Who are Mormons?

The answer to the question of who such Mormons were at different times sounded differently. Representatives of this religion consider themselves to be representatives of the only true teaching. However, this is not surprising. There is no religion that does not declare itself the owner of the most correct way of worshiping God. As for the environment in which Mormons lived, American Protestants viewed them as pagans, Europeans regardless of religion - as one of the American sects, akin to Christians. In Russia, Mormons were first considered one of the numerous Protestant sects, and later they were rightly classified as a pagan religion based on the teachings of the Abrahamic religions and on the "revelations" received by the Mormons through the founder of religion, Joseph Smith.

Apparently, the latter since childhood has been exposed to hallucinations of unknown origin. Medical examination, he did not pass, so the genesis of his "visions" remained unclear. It is well known that Joseph Smith, who grew up in a faithful Christian family, at the age of fourteen, received some "revelations" that convinced him that he was "the chosen one."

Fanatics, like Joseph Smith, at all times were many. But the vast majority of them vanished into obscurity, and only for some circumstances they developed successfully, making them "teachers" and "saints" for more or less significant groups of people. So who are Mormons and what is the special feature of their faith? Along with the Bible, the sacred text for them is the Book of Mormon - a message sent to Joseph Smith from above in 1830. He began to preach in the twenties of the nineteenth century. Gradually, the Mormon doctrine was gaining more and more supporters. Since their way of life and way of life differed sharply from those surrounding the Protestant Puritans (for example, practicing polygamy and had an extremely rigid "power vertical"), Mormons were persecuted. Their leaders, after the death of Joseph Smith (and he died at the age of thirty-eight) led the "elected people" to the Wild West, hoping to establish their state there. The diligence built up by the religion of religion allowed the Mormons to establish a city on the shore of the Salt Lake (Salt Lake City), which began to grow rapidly.

Who are the Mormons in fact, it became clear after the destruction of the caravan of immigrants who did not have the honor to belong to their religion. The morals of the Mormons were described by the Englishman Arthur Conan Doyle (Study in Crimson Tones) and American Jack London (Straining Shirt).

The Mormon Church is not a monolith today. Some of the adherents renounced the custom of polygamy - in order not to conflict with the laws of the United States, and some never practiced it. To date, the number of Mormons themselves adherents estimated at about thirteen million people, most of whom live in the US state of Utah. Their numbers tend to increase slowly. Mormons conduct an active proselytizing policy, recruiting followers in different countries of the world. Smiling missionaries roam the streets of cities on all continents, stopping passers-by with the question: "Does everything suit you in life?". The main thing is to start a conversation, and there - how Mormon and Joseph Smith will help.

The answer to the question of who such Mormons are is also puzzled by the Orthodox Church. Mormons are included in the list of totalitarian sects, compiled by church ideologists - enter quite rightly, in my opinion. Mormons are a phenomenon completely alien to Russian spiritual practice. And the management methods within the Mormon community are not very different from those that were adopted a century and a half ago.