and issues world history and the history of the Jews. The Jaredites evidently made glass windows in their marvelous ships that crossed the ocean, and "steel" and "compass" were known to the Nephites even though they had not yet been invented, which again shows the paucity of knowledge of Joseph Smith in history and Jewish customs. Laban, one of the characters in the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 4:9), uses steel sword, and Nephi says that he broke his steel bow (Mormons refer to Psalm 17:35), but modern translations of the Scriptures indicate that the disputed Old Testament word (since steel was not then available) is better translated as "bronze".

Mormons sometimes try to prove that Nephi had a compass (which didn't exist then either) by referring to the verse of Acts. 28:13, translated as "And there we took a compass ...", but modern translations, however, refute their subterfuge, giving the correct translation "and from there we turned ..."

In addition to these anachronisms, the Book of Mormon contains not only contradictions with the Bible, but also with other revelations of the same God, whose word it supposedly is. The Bible says that the Messiah of Israel will be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), and the Gospel of Matthew (2:1) tells of the fulfillment of this prophecy. The Book of Mormon (Alma 7:9-10) tells us: "... The Son of God descends on the face of the earth. And behold. He will be born of Mary in Jerusalem, in the land of our forefathers...". Jerusalem in the Book of Mormon refers to a city (1 Nephi 1:4), as does Bethlehem, so there is a contradiction.

There are a number of cases where God is unfaithful to Himself, if He is nevertheless considered the inspiration of the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, the Doctrine and Covenants, and other writings of Joseph Smith.

For example, in the Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 12:2 and Moroni 8:11), remission of sins is considered a consequence of baptism: "Blessed are those who ... will be baptized, for ... they will receive a remission of their sins ... Behold, baptism is for repentance in fulfillment of the commandments for the remission of sins."

And the Doctrine and Covenants (part 20, verse 37) states the opposite: "All who humble themselves and truly show by their deeds that they have received from the Spirit of Christ for the remission of sins, will be baptized into His church."

This heavenly revelation has sowed confusion in the Mormon Church, and Mormon theologians pointedly avoid any serious discussion of this controversy. Joseph Smith did not limit himself to this contradiction alone.

A classic example of his throwing was polygamy.

"God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave him Hagar as a wife. Why did she do this? That was the law. And many people came from Hagar ... So you also go and do the work of Abraham; obey my law and you will be saved"(Doctrine and Covenants 132:34,32).

And the Book of Mormon, in turn, categorically states: “Therefore, I, the Lord God, will not suffer that this people should do as they did in ancient times ... For no man among you shall have more than one wife; and not one concubine shall he have; for I, the Lord God I praise the chastity of women"(James 2:26-28).

It seems that Joseph churned out revelations whenever he felt like it. In the latter case, Smith's reputation and actions indicated that he was driven by sexual desire.

The confusion in the content of his "inspired" revelations is completed by the differences between the two parts of the "Pearl of Great Price" - the book of Moses and the book of Abraham.

"I am the Beginning and the End, God Almighty; by My Only Begotten I created it; yea, in the beginning I created the heavens and the earth on which you stand"(Moses 2:1).

The book of Abraham undermines monotheism by stating: "And then the Lord said: let us come down. And they came down at the beginning, and they. Gods, formed and clothed heaven and earth"(Abraham 4:1).

The problems of Mormon false prophecy have been touched upon by many excellent scholars, but it should be said here that Smith borrowed extensively from various newspapers and magazines. And one of his most famous prophecies about the Civil War was based on materials published at that time in the state of New York. In the Doctrine and Covenants, Smith declared (part 87): "After the rebellion of South Carolina... the Southern States will call on other nations, even the people of Great Britain... and then the war will engulf all nations... And... the slaves will rise up against their masters... and that the remnants... will greatly annoy pagans."

Although Civil War really broke out shortly after Smith's death (1844), England did not turn against the United States. "All nations" did not go to war as prophesied. The slaves did not rise up against "their owners", and the "remnants", by which the Indians were meant, were themselves trampled down by the pagans, defeated and imprisoned in reservations.

In this case, the prophet Smith showed his extreme shortsightedness, as in the Doctrine and Covenants 124:22,23,59, where he prophesied that he would become the owner of the house he built in Nova, "for ever."

In fact, neither Joseph nor the seed "after him" occupied "from generation to generation" the house in Nova, which was destroyed after Smith's death, and the Mormons moved to Utah.

These and other examples indicate that Smith was not only a bad scribe, but also a false prophet, and his prophecy about the restoration of Israel makes it clear that he expected the Millennium while he was still alive, while the prophecy of Ezekiel 37 began to be fulfilled in 1948, more than a year later. 100 years after his death. When analyzing the Book of Mormon, a natural question arises. Where did it come from if it was clearly not from God? Numerous Mormon scholars have answered this question, including E. Howe, Pomeroy Tucker, and William Lynn.

They all agree that the Book of Mormon is probably an adaptation of the writings of Solomon Spelling, a former church minister who is known for his biblical novels similar in content to the Book of Mormon. The Mormons counter with a smile, referring to one of Spelling's originals, entitled "History of the Manuscript," which was found over a century ago in Hawaii and differs in many ways from the Book of Mormon.

But in his excellent work, The Book of Mormon? (pp. 138-142) Dr. James Bales makes an important observation, which also agrees in every detail with the results of my work over the past decade:

It has long been argued that there is a connection between the Book of Mormon and one of Solomon Spaulding's historical writings. Latter-day Saints, of course, deny it.

What happens if the Latter-day Saints are right and the Book of Mormon and Spaulding's writings really have nothing to do with each other? Even if so, it still does not prove that the Book of Mormon is of divine origin. It is possible to be mistaken about the author or authors of the Book of Mormon, and yet believe that it was not inspired by God. One can easily prove its earthly origin. And this, in the end, is the main thing. The fundamental question is not who wrote it, but whether it was written under the direction of God. We know that it was written by people, and these people were not led by God.

Similar was the case with "Science and Health", the textbook of "Christian Science" churches. Mrs. Eddy stated that she wrote this book inspired by God. Other people claim that she simply revised and supplemented Quimby's manuscript, and everything seems to be in their favor. But what if the latter fails to defend their point of view? Will this prove that Science and Health is inspired by God? Not at all. This will prove that she has nothing to do with Quimby. And it will not prove that its author is not someone else who wrote not from God. No matter what person or people wrote Science and Health, it is a book of human, not divine, origin. In the same way, the Book of Mormon is human, not inspired by God, although we are not able to find out what kind of person was its author.

