List of Mormon folk beliefs explained
In the largest group of the Latter Day Saint movement, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), folklore is usually distinguished from church doctrine, but there is no universally accepted method of determining where doctrine ends and folklore begins. Any other part of the expressive cultural aspects of Mormonism may be classified as Mormon folklore.[1]
On scriptural themes
Mormon folk beliefs on scriptural topics include:
- that Cain, the killer of Abel, is still alive and wanders the earth as punishment for killing Abel, wearing no clothing but being covered by hair, and that apostle David W. Patten encountered him once,[2] and that reported sightings of Bigfoot can be explained by this story
- that the global flood of Noah (the builder of Noah's Ark) constituted the baptism of the Earth
- that Jesus was married, possibly to Mary Magdalene; Mary, sister of Lazarus; and/or Martha, and that Jesus may have been a polygamist and had children[3]
- that Jesus was born on 6 April[4] [5] [6]
- modern encounters and assistance from one or more of "The Three Nephites", three Nephite disciples chosen by Jesus in the Book of Mormon, who were blessed by Jesus to "never taste of death; but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men".[7] [8]
In church history
Folk beliefs regarding LDS church history include the following:
- that the writings of the early Church Fathers conform better with Mormonism than with modern Christianity[9]
- that in 1739 a Roman Catholic monk predicted that within 100 years an angel would be sent by God to restore the lost gospel to the earth and that the true church would be established in "a valley that lies towards a great lake", for Mormons the angel was Angel Moroni, the "lost gospel" was the Book of Mormon which Joseph Smith (who lived in the 1800s) translated from the Golden plates that Moroni gave him, the "true church" was the LDS Church founded by Smith with its location matching up with the LDS Church's modern headquarters in Utah where the "valley" is the Salt Lake Valley and the "lake" is the Great Salt Lake[10] [11]
- the miracle of the gulls, in which the crops of early Mormon settlers in Utah Territory were saved from destruction by a vast flock of seagulls that ate swarms of Mormon crickets that were devouring the crops[12]
- that when speaking to the Latter Day Saints after the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young took on the appearance, voice, and mannerisms of Smith and that this was a sign from God that Young was to be Smith's successor[13]
- that Māori prophets or chieftains, including Paora Te Potangaroa and Tāwhiao, predicted the coming of Mormon missionaries to New Zealand[14] [15] [16]
- that various theories explain reasons for the priesthood ban on black people holding the priesthood before the 1978 Revelation on Priesthood,[17] [18] even when these reasons are repudiated by LDS Church leaders and scholars[17] [19] [20]
- that the curse of Cain[21] or the curse of Ham[22] justified the racial restriction policy
- that they were neutral in the War in Heaven[23]
- that it was done in order to protect them from the lowest rung of hell, since one of few damnable sins is to abuse the exercise of the priesthood[24]
On temples
Folk beliefs regarding LDS temples include the following:
- that in designing the Salt Lake Temple, Brigham Young had the foresight to make space accommodation for future technological advancements such as elevators, air conditioning, and electrical wiring[25]
- that on December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft pilots attempted to bomb or strafe the church's Hawaiian Temple just prior to or just after the attack on Pearl Harbor, but were prevented from doing so by mechanical failures or an unseen protective force,[26] and that the Japanese pilot who attempted to bomb or strafe the Hawaiian Temple was converted to the LDS Church after he saw a picture of the temple in the possession of Mormon missionaries in Japan[26]
- that Tāwhiao accurately predicted the site of the 1958 Hamilton New Zealand Temple before his death in 1894;
- that the Freiberg Germany Temple, which was the first Mormon temple in a Communist state when it was dedicated in East Germany in 1985 (at that time, the temple was called the "Freiberg GDR Temple", from "German Democratic Republic", East Germany's official name) by its very presence in the country had hastened the fall of the communist regime in 1989 which in turn led to its reunification with West Germany to form modern-day Germany, the Freiberg area's prosperity in the relatively poor eastern Germany is also attributed to the temple's location in the city[27]
- that wearing temple garments affords physical protection, and that some wearers have survived car wrecks, floods, and other calamities unscathed thanks to the protective power of the garments[28]
Predictions
The following are examples of predictions or prophecies that are part of Mormon folklore:
See also
References
- Allred, David A. Representing Culture: Reflexivity and Mormon Folklore Scholarship. Thesis. Brigham Young University, March 2000.
