Welcome to I Am Your Target Demographic and
today we’re discussing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which some people
might recognize as Mormonism. We’re going to cover what followers believe
and how their beliefs might differentiate from other branches of Christianity. Now I want to start by saying that, like most
religions, there are various branches within Mormonism itself, so most of this video is
focusing on the most dominant branch, which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, making up nearly 16 million members worldwide, and this is a number that’s greatly
increased in the last few decades. There are smaller denominations that get incredibly
small, such as the Cutlerite branch in Missouri, totaling about 12 people, as of 2010. But we’re getting too specific, let’s
zoom out and discuss the origin of the Latter Day Saint movement. In the early 1800s, a man in New York named
Joseph Smith claimed to have seen visions of two entities, assumed to be God and Jesus
Christ. These entities and other angelic beings led
Smith to a series of gold plates that were buried, which told of a people that had migrated
from Jerusalem to the North American continent, about 600 years before the birth of Christ. These people lived in North America, grew
and flourished, and then split into several groups, often warring with each other. There is also a tale of Jesus visiting these
tribes, after his ascension to Heaven. Mormon is the name of one of the authors of
these books, whose son Moroni became the angel that led Joseph Smith to the plates. So Joseph Smith now has these golden plates,
which are written in an ancient Egyptian language, and is gifted the ability to translate them,
which he does. Now, the reason for a whole new belief set
arises when Smith now believes, due to what’s written, that the Christianity of their time
is false. Too many leaders have been corrupted and the
church as it exists now is too far separated from the nature of God. So in this time, the Latter-day Saint movement
begins. Now, why is it called that, you wonder? All members of the church are referred to
as Saints and we are considered to be in the latter-days, as opposed to biblical time,
so members are considered latter-day saints. We also need to look at this origin of the
church in relation to other religious texts. LDS members do believe in the Bible, like
other Christians, but they recognize the errors that thousands of years of translations might
have caused. They complement the old and new testament
with the newer Book of Mormon, as well as documents written by various church leaders
over time, considered to also be the word of God. When the documents don’t align, they favor
the newer documents, which are seen as more pure and translated more correctly. There are 13 articles of faith that LDS members
believe, so let’s cover those quickly. Article one is that there are three distinct
beings of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost, and that God and Jesus both have physical
bodies, while the Holy Ghost does not. The second article says that men will be punished
for their own sins, not the sins of Adam. Mormonism does not believe in the original
sin concept as some other Christian denominations do. The third article specifies that Jesus atoned
for all sin so that mankind can be saved, through the ordinances listed in article four,
which include baptism, faith, repentance, and a confirmation that usually follows baptism
that is considered a gift from the holy ghost. Articles five and six talk about church structure,
that man should be called by prophecy to lead the church and should be authorized by past
leadership to preach the gospel and administer the ordinances we just talked about. The organizational structure should also resemble
the church of old, including roles like apostles, prophets, teachers, etc. Article seven through nine talk about more
concrete beliefs, such as the belief in the gift of tongues, prophecies, visions, healing,
and more. As I mentioned earlier, they believe that
the Bible is the word of God, as long as it’s been translated correctly, and that the Book
of Mormon is also the word of God. They also believe that God is always revealing
truths to mankind, so everything he has, is currently, and will reveal all pertains to
the everlasting kingdom of god. Article ten says that they believe that Israel,
meaning all the followers of Christ, will be united and gathered in America, ruled over
by Jesus himself. Article eleven talks about religious freedom,
that people may believe in different things than you and may worship in different ways,
but to respect them still. Article twelve specifies that they believe
in obeying rulers and following the laws. The last article, number thirteen, calls followers
to be honest, true, and virtuous, doing good to all men. It says if there is anything lovely or good,
seek after those things. Most LDS followers live their lives by these
articles and some even memorize them. Now that we have a basis for what they believe,
let’s continue our journey through history. In these early days of the church, the idea
of polygamy was popularized, called “plural marriage." A long time has passed so there’s little
evidence to show what actually happened but it’s believed that members and leaders in
the church practiced polygamy though it’s unclear at what point it was popularized,
people point to different leaders in the church at different times. We do know that Joseph Smith was called out
for his supposed polygamy and other seemingly hypocritical acts by a newspaper in Illinois,
where the church was based at the time. Smith called this libel and used the city
council to shut down this newspaper, which then returned with claims of treason, resulting
in Smith surrendering himself to the police, where a mob attacked the jail and killed both
Smith and his brother, who would have been second in command to replace him. This is a good time to talk about persecution
of the Mormons. Prior to Smith being killed himself, many
other Mormons were killed throughout Illinois and Missouri, started with an executive order
in Missouri called now the Extermination Order, that defined Mormons as enemies of the state
and that they should be expelled violently. Militias used this order to attack a Mormon
settlement called Haun’s Mill, where 18 Mormons were killed. This was in the 1830s, the order was not officially
rescinded until 1976, nearly 150 years later, alongside an apology from the governor of
Missouri for the pain it caused. The death of Smith led to the appointment
