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103-464: There are approximately 3,500 members, some of whom are known to practice polygamy. The current leader is Paul Elden Kingston . Historians and other scholars who have studied the group have identified several doctrinal and socio-economic factors leading to its establishment. These factors originated in the family of Elden Kingston , his father Charles Kingston , and other family members or closely-affiliated people, many of whom were originally members of

206-567: A "nonmainstream literary aesthetic". Narratively and structurally, the book is complex, with multiple arcs that diverge and converge in the story while contributing to the book's overarching plot and themes. Historian Daniel Walker Howe concluded in his own appraisal that the Book of Mormon "is a powerful epic written on a grand scale" and "should rank among the great achievements of American literature". The Book of Mormon presents its text through multiple narrators explicitly identified as figures within

309-568: A 20 year period. There are thousands of members in the group. He is believed to have practiced polygamy in the past, potentially accruing as many as 40 wives and fathering up to 300 children. This article related to the Latter Day Saint movement is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement , first published in 1830 by Joseph Smith as The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by

412-593: A central message. Barnes argues that the Book of Mormon depicts Jesus as a "revolutionary new character" different from that of the New Testament in a portrayal that is "constantly, subtly revising the Christian tradition". According to historian John Turner, the Book of Mormon's depiction provides "a twist" on Christian trinitarianism, as Jesus in the Book of Mormon is distinct from God the Father—as he prays to God during

515-474: A collection of ancient writings was buried in a nearby hill in present-day Wayne County, New York , engraved on golden plates by ancient prophets. The writings were said to describe a people whom God had led from Jerusalem to the Western hemisphere 600 years before Jesus 's birth. Smith said this vision occurred on the evening of September 21, 1823, and that on the following day, via divine guidance, he located

618-429: A company named Washakie Renewable Energy LLC. One of the guilty pleas states they "cycled" fraud proceeds through a number of international partners and then back to Washakie's bank accounts, falsely claiming them as loans or profits. A small portion of the funds (less than 6%) were also used to purchase legitimate goods and services from businesses who provided them in "good faith". Legitimate businesses, including those in

721-559: A decision on who to marry, members are encouraged to seek the blessing of their parents, family and/or church leaders, but to say that one individual chooses or heavily influences who will marry who is entirely inaccurate". In 2016, the State of Utah with federal law enforcement raided various properties in connection with the Kingston family or Davis County Cooperative Society with the intention of finding welfare fraud. The State of Utah stated: "It

824-557: A dialogue in which petitioners and deity engage one another in a mutual exchange in which God's contributions originate from outside the mortal recipient. The Book of Mormon also emphasizes regular prayer as a significant component of devotional life, depicting it as a central means through which such dialogic revelation can take place. While the Old Testament of the Christian Bible links revelation specifically to prophetic authority,

927-455: A guided process of miraculous assistance. The Book of Mormon's "eschatological content" lends to a "theology of Native and/or nonwhite liberation", in the words of American studies scholar Jared Hickman. The Book of Mormon's narrative content includes prophecies describing how although Gentiles (generally interpreted as being whites of European descent) would conquer the Indigenous residents of

1030-588: A high standard of dress. According to a 2011 document prepared by attorneys general Mark Shurtleff and Tom Horne , members of the DCCS describe it as emphasizing family values, education, self-sufficiency, and the belief that every child is a priceless blessing. Children are allowed to attend public school and many go on to college. Former members leaving the group in the 1980s and 1990s allege that some were paid in " units " instead of money and that many of their life decisions were made for them. Some members also claim there

1133-407: A messianic appearance at the book's climax. Furthermore, the Book of Mormon's "formal logic" criticizes the theological supports for racism and white supremacy prevalent in the antebellum United States by enacting a textual apocalypse. The book's apparently white Nephite narrators fail to recognize and repent of their own sinful, hubristic prejudices against the seemingly darker-skinned Lamanites in

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1236-602: A metal rim and attached to a breastplate. Beginning around 1832, both the interpreters and Smith's own seer stone were at times referred to as the "Urim and Thummim", and Smith sometimes used the term interchangeably with "spectacles". Emma Smith 's and David Whitmer 's accounts describe Smith using the interpreters while dictating for Martin Harris 's scribing and switching to only using his seer stone(s) in subsequent translation. Religious studies scholar Grant Hardy summarizes Smith's known dictation process as follows: "Smith looked at

1339-595: A nineteenth-century origin of the Book of Mormon . Various academics and apologetic organizations connected to the Latter Day Saint movement nevertheless argue that the book is an authentic account of the pre- Columbian exchange world. The Book of Mormon has a number of doctrinal discussions on subjects such as the fall of Adam and Eve , the nature of the Christian atonement , eschatology , agency , priesthood authority , redemption from physical and spiritual death,

