Portal:Latter Day Saint movement

The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded in the United States by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s.

Collectively, these churches have nearly 18 million nominal members. The vast majority, more than 17 million, belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). About 250,000 belong to the Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The remainder belong to other denominations with memberships generally ranging in the thousands. The predominant theology of the churches in the movement is Mormonism, which sees itself as restoring again on Earth the early Christian church; their members are most commonly known as Mormons. An additional doctrine of the church allows for prophets to receive and publish modern-day revelations.

A minority of Latter Day Saint adherents, such as members of Community of Christ, have been influenced by Protestant theologies while maintaining certain distinctive beliefs and practices including continuing revelation, an open canon of scripture and building temples. Other groups include the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which supports lineal succession of leadership from Smith's descendants, and the more controversial Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which defends the practice of polygamy. One source has estimated that over 400 denominations have sprung from founder Joseph Smith's original movement. (Full article...)

The Book of Abraham is a work produced sometime between 1835 and 1842 by the Latter Day Saints (LDS) movement founder Joseph Smith that he said was based on Egyptian papyri purchased from a traveling mummy exhibition. According to Smith, the book was "a translation of some ancient records ... purporting to be the writings of Abraham, while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus". The work was first published in 1842 and today is a canonical part of the Pearl of Great Price. Since its printing, the Book of Abraham has been a source of controversy. Many non-LDS Egyptologists, beginning in the mid-19th century, have criticized Joseph Smith's translation and explanations of the facsimiles, unanimously concluding that his interpretations are inaccurate. They have also asserted that missing portions of two of the facsimiles were reconstructed incorrectly by Smith.

The controversy intensified in the late 1960s when portions of the Joseph Smith Papyri were located. Translations of the papyri revealed that the rediscovered portions bore no relation to the text of the Book of Abraham. Latter-day Saint scholar and apologist Hugh Nibley and Brigham Young University Egyptologists John L. Gee and Michael D. Rhodes subsequently offered detailed rebuttals to some criticisms. University of Chicago Egyptologist Robert K. Ritner concluded in 2014 that the source of the Book of Abraham "is the 'Breathing Permit of Hôr,' misunderstood and mistranslated by Joseph Smith." He later said the Book of Abraham is now "confirmed as a perhaps well-meaning, but erroneous invention by Joseph Smith," and "despite its inauthenticity as a genuine historical narrative, the Book of Abraham remains a valuable witness to early American religious history and to the recourse to ancient texts as sources of modern religious faith and speculation." (Full article...)

Lees Ferry (also known as Lee's Ferry, Lee Ferry, Little Colorado Station and Saints Ferry) is a site on the Colorado River in Coconino County, Arizona in the United States, about 7.5 miles (12.1 km) southwest of Page and 9 miles (14 km) south of the Utah–Arizona state line.

Due to its unique geography – the only place in hundreds of miles from which one can easily access the Colorado River from both sides – it historically served as an important river crossing and starting in the mid-19th century was the site of a ferry operated by John Doyle Lee, for whom it is named. Boat service at Lees Ferry continued for over 55 years before being superseded by a bridge in the early 20th century, which allowed for much more efficient automobile travel. (Full article...)

The Church of Jesus Christ is an international Christian religious denomination with origins in the Latter Day Saint (Mormon) movement that is headquartered in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, United States. The church is a Christian Restorationist church and accepts the Book of Mormon as scripture. The church considers itself the gospel restored, or the original church and good news as established by Jesus Christ in the New Testament, restored upon the earth. It also claims to be the spiritual successor to the Church of Christ, organized by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830. The church sees Sidney Rigdon as Smith's rightful successor following the assassination of Smith because Rigdon was Smith's first counselor in the First Presidency. The church is not officially affiliated with any other church, organization or denomination.

As of August 2023, church membership totaled 22,992. The Church of Jesus Christ is considered "the third largest Restoration church to have resulted from the 1844 succession crisis", describing Joseph Smith's death that year without a clear line of succession. It has sometimes been referred to as a "Bickertonite church" or "Rigdonite organization" based upon the church's historical succession through William Bickerton and Sidney Rigdon. However, the church does not use these terms in referring to itself as it believes it must be named after Jesus Christ alone. (Full article...)

• Outline of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Outline of the Book of Mormon
• Outline of Joseph Smith

Daguerreotype of Oliver Cowdery found in the Library of Congress, taken in the 1840s by James Presley Ball

Oliver H. P. Cowdery (October 3, 1806 – March 3, 1850) was an American religious leader who, with Joseph Smith, was an important participant in the formative period of the Latter Day Saint movement in the 1820s and 1830s.

He was the principal scribe to the Book of Mormon, the first baptized Latter Day Saint, one of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's golden plates, one of the first Latter Day Saint apostles, a key early missionary, and a member of the First Presidency in Kirtland. (Full article...)

• ... that it is debated whether or not Nephites used minted coins?
• ... that Songs and Flowers of the Wasatch represented a shift in Mormon history toward a "socially-accepted American cultural and religious heritage", according to historian Jennifer Reeder?
• ... that an unnamed abuse survivor risks her life to become a spy in "one of the bravest actions in all of the Book of Mormon"?

• 10 February 1846: Many Mormons begin their migration from Nauvoo, Illinois to Great Salt Lake (pictured).
• 15 February 1927: The Good Neighbor policy reform was adopted.
• 1 February 2002: In LDS Cinema, the film The Singles Ward was released.
• 3 February 2008: Ordination of Thomas S. Monson
• 24 February 2011: The Book of Mormon was previewed on Broadway theatre.