No one claims that the entire Book of Mormon was written by Spelling, nor that he put his theology into it, which bears the imprint of the influence of Smith, Cowdery and Sidney Rigdon (for evidence, see Shook, The True Origin of the Book of Mormon, pp. 126). However, there is reason to believe that certain things, including many borrowings from the Scriptures, were added to one of Spaulding's manuscripts, and this work later became the Book of Mormon (see the testimony of John Spaulding, Solomon's brother, and Martha Spaulding, John's wife). This confirms that Spaulding was the author of the historical part (E. D. Howe, Mormonism Unveiled, 1834, pp. 278; Shook, The True Origin of the Book of Mormon, pp. 94).

Mormons claim that the discovery of one of Spaulding's books proves that his manuscripts did not form the basis of the Book of Mormon.

"I hereby declare that Spaulding's manuscript was found in 1884 and is now in the library of Oberlin College, Ohio. Research has shown that it bears no resemblance to the Book of Mormon. The theory that Solomon Spaulding was the author of the Book of Mormon can now be treated seriously only as a museum exhibit"(William Morton, op. cit., p. 6).

There are three errors in the above paragraph, namely, first, that Spaulding had only one manuscript, second, that the manuscript found in 1884 is considered by some to be the basis of the Book of Mormon, and third, that the manuscript in Oberlin does not resemble the Book at all. Mormon.

(a) Spaulding wrote more than one manuscript. This was discussed by D. Hulbert and Clark Brayden before the Honolulu discovery of the manuscript (Charles Shook, op. cit., p. 77). Spaulding's daughter also claimed that her father wrote "more than one novel" (Elder George Reynolds, The Myth of the "Manuscript Found", Utah, 1833, p. 103). The found manuscript is a rough, unfinished sketch.

(b) The Honolulu essay is titled "History of the Manuscript", not "Found Manuscript". It fell into the hands of opponents of the Mormons in 1834, but they did not claim that it was the basis of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon was thought to be based on another of Spaulding's writings.

(c) Although the "History of the Manuscript" was not considered a "Found Manuscript" converted into

The Book of Mormon, there are many similarities between it and the Book of Mormon. Their similarity is explained in such a way that the "History of the Manuscript" was apparently Spaulding's draft, from which he created the "Found Manuscript".

Howe in 1834 published an exact synopsis of the Oberlin manuscript and gave the original to witnesses who found many similarities in it with the Book of Mormon. They then (in 1834) declared that the manuscript found by Hulbert, the one now in Oberlin, although written by Spelling, was not the one in which they found something in common with the Book of Mormon. They further stated that Spaulding himself warned them that he had changed the original plot, making the plot more ancient and starting the story in the style of old scriptures, so that the whole story appeared more archaic. This evidence is backed up by the similarity between the "Oberlin manuscript" and the Book of Mormon.

That is, in fact, it turns out that the Mormons tried to use the manuscript, obviously not the one that Smith later copied and supplemented to the size of the Book of Mormon, so that the eyewitnesses would get confused and not find the source - the “Found Manuscript”, with the help of which Smith fabricated the text of the Mormon bible.

Dr. Bales rightly observes (pp. 146-147):

There are so many similarities that it is impossible not to notice. Internal evidence combined with the eyewitness account presented in Howe's book and cited in Shchuk. discover that Spaulding reworked the History of the Manuscript. And this reworking, known as the "Found Manuscript," became the basis of the Book of Mormon, at least historically. The theological materials of the source were used in the same way.

However, in everyday conversations and public speaking, there is no point in getting into the question of the author of the Book of Mormon. The main issue here is whether the Book of Mormon is of divine origin. Some Mormons seem to think that if they prove there is no connection between Spelling and the Book of Mormon, they will take a huge step towards recognizing its divinity, but this is not so. It should be shown, by referring to the materials of the Bible and the Book of Mormon, that the latter is not of divine origin.

Let's not forget that even the "History of the Manuscript" contains 75 similar elements to the current Book of Mormon, and this alone cannot be simply brushed aside. At the end of the analysis, one must compare the text of the Book of Mormon with the Bible, and as a result it will be revealed that the first does not speak as "law and revelation" (Is. 8:20), that it must be rejected as a fake, on which a double curse has been imposed (Gal. 1 :8-9).

Joseph Smith himself, the author of the "revelation", was given an excellent characterization (retribution for his deeds) in the Word of God almost thirty-three centuries before his birth. Let Mormons remember these words: "If a prophet or a dreamer arises among you and presents you with a sign or a miracle. And the sign or miracle that he spoke to you about will come true, and he will say: "Let's go after other gods, which you do not know, and we will serve them" : Then listen not to the words of this prophet, or this dreamer; for by this the Lord your God tempts you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

follow the Lord your God, and fear him; keep His commandments, and listen to His voice, and serve Him, and cling to Him. And this prophet or that dreamer must be put to death because he persuaded you to depart from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and delivered you from the house of slavery, wanting to divert you from the path in which the Lord your God commanded you to go. ; and so cut off the evil from among you. If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son, or your daughter, or your wife in your bosom, or your friend, who is to you, is like your soul, secretly coaxing by drowning, saying: “Let’s go and serve other gods, whom neither did you know your fathers." To the gods of those peoples who are around you, close to you or distant from you, from one end of the earth to the other: Then do not agree with him and do not listen to him; and do not let your eyes spare him, do not have pity on him and do not cover him; But kill him; your hand must be on him first to kill him, and then the hands of all the people. Stone him to death; for he tried to turn you away from the Lord your God. who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage"(Deut. 13:1-10).

The Book of Mormon defies the Bible by identifying itself with the Word of God and His revelation, and the punishment for doing so is not only sobering but also terrifying: “And I also testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will put on him the plagues about which it is written in this book: And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his participation in the book life, and in the holy city, and in what is written in this book. He who bears witness to this says, "Yes, I am coming quickly! Amen. Yes, come. Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:18-20).

The above words should not be understood as a prohibition against associating with Mormons. Rather, they should define our historical and theological positions, so that we can show with tact and delicacy the depth of differences between us. Even the famous witnesses to the "truth" of the Book of Mormon have a reputation tarnished by Smith himself - he wrote two articles against them, and his brother Hyrum one, which speaks of their dubious qualities and unreliability as witnesses.

It was Joseph Smith who launched a theological war on Christianity when he put into the mouth of God words that branded all movements as "wrong", their faith as "abomination", and Christians themselves as "apostates who are in the form of God, but reject His authority"(Smith - History 1:19).