1442-650: A post-resurrection visit with the Nephites—while also emphasizing that Jesus and God have "divine unity," with other parts of the book calling Jesus "the Father and the Son". Beliefs among the churches of the Latter Day Saint movement range between social trinitarianism (such as among Latter-day Saints) and traditional trinitarianism (such as in Community of Christ ). The Christian concept of God's plan of salvation for humanity

1545-465: A record from a much earlier people. There is a subsequent subplot describing a group of families who God leads away from the Tower of Babel after it falls. Led by a man named Jared and his brother , described as a prophet of God, these Jaredites travel to the "promised land" and establish a society there. After successive violent reversals between rival monarchs and faction, their society collapses around

1648-425: A seer stone placed in his hat and then dictated the text of the Book of Mormon to scribes". Early on, Smith sometimes separated himself from his scribe with a blanket between them, as he did while Martin Harris, a neighbor, scribed his dictation in 1828. At other points in the process, such as when Oliver Cowdery or Emma Smith scribed, the plates were left covered up but in the open. During some dictation sessions

1751-494: A small few. Members allege to have been targeted for audit at a rate over nine times the published IRS average for the general population, with no pattern of fraud being found outside of a couple of bad-actors. In July 2019, Jacob Kingston, Isaiah Kingston, and two others pled guilty to participating in a fraud scheme masterminded by Lev Dermen, a non-member and Armenian national. The scheme included filing for $ 512 million in federal renewable-fuel tax credits from 2010 to 2016 through

1854-405: A symbol of their renunciation of worldly goods, the outer clothing contained no pockets in which possessions could be carried, although later an inside pocket was provided for the sanitary measure of carrying a handkerchief . All went bareheaded and barefoot. This practice was abandoned sometime before 1940. Members today wear normal modern clothing, although they are encouraged to be modest and keep

1957-465: A value of $ 150 million in 2011. The organization is tight-lipped about their business activities. Some of their secrecy might be attributed to a fear of arrest for living in plural marriages, as had happened in 1959–1960 when being investigated by the Davis County Grand Jury , which some members claimed was organized by LDS Apostles Mark E. Peterson and Spencer W. Kimball . The Grand Jury

2060-442: A vision to Smith in 1827, revealing the location of the plates and instructing him to translate the plates into English. The more widely accepted view is that Smith authored the Book, drawing on material and ideas from his contemporary 19th-century environment, rather than translating an ancient record. According to Joseph Smith, in 1823, when he was seventeen years old, an angel of God named Moroni appeared to him and said that

2163-544: A wall" a prophecy of Lehi's posterity—described as descendants of Joseph—overflowing into the New World. Latter-day Saints also believe the Bible prophesies of the Book of Mormon as an additional testament to God's dealings with humanity. In the 1980s, the church placed greater emphasis on the Book of Mormon as a central text of the faith. In 1982, it added the subtitle "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" to its official editions of

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2266-458: Is a frequently recurring theme of the Book of Mormon. While the Bible does not directly outline a plan of salvation, the Book of Mormon explicitly refers to the concept thirty times, using a variety of terms such as plan of salvation , plan of happiness , and plan of redemption . The Book of Mormon's plan of salvation doctrine describes life as a probationary time for people to learn the gospel of Christ through revelation given to prophets and have

2369-568: Is an "inner circle" who are entitled to more wives and better jobs. In 2016, some members of the LDCC helped start Vanguard Academy charter school in West Valley, which continues to operate today. Many high school aged children from the LDCC are believed to attend the school. Plural marriage is practiced by some members of the LDCJC and "members are free to choose their marriage partner or partners, as marriage

2472-463: Is considered an individual's or family's personal choice," according to author Craig Foster in his book American Polygamy (2019). After two decades of raids from law enforcement from 1935 to 1957, it is believed some members of the church began to practice consanguineous marriage between relatives. This practice has been attributed to "endogamous preference and the small size of the group’s population" according to active members and recent research from

2575-401: Is illustrated most thoroughly through intertextuality—the pervasive echoes, allusions, and expansions on the Book of Mormon text that appear in the early converts' own writings." Early Latter Day Saints alluded to Book of Mormon narratives, incorporated Book of Mormon turns of phrase into their writing styles, and even gave their children Book of Mormon names. Like many other early adherents of

2678-504: Is plausible for Smith to have produced the Book of Mormon himself, based on his knowledge of the Bible and enabled by a democratizing religious culture. The style of the Book of Mormon's English text resembles that of the King James Version of the Bible. Novelist Jane Barnes considered the book "difficult to read", and according to religious studies scholar Grant Hardy, the language is an "awkward, repetitious form of English" with

