It seems to me we have spent a lot of time studying the great isms of the world hinduism, buddhism. Then we get to a couple of nonisms christianity and islam. And now we begin mormonism. Really the story begins at the end of the early chapter of mormons history in the United States. We began on june 27, eight team 34. On that day 1834, on that day, the Mormon Prophet joseph smith sat in jail in carthage, illinois. This was just little bit east of this red dot in western illinois. It was near the mormon gathering place, headquarters of sorts, a city in western illinois. Joseph smith was the president and prophet of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints. His followers were commonly known as mormon nights or mormons, known after the churchs founding scripture, the the book of mormon. Smith was the mayor of the city and the Lieutenant General of the militia. He was in jail on the charge of inciting a riot. A group of mormon dissenters upset with his leadership of the church had published the first issue of a newspaper criticizing his leadership. Smith had persuaded the city council to order the destruction of the Newspapers Printing press, which took place in the middle of june. Normally, this would not have been a matter this june in illinois, it was. Both Political Parties in illinois hated joseph smith and the mormons who, because of their numbers, controlled the politics in their county. And nonmormon settlers who lived nearby hated the mormons even more. They formed mobs and they were determined to kill joseph smith. After smith ordered the destruction of this critical newspaper, he was arrested, placed in jail put on trial. He was on the second floor of a small, stone jail, imprisoned with his brother hiram and two Close Friends and associates. A small detachment of militia soldiers targeted the downstairs door of the jail. It was an incredibly hot afternoon in the early summer time. In the late afternoon, about 125 ,emen, members of another militia rode into town. They had their faces smeared with mud and gunpowder to disguise themselves. The troops guarding the jail offered no resistance, given this attacking force. So, the attackers entered the jail, climbed upstairs. Joseph smiths brother hiram and the other prisoners tried their best to hold the door shot to fend off the attackers but it was a flimsy wooden door. Hiram smith was quickly shot through the skull and collapsed backwards, dead almost endlessly his delay. Joseph smith had a gun and wounded three of the attackers as they fought their way in. He quickly ran out of bullets. He ran to the window, planning to try to jump out and escape outside, but he was shot repeatedly. Several times in the back and also from the crowd of attackers who had gathered outside in front of the jail, and smith was dead by the time he hit the ground. Many in illinois hoped that the Mormon Prophets death would mean the end of the church he had founded. This semester, we have talked about all sorts of religious leaders. Buddha, abraham, moses, jesus, mohammed. All of them figures of ancient history. You cant read anything in their own handwriting. There arent any newspaper clippings to tell you about their lives. There arent any letters they wrote and left behind. In the cases of figures like abraham and moses, Human History , outside of the bible, cannot give us any assurance that they even existed. In the case of the buddha, the first account of his life that we possess may have been written several centuries after his death. Jesus and mohammed, i think we can be quite sure existed. The first nonchristian reference to jesus came about the extent days after his death. Theres quite a lot of uncertainty, but at least we have christian writings dating to as early as 20 years after his death. The carranza seems to have assumed its present form no more the koran seems to have assumed its present form no more than 20 or 30 years after mohammeds death. Information about mohammed, however, comes from oral traditions. For the conditions surrounding his life there is also a lot of uncertainty. We might look at parallels between joseph smith and these other religious founders. Like jesus, joseph smith was killed by political and religious opponents. Like mohammed, he was not only a religious leader, but a political, even sometimes military leader to his people. Also like mohammed, it claims to have received a new revelation from god via an angel and dictated messages that his followers accepted as divine revelations. 19th century americans noticed these parallels. They often called joseph smith and american mohammed. Joseph also had more than one wife. Mohammed mary 12 or 13 women after the death of his beloved khadijah. Joseph smith was sealed to that is the latterday saint term 20 or 30 women. Joseph smith was in the news as recently as last week for his marriages. This is the headline from the New York Times from last monday. It was the front page of the New York Times, i believe. I saw it on his webpage. Which, i could not figure out how to take ineffective and effective screen shot. Its official mormon founder had up to 40 wives. This is actually worldwide news. This is an article from the Daily Telegraph out of london also last monday. Mormon church finally admits founder joseph smith was polygamist with more than 40 wives. The church have long glossed over his marital history. I noticed when i first looked at the telegraphs article last monday, it initially said church had maintained he was monogamous for over 200 years. My first thought was, it must have been a really slow news day. This happened a long time ago. Its not new news. But more on that later on. Joseph smith married a lot of women. It is probably what he is most wellknown for historically. But the big difference between joseph smith and all of these other religious founding figures is timing. The others, the details of their lives, they fade into ancient history. Their lives seem mythical. They live far away from us. Joseph smith lived in the United States. He published the book of mormon in 1830. That sounds like a long time ago, but compared to our other tesxts this semester, it isnt. He lived a days drive from here. Many people will are comfortable with god speaking to mosys and an ejection burning bush or to the