The attitude of society towards the Mormons was far from loyal, the history of persecution against them (mainly due to Smith's offensive speeches and the practice of polygamy) began simultaneously with their history. They, and not the Christian church, sowed confusion. We do not condone the instigators of the persecution, but early persecution was instigated by the Mormons (for example, the expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County, Missouri).

So, we can safely commit the "bible" of the Mormons to the judgment of history, and their theology to the everlasting Word of God. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't tell the truth about them. Let us firmly remember that the sincerity of the Mormon faith is no reason to refuse to criticize their creed or its poisoned source - the Book of Mormon and the "revelations" of Joseph Smith. Truth must be spoken with love, that is to say!

Continuation

Martin Walter

Kingdom of cults. St. Petersburg: Ed. SP "Logos", 1992.

"Religious security of Russia"

Oh. Y. Krivosheenko

TEMPLE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS ​​CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS:

SIGNIFICANCE, FUNCTION AND DAILY PRACTICE

The work is presented by the Department of Religious Studies of the Russian State Pedagogical University. A. I. Herzen.

Scientific adviser - Doctor of Philosophy, Professor A. Yu. Grigorenko

This article addresses the issues of the meaning and functions of the temple of the Church of Latter Day Saints, management, organization of the internal space of the temple, given short description temple ceremonies, prescriptions and requirements for their participants.

Key words: Mormon, Latter Day Saints, sacrament, endowment, sealing, sacrifice, sanctification.

O. Krivosheyenko

LDS CHURCH TEMPLES: MEANING, FUNCTIONS AND EVERYDAY PRACTICE

The article touches upon the questions of meaning and functions of a LDS Church Temple, administration, organization of the Temple inner area, description of the Temple ordinances, instructions and demands for their participants.

Key words: Mormon, Saints, ordinance, Endowment, sealing, sacrifice, dedications.

Getting acquainted with the scientific and periodical literature on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (TSKHSDS), the reader will definitely find in it a couple, sometimes more, paragraphs devoted to the sacraments and rituals performed in the temples of the Saints, and these temples themselves in the literature are clothed with some mysterious, sometimes an ominous aura of closeness, different from the traditional idea of ​​a Christian church. And although back in 1912, John E. Talmadge wrote a thorough work describing the external and internal structure of the four temples built by that time in Utah, the ups and downs of their construction, consecration, etc., and on the Internet today you can find official videos -excursions to temples, as well as temple ceremonies secretly filmed or described by the participants, at the everyday level, in the press, a frightening image of the temple is still preserved, and sometimes cultivated, while domestic scientific literature on this topic is practically absent. Partially filling this gap is the purpose of this article.

According to the Saints, we will use the term that the followers of CIHSPD prefer as a self-name, their temples functionally inherit temples, starting from ancient world, and directly to the Jerusalem temple. There are several functions of the temple: 1) the temple as a model of the cosmos, a reflection of the principles of the organization of the universe, as the "navel" of the world, the expression of an idea through the architecture of the ancient temple (three-part division - three worlds), the symbolic load of its elements, the arrangement of the internal space, the symbolism of its parts; modern example- Temple in Salt Lake City: three levels, orientation to the east, a baptistery bowl with 12 horned bulls, similar to the bowl of Solomon's temple, symbolic elements of the facade of the building, etc.; 2) as a place of contact between man and the divine; 3) as a place of the ritual drama of the creation of the world, which existed in one form or another for several millennia in various cultures on earth; 4) initiation in pre-Christian times and baptism in

Christianity as a symbolic act of death in one capacity and birth in a new one.

In the understanding of the Saints, the temple is the House of God, serving the intimate communion of the Lord with his people. The Saints believe that they began to build temples not of their own free will, but by God's command, since the sacraments conducted by them are possible only within the walls of the temple, and the Father promised them the discovery of many spiritual truths in the House built in His name and glory.

It should be noted that the restoration of the temple is of fundamental importance not only in caring for the living, but also for the dead, since the living, from the moment the restored gospel (“Book of Mormon”) was given, have the opportunity to hear it and join the Church of the Saints, having been baptized, the souls of the dead do not have such an opportunity, except through vicarious baptism and only within the walls of the temple. Bringing as many souls as possible to salvation is the task of any Christian Church, and the Saints unequivocally identify themselves with the Christianity of the apostolic times, and in this context, their desire to save not only living, but also long-dead ancestors is logical.

Without a doubt, the temple of the Saints, as architectural structure, is different from Solomon's temple, the ordinances administered by the Saints did not take place in the Hebrew temple, and the special position of a Jewish temple priest does not take place in the Mormon temple. All researchers of this issue pay attention to this, and the Mormon sources themselves do not deny these differences. For the Saints, continuity is seen in the essence of the main ceremony of Solomon's temple - the sacrifice. The blood of sacrificial animals of the Old Testament was shed as a forerunner and symbol of the greatest sacrifice - the blood of the Lamb - Jesus Christ. The Temple of Christ is a new temple where sacrifice no longer makes sense, it has fulfilled its mission of proclaiming, but this is the place where a person learns the truth about his essence, the essence of the world and God, this is the place where his path to salvation and even greatness began, since the Mormons believe in the existence of God in the bud in every person.

Therefore, for Mormons, with all the external differences between the temple of ancient Israel and the temple of the Saints of our days, their internal essential continuity is beyond doubt.

To date, 124 churches of the Saints have been consecrated and are operating in the world, more than 60 of which are in the United States, that is, slightly more than half, the rest are scattered around the world, but mainly in Africa, South America, Australia and Oceania.

The consecration of a temple for Mormons is an important ceremony that bears the sacred character of the dedication of this temple to God. Traditionally, men, women, and sometimes children who live in the area where the temple is built and who have temple recommendations are invited to attend services held inside or near the temple. This ceremony is repeated several times so that everyone who came to it can take part in it. The ceremony includes the singing of sacred hymns and the reading of messages from the highest church authorities. At some point in the ceremony, everyone rises and, waving white handkerchiefs, say three times: "Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna, to God and the Lamb." This solemn expression of affection was first performed by the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Kirtland Temple and is a reminiscence of the phrases of the followers of Christ (Matt. 21:9) at his entry into Jerusalem and the exclamation of many people in the land of Bountiful: “Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High God” (3 Ne. 11:17), when they saw Him near the temple, whose coming is written by the prophets. Ultimately, the sanctification of the temple, according to Mormons, is nothing more than the sanctification of people, who then take part in the sacraments in the temple.

