Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)
The Church of Christ was the original name of the
Smith and his associates asserted that the Church of Christ was a
This church is unrelated to other bodies bearing the same name, including the
Doctrinal development prior to 1830
The first Latter Day Saint references to the "church of Christ" are found in passages of the Book of Mormon that Smith dictated from April to June 1829. During the course of this dictation, the outlines for a community of believers or church structure gradually became apparent. Such a structure would have authority from God, ordinances such as
Nevertheless, in May 1829, a
Also in May 1829, Smith and
In June 1829, Smith dictated a revelation stating that "in [the Book of Mormon] are all things written, concerning my church, my gospel, and my rock. Wherefore if you shall build up my church, and my gospel, and my rock, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you."
Organization of the church
On April 6, 1830,
Location of the organization
Prior to 1834, all church publications and documents stated that the church was organized in the Smith log home in
Independent researcher H. Michael Marquardt argues that the evidence suggests the organization occurred in Manchester, and that the confusion was likely due to the effect of memory tending to conflate memories of several meetings in Manchester and Fayette years earlier.[24] Critics suggest that the location of the organization was intentionally changed in 1834 around the same time the church's name was changed to the "Church of the Latter Day Saints", in order to make it seem like the new church organization was different from the "Church of Christ", as a tactic to frustrate the church's creditors and avoid payment of debts.[25]
There is also evidence pointing to Fayette as the place of organization. For example, a headnote to the earliest known version of chapter XXII of the Book of Commandments says that the revelation was dictated in Fayette on April 6, 1830, after the church was organized.[26] This was changed to "Manchester" when the book was published in 1833.[27] Officially, the major denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement claim Fayette as the birthplace of the religion, and Smith's official history, begun in 1838, listed Fayette as the founding place.[28] In 1887, one other eye-witness, David Whitmer, recollected that the event occurred in his father's home in Fayette;[16] however, years earlier, in 1875, Whitmer had already told a reporter that the event occurred in Manchester.[29] Marquardt argues that the event described by Whitmer in 1887 bears more resemblance to Fayette meetings such as the founding of the church's Fayette branch five days later on April 11, 1830.[30]
The largest successor organization to the Church of Christ, the LDS Church, accepts Fayette as the official location of the organizing meeting.[31]
Events at the organization
By later accounts, the April 6 organizational meeting was a
First members of the church
According to the LDS Church, the first six members of the Church of Christ were:[35][36]
Early membership also included the Three Witnesses and the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon and members of the extended Whitmer and Smith families. Other early members included friends and acquaintances of the Smith and Whitmer families, such as Porter Rockwell.
The name of the church
Historical background
Smith's revelations authorized and commanded the organization of the "Church of Christ" in 1830, and in several of the revelations Smith said he received, God referred to the church by that name.
Early changes
The fact that a number of the churches of the Restoration Movement were also named the "Church of Christ" caused a considerable degree of confusion in the first years of the Latter Day Saint movement. Because of the distinct belief in the Book of Mormon among Smith's followers, people outside the church began to refer them as "Mormonites" or "Mormons." Smith and other church elders considered the name "Mormon" derogatory.[39] In May 1834, the church adopted a resolution that the church would be known thereafter as "The Church of the Latter Day Saints".[2] At various times the church was also referred to as "The Church of Jesus Christ", "The Church of God",[3] and "The Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints".[4][5]
In the late 1830s, Smith and those loyal to him founded a new headquarters in Far West, Missouri. At Far West in 1838, Smith announced a revelation renaming the organization the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints".[6][7]
Later variations
Up to the time of
The name "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" was also used by members who recognized Smith's son,
The Sidney Rigdon group dwindled until one of its elders, William Bickerton, reorganized in 1862 under the name "The Church of Jesus Christ".[44] Other Latter Day Saint denominations returned to the original name or a variation of the name, including the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite), and the now-extinct Church of Christ (Whitmerite).[citation needed]
Succession claims
Virtually every Latter Day Saint denomination claims to be the rightful successor to the original Church of Christ and claims Joseph Smith as its founding prophet or first president. For example, the LDS Church, acknowledge that their organizations were created after this date, but nevertheless claim to be a re-establishment of the original church.
In an 1880 lawsuit, an Ohio court held that the RLDS Church was the lawful successor to Smith's original Church of Christ.[51] The court also explicitly held that the LDS Church was not the lawful successor because it "has materially and largely departed from the faith, doctrines, law, ordinances and usages of the said original Church".[51] These holdings were preliminary findings of fact based on the RLDS Church's unopposed legal submissions; the court issued no final judgment on the matter because the case was dismissed.[52]
In 1894, a
See also
Notes
- ^ "The Missouri Mormon War". www.sos.mo.gov.
- ^ Evening and Morning Star, vol. 2, no. 20, p. 160 (May 1832).
- ^ History of the Churchvol. 3, p. 24, footnote.
- ^ a b Richard Lloyd Anderson, "I Have a Question: What changes have been made in the name of the Church?", Ensign, January 1979.
- ^ a b Susan Easton Black, "Name of the Church" Archived 2014-05-21 at the Wayback Machine in Daniel H. Ludlow ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism (Macmillan: New York, 1992) p. 979.
- ^ a b Manuscript History of the Church, LDS Church Archives, book A-1, p. 37; reproduced in Dean C. Jessee (comp.) (1989). The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book) 1:302–03.
- ^ a b H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters (1994). Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books) p. 160.
