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______________________________________________ Influenced by the Churches of Christ? (from Wikipedia) Martin Harris was the first financier of The Book of Mormon. He was also one of Three Witnesses of The Book of Mormon who testified they were shown the Golden Plates in a vision.. He had previously spent time in the Restoration Movement, as well as several other new movements of the time. Sidney Rigdon's influence over the Latter Day Saints movement is considered by many to have been nearly as strong as that of church founder Joseph Smith Jr. Sidney Rigdon served as a Regular Baptist preacher for a number of years in his early life, but became disaffected after close associations with Alexander Campbell and Walter Scott, founders of the Restoration Movement. Rigdon became a popular Restoration Movement preacher in the Western Reserve area of Ohio and led congregations in Kirtland and Mentor. Many prominent early Mormon leaders, including Parley P. Pratt and Edward Partridge were members of Rigdon's Restoration Movement congregations prior to their conversion to Mormonism. Rigdon is reputed to have read the Book of Mormon and believed in it. He was baptized into Mormonism and converted hundreds of members of his Ohio congregations to the new religion. In 1830, Rigdon traveled to New York to meet Joseph Smith. Smith recognized Rigdon's gift as a fiery orator, and Smith appointed him the spokesman for the church. Rigdon also served as a scribe and helped with Smith's ongoing re-translation of the Bible. Many believe that Rigdon was the true force behind Mormonism, believing that Rigdon took a manuscript of a novel from a Pittsburgh publishing company that had been written by Solomon Spalding. Supposedly the novel contained the "historical portion" of the Book of Mormon which Rigdon re-worked and expanded into its present form. For more on this click here. The Name "Church of Christ" From the
organization of the Mormon church there has been contention over the name. David
Whitmer (the sixth person baptized in the group, and before the church was
organized, one who claims to have seen the gold plates of the Book of Mormon,
and conversed with the Angel who translated the plates), together with Harris
and Cowdery, the other witnesses, with many other leading men, claimed that the
proper name was "The Church of Christ." (Whitmer's address, pages
73-75). 3 Nephi
27:8 reads: "And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a
church be called in Moses' name then it be Moses' church; or if it be called in
the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name
then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel." Similarities 1. Communion is taken every Sunday in the Mormon Church. 2. Mormons do not believe in the traditional definition of the Trinity, as many hard-line Churches of Christ do not. The Mormons believe that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three separate persons entirely, as do the Churches of Christ. Beyond this the definition of the godhead is markedly different from the Churches of Christ. 3. Mormons also do not believe in original sin. 4. Alexander Campbell wrote: "Baptism for remission is, however, taught in the Book of Mormon, and therefore, according to his own reasoning, the inference is wholly an imagination. It is found variously and frequently stated in the Book of Mormon. On page 479 it is expressed in the following words:--'Blessed are they which shall believe in your words, and be baptized: for they shall be visited with fire and the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins.' Again, p. 581. 'Baptism is unto repentance for the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins.' Again, p. 582. 'The first point of repentance is baptism, and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling of the commandment, and the fulfilling of the commandment is unto the remission of sins.' Indeed, as early as page 240 it is plainly taught in the form of a precept--'Come and be baptized unto repentance, that you may be washed from your sins.' " ______________________________________________ |
Many parts of the Book of Mormon show the name
of the church was "The Church of Christ."
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