prophet mohammed in an arabian case. The joseph smith in western new york . So, these are our questions about mormonism. First of all, how do we categorize mormonism . Is the church of jesus christ of latterday saints new religion, or is it a branch of christianity or is it Something Else . So, we will spend some time on that. Secondly, we have been discussing scripture especially the second half of this semester. So, what is scripture for latterday saints . We spent a fair bit of time on that today. And finally, joseph smith introduced new rituals during the last several years of his life that became very significant for the identity and practice of his followers especially after his death. So we will spend time of those developments. We are going to begin with the book of mormon, which is how most americans encountered the church in the 1830s. This is how they would have encountered it. Joseph smith introduced himself to the world when he published the book of mormon in 1830. It was a very big and hefty book. I did not assign it all. You can probably be grateful for that. Its almost 600 pages when it was published originally. Joseph smith, because of the Financial Support of one of his followers, printed 5000 copies. They planned to sell it for 2. 50 a copy, which is a lot of money back in 1830. However, if you bought one in 1830 it would have been a tremendous investment. If you have an original 1830 look of mormon at auction, they sell for around 200,000, which is a very good rate of return. Joseph smiths missionaries had a very small number of members in this church initially. Small number of followers. They went out and at first tried to sell copies of the books. Almost nobody would buy them. 2. 50 for a strange bible. Hard to get people interested. So, they gave it away. Latterday saint missionaries by now had risen away hundreds of millions of copies of the book of mormon in scores of different languages. It might well be the most distributed, widely distributed piece of american literature. So, what is it . Whats in it . It begins as the story of a family, a family of israelites with a father named lehigh. When the book begins, they are living in jerusalem. Just prior to its destruction at the hands of the babylonians. The babylonian empire conquers jerusalem and judah in 587 b c carries those who live there into exile. The formative moment of jewish monotheism. Lehis family is warned to leave. You need to leave. They leave. They leave and travel across the arabian peninsula. They are told to build a boat, which they do, and they travel to the land of promise, which is what we know of as the new world, in the americas. Lehis family has a lot of dysfunctional infighting. It is centered between two of his sons. He has essentially a good, faithful, obedient son named nephi and a scheming devious unreliable son named leman and the descendents of those sons split into two factions and over time two peoples. The mostly righteous nephites and the mostly devious lamanites. And they are at war with each other as the book proceeds. Throughout 100 years of history there are profits who predict prophets who predict the coming of a messiah. If you look at references, they are rather vague, rather it secure. In the case of the book of mormon its more specific. There is going to be a messiah named jesus christ. He will be born of a virgin named mary. He will die for the sins of humanity. He will be resurrected. He will have 12 apostles disciples. All very explicit prophecies. The good people in the story except those prophecies. And they are essentially ancient christians or prechristian christians. Followers of jesus christ before he was born on the earth. The climactic part of the book of mormon is the appearance of jesus christ to these people in the new world. After jesuss birth, life, death, and resurrection he then appears to the people and ushers in a time of peace and prosperity. Neophytes and lamanites nephites and lamanites, for a couple hundred years, everybody gets along, society thrives, its all wonderful. Eventually, things fall apart again. Some people begin falling away from the church, fighting with each other. You have the emergence of nephites and lamanites. It has a tragic ending. The lamanites wipe out the nephites. The last remaining nephites or among the last remaining nephites, are a man named mormon and his son moroni. He is the editor of much of what is in the book of mormon. So, thats the book. I want to take a few minutes and discuss the excerpts that we read. You read the beginning, the end, and a few bits from the middle. First of all quite basically what did you think . What were your impressions . Does what you read resemble any of the other scriptures we have read this semester . I drew very specific parallels with this and genesis. Ok. What i found interesting, where it says the voice from heaven claims jesus ok. Where the boys from heaven claims jesus where the voice from heaven claims jesus let me find where it was. Ok. Take your time. Oh, and the part about the devil, too. And that god created everything. Which passage are you in, karen . 214, pretty much all the way through 27 reminds me of genesis. 14 he is basically saying god created everything, which is what genesis says, right . Sure. And 16 and 19 it is talking about the fall of the devil, the fall of the angel that becomes the devil, like genesis, and then 19 through 22 is adam and eve, and it is adam and the great sin. What i found really interesting was at 22 when they start to speculate about what would have happened if adam had never sinned. All right. We encountered the story of the garden of eden and the fall in the early chapters of genesis. We did not look at them, but there are passages in the koran that discuss adam in the fall. The book of mormon does as well. And these are assertions that seem fairly standard. God created everything. There is a temptation of adam any. They eat the fruit. And what is the twist in the book of mormon that is different from what we encountered in genesis . The what if . What is the what if . [indiscernible] they are showing what could have been. Would that have been a good thing . We would not be here. We would not be here . [laughter] thats true. Go ahead. Maybe god had created the bold to perfect, if they had