Within a few weeks after the completion of the construction of the temple and until the moment of its consecration, it is open to everyone, regardless of belonging to the church. After the consecration, entrance to the temple is restricted to Mormons and only with a temple recommendation.

Each temple has an individual schedule for temple ceremonies, which is influenced by the amount

the number of stakes assigned to it. Also, usually a year ahead, the temple determines the dates when it is closed. The temple is not used for Sunday services, and is also closed on Mondays for cleaning and preparation for the upcoming week's work.

All temples are governed by the Supreme Presidency of the Church and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who oversee the Temple Department. The department pays special attention to the performance of ordinances according to established patterns, the preservation and safety of temples, their technical equipment, temple relationships, budget issues, etc.

The temple president is chosen by the Supreme Presidency of the Church for two to three years. Typically, the wife of the temple president serves as the housekeeper of the temple. The president is assisted by two advisers, and the manager is assisted by two assistants. Each temple has a temple archivist. The temple president, his advisors, the temple mistress, and the archivist form the temple executive council. They meet weekly to plan what needs to be done that week. Other key figures may be invited to such a meeting as needed.

Visiting the temple is allowed from the age of 12. At this age, you may receive a temporary recommendation for baptism for the dead after an interview with the bishop. Passing the endowment ceremony before the age of 18 is extremely rare. This is due to the need for a certain spiritual preparedness. President Joseph F. Smith said that children should not go through endo-mind because they should understand the purpose of their presence, they should be trained in the gospel, have faith in God, in the mission of Jesus Christ, grow in the testimony of faith before going to the temple. However, before going on a mission, a young man or girl must definitely go through an endowment ceremony, that is, somewhere around the age of 19 for men and 21 for women. New church members must wait at least one year from the date of baptism before receiving permission to pro-

attending an endowment ceremony, although they may attend the temple to be baptized for the dead.

Temple attendance requires a confidential interview with the bishop and then with the Diocesan Presidency, after which a temple recommendation is issued. It is signed by both the issuer and the person to whom it was issued. The Temple Recommendation is a 77mm x 103mm serial number printed on paper designed to be the size of a regular business card when folded in half. A temple recommendation is valid for one year.

The interview for a recommendation is standardized, the number of questions in it is determined by the leadership of the Church, today there are 14 such questions, some of them concern doctrine, for example: “Do you believe in God the Father, his Son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit and do you have a testimony restored gospel? Others relate to family relationships (“Is there anything in your behavior towards family members that is not in line with the teachings of the Church?”), obligations to the Church (“Are you fulfilling your church duties, attending sacrament meetings, etc.). ?”; “Do you pay your tithe in full?”), etc. .

A visitor to the temple for the first time is advised to read thematic literature a few hours before this event, with which the Saint, of course, is familiar, however, firstly, such reading will never be superfluous, and, secondly, it will help to remember what will definitely come in handy during the passage of the endowment ceremony: about creation (Gen. 1-4); definitions from the biblical dictionary: atonement, Christ, covenant, fall of Adam, priesthood, sacrifice, temple; Sunday School Notes on Temple Preparations, Student Handbook (Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple), Encyclopedia of Mormonism entry Temples, part of Victor L. Ludlow's Temple of Holiness chapter.

There is none official book TsIKHSPD, explaining the temple mysteries

wa, their history or symbolism. Several books edited by the leadership of the Church touch upon these issues within themselves, and there are a number of unofficial books such as Brother Packer's The Holy Temple, Matthew Brown's Heaven's Gate. Within the framework of this article, we will only briefly touch on the topic of temple ordinances, which in itself is very extensive and requires separate coverage.

One of the main temple sacraments is the endowment ceremony (from the English endowment - endowment, vestment). In the course of it, the Saint is endowed with a secret name by which Jesus Christ will call him on the day of the general resurrection, and is clothed in special clothes, which from now on will serve as protection from everything that could harm his body.

In the Temple, baptism is performed only for the dead. The living are baptized in prayer houses. At baptism in the Temple, the minister says: “Brother ... (name), by the authority of Jesus Christ, I baptize you for (name), who died, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen." In the sacrament of baptism for the dead, young people between the ages of 12 and 17 often act as the baptized party. Dressed in white temple robes, they spend two to three hours a day in the baptistery, participating in the ceremony several times.

The ordinance of sealing marriage for eternity is performed in the temple in the presence of only the bride and groom, guests and relatives are waiting for the couple outside the temple or in a room in the foyer at the entrance, which is not considered a sacred part of the temple. During the ceremony, there is no music, poetry reading, photography. The ceremony itself is short. The couple kneel before the altar, facing each other, join hands, exchange vows, and the sealing official declares the couple husband and wife "for time and for eternity." The exchange of rings is optional and is not part of the ceremony.

Another form of sealing is the sealing of children and parents for eternity. If a child is born from a marriage

in the temple, he is already considered "born in the covenant" and does not need to be sealed. If a couple has entered into a secular marriage, after some time they may be sealed in the temple. If the couple already has children, they are also brought to the temple to be sealed. Children in this case do not need to be interviewed, dressed in all white, they are directly escorted to the sealing room.

When sealed to death, a group of Mormons gather in the appropriate room. The officiant holds a sheet of paper with the names of the deceased family members. He asks for the number of the men or women kneeling at the altar, and then quickly speaks the words that seal families together, naming each family member who has died and marking the family on the sheet as sealed, then turns to another family, and everything repeats. This ceremony can last for several hours.

There is also a ceremony of the second endowment, which, since the 1920s. is so rare that many Mormons don't even know it exists. It is held by one of the apostles of the Church over a married couple invited by the President of the Church in the Holy of Holies of the temple (one of the rooms of the temple). Such a couple is guaranteed salvation and stay on the most high levels in the celestial kingdom. Part of the ordinance is performed by the couple themselves at their home, according to the instructions given during the endowment at the temple, and includes the ceremony of washing the feet. One of the consequences of the second endowment is that its participants can be honored with a visitation by Christ himself.

The Churches of the Saints in their internal structure and interior are very far from traditional ideas about Christian churches. By the meager presence of sacred objects, the absence of icons, religious sculpture in the interior decoration, they are close to Protestant churches, but the luxury and richness of the wall decoration of Orthodox and Catholic churches turned into the luxury of furniture, lighting, flower arrangements in the Churches of the Saints.

