Originally posted by Ineti
Not to spin the thread off-topic, but how can one "technically" be a Mormon, or any other religion for that matter?
No offense taken. Please allow me to explain:
I belong to a church called the Community of Christ. Up until April 2001, we were called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
After the founder of our church, Joseph Smith, Jr., was assassinated by an angry mob in Illinois in 1844 (he was in jail for the practice of his faith, actually), the church was in a state of confusion and disorganization for several years, and divided into factions. The largest group moved westward to the Great Salt Lake Valley under the direction of an influential church leader, Brigham Young. Smaller factions scattered in all directions.
A group of factions that remained in the area believed that Smith had designated his son, Joseph Smith III (who was 12 at the time). They had loosely organized by the mid-1850s, and, when JSIII was old enough to take the mantle of leadership, officially reformed in 1860 as the RLDS.
We consider the Book of Mormon to be a testimony of God's work with the peoples of the New World, and we also codify our church doctrine in a book called the Doctrine and Covenants (although our D&C differs greatly from the Mormon D&C, since we've been separated for over 150 years ). As for the "Pearl of Great Price", we know it to be a simple translation by Joseph Smith, Jr., of an Egyptian manuscript....and nothing more. Some Mormons, I'm told, believe it to be more than it is....and I'll leave it at that.
So, as you can see, we and the Mormons share a common beginning, but have gone separate ways. We have a membership of about 250,000 in 50 different nations.
So, technically, I'm a Mormon (the AP style guide actually calls us a "sect" of the Mormon church), although we have used the nickname "the Saints" for ourselves (to differentiate us from the Salt Lake church).
If anyone is interested in reading more, you can go to:
http://www.cofchrist.org/
Okay, I apologize for completely hijacking this thread.
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I watched the movie Saturday evening, but didn't see anything different from what I remember...does anyone know if scenes were added/altered from the original release?
Davy Jones
"Frightened? My dear, you are looking at a man who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom, and chuckled at catastrophe! I was petrified."
-- The Wizard of Oz