2781-514: Is the Book of Third Nephi , which describes a visit by Jesus to the people of the Book of Mormon sometime after his resurrection and ascension; historian John Turner calls this episode "the climax of the entire scripture". After this visit, the Nephites and Lamanites unite in a harmonious, peaceful society which endures for several generations before breaking into warring factions again, and in this conflict

2884-614: The Book of Moroni . The book's sequence is primarily chronological based on the narrative content of the book. Exceptions include the Words of Mormon and the Book of Ether . The Words of Mormon contains editorial commentary by Mormon . The Book of Ether is presented as the narrative of an earlier group of people who had come to the American continent before the immigration described in 1 Nephi. First Nephi through Omni are written in first-person narrative, as are Mormon and Moroni. The remainder of

2987-491: The King James Version of the Bible. The Book of Mormon has been fully or partially translated into at least 112 languages . According to Smith's account and the book's narrative, the Book was originally engraved in otherwise unknown characters on golden plates by ancient prophets; the last prophet to contribute to the book, Moroni , had buried it in what is present-day Manchester, New York and then appeared in

3090-582: The LDS Church . Doctrinally, they fell out with the Church on two issues: the consecration of wealth , and plural marriage . According to his autobiography, Charles W. Kingston became disenchanted with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in 1926 because it abandoned plural marriage . Kingston began preaching polygamy amongst fellow members of the LDS Church and distributing pamphlets and

3193-549: The New Testament , re-emphasizes salvific baptism, and introduces the ritual consumption of bread and wine "in remembrance of [his] body", a teaching that became the basis for modern Latter-day Saints' "memorialist" view of their sacrament ordinance (analogous to communion). Jesus's ministry in the Book of Mormon resembles his portrayal in the Gospel of John , as Jesus similarly teaches without parables and preaches faith and obedience as

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3296-556: The Ten Lost Tribes , the Book of Mormon actively rejects the hypothesis; the peoples in its narrative have an "ancient Hebrew" origin but do not descend from the lost tribes. The book ultimately heavily revises, rather than borrows, the Hebraic Indian theory. The Book of Mormon may creatively reconfigure, without plagiarizing, parts of the popular 1678 Christian allegory Pilgrim's Progress written by John Bunyan . For example,

3399-531: The law of consecration and United Order . Some members had begun the practice of plural marriage years before the establishment of the cooperative. During the first years of the Davis County Cooperative Society, Elden Kingston and his followers wore unique blue denim outer garments that led to people referring to them as "blue-coats." Men and boys wore blue coverall-type suits tied with strings; women and girls wore plain blue denim dresses. As

3502-419: The "Testimony of Eight Witnesses " which appeared in the original 1830 edition and every official Latter-day Saint edition thereafter. The books from First Nephi to Omni are described as being from "the small plates of Nephi". This account begins in ancient Jerusalem around 600 BC, telling the story of a man named Lehi , his family, and several others as they are led by God from Jerusalem shortly before

3605-421: The "utter inadequacy of his or her rac(ial)ist common sense". Adherents of the early Latter Day Saint movement frequently read the Book of Mormon as a corroboration of and supplement to the Bible, persuaded by its resemblance to the King James Version 's form and language. For these early readers, the Book of Mormon confirmed the Bible's scriptural veracity and resolved then-contemporary theological controversies

3708-462: The Adam and Eve story contributes to the Book of Mormon's emphasis "on the importance of human freedom and responsibility" to choose salvation. In the Book of Mormon, revelation from God typically manifests as a dialogue between God and persons, characterizing deity as an anthropomorphic being who hears prayers and provides direct answers to questions. Multiple narratives in the book portray revelation as

3811-663: The Americas (imagined in the Book of Mormon as being a remnant of descendants of the Lamanites), this conquest would only precede the Native Americans' revival and resurgence as a God-empowered people. The Book of Mormon narrative's prophecies envision a Christian eschaton in which Indigenous people are destined to rise up as the true leaders of the continent, manifesting in a new utopia to be called "Zion". White Gentiles would have an opportunity to repent of their sins and join themselves to

3914-424: The Bible did not seem to adequately address, such as the appropriate mode of baptism, the role of prayer, and the nature of the Christian atonement. Early church administrative design also drew inspiration from the Book of Mormon. Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith, respectively, used the depiction of the Christian church in the Book of Mormon as a template for their Articles of the Church and Articles and Covenants of

4017-461: The Book of Mormon as "the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of [the] religion". Although Smith quoted the book infrequently, he accepted the Book of Mormon narrative world as his own. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) accepts the Book of Mormon as one of the four sacred texts in its scriptural canon called the standard works . Church leaders and publications have "strongly affirm[ed]" Smith's claims of