The first Temple of the Saints was built in Kirtland, Ohio, and its interior and exterior, according to the Mormons, were ordained by the Lord. When the Prophet Joseph Smith received a revelation in 1832 about the construction of the House of God, he asked the attendees at the next conference what they thought the House should be like. Opinions were divided. Then Joseph Smith took the floor, informing those present that they would soon see a house, the architect of which would be the Lord himself.

Externally, the temple looked like a typical meeting house in the New England style. By the command of the Lord, it had two large rooms, one above the other: the lower one served as a chapel, prayer house, served for the performance of the sacraments, the upper one for teaching the Saints. Over time, the temples were no longer used for education, but areas appeared there that were rather typical of secular public institutions.

The modern Temple of the Saints has a waiting room, one or more rooms with theater chairs for watching a video film - an integral part of the sacrament of the endowment, a baptismal room (baptistery), in which a large baptismal cup rests on the backs of 12 horned bulls, celestial rooms and for the sacraments of sealing with altars, office rooms, kitchen, cafeteria, laundry, clothing rental and chapel.

Until the mid 50s. 20th century one of the parts of the endowment, which is a theatrical performance telling about the creation of the world, the fall of Adam and Eve, the conclusion of a covenant with God, etc., was held live in all churches. The growth of foreign-language temples outside the United States led to the need to find a new form of knowledge transfer. Since 1956, the endowment ceremony, with the exception of the Salt Lake Temple and a few others where the action is still performed live, involves watching a video in the appropriate temple auditorium, which is more like a small cinema, the walls of which are decorated with panoramas of the Garden of Eden .

The waiting hall, sealing rooms, celestial rooms are not decorated with objects that can cause spiritual experiences. They are usually decorated like a hotel foyer: lots of light, soft chairs or sofas on which endowed ones, alone or in small groups, can spend some time in quiet awareness of the rituals they have just gone through.

Of course, limited by the scope of this article, we only touched upon the importance of the temple for the Church of the Saints, management, organization of temple work, internal device. The history of the development of temple construction in the USA, Europe and other continents was also left out of the scope of the article; an interesting theme of the development of the architecture of the Mormon temple and the religious symbols of its decor,

which originates in Masonic symbolism. But even from this overview it becomes clear that one of the key roles is assigned to the temple in the dogmatics of the Saints: within its walls the eternal knowledge is revealed, to whom and how to worship and how, leaving earthly life, to gain the fullness of the Heavenly Father; this is the only building, the earthly doors of which will open for the Saint after death the doors of heaven into the celestial realm - the highest sphere of habitation of the spiritual body; this is the place where the work of the present generation of Saints is done to reunite families, one of the main value categories of Mormons, in eternity. All this makes understandable the persistent desire of the Saints to build temples even in the most difficult times for the Church as a source of salvation and eternal happy life in the kingdoms created by the Father for his "children".

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2. Hugh W. Nibley. Meanings and Functions of Temples // Encyclopedia of Mormonism. New York: Macmillan, 1992. V. 4. P. 1458-1465.

3. Immo Luschin. Latter-day Saints Temple worship and activity // Encyclopedia of Mormonism. New York: Macmillan, 1992. V. 4. P. 1447-1450.

4. Robert L. Simpson. Administration of Temples//Encyclopedia of Mormonism. New York: Macmillan, 1992. V. 4. P. 1456-1458.

Electronic resources

5. The road to the temple. Russian information and religious resource. URL: http://www.religion. rin.ru/cgi-bin/religion Retrieved on 12/09/2008.

6. Research resource for the study of scriptures and temples TSIKHSPD. URL: http://www. mormonmonastery.org/temple-preparation Retrieved 12/09/2008.

7. Mormonism and the Church of Latter Day Saints. Research resource on CIHSPD. URL: http://www.lds-mormon.com/veilworker/recommend.shtml Retrieved 12/09/2008.

8. Official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. URL: http://www.lds. org/temples. Retrieved 12/09/2008.

9. Temples of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. URL: http://www.ldschurchtemples.com Retrieved 12/09/2008.

10. Gordon B. Hinckley. Why These Temples? URL: http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/temples Retrieved 12/09/2008.

11. Isaiah Bennett. Inside a Mormon Temple. URL: http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/1995/9506fea1.asp Retrieved 12/09/2008.

12. James E. Talmage. House of the Lord. URL: http://mormonhistory.org Retrieved 12/09/2008.

1. D. Arthur Haycock. LDS Temple Dedications // Encyclopedia of Mormonism. New York: Macmillan, 1992. V. 4. P. 1455-1456.

2. Hugh W. Nibley. Meanings and Functions of Temples // Encyclopedia of Mormonism. New York: Macmillan, 1992. V. 4. P. 1458-1465.

3. Immo Luschin. Latter-day Saints Temple worship and activity // Encyclopedia of Mormonism. New York: Macmillan, 1992. V. 4. P. 1447-1450.

4. Robert L. Simpson. Administration of Temples // Encyclopedia of Mormonism. New York: Macmillan, 1992. V. 4. P. 1456-1458.

Electronic resources

5. Road to Khramu. Russian informatsionno-religious resources. URL: http://www.religion. rin.ru/cgi-bin/religion Provereno 12/09/2008.

6. Issledovatel "skiy resources po izucheniyu pisaniy i khramov TsIKhSPD. URL: http://www.mor-monmonastery.org/temple-preparation Provereno 09.12.2008.

7. Mormonizm i Tserkov "Svyatykh Poslednikh Dney. Issledovatel"skiy resurs po TsIKhSPD. URL: http://www.lds-mormon.com/veilworker/recommend.shtml Provereno 12/09/2008.

8. Ofitsial "ny sayt Tserkvi Iisusa Khrista Svyatykh Poslednikh Dney. URL: http://www.lds.org/temples. Provereno 09.12.2008.

THE CHURCH OF JESUS ​​CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, the largest Mormon church. Its followers are often referred to simply as Mormons, although this concept has a broader meaning - there are over 40 different Mormon churches. In addition, the term "Mormons" is not officially accepted.

The founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the son of a poor and unfortunate farmer in Vermont, Joseph Smith Jr. (1805-44), who declared himself a prophet. Despite the fact that he was repeatedly accused of committing illegal acts, he managed to attract a significant number of supporters and create a new church organization in 1830 in the town of Fayette, New York. After J. Smith was killed in prison by an angry mob, the church was led by Briam Young (1801-77), who in 1847 organized the resettlement of persecuted Mormons to the West, to lands in the Great Salt Lake region now occupied by the state of Utah.

