How old is mormon

The religion was officially founded in when The Book of Mormon was published. While Mormons embrace many Christian beliefs, they have their own distinct set of philosophies, values and practices. Joseph Smith Jr. When Smith was 14, he said he received a vision from God and Jesus that told him not to join any Christian denominational churches. Three years later, Smith claimed that an angel named Moroni appeared to him.

According to Moroni, this spiritual book contained information about the ancient people who inhabited the Americas. He revealed that the book was inscribed on golden plates near Palmyra , New York , which was close to where Smith lived at the time. Although the plates were first revealed to him on September 22, , Smith said he was not allowed to retrieve them until September The Book of Mormon was translated and published in Smith also asserted that John the Baptist appeared to him while he was translating the Book of Mormon and instructed him to restore the church by preaching the true gospel.

After the Book of Mormon was published, Mormonism began to spread and grow rapidly. Smith set up Mormon communities in Missouri , Ohio and Illinois. Smith was criticized and persecuted by many for teaching his new ideas.

In February , Smith and his brother were jailed on charges of treason. On June 27, , both Smith and his brother were murdered in jail by an anti-Mormon mob in Carthage, Illinois. After Smith died, the church divided. Young led a large group of persecuted Mormons from Illinois to search for religious freedom. During the s, Young organized the migration of about 16, Mormons from Illinois to Utah.

Young was named the President of the Church and kept this title until his death in Scholars believe Young significantly influenced the religious and political landscape of the American West. Despite moving to a relatively isolated region in Utah, tensions between Mormons and other Americans continued. In September of , a Mormon militia murdered about people who were part of a wagon train from Arkansas.

Today the park is located in what is now Downtown Las Vegas. In addition to the fort, which contains a multitude of historic artifacts, a Visitor Center contains exhibits and photos that illustrate the history of the site. Restrooms are available, along with a Museum and a Gift Shop. Programs : Information about program scheduling may be obtained from either park staff or kiosks.

Upon request, special presentations can be arranged for groups. The native vegetation consists of the Creosote Bush plant community, however, historic land clearing activities have destroyed the original desert vegetation.

More than years ago, a spring-fed creek flowed through the Las Vegas Valley, creating an oasis in the desert. With the only free-flowing water and grass for miles around, the site attracted the native Paiute as well as traders, emigrants and gold seekers traveling the Old Spanish Trail to California.

The Spaniards called the place las vegas, which is Spanish for the meadows. Tom Rapsas. How Awake Are We? When Waking Up is Falling Asleep. Daniel Thomas Dyer. Latter-day Saint. Dan Peterson. Luther and the Beauty of Christ. DeWayne Hamby. Carl McColman. November Joseph Smith's eldest brother Alvin dies, putting greater financial strain on the family. No treasure is found, but Smith meets and falls in love with year-old Emma Hale while boarding at her father's house.

He admits to using them in the past but says he has now given up the practice. September Now that four years have passed, Smith successfully digs up the gold plates. Warned by Moroni not to let anyone else see them, he does show his mother an unusual pair of spectacles with precious stones where the eyepieces would normally be.

These stones are to help Smith translate the book from the "reformed Egyptian" in which it is written.

But rumors of a golden Bible have begun to circulate in the neighborhood, so Joseph and Emma Smith must flee potential thieves. Financially assisted by a local farmer named Martin Harris, the couple sets out for Harmony, hiding the gold plates in a barrel of beans.

December: Emma's father allows the couple to stay in a small house on his property, and Joseph begins the task of translating the writing of the gold book, using his interpretation device and dictating the results to Emma. Over the next two months, they produce pages of text, but then Harris takes it back to Palmyra to show his doubting wife and loses the only copy.

June Emma gives birth to a child, Alvin, who dies that same day only five of the couple's 11 children will live beyond infancy. When weeks pass with no word from Harris, Joseph heads back to Palmyra and discovers the loss.

Begging for forgiveness, he is visited by an angel who takes the gold plates for a time as punishment for Smith's indiscretion. The two men finish work in June. May In the midst of their translation, Cowdery and Smith take to the woods to pray and are visited by John the Baptist, who confers the Aaronic priesthood upon them. This is a critically important event in the history of the church since it precedes the restoration of the church. John the Baptist also tells the two young men that the Melchizedek Priesthood will also be restored and that when it is restored, it will give them power to "lay on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The two men then baptize each other in the Susquehanna River. Eleven witnesses will later sign statements that they have seen the gold plates from which The Book of Mormon was translated; three of them, including Harris and Cowdery, further assert that they saw an angel bearing the plates.

August: Smith locates a publisher for the Book of Mormon in Palmyra and typesetting begins. Young, a practicing Methodist who has moved to the area near Palmyra with his wife, reads the Book shortly after publication and will be baptized as a Mormon two years later.

April 6: The first organization meeting of the LDS is held at the Whitmer farm with about 50 people in attendance. Smith and Cowdery are ordained "elders," and Smith will also become known as "prophet. June: Smith is arrested and charged with "being a disorderly person" for his preaching, but is acquitted. Soon afterward, a vision instructs Smith to move the nascent Mormon community west to Kirtland. Other missionaries proceed to Missouri and settle in Independence.

For the next six years, Smith will be based there and will announce some 65 revelations, most pertaining to church structure and organization. June: After missionaries reach Missouri and settle in Independence, Smith leads a group of Mormons from Kirtland west to Independence, which, according to the story, God has revealed will be the gathering place for Mormons and the site of a "New Jerusalem.

Yet Smith decides to keep his headquarters in Kirtland. March A mob resentful of growing Mormon influence tars and feathers Smith in front of his Kirtland house. It will take three years to complete and measure 55 by 65 feet, soaring feet high. The first collection of Smith's revelations is prepared for publication as The Book of Commandments.