4120-438: The Book of Mormon as its narrative). Whether or not View influenced the Book of Mormon is the subject of debate. A pseudo-anthropological treatise, View presented allegedly empirical evidence in support of its hypothesis. The Book of Mormon is written as a narrative, and Christian themes predominate rather than supposedly Indigenous parallels. Additionally, while View supposes that Indigenous American peoples descended from

4223-408: The Book of Mormon is written in third-person historical narrative, said to be compiled and abridged by Mormon (with Moroni abridging the Book of Ether and writing the latter part of Mormon and the Book of Moroni). Most modern editions of the book have been divided into chapters and verses. Most editions of the book also contain supplementary material, including the "Testimony of Three Witnesses " and

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4326-471: The Book of Mormon universalizes Christian salvation as being accessible across all time and places. By implying that even more ancient peoples were familiar with Jesus Christ, the book presents a "polygenist Christian history" in which Christianity has multiple origins. In the climax of the book, Jesus visits some early inhabitants of the Americas after his resurrection in an extended bodily theophany . During this ministry, he reiterates many teachings from

4429-440: The Book of Mormon's portrayal democratizes the idea of revelation, depicting it as the right of every person. Figures such as Nephi and Ammon receive visions and revelatory direction prior to or without ever becoming prophets, and Laman and Lemuel are rebuked for hesitating to pray for revelation. Also in contrast with traditional Christian conceptions of revelations is the Book of Mormon's broader range of revelatory content. In

4532-492: The Book of Mormon, figures petition God for revelatory answers to doctrinal questions and ecclesiastical crises as well as for inspiration to guide hunts, military campaigns, and sociopolitical decisions. The Book of Mormon depicts revelation as an active and sometimes laborious experience. For example, the Book of Mormon's Brother of Jared learns to act not merely as a petitioner with questions but moreover as an interlocutor with "a specific proposal" for God to consider as part of

4635-443: The Book of Mormon. Ezra Taft Benson , the church's thirteenth president (1985–1994), especially emphasized the Book of Mormon. Referencing Smith's 1832 revelation, Benson said the church remained under condemnation for treating the Book of Mormon lightly. Since the late 1980s, Latter-day Saint leaders have encouraged church members to read from the Book of Mormon daily, and in the twenty-first century, many Latter-day Saints use

4738-447: The Church . The Book of Mormon was also significant in the early movement as a sign, proving Joseph Smith's claimed prophetic calling, signalling the "restoration of all things", and ending what was believed to have been an apostasy from true Christianity. Early Latter Day Saints tended to interpret the Book of Mormon through a millenarian lens and consequently believed the book portended Christ's imminent Second Coming . And during

4841-613: The Cooperative lived in poor conditions, and had no legal way to apply for assistance. Long-time leader John Ortell Kingston lived in a small one-story clapboard house in Salt Lake City up until the time of his death in 1987. J. Ortell Kingston aggressively pursued a financially-expansive agenda for the Davis County Cooperative Society Inc. in the hopes of improving the financial condition of his followers. Since

4944-654: The Cooperative, argued that Jacob hid the scheme from business partners as well as Co-op leadership. The remainder of the transactions (over 94%) were to entities associated with Lev Dermen, who prosecutors allege was the mastermind of the scheme. Dermen was found guilty of masterminding the scheme in March 2020. As part of the plea deal and restitution, the company forfeits rights to a number of assets including their bio-fuel plant in Plymouth, Utah. WRE has since become defunct. Davis County Cooperative leadership and members swiftly condemned

5047-425: The DCCS upon his father's death in 1987. During his tenure, some members have continued the practice of plural , and intra-family marriage, although neither is practiced by the majority of members and the practice is not required to gain status in the group. Plural marriage is practiced by some members of the DCCS, and members make their own choice in who they marry. Plural marriages for individuals under 18 in

5150-617: The Davis County Cooperative Society Inc. The corporation produces goods and services that are used by members, and sold or traded to other cooperatives and to the public. In 1977, Elden's brother Ortell Kingston began to file for legal recognition of the church later organized as The Latter Day Church of Christ. The Latter Day Church of Christ is based in Salt Lake City, Utah , with a presence in Bountiful, Utah . The organization owns an extensive portfolio of business and land assets throughout

5253-467: The English manuscript of the Book of Mormon was produced as scribes wrote down Smith's dictation in multiple sessions between 1828 and 1829. The dictation of the extant Book of Mormon was completed in 1829 in between 53 and 74 working days. Descriptions of the way in which Smith dictated the Book of Mormon vary. Smith himself called the Book of Mormon a translated work, but in public he generally described