- ^ Mosiah 18:13–17
- ^ Mosiah 18:20
- ^ Mosiah 25:22
- ^ Mosiah 25:21
- ^ Book of Commandments 9:16
- ^ 1 Nephi 14:10
- History of the Church1:6, 59.
- ^ Book of Commandments __:3–4.
- ^ a b (Whitmer 1887, p. 33)
- ^ Marquardt (2005, pp. 224–25).
- ^ Marquardt (2005, pp. 212–219).
- ^ (Berge 1985)
- ^ "Church History Maps". ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Retrieved 2017-11-05.
- ^ "Lucy's Book – 02; note 76". signaturebookslibrary.org. Retrieved 2017-11-05.
The Smith family first lived in a house on the west end of Main Street in Palmyra. Between April 1819 and April 1820, they moved to a small cabin on Samuel Jennings's property just north of the Palmyra/Manchester township line. This log house [on their own property] was their third residence [since moving to] Palmyra and the first they had constructed.
- ^ Marquardt (2005, p. 220)
- William Smith (Smith 1883, p. 14), Joseph Knight Sr. (Jessee 1976), and several non-believing Palmyra residents who had attended (Tucker 1867, p. 58).
- ^ Marquardt (2005, p. 221).
- ^ Marquardt (2005, pp. 226–228).
- ^ Joseph Smith Papers, (need citation).
- ^ Book of Commandments, chapter XXII, p. 45.
- History of the Church1:75–77.
- ^ (Whitmer 1875)
- ^ Marquardt (2005, pp. 222–23).
- ^ John K. Carmack, "Fayette: The Place the Church Was Organized", Ensign, February 1989.
- ^ Joseph Smith History, 1839 draft.
- Painesville Telegraph, April 19, 1831.
- ^ D&C 20:2–3 (LDS Church ed.).
- ^ "Chapter Six: Organization of the Church of Jesus Christ", Church History In the Fulness of Times Student Manual, LDS Church, 2003, pp. 67–78
- History of the Church1:76, footnote.
- ^ LDS Church edition Doctrine and Covenants 21:11 (April 1830); 42:78 (February 1831); 107:59 (March 1835).
- ISBN 1-152-94824-5
- Evening and Morning Star, vol. 2, no. 20, pp. 158–59 (May 1834).
- ^ Lesson: Law and the Church as an Institution Archived 2007-08-12 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: Name of the Church", strangite.org, accessed 2011-04-07.
- Saints' Herald, 19 March 1972, p. 6.
- ^ "A Brief History of Mormonism" Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, Mormon History Association.
- ^ Lovalvo, V. James (1980), It is Written: Truth Shall Spring Forth Out of the Earth, Fresno, California: Midcal Publishers, p. 318
- ^ "Early Church History", mormonnewsroom.org, accessed 2015-10-22.
- ^ "A Journey People", cofchrist.org, accessed 2015-10-22.
- ^ "History and Succession" Archived 2012-12-28 at archive.today, strangite.org, accessed 2009-04-03.
- ^ "A Brief History of the Church of Christ Archived 2016-11-22 at the Wayback Machine, churchofchrist-tl.org, accessed 2015-10-22.
- ^ Brief Historical Background of The Church of Christ: "The Church With The Elijah Message", accessed 2010-06-30.
- ^ "Our Mission", thechurchofjesuschrist.com, accessed 2009-04-03.
- ^ a b Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Williams, Record T, 1880, p. 488, Court of Common Pleas, Lake County Courthouse, Painesville, Ohio.
- ^ Kim L. Loving, "Ownership of the Kirtland Temple: Legends, Lies, and Misunderstandings", Journal of Mormon History 30(2): 1–80 (Fall 2004); Eric Paul Rogers and R. Scott Glauser, "The Kirtland Temple Suit and the Utah Church", Journal of Mormon History 30(2): 81–97 (Fall 2004).
- ^ Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ, 60 F. 937 (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894).
- ^ Church of Christ in Missouri v. Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 70 F. 179 (8th Cir. 1895).
References
- Berge, Dale L. (August 1985), "Archaeological Work at the Smith Log House", Ensign, 15 (8): 24, retrieved June 30, 2010.
- Carmack, John K. (February 1989), "Fayette: The Place the Church was Organized", Ensign, 19 (2): 15–19, retrieved June 30, 2010.
- Jessee, Dean (1976), "Joseph Knight's Recollection of Early Mormon History" (PDF), BYU Studies, 17 (1): 35, retrieved June 30, 2010[permanent dead link].
- Marquardt, H. Michael (February 1992), "An Appraisal of Manchester as Location for the Organization of the Church" (PDF), Sunstone, 87 (2): 49–57, archived from the original(PDF) on March 11, 2012, retrieved June 30, 2010.
- Marquardt, H. Michael (2005), The rise of Mormonism, 1816–1844, Xulon Press.
- Smith, Joseph (1844), "History of the Latter Day Saints", in Rupp, I. Daniel (ed.), He Pasa Ekklessia: An Original History of the Religious Denominations at Present Existing in the United States..., Philadelphia: J.Y. Humphreys, pp. 404–410.
- The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Lamoni, IA: RLDS Church - (see also)
- Smith, William (1883), William Smith on Mormonism: A True Account of the Origin of the Book of Mormon, Lamoni, Iowa: RLDS Church, (ISBN not assigned).
- Tucker, Pomeroy (1867), Origin, Rise and Progress of Mormonism, New York: D. Appleton.
- Whitmer, John C. (August 7, 1875), "The Golden Tables", Chicago Times.
- Whitmer, David (1887), An Address to All Believers in Christ By A Witness to the Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, Richmond, Missouri: David Whitmer.