By accusing modern Christian church organizations of departing from the principles of early Christianity and proclaiming as their goal the restoration of the "primitive church", The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has in fact gone very far not only from the provisions of Protestantism, from the depths of which it emerged, but also from the basic doctrines of Christianity. generally.

The doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is based on four books: the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. The Bible is regarded as the word of God, but is not considered a complete record of what God said and did. Of particular importance is the "Book of Mormon", which, according to J. Smith, he received from the angel Moroni in the form of golden plates and translated from some "reformed" Egyptian language. The compilation of this book is attributed to the prophet Mormon (the Bible does not know such a prophet), but some scholars consider it a plagiarism, a reproduction of the unpublished science fiction novel The Found Manuscript, written around 1812 by the writer and former priest Solomon Spaulding. The Book of Mormon tells of the Israelites who migrated around 600 BC. e. from Jerusalem to America. The Doctrine and Covenants (formerly called The Book of Commandments) contains selected revelations allegedly received by J. Smith from God, as well as one revelation to B. Young. The "Pearl of Great Price" includes revelations to J. Smith and translations of the papyri allegedly found by him, which he declared to be the "Book of Abraham" and the "Book of Moses."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints formally recognizes the Divine Trinity, but believes that God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit exist separately, and the Father and the Son created by him have a body of meat and bones, the same tangible as that of a person; The Holy Spirit is an impersonal energy emanating from the Father and the Son.

People are considered as spiritual children of God, who lived with him before the creation of the world. According to this doctrine of the pre-existence of souls, those of the spiritual beings who were not distinguished by loyalty and valor are born in a black body. Over time, people having eternal life can become gods. God Himself was once also a man, and through perfection became God. In fact, Mormonism, unlike traditional Christianity, preaches polytheism.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not recognize people's inheritance of original sin and believes that the vast majority of people, including non-Mormons, will be saved. After the second coming of Jesus Christ, the first resurrection of the dead and the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth will come. Moreover, the gathering place of all the tribes of Israel will not be Palestine, but America. After the millennial reign, the earth will turn into a heavenly sphere and all those justified after the second resurrection will fall into three eternal kingdoms of different categories (depending on their acceptance or rejection of the Mormon faith, as well as earthly behavior).

According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in order to be saved, a person must first believe in Jesus Christ and repent of their sins. The sacraments established by the church are also required.

The first of these is baptism by immersion. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not recognize infant baptism, but usually baptizes children of eight years of age, on the condition that they consciously accept the faith. It is believed that baptism cleanses a person from sins, and the believer, as it were, promises Christ to remember His atoning sacrifice on the cross and His commandments. Quite peculiar is the so-called vicarious baptism, which an already baptized person can accept for his deceased relative or close person in order to save him. Baptism is followed by confirmation (fixation in the faith), which means that the believer receives the gifts of the Holy Spirit and is performed by the laying on of hands by a priest of the highest rank (the rank of Melchizedek).

The sacrament of communion (bread and water) symbolizes the renewal by the believer of his contract with the Lord. It is celebrated every week in local meeting houses, and unbaptized children are also admitted to it.

While recognizing civil marriage "for a time" (i.e., until the death of a person), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints places special emphasis on a temple wedding that "seals" the marriage for eternity (this marriage is considered valid even after death, which in this case will not interrupt family life). However, such a sacrament is performed only when the couple leads a virtuous life and does not allow extramarital affairs. A substitute marriage for the deceased is also possible. Divorce in the church is allowed. Polygamy, previously practiced by its prominent figures, is now rejected (in no small measure, the rejection of it was due to the fact that because of this practice, the Mormon territory of Utah was not granted state status for a long time because of this practice).

In a very peculiar way, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the initiation into the priesthood takes place. The initiate undergoes a ritual bath, is anointed with oil, and puts on special temple clothes. He is also given secret passwords and a secret name.

However, for salvation, according to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, faith and the ordinances associated with it are necessary but not sufficient. Mormons regard the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone as pernicious. They emphasize that a person is saved not only through faith, but even more so through good deeds, which, in particular, include vicarious baptism for the dead, participation in worship, and a virtuous life.

Church members meet every Sunday in special facilities for local meetings. It could be classes in Sunday school and evening services (available to all), and priesthood meetings (in which only men participate). In temples where religious ceremonies take place, only the most worthy members of the church are allowed.

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there are no sharp distinctions between the laity and the clergy. Mormons do not have professional clergy. All teenage boys who have positively proven themselves at the age of 12 become deacons according to the order of Aaron, at 14 years old - teachers and at 16 years old - priests according to the same order. They teach in church schools, baptize children, and perform other ordinances in local congregations (“wardes”). The highest category of the priesthood (according to the order of Melchizedek) is replenished by men who have reached the age of 20. It includes elders, "seventies" (members of large priestly quorums, numbering 70 people), high priests, members of the presidential college.

At the age of 18, young people can be called for one and a half to two years for unpaid missionary work. This work is also performed by women.

Dietary and ethical restrictions in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not as strict as in some other Protestant fringe churches. Members of this church abstain from the use of tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, tea, coffee. At the same time, they are not obliged to lead an ascetic life, they can go in for sports, allow themselves various entertainments. There are no restrictions on secular education either, and getting good training is highly encouraged.

Most members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pay tithing to their church organization.

The following persons and structures exercise authority in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: the president of the church and his two counselors (presidential board), a council of 12 "apostles", a quorum of 70 (seven leaders and 69 ordinary members are primarily engaged in missionary work), a presiding bishop and two of his advisers (supervise the performance of duties by other bishops, supervise the lower priesthood according to the order of Aaronic, are responsible for building work and charitable activities). The president of the church and his two counselors are elected by 12 "apostles".

Every six months, a general conference is convened, in which every member of the church can participate. She decides on the approval of the activities of the power structures of the church.

The headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is located in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The local organizations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are "ward" (a kind of local branch), uniting several hundred people (on average 500-600) and headed by bishops. Larger regional associations "steaks" (dioceses) number from 2 to 10 thousand people (most often 4-5 thousand). They are led by presidents and patriarchs.

The total number of adherents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worldwide exceeds 8 million, of which 4.5 million are

Other names: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, The Church of Latter Day Saints.

Printed editions: Liahona magazine.

History of the sect: The founder of this sect is the American Joseph Smith, who was born in 1805 in Sharon, Vermont, USA. His father, Joseph Smith Sr., was a mystic who spent most of his life in search of imaginary treasures and occasionally indulged in money scams.

