Mormonism is so named because of its "holy" book, which is named the Book of Mormon. Mormonism finds its origins in 1830, when its founder, Joseph Smith, published the original Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith claimed to have received a personal visit from God the Father and Jesus Christ who told him that all churches of his day were corrupted, and that the true message of the Gospel had disappeared from the Earth shortly after the death of the apostles. Mormons believe that there are four sources of divinely inspired words: The Bible (as far as it is translated correctly.), the Book of Mormon (which, strangely, does not have the qualification of translation), the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of the Great Price. Mormons will generally reject the Bible, claiming against all evidence that it has been "mistranslated".

 

The original Book of Mormon was claimed by Joseph Smith to be "the most correct book on earth" and according to him, a person can get closer to God by following its precepts than by any other book. The Book of Mormon purports to give a written history of the mysterious Native Americans. Long story short, Native Americans are supposed to be descended from a group of Israelites that sailed to America under order of God. Among these Israelites were two brothers, Lamen and Nephi. Half of the Israelites followed Nephi, and so were called Nephites. They are described as being white and fair, and followed God willingly. Those who followed Lamen, on the other hand, were described as being mischievous, and 2 Nephi 5:21 says that God punished them for their iniquities by causing their skin to turn black. They were called Lamenites. The Nephites were a rather sophisticated clan who grew into a large civilisation that populated the entire of America, whereas the Lamenites were supposedly an idle group, far more primative than the Nephites, however they were also far more numerous.

 

The crowning event of the Book of Mormon supposedly occurred around 33 A.D. when the resurrected Jesus Christ visited America, bringing 200 years of peace between the Nephites and the Lamenites. However, when these 200 years were up, the Lamenites grew in strength and rose up against the Nephites, annihilating them. In 326 A.D., Mormon was the general of the Nephite army. Mormon declared war on the Lamenites, challenging them to a culminating battle on a hill called Cumorrah. There the Nephites were utterly defeated, leaving only one survivor: Moroni, son of Mormon. Moroni buried the Book of Mormon in the form of golden plates, but not before adding his own written account to it. In it, he describes the ultimate genocide of the Nephites, and the book culminates with the Lamenites as the sole nation in America. The Native Americans are supposedly descended from them.

 

More than 1400 years later, Joseph Smith claimed to have been visited by the angel of Moroni, who showed him the location of the buried golden plates. Smith then translated the plates over the course of 3 years, and published the Book of Mormon in 1830.

 

In this section, you will find a wealth of information on Mormonism.