I am very interested in finding out what happened to Joseph Smith, and how the Book of Mormon came into exitence. My good friends are Mormons and so I am curious.
3 Responses to “I am very interested in finding out what happened to…”
Manuel Castro
2013-02-17 17:01:18
Joseph Smith was the first president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He received a message from God to restore Christ's ancient church in modern times.
Hi friend. How nice that you're trying to learn more about your friend's faith. I've been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for many years, and it's been a great blessing in my life. I'm happy to share a little bit of our church's history with you. If you want a more complete account, there's a great e-book called Our Heritage that you can download for free.
Back in the 19th century, a young farm boy named Joseph Smith was trying to decide which church to join. One day as he was reading in the Bible he stumbled upon a scripture in James 1:5 that really struck him: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
Joseph knew that he lacked the wisdom to determine which church he should join, so he decided to do exactly as James instructed. He decided to ask God.
Joseph Smith's First Vision
He went to a grove of trees near his house and prayed to God for wisdom. Much to his surprise, he had a great vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ, just as Stephen had in the New Testament (Acts 7:56). This spiritual event, called "the First Vision," showed that things like visions and revelations (communication with God) didn't just happen in ancient, Biblical times. God can communicate with His children (all of us) in our days as well. After all, is He not the same "yesterday, today, and forever"?
God told Joseph that the apostolic authority (basically, permission to perform sacred ordinances and to officiate in God's name) had been lost from the earth when Jesus' original twelve apostles had died. Many wonderful Christians established churches to worship God, trying their best to follow Jesus' original pattern, but in the end these good people did not possess God's authority. Jesus told Joseph Smith that the time had come to restore that ancient authority. Rather than instructing Joseph to join an existing Christian church, God said He would restore His ancient church through Joseph Smith.
As part of this restoration, God brought forth a new book of scripture called the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is like the Bible in that it is a record of ancient prophets and apostles who received divine messages from God and subsequently taught the people about those important messages. The Book of Mormon does not take the place of the Holy Bible; rather, these two books complement each other and help us to understand Christ's true gospel.
I hope this brief explanation helps.
Jeff
2013-02-15 08:11:49
Great question, Anonymous. There are lots of good resources for learning about Joseph Smith, but probably the best is the Church's own informational site at Mormon.org. There, you can search to your heart's content, request a free copy of the Book of Mormon, find a local congregation, and even invite missionaries to your home or use the Live Chat feature for any questions you can't get answered on your own.
The other thing I would recommend is to take everything with a grain of salt. One of the most basic teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that we should never place imperfect people--not even prophets!--in charge of our own salvation. Other people can obviously help us learn, but it ultimately falls upon us to take what we learn to the Lord, in prayer, and figure out for ourselves if it be true. (If you're unsure of how to recognize answers to your prayers, inviting the missionaries to your home would be a great help!)
The bottom line is that there is a lot of information out there. Some of it is accurate, some is not; some of it is favorable, some is not. While we Church members don't know the answers to every question, we can usually help you know where to look. Feel free to stop by my own blog and ask me anything you like. It's been my experience that most Latter-day Saints are more than happy to help!
Pamela Bonta
2013-02-15 06:41:44
Our church has a website dedicated to Joseph Smith - JosephSmith.net. I invite you to read about him so that you can come to know him and his witness of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
Back in the 19th century, a young farm boy named Joseph Smith was trying to decide which church to join. One day as he was reading in the Bible he stumbled upon a scripture in James 1:5 that really struck him: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
Joseph knew that he lacked the wisdom to determine which church he should join, so he decided to do exactly as James instructed. He decided to ask God.
God told Joseph that the apostolic authority (basically, permission to perform sacred ordinances and to officiate in God's name) had been lost from the earth when Jesus' original twelve apostles had died. Many wonderful Christians established churches to worship God, trying their best to follow Jesus' original pattern, but in the end these good people did not possess God's authority. Jesus told Joseph Smith that the time had come to restore that ancient authority. Rather than instructing Joseph to join an existing Christian church, God said He would restore His ancient church through Joseph Smith.
As part of this restoration, God brought forth a new book of scripture called the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is like the Bible in that it is a record of ancient prophets and apostles who received divine messages from God and subsequently taught the people about those important messages. The Book of Mormon does not take the place of the Holy Bible; rather, these two books complement each other and help us to understand Christ's true gospel.
I hope this brief explanation helps.
The other thing I would recommend is to take everything with a grain of salt. One of the most basic teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that we should never place imperfect people--not even prophets!--in charge of our own salvation. Other people can obviously help us learn, but it ultimately falls upon us to take what we learn to the Lord, in prayer, and figure out for ourselves if it be true. (If you're unsure of how to recognize answers to your prayers, inviting the missionaries to your home would be a great help!)
The bottom line is that there is a lot of information out there. Some of it is accurate, some is not; some of it is favorable, some is not. While we Church members don't know the answers to every question, we can usually help you know where to look. Feel free to stop by my own blog and ask me anything you like. It's been my experience that most Latter-day Saints are more than happy to help!