In 1820 Smith Jr. had a miraculous vision in which God the Father and God the Son, materializing during his prayer, revealed to him that he had been chosen to revive true Christianity, and in no case should adjoin existing churches. However, the "high destiny" did not prevent Joseph from continuing with his family to search for lost treasures, moreover, using the indication of magic stones, magic wands and other similar attributes. This kind of passion for mysticism and played, apparently, a decisive role in the formation of Smith Jr. as a "new prophet."

In 1823 he had a second vision. The angel who appeared to him called himself Moroni. He spoke of the hidden "golden plates" on the Hill Cumorah, which are covered with hieroglyphs of the "altered Egyptian language" and contain important messages from the ancient history of America. The angel Moroni called Joseph Smith to restore the "True Church of Jesus Christ." Only in 1827 was he allowed to take the buried treasure. The documents were written in "Old Egyptian script" that could only be read with the help of "prophetic glasses" in the same drawer as the script. His assistants were his future associates Harris and Oliver Codveri. May 15, 1829 Joseph and Oliver were "anointed" to the "Aaronic Priesthood" by "John the Baptist" appearing to them eat".

In 1830, the Book of Mormon was published in an edition of 5,000 copies. On April 6, 1830, a six-member Mormon church was founded in Fayeti, New York. In the same 1830, prominent Protestant preachers of the time, Parley Pratt and Sidney Wrigton, were converted to the new faith, which led to a sharp increase in the number of the new organization. This society spread relatively quickly, because. his followers were actively proselytizing in some states (converting representatives of other faiths to membership in the sect). Hostility towards the Mormons and their persecution forced them to change their place of residence frequently. Several cities were founded by Mormons where Jesus Christ was to appear based on revelation.

The infamous practice of polygamy was practiced among Mormons by direct "divine revelation" until 1890, when, under the influence of the authorities, they were forced to abandon this way of family life. In 1838, Mormons adopted a "divine command" to give tithing. It should be noted that in the period from 1831 to 1844. Smith, according to his testimony, received more than 135 revelations.

In 1844, Smith's former assistant John Bennet spoke openly about the practice of plural marriage in the church. When the wave of revelations became threatening, the indignant "prophet" tried to use force against the anti-Mormon publication Novu Observer. After the intervention of the state administration, Joseph Smith, along with his brother Hyrum, ended up in a prison in Carthage, where the indignant townspeople stormed the prison. Smith was killed in the shootout.

Smith's successor was Brime Young. Under his leadership, a "sacrificial procession" was organized to the Great Salt Lake. For 17 months (1846-47) 1700 km were covered. There they founded the city of Salt Lake City (or "New Jerusalem").

The history of the Mormons bears traces of a grave crime. In 1857 Young ordered his "bishop" John Lee to destroy the train with settlers, which was exactly what he did. Twenty years later, Lee was tried and executed by the US government for this act.

Mormon negotiations with the government to legalize them in the United States failed due to the admission of polygamy. When this practice was officially banned, Mormon activity was allowed in 1896 in the state of Utah.

The Church of Latter-day Saints currently has 8 million adherents and has an annual income of $3,000,000 (partially through the collection of "tithes" from its adherents). 40,000 of their missionaries work all over the world. Mormons make up 75% of the population of Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah (USA).

Doctrine: In addition to the Bible, Mormons have three "sacred" books, which they consider to be no less important than the Bible itself:

a) The Book of Mormon
b) "Teachings and alliances";
c) "Precious Pearl";"Book of Mormon". This book is the foundation of Mormon doctrine. In places where there are contradictions between the Bible and the Book of Mormon, the statements of the latter are considered true. This book consists of 15 small books (500 pages in total). They tell the story of the ancient population of America. During the construction of the Tower of Babel, the tribe of Jaredites came to America, divided and self-destructed as a result of internal enmity and struggle. In 600 BC, under the prophet Lech, representatives of the tribe of Manasseh arrived in America. Their descendants were divided into two groups: the Nephites and the Lamanites. Christ appeared to the Nephites after the Resurrection and commanded them to found a church. Through the fault of the Nephites, this true Church disappeared, disintegrated. In A.D. 400 the last battles between the Nephites and the Lamanites took place near the hill Cumorah. There, the prophet Mormon and his son buried the above-mentioned plates with the events recorded on them (420-421).Mormons view the Book of Mormon as a revelation because it, they believe, contains what Jesus preached in His "American days." The data of this book contradict historical, archaeological, ethnographic evidence. In addition, since its first edition, the book has undergone many changes, sometimes in meaning, sometimes in words, and sometimes in characters, with the latest changes being made as far back as 1981. Modern Mormons are often unaware of these details. Moreover, in many places this "revelation" contains borrowings from the "King James Bible", taken together with the mistakes that the authors of this translation of the Bible made.The book "Teachings and Unions". Most of it is the revelations of Joseph Smith, which he received during his work, as well as some of the "revelations" of his followers (1823-1890).Book "Pearl of Great Price". Here we are also talking about "revelations" and translations from the golden plates of the "prophet" I. Smith.The Mormon Creed consists of 13 points. It was compiled by I. Smith in 1841.In their doctrine of God, Mormons proceed from the fact that man is made in the likeness of God, and conclude from this that God has a material body, just like man. Therefore, God the Father is spatially limited by His body. But He is nonetheless the All-Knowing; angels inform Him about all the events taking place on earth. But the Father is not the only God. There are many other "gods". And people have the opportunity to become God someday. "What a man is now - such was God once, what is God now - such can one day be a man." This is the basic idea of ​​the Mormon doctrine.

Since the motto of the Mormons is: "optimism and faith - progress," then they are all about development. Man is on the upward path, he is "God in the bud."

According to the Mormons, a person is not born a sinner; he has no hereditary sin. The sin of the Mormons is the indignation of a person against the "foundations of progress."

Mormons believe that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for sin gives all people life after death. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, an individual can be justified from personal sins if he himself makes an effort to do so. Redemption is a joint work of God and man. After death, man becomes involved in varying degrees of glory. There are three degrees of glory: 1) underground; 2) earthly; 3) heavenly.

Mormons consider America to be the center of world events of the future. Mormons are ostensibly "the people of God's end-time covenant"—the "new Israel." For Mormons, eternity is a continuation of progress.