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5356-595: The Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi . The book is one of the earliest and most well-known unique writings of the Latter Day Saint movement. The denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement typically regard the text primarily as scripture (sometimes as one of four standard works ) and secondarily as a record of God's dealings with ancient inhabitants of the Americas . The majority of Latter Day Saints believe

5459-411: The Indigenous remnant, but if white Gentile society fails to do so, the Book of Mormon's content foretells a future "apocalyptic reversal" in which Native Americans will destroy white American society and replace it with a godly, Zionic society. This prophecy commanding whites to repent and become supporters of American Indians even bears "special authority as an utterance of Jesus" Christ himself during

5562-568: The LDCC have faced two lawsuits, one in 2006 and one in 2022 accusing members of sexual abuses and underaged marriages. The 2022 complaint was filed by attorney and TV producer Roger Hoole. In 2009, the then- Attorney General of Utah , Mark Shurtleff , claimed that child marriages within polygamous societies in Utah, such as the Latter Day Church of Christ, had "effectively stopped". The latest suit takes issue with alleged marriages as young as 16 within

5665-543: The Latter Day Church of Christ. Current Utah law allows individuals 16 and 17 years of age to marry with court approval. In February 2023, the 2022 lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed in State Court with attorneys for the plaintiffs promising to re-file a similar case in Federal Court. Attorney Roger Hoole re-filed a similar case in federal court as a racketeering lawsuit in March of 2024. The LDCC continues to publicly denounce

5768-526: The Latter Day Saint movement consider the Book of Mormon an authentic historical record, translated by Smith from actual ancient plates through divine revelation . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the largest Latter Day Saint denomination, maintains this as its official position. The Book of Mormon as a written text is the transcription of what scholars Grant Hardy and William L. Davis call an "extended oral performance", one which Davis considers "comparable in length and magnitude to

5871-399: The Latter Day Saint movement hold that the Book of Mormon fulfills numerous biblical prophecies by ending a global apostasy and signaling a restoration of Christian gospel. The Book of Mormon is divided into smaller books — which are usually titled after individuals named as primary authors — and in most versions, is divided into chapters and verses. Its English text imitates the style of

5974-409: The Latter Day Saint movement, Smith referenced Book of Mormon scriptures in his preaching relatively infrequently and cited the Bible more often. In 1832, Smith dictated a revelation that condemned the "whole church" for treating the Book of Mormon lightly, although even after doing so Smith still referenced the Book of Mormon less often than the Bible. Nevertheless, in 1841 Joseph Smith characterized

6077-462: The Nephites are destroyed while the Lamanites emerge victorious. In the narrative, Mormon, a Nephite, lives during this period of war, and he dies before finishing his book. His son Moroni takes over as narrator, describing himself taking his father's record into his charge and finishing its writing. Before the very end of the book, Moroni describes making an abridgment (called the Book of Ether ) of

6180-654: The Spalding manuscript source hypothesis debunked since 1945, when Fawn M. Brodie thoroughly disproved it in her critical biography of Smith. Historians since the early twentieth century have suggested Smith was inspired by View of the Hebrews , an 1823 book which propounded the Hebraic Indian theory , since both associate American Indians with ancient Israel and describe clashes between two dualistically opposed civilizations ( View as speculation about American Indian history and

6283-644: The Trustee-in-Trust of the Davis County Cooperative Society (DCCS), a Mormon fundamentalist denomination, since 1987. The DCCS is a financial cooperative established by his uncle Elden Kingston in 1935. Kingston studied at the University of Utah Law School and was admitted to the Utah State Bar in 1990. Kingston succeeded his father John Ortell Kingston as the Trustee-in-Trust of

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6386-500: The University of Santa Clara California (2019). The group claims no preference for any particular family or surname stating members join every year "from a variety of different backgrounds and surnames." In the late 1990s, three members of the LDCJC faced scrutiny for entering into incestuous relationships. These cases included: These relationships are defined as incestuous according to Utah's Criminal Code 76-7-102 (2021). Members of

6489-532: The ability to translate and that Moroni had taken back the plates to be returned only after Smith repented. Smith later stated that God allowed him to resume translation, but directed that he begin where he left off (in what is now called the Book of Mosiah), without retranslating what had been in the lost manuscript. Smith recommenced some Book of Mormon dictation between September 1828 and April 1829 with his wife Emma Smith scribing with occasional help from his brother Samuel Smith, though transcription accomplished

6592-602: The angel and plates. Smith and his family reminisced that as part of what Smith believed was angelic instruction, Moroni provided Smith with a "brief sketch" of the "origin, progress, civilization, laws, governments   ... righteousness and iniquity" of the "aboriginal inhabitants of the country" (referring to the Nephites and Lamanites who figure in the Book of Mormon's primary narrative). Smith sometimes shared what he said he had learned through such angelic encounters with his family as well. In Smith's account, Moroni allowed him, accompanied by his wife Emma Hale Smith , to take