not eaten the apple the next one would have. [indiscernible] maybe maybe so. I think this suggests there would not have been a if they had not eaten the fruit. If you read the original narrative in genesis, there are not many children introduced into the story until after eating the fruit. It is not suggested it will be a particularly pleasant thing. Eve is told she will be cursed with painful childbirth. I think this is a great passage to explore. There are parts of the the book of mormon that i think her mind numbingly dull. Mark twain once referred to the the book of mormon as chloroform in print. This passage i find to be a big exception to those comments. Lets talk lets look at that together. It introduces the idea of satan or the devil as a fallen being. You can find that in other parts of the hebrew scriptures and the christian new testament. Not in the early chapters of genesis is self its self. Adam and eve eat the fruit. They are driven out of the garden of eden. Without this, we would not be here. Youre right. But then, there is a pretty explicit positive reinterpretation of these events. If adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of eaten. Everything would have remained the same. Maybe thats not too bad for adam and eve. But in reality, they would have had no children. Therefore wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery, doing no good, for they knew no sin. And then adam saw that men might be and men are that they might have joy. I find that a rather beautiful passage. My daughter sometimes asks me when she is sick, or question is, daddy, why did god create germs . I of course do not know why god created germs. But i actually sometimes this will strike you as somewhat zany i think of this passage in the book of mormon. If we were perfectly healthy all of the time, that would be wonderful, but we would place no value upon it because we would not know what it feels like to the crummy. At we may not value our lives as much if we did not know we would die. We might not know what it means to be happy if we didnt know what it means to be miserable. We might not know how to do good if we did not know that we have done wrong. Its a very different interpretation than you find in the early chapters of genesis. Genesis, in a sense, this is a fortunate fall. It is good this happened. We have the ability to express to experience great joy. Any other similarities or differences with the bible that you noticed . We talked about how the trinity was not really defined after jesus is talking about talking in parables. It says, and all of my goods will bear record of the father in me father and me. That really defines the relationships compared to what we find in mark. It is more exquisite. I only gave you a few passages but there are other that are similar to that. Great. Anna . There was a lot of less blame on eve in the the book of mormon. Yeah, thats a good observation. Although you may notice in the original genesis, god does not buy it when adam says he woman gave him the fruit. He take the pit he takes the punishment as well. But you are right. Eve mentioned in this it says they would not have children and they would be in a state of innocence, it says that if adam did not eat it, but it does not say what if he did not eve did not eat it. It wouldve been really bad i think, if only one of the maybe fruit. In marriage, you have to be united. Kira . It was 117. Behold my beloved son in whom i have glorified my name. Hear ye him. It is god calling out to them check it out, its jesus. That may be similar to the baptism of jesus right . That is the one youre looking for question mark the language is quite similar. Theres a lot of language in the third book of nephitesi that closely resembles lingwood in the new testament, especially from the gospel of matthew language in the new testament, especially from the gospel of matthew did. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Its almost word for word identical to what you find in the gospel of matthew. The the book of mormon for latterday saints was a new work of scripture regarded perhaps in a similar manner as the bible. We will talk about the coming forth of the the book of mormon a little later on, where joseph smith said it came from, the story of its translation, and so on. They probably read the bible more than the the book of mormon but they accepted the the book of mormon as a new revelation and a sign that god was speaking to human beings again, in a manner akin to the bible. But for latterday saints, new scripture did not end with the the book of mormon. Joseph smith, beginning in the year 1828, dictated or wrote down messages that he said were from god. Go ahead with your question. [indiscernible] someone thought that god talks to him twice. Why would god give a watch if scenario a what if scenario . Why would god create a what if scenario question how does that make sense . Its a great question. Im trying to see i suppose first of all, we would have to look at the fuller passage in the second book of nephi. I think there are parts of the book of mormon depending on whether you see them coming from god or joseph smith that attempt to clarify things that christians found ok or did o paik or difficult to understand. I think one of the questions and this was originally for joseph smith, why did god create something good and allow a fall . How do we make sense of that . Was it all part of gods plan . Did god create something beautiful for human beings to mess it up right away . How do we make sense of that . I think what you have you have this in second nephi, the words lehi the words of this patriarchal figure. It is his understanding. I think they are understood to be a divine expiration of what took place. I think it is a way of trying to make sense of the fall and say yes, this was part of gods plan. It was a tragedy that human mortality was actually a good thing. I think you can see this as a way of trying to make sense of that. Does that help at all in terms of so, it is half man and half gods work . My own belief is that whatever scripture you take, there is a lot of humanity and it in it. The book of mormon presents this as the words of an ancient prophet. It was up to Joseph Smiths followers to accept that as the case. Most people who e