of Brigham Young, who led the church on a migration west, where they might be safe,
and they founded the city of Salt Lake City, which was at the time outside of the United
States boundary. Utah didn’t become a state until 1896, only
after the church officially denounced polygamy, though it’s believed that people still practiced
in secret until another document in 1904 said that anyone still practicing would be excommunicated. This is true for the largest sect of the LDS
movement, other divisions under Mormonism may have stopped polygamy earlier and some
fundamentalist groups still practice polygamy today, though it is rare and is by no means
indicative of the current state of Mormonism as a whole. While Utah is still the center of Mormonism
in the United States, LDS members have relocated all around the country and even around the
world. There is a high focus on missionary work,
where young members of the church travel for up to two years, sometimes with the focus
of spreading the gospel and sometimes with a focus on humanitarian aid. They are not paid for this work and it’s
voluntary, though highly encouraged. You might see missionaries in your neighborhoods,
in same-gender pairs, going door-to-door. The latest info from 2016 shows that over
240,000 people converted to Mormonism due to door-to-door conversations. This was likely the first place that one might
encounter a member of the church. For a while, the slang term of “Mormon”
was used to describe an LDS member, seen as a derogatory term, but the term has been embraced
by the LDS community and the negative connotation has mostly faded away. Members of smaller facets of the LDS movement
seem to be less likely to use the “Mormon” adjective as opposed to members of the larger
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is usually acknowledged as the “Mormon
Church” unofficially. So what makes Mormonism different from other
Christian religions? One of the biggest differences is the afterlife. While other Christian religions tend to see
Heaven and Hell only, with the deciding factor being the embracing of Jesus Christ, it gets
a little more complicated for LDS members. In the Book of Mormon, it’s explained that
every person will get a moment, either in life or in the afterlife, to either accept
their salvation or deny it. It’s said that a very small amount of people
will at the very end not only deny salvation but actively resist it, ending up in a place
called outer darkness for eternity. Everyone else will be separated into three
tiers, called kingdoms. The highest of the kingdoms is the celestial
kingdom, of which the highest tier is reserved for people that have followed Christ, continually
repented, received ordinances such as baptism, and have lived faithfully by their commandments. These people can enjoy the presence of God
in the highest way. There has been some mild controversy and debate
over this idea of heaven, as the actual texts say very little but only allude to the believer
becoming exalted in the highest kingdom, which some have translated as becoming a God yourself. You also get to live in this heaven with
your family, which is why tight bonds with family is one of the cornerstones of the church
today. The second kingdom is the terrestrial kingdom
for those who did good works but were swayed by Earthly means and maybe didn’t accept
salvation during their time on Earth. They may be visited by Jesus Christ here,
but not God himself. The third kingdom is the telestial kingdom,
which contains people who did not accept the gospel when given the chance. These inhabitants must serve time in what’s
called a spirit prison, with punishment equal to their crimes. During this time, people on Earth may do ordinances
on their behalf, such as being baptized in their place. Now, it’s a standard that this is only done
by the family’s request, though the church was criticized for doing this act for over
300,000 Holocaust victims. Jewish organizations criticized the church
many times over this, until a joint statement was put out in 2010 that both parties were
happy with the resolution to do this by request only. There are also people chosen to minister as
missionaries to these waiting in spirit prison. However, this time of imprisonment comes to
an end eventually, and they’re allowed to live in this lowest kingdom for eternity,
which does not include God or Jesus, but is still said to be much beyond comprehension. There’s a complex relationship between Mormonism
and Christianity. Those that are LDS claim the Christian adjective
since Christ is so vital to their theology. However Christians often don’t include Mormonism
under their umbrella and even often have missionaries to convert Mormons into other denominations
of Christianity. To be fair, Mormons have also created specific
missionaries for other Christian denominations as well. Part of this tension, and even part of why
the LDS community is seen as mysterious to the mainstream audience as well, stems from
the church’s secrecy, something that other Christian churches tend to point to as a concern. For example, only church members are allowed
inside the temples and do not discuss what happens inside the temples. This includes events like weddings, where
guests must sit in a waiting room and watch an educational video about what’s happening
in the real ceremony. But while this is seen as secrecy to a common
observer, these temples are deemed sacred places. Many ex-Mormons have come out and said that
the casual passerby might even be disappointed by the events inside, they’re not especially
scandalous or crazy, just ceremonies honoring God for their eyes only. There are even open houses before these temples
are dedicated in which you can tour the space completely for yourself, if you’re able
to find a new temple opening near you. Now, if you look, you can definitely find
stories from ex-Mormons about rituals and traditions, but after doing my video on Scientology,
maybe my threshold for the bizarre is set much higher, so nothing really rattled me
in looking through those stories. So this video has gotten a little longer than
I was anticipating but hopefully it gives you a good look into the foundational beliefs,
the history, and some controversies surrounding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the comments, feel free to discuss and
ask questions, I’m sure both believers and skeptics will be down there, if my Scientology
and Catholicism videos are any indicator. Make sure to subscribe for more educational
videos and thank you for watching!