6695-441: The beast." However, the group reiterated its belief that "bleeding the beast" was "abhorent" and was "never a tenet" of its organization. In April 2023, Jacob, Isaiah and two other members were sentenced to federal prison with their sentences ranging between 6 and 18 years. Lev Dermen was sentenced to 40 years. Paul Elden Kingston Paul Elden Kingston (born 17 December 1959) is an accountant and attorney who has served as

6798-406: The book he had co-written, Laman Manasseh Victorious: A Message of Salvation and Redemption to His People Israel, First to Ephraim and Manasseh . This resulted in his excommunication from the LDS Church in 1928. Charles W. Kingston eventually converted his son Elden to his beliefs and on January 1, 1935, Elden along with his two wives, Ethel Gustafson and Afton Brown took steps to officially begin

6901-411: The book to be a record of real-world history, with Latter Day Saint denominations viewing it variously as an inspired record of scripture to the linchpin or " keystone " of their religion. Independent archaeological, historical, and scientific communities have discovered no evidence to support the existence of the civilizations described therein. Characteristics of the language and content point toward

7004-551: The book's own narrative. Narrators describe reading, redacting, writing, and exchanging records. The book also embeds sermons, given by figures from the narrative, throughout the text, and these internal orations make up just over 40 percent of the Book of Mormon. Periodically, the book's primary narrators reflexively describe themselves creating the book in a move that is "almost postmodern" in its self-consciousness. Historian Laurie Maffly-Kipp explains that "the mechanics of editing and transmitting thereby become an important feature of

7107-491: The book's place in a causal chain which held that if the Book of Mormon was "verifiably true revelation of God," then it justified Smith's claims to prophetic authority to restore the New Testament church. Latter-day Saints have also long believed the Book of Mormon's contents confirm and fulfill biblical prophecies. For example, "many Latter-day Saints" consider the biblical patriarch Jacob 's description of his son Joseph as "a fruitful bough   ... whose branches run over

7210-436: The book's significance to the faith. According to the church's "Articles of Faith" —a document written by Joseph Smith in 1842 and canonized by the church as scripture in 1880—members "believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly," and they "believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God," without qualification. In their evangelism, Latter-day Saint leaders and missionaries have long emphasized

7313-407: The burial location of the plates on this hill and was instructed by Moroni to meet him at the same hill on September 22 of the following year to receive further instructions, which repeated annually for the next three years. Smith told his entire immediate family about this angelic encounter by the next night, and his brother William reported that the family "believed all he [Joseph Smith] said" about

7416-423: The classic oral epics, such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey ". Eyewitnesses said Smith never referred to notes or other documents while dictating, and Smith's followers and those close to him insisted he lacked the writing and narrative skills necessary to consciously produce a text like the Book of Mormon. Some naturalistic interpretations have therefore compared Smith's dictation to automatic writing arising from

7519-510: The cooperative in Bountiful, Utah. From 1935 to 1940, Elden Kingston's followers, including his father Charles W. Kingston, began to move to Bountiful , Utah , intending to live under a United Order communal program as defined by Joseph Smith in the Doctrine and Covenants . On September 19, 1941, the community founded by Elden Kingston officially filed for recognition with the State of Utah as

7622-559: The early 400s CE. On its title page, the Book of Mormon describes its central purpose as being the "convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations." Although much of the Book of Mormon's internal chronology takes place prior to the birth of Jesus, prophets in the book frequently see him in vision and preach about him, and the people in

7725-540: The fall of that city to the Babylonians . The book describes their journey across the Arabian peninsula , and then to a "promised land", presumably an unspecified location in the Americas, by ship. These books recount the group's dealings from approximately 600 BC to about 130 BC, during which time the community grows and splits into two main groups, called Nephites and Lamanites , that frequently war with each other throughout

7828-446: The fraudulent behavior stating that "[Jacob] broke from tradition in many ways" and stressing "to members and non-members alike that this behavior is not in line with our beliefs or principles." And, "We cannot and will not condone or support anyone found to be engaged in any fraudulent behaviors." In a recent lawsuit, ex-members allege that the WRE case was an example of the concept of "bleeding

7931-430: The group are not allowed. For more than a decade, the group has publicly spoken out against child-bride marriages and the DCCS has a policy encouraging its members to marry within the legal age of consent. Members generally seek the blessing of parents and religious leaders before choosing to marry. Many consider Kingston the top man in the group. Records show he signed as a witness on 4 lawful teenage marriages over

