Here is an explanation of the basis of Mormon beliefs, taken from the official Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Web site at www.lds.org:After the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and faced with organized persecution and hostility from within the Roman Empire, the church that Christ established began to change. By the Fourth Century, differences within Christianity caused it to deviate from Christ’s teachings. From these differences — called "heresies" by Mormons — sprang the Roman Catholic church, Eastern Orthodox churches and thousands of Protestant denominations.
Joseph Smith was born in Vermont in 1805. When he was 14, Smith read a Bible verse in James 1:5 that powerfully affected him. At the time, the New York farming community in which his family lived was undergoing a period of intense religious controversy, which confused Smith. He read in his Bible that God gives wisdom to those who sincerely ask, so, in a wooded grove near the family’s farm, Smith knelt to pray, asking for guidance as to which church to join.
While in prayer, Smith saw "a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me," he would later write. Within the light, he saw two images "whose brightness and glory defy all description" and who "exactly resembled each other in features and likeness." One of them called Smith by name, pointed to the other and said, "This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"
Smith was commanded to join none of the existing churches and was told that God would restore the church originally organized by Jesus Christ, with all of its truths and priesthood authority.
In September 1823, Smith was visited by an ancient prophet named Moroni, a resurrected angel, who directed him to a hill near Palmyra, N.Y., where Smith found the remnants of an ancient American civilization whose history was engraved on metal plates and buried in the ground.
The Book of Mormon contains religious writings of civilizations that Mormons believe existed in ancient America between about 2200 BC and AD 421. It includes an eyewitness account of the ministry of Jesus Christ on the American continent following his resurrection in Jerusalem.
It would be four years before Joseph was permitted to take the plates and translate them from "reformed Egyptian." Today, that translation is known as the Book of Mormon, named for one of the ancient prophets who had compiled it. It was first published in 1830.
According to the book of Mormon, apostles and prophets in all ages have had authority from God to act in his name. The original 12 Apostles received this priesthood authority under the hands of Jesus. But with their passing, the authority of the apostles disappeared. An essential component of the restoration, therefore, was the re-establishment of this priesthood authority in 1829.
Prior to the publication of the Book of Mormon, a resurrected being who identified himself as John the Baptist appeared to Smith and his associate, Oliver Cowdery, in May 1829. The being laid his hands on their heads and gave them the Aaronic Priesthood with the authority to baptize and perform other ordinances.
Shortly thereafter, three of the original apostles — Peter, James and John — visited Smith and Cowdery and gave them the authority of the apostleship and the Melchizedek, or "higher," priesthood. With the restoration of priesthood authority, Joseph organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with six initial members.
On April 6, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was officially organized.
Not readily accepted in New York, the Mormons eventually moved the church headquarters to Ohio then to Missouri and later to Illinois. In 1839, Mormons established the community of Nauvoo, Ill., on a tract of swampland bordering the Mississippi River.
By 1844, Nauvoo rivaled Chicago in population. Newspapers in neighboring towns began to call for the Mormons’ extermination. As directed by divine revelation, Smith introduced the doctrine and limited practice of plural marriage. The church rescinded the practice in 1890, also as directed by revelation, and has not condoned polygamy for more than 100 years.
On June 27, 1844, while imprisoned in a small jail in Carthage, Ill., Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed when a mob stormed the jail.
Mobs attacked Latter-day Saint settlements in the region, burning crops, destroying homes and threatening to exterminate the people, so church members moved once again led by Brigham Young, the senior of the churches new 12 Apostles.
Pursuing a vision initially articulated by Smith, Young took his followers to the valley of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, arriving on July 24, 1847. During the next few years, thousands of Mormons struggled across the Great Plains to Utah.