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Notes and References
- Encyclopedia: William A. . Wilson . http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/3704 . Folklore . 518–520 . Ludlow . Daniel H . Daniel H. Ludlow . . New York . . 1992 . 0-02-879602-0 . 24502140.
- Letter by Abraham O. Smoot, quoted in:
- [Wilford Woodruff]
- [Jeffrey R. Chadwick]
- John P. Pratt, "Passover—Was It Symbolic of His Coming?", Ensign, January 1994.
- [James E. Talmage]
- Book: Wilson. William A.. Brunvand. Jan Harold. American folklore: an encyclopedia. 1996. Garland Publ.. New York. 978-0-8153-0751-8. Mormon Folklore.
- Book: Wilson, William A. Wilson. Eliason. Eric A.. Mould. Tom. Latter-day lore: Mormon folklore studies . 2013. 978-1-60781-285-2. 22 June 2017. Freeways, Parking Lots, and Ice Cream Stands: The Three Nephites in Contemporary Society.
- Michael T. Griffith (1996). One Lord, One Faith: Writings of the Early Christian Fathers as Evidences of the Restoration (Bountiful, Utah: Horizon)
- [Jacob Spori]
- Paul B. Pixton, "'Play It Again, Sam': The Remarkable 'Prophesy' of Samuel Lutz, Alias Christophilus Gratianus, Reconsidered", BYU Studies, 25:3 (1985) pp 27–46.
- [William G. Hartley]
- Lynne Watkins Jorgensen, "The Mantle of the Prophet Joseph Passes to Brother Brigham: One Hundred Twenty-one Testimonies of a Collective Spiritual Witness", in John W. Welch (ed.) (2005). Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844 (Provo and Salt Lake City, Utah: BYU Press and Deseret Book) pp. 373–480.
- [Matthew Cowley]
- [Grant Underwood]
- [R. Lanier Britsch]
- Book: Harris . Matthew L. . Bringhurst . Newell G. . The Mormon Church and Blacks . 2015 . University of Illinois Press . Chicago . 978-0-252-08121-7 .
- Smith . Darron . The Persistence of Racialized Discourse in Mormonism . Sunstone . March 2003 .
- Sterling M. McMurrin affidavit, March 6, 1979. See David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism by Greg Prince and William Robert Wright. Quoted by Genesis Group
- News: Black Mormons Lament that Race is Taboo Topic at Church . Peggy Fletcher Stack . The Salt Lake Tribune . January 12, 2015.
- Book: Bush . Lester E. Jr. . Mauss . Armand L. . Armand L. Mauss . Neither White Nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church . . 1984 . Salt Lake City, Utah . 0-941214-22-2.
- Book: W. Paul Reeve . Reeve . W. Paul . Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness . 2015 . Oxford University Press . New York, New York . 978-0-19-975407-6.
- Stewart, John J. Mormonism and the Negro Salt Lake City, Utah: 1960, Bookmark (This book discusses and then dismisses this belief).
- News: Horowitz . Jason . The Genesis of a church's stand on race . 26 March 2018 . Washington Post . 28 February 2012.
- Paul C. Richards, "The Salt Lake Temple Infrastructure: Studying It Out in Their Minds", BYU Studies (1996–1997).
- .
- News: Taylor. Scott. Non-Mormons call Freiberg Germany LDS temple their own. 2022-04-10. Deseret News. 2010-09-06.
- Hank Stuever, "Unmentionable No Longer: What Do Mormons Wear? A Polite Smile, if Asked About 'the Garment'", Washington Post, 2002-02-26, p. C1.
- [Harold B. Lee]
- [Joseph Fielding Smith]
- [Ezra Taft Benson]
- Encyclopedia: John S. . Robertson . http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/5449 . Adamic Language . Ludlow . Daniel H . Daniel H. Ludlow . . New York . . 1992 . 0-02-879602-0 . 24502140.
- Book: Papanikolas . Zeese . Trickster in the Land of Dreams . registration . Dream Mining . 1995 . University of Nebraska Press . Lincoln, Nebraska . 0803237030 . 64–5.