8034-485: The martyr narrative of Abinadi in the Book of Mormon shares a complex matrix of descriptive language with Faithful's martyr narrative in Progress . Some other Book of Mormon narratives, such as the dream Lehi has in the book's opening, also resemble creative reworkings of Progress story arcs as well as elements of other works by Bunyan, such as The Holy War and Grace Abounding . Historical scholarship also suggests it

8137-472: The mid-1990s, many members have become college-educated and live in middle-to-upper-middle-class homes throughout their communities. Currently the group claims that although different skillsets bring different financial outcomes, there is no homelessness within the DCCS, and internal programs exist for those experiencing financial poverty. The Latter Day Church of Christ is based on a belief in Jesus Christ and

8240-448: The movement's first years, observers identified converts with the new scripture they propounded, nicknaming them "Mormons". Early Mormons also cultivated their own individual relationships with the Book of Mormon. Reading the book became an ordinary habit for some, and some would reference passages by page number in correspondence with friends and family. Historian Janiece Johnson explains that early converts' "depth of Book of Mormon usage

8343-439: The narrative in his own words. Early observers, presuming Smith incapable of writing something as long or as complex as the Book of Mormon, often searched for a possible source he might have plagiarized. In the nineteenth century, a popular hypothesis was that Smith collaborated with Sidney Rigdon to plagiarize an unpublished manuscript written by Solomon Spalding and turn into the Book of Mormon. Historians have considered

8446-404: The narrative worship Jesus as "pre-Christian Christians." For example, the book's first narrator Nephi describes having a vision of the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus, said to have taken place nearly 600 years prior to Jesus' birth. Late in the book, a narrator refers to converted peoples as "children of Christ". By depicting ancient prophets and peoples as familiar with Jesus as a Savior,

8549-411: The narrative. In their pride, the Nephites repeatedly backslide into producing oppressive social orders, such that the book's narrative performs a sustained critique of colonialist racism. The book concludes with its own narrative implosion in which Lamanites suddenly succeed over and destroy Nephites in a literary turn seemingly designed to jar the average antebellum white American reader into recognizing

8652-451: The narratives" of the Book of Mormon for several years by making outlines, whether mental or on private notes, until he began dictating in 1828. Smith's oral recitations about Nephites to his family could have been an opportunity to work out ideas and practice oratory, and he received some formal education as a lay Methodist exhorter. In this interpretation, Smith believed the dictation he produced reflected an ancient history, but he assembled

8755-418: The nature and conduct of baptism , the age of accountability , the purpose and practice of communion , personalized revelation, economic justice, the anthropomorphic and personal nature of God, the nature of spirits and angels, and the organization of the latter day church . The pivotal event of the book is an appearance of Jesus Christ in the Americas shortly after his resurrection. Common teachings of

8858-570: The opportunity to choose whether or not to obey God. Jesus' atonement then makes repentance possible, enabling the righteous to enter a heavenly state after a final judgment . Although most of Christianity traditionally considers the fall of man a negative development for humanity, the Book of Mormon instead portrays the fall as a foreordained step in God's plan of salvation, necessary to securing human agency, eventual righteousness, and bodily joy through physical experience. This positive interpretation of

8961-565: The plates by holding or moving them wrapped in cloth, although without seeing the plates themselves. Their accounts of the plates' appearance tend to describe a golden-colored compilation of thin metal sheets (the "plates") bound together by wires in the shape of a book. The manuscript was completed in June 1829. E. B. Grandin published the Book of Mormon in Palmyra, New York, and it went on sale in his bookstore on March 26, 1830. Smith said he returned

9064-474: The plates on September 22, 1827, four years after his initial visit to the hill, and directed him to translate them into English. Smith said the angel Moroni strictly instructed him to not let anyone else see the plates without divine permission. Neighbors, some of whom had collaborated with Smith in earlier treasure-hunting enterprises, tried several times to steal the plates from Smith while he and his family guarded them. As Smith and contemporaries reported,

9167-403: The plates to Moroni upon the publication of the book. Multiple theories of naturalistic composition have been proposed. In the twenty-first century, leading naturalistic interpretations of Book of Mormon origins hold that Smith authored it himself, whether consciously or subconsciously, and simultaneously sincerely believed the Book of Mormon was an authentic sacred history. Most adherents of

9270-407: The plates were entirely absent. In 1828, while scribing for Smith, Harris, at the prompting of his wife Lucy Harris , repeatedly asked Smith to loan him the manuscript pages of the dictation thus far. Smith reluctantly acceded to Harris's requests. Within weeks, Harris lost the manuscript , which was most likely stolen by a member of his extended family. After the loss, Smith recorded that he lost