In 1843, I. Smith received a “revelation” about the eternal duration of the marriage union with polygamy: “A sealed marriage will not end its existence with death, but will find its continuation in the spiritual realm. All representatives of unsealed marriages in eternity will be ministering spirits and will not be able to marry. Polygamy was introduced by Young in 1851, but under pressure from the American government, the Mormons abolished it in 1890. To this day, they believe in the correctness of polygamy, but officially declare that they do not practice it. However, it turns out that there are still examples of polygamy in Mormon communities.

According to Mormonism, the laying on of hands gives the gift of the Holy Spirit. The laying on of hands is performed by "priests". The act of the laying on of hands is what they call confirmation. The Holy Spirit is given for enlightenment, purification and sanctification. Only the head of the “church” has the sealing authority. Baptism means the forgiveness of sins and admission to the church. Baptism can be received from the age of eight, while the recipient of baptism enters into an alliance with the Creator. He must make a vow that he will keep God's commandments.

It is customary for Mormons to be baptized instead of the dead. Only baptism is valid and necessary for the salvation of Mormons. In addition to baptism, a vicarious laying on of hands and sealing is also possible for deceased ancestors. To carry out these acts, the exact data of the dead must be given. This explains the diligence with which Mormons study their family tree. Since 1894, the Family History Library in the American city of Salt Lake City, created by Mormons, has been collecting and processing data from registers of births, censuses and other documents containing the names of people who previously lived on earth. These names are necessary for Mormons to mysteriously initiate people into their cult followers in their temples, where "outsiders" (non-Mormons) are not allowed to enter. Mormons in absentia include the dead in the ranks of their cult, replenishing the lists of their organization with millions of deceased people of various nationalities, religions and beliefs (including atheists). This work, hidden from the uninitiated, is accompanied by large-scale Mormon activities to create a single "World Genealogy Center", controlled by the Latter Day Saints sect.

Since 1992, the Mormons began to actively work with the Archival Administrations of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, and Armenia in order to copy (microfilm) archival documents. Having entered into a contract with the State Archival Service of Russia, the Mormons gained access to the archives of Astrakhan, Tula, Tver, Tobolsk, Kazan and copied many parish registers (Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran) and other documents. Copies received from the Russian archives become the property of the Mormon President's Corporation, which are then provided to pedigree researchers through his own genealogical structure for a fee.Mormons pay special attention to their appearance: they dress cleanly and neatly, cultivate good manners, are intelligent, polite, and literate. The zeal of Mormon representatives in improving these qualities comes from their teaching, which says that a person is “a god in the bud” and their ultimate goal is to move upward along the path of progress through personal improvement and become equal to God at the finish line, i.e., gradually “grow to the heavenly kingdom.The secret is the fact that those of the Mormons who have undergone a special initiation ritual are required to wear underwear with the image of Masonic symbols.

Structure and internal organization: The Mormon community is organized along theocratic lines with elements of Western democracy. It is headed by a "prophet or seer" who receives "revelations" from above and has unlimited power in various areas of the sect's life. As an advisory body, it is assisted by a three-member supreme council. Administrative power is largely of a purely American character.

Mormon worship strongly resembles Protestant worship and is based on preaching, reading, and singing hymns. In Salt Lake City, there is the main Mormon temple, crowned with six towers and a gilded statue of the "angel Moroni", who showed the founder of the sect the place where the Book of Mormon was hidden.

Number of followers: 1850 - 60000 people; 1900 - 230,000 people; 1950 - 1000000 people; 1961 - 1800000 people; 1964 - 2000000 people; 1970 - 2500000 people; 1985 - 6000000 people; According to Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley, 2000 is 11,000,000.

Criminal activities: includes sect founder Smith's trial of glass divination, his failed banking scam in Kirtland, Ohio, his polygamy before revelation, his organized militias in Missouri and Illinois, and the order to destroy the printing presses of those who opposed him , as well as the case of the destruction of the train of immigrants by the "prophet" of the Mormons - Brigham Young. Repeated lawsuits on the facts of polygamy. Law enforcement agencies of Russia recorded cases of collection of intelligencefood data by members of the sect.

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If guests come to you with badges on their chests, in beautiful, strict suits and, smiling from the doorway, tell you that only eggs and Jackie Chan are cooler than you, then you have come across the Mormons. After assuring you of your exclusivity, the sectarians will begin to tell you about themselves. They will talk for a long time, show their family photos. In the photos you will see large family, in the photo everyone will smile with “cloned smiles”. Then you will tell about yourself, and you will be admired for a long time. After all these amenities, you will be presented with the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. Precious pearl." Then you will be asked “How do you feel?”, due to how much good you have heard about yourself, you will say that you feel good. You will be told that it is the Holy Spirit who is calling you and that it is vital for you to become a Mormon.

The most interesting thing is that it is almost impossible to argue with Mormons, they agree with everything and ask to visit you again, or offer to visit their community where you quit smoking, start speaking English, cross-stitch and knit socks, playing football and drinking juice . All this you will master in two weeks. In parallel, you will be “penetrated with true faith”

1. You donate a tenth of your income to the community. On Saturdays you eat once a day, the money saved goes to the community in addition to the tithe. The “extra money” that you do not need for social needs goes to the community in excess of the tithe.

2. Your new friends constantly visit you, you also visit. What you are doing is convincing one another of the truth of the teachings of the Book of Mormon. Then, with the whole brigade, you walk around the apartments with your photo albums and sectarian literature.

3. If your family, unlike you, are "non-Mormons", then they are enemies. They tempt you. You need to renounce them. The community is your family. The community needs you. You must be educated, successful, polite, young and beautiful. And also prolific. The main mission of a woman in a sect is to give birth to a bunch of marmons. By force.

4. You must not smoke, drink coffee and tea, alcoholic beverages. Other stimulants are also strictly prohibited.

5. You are taught English by American "garny lads", they only teach you according to the "Book of Mormon", so that later you go around the world to carry the word of the sect, naturally you go on your own money. Thus, you will ride for two years. If after that you have money left, and the community takes care of it, you become a priest (boys), a fruit-bearing uterus (girls).

6. You collect from the archives the names of your deceased relatives, friends, acquaintances, just different now deceased people and are engaged in the fact that “baptize their souls”, “crown their souls”, etc. That's some interesting necrophilia.

7. You are constantly accused of not being rich enough and donating enough, not smart enough and bringing few converts, you are not working enough for the good of the community. You have few children, future priests and fruit-bearing wombs of the sect. For this you can be expelled from the community and you will burn in hell.

8. In the end, you realize that you are a complete loser, you are constantly reminded of this, and you go crazy. Crazy community is not needed. They need psychiatrists.