9373-540: The practice of child marriage, and maintains that marriages within the group are not coerced. In 2007, the group told Deseret News that it was encouraging its members to wait until their partners were 18 to marry them, with one member reporting that "we do encourage them to be 18". Responding to child marriage allegations in September 2022, the organization told The Guardian that "current policy prohibits plural marriage for members under 18" and "once an individual has made

9476-399: The process itself only in vague terms, saying he translated by a miraculous gift from God. According to some accounts from his family and friends at the time, early on, Smith copied characters off the plates as part of a process of learning to translate an initial corpus. For the majority of the process, Smith dictated the text by voicing strings of words which a scribe would write down; after

9579-452: The rest of the narrative. Following this section is the Words of Mormon , a small book that introduces Mormon , the principal narrator for the remainder of the text. The narration describes the proceeding content ( Book of Mosiah through to chapter 7 of the internal Book of Mormon ) as being Mormon's abridgment of "the large plates of Nephi", existing records that detailed the people's history up to Mormon's own life. Part of this portion

9682-473: The restoration of his gospel in these latter days. It is not affiliated with the mainstream LDS Church. Doctrinally, members of the LDCJC try to adhere to the teachings of the Bible, the Book of Mormon , the Doctrine and Covenants , and the Pearl of Great Price . Members of the Latter Day Church of Christ are also members of the Davis County Cooperative Society (a separate organization and legal entity) which practices

9785-592: The scribe confirmed they had finished writing, Smith would continue. Many accounts describe Smith dictating by reading a text as it appeared either on seer stones he already possessed or on a set of spectacles that accompanied the plates, prepared by the Lord for the purpose of translating. The spectacles, often called the "Nephite interpreters," or the " Urim and Thummim ," after the biblical divination stones, were described as two clear seer stones which Smith said he could look through in order to translate, bound together by

9888-429: The subconscious. However, Ann Taves considers this description problematic for overemphasizing "lack of control" when historical and comparative study instead suggests Smith "had a highly focused awareness" and "a considerable degree of control over the experience" of dictation. Independent scholar William L. Davis posits that after believing he had encountered an angel in 1823, Smith "carefully developed his ideas about

9991-473: The text". Barnes calls the Book of Mormon a "scripture about writing and its influence in a post-modern world of texts" and "a statement about different voices, and possibly the problem of voice, in sacred literature". The Book of Mormon is organized as a compilation of smaller books, each named after its main named narrator or a prominent leader, beginning with the First Book of Nephi (1 Nephi) and ending with

10094-400: The time that Lehi's family arrive in the promised land further south. The narrative returns to Moroni's present ( Book of Moroni ) in which he transcribes a few short documents, meditates on and addresses the book's audience, finishes the record, and buries the plates upon which they are narrated to be inscribed upon, before implicitly dying as his father did, in what allegedly would have been

10197-521: The uncovered golden plates and, in some cases, handle them. Their written testimonies are known as the Testimony of Three Witnesses , who described seeing the plates in a visionary encounter with an angel, and the Testimony of Eight Witnesses , who described handling the plates as displayed by Smith. Statements signed by them have been published in most editions of the Book of Mormon. In addition to Smith and these eleven, several others described encountering

10300-632: The western United States, including a 300-acre (1.2 km) dairy farm in Davis County; a 3,200-acre (13 km) farm in Tetonia, Idaho ; a coal mine in Emery County ; 1,200 acres (4.9 km) in Terreton, Idaho ; discount and grocery stores; Desert Tech Firearms ; and a restaurant supply company. A 2004 estimate put the value of these assets at more than $ 200 million, while ethnographer Janet Bennion estimated

10403-462: Was a specific investigation that we were approached by [federal law enforcement] to participate in." After two years of investigating, they did not find any welfare fraud. "State investigators found no wrongdoing among members of the Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group." Members claim they have been broadly and unfairly targeted by authorities for the negative actions of

10506-618: Was described as "The polygamist hunting Davis County Grand Jury" by the Ogden Standard-Examiner in 1959. That same year, Ardous Kingston Gustafson, a mother of four and founding Co-op member, was jailed on Christmas Eve when she could not produce membership lists used to further the court's investigation into charges of cohabitation. The Cooperative had its birth during the Great Depression when many families struggled immensely to provide for their families. For many years, members of

10609-576: Was limited. In April 1829, Oliver Cowdery met Smith and, believing Smith's account of the plates, began scribing for Smith in what became a "burst of rapid-fire translation". In May, Joseph and Emma Smith along with Cowdery moved in with the Whitmer family, sympathetic neighbors, in an effort to avoid interruptions as they proceeded with producing the manuscript. While living with the Whitmers, Smith said he received permission to allow eleven specific others to see

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