What is the LDS Church and how does it differ from Catholicism?

Sociology and Psychology

Photo by: John Lau

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or more commonly known as the Mormon Church, founded in 1830 by 6 principal members, now contains a membership of 16.8 million according to a 2021 statistical report. With this exponential growth, largely due to the Mormon missionary program (With a total of 168, 283 converts baptised in 2021), the church is now considered the fourth largest Christian denomination in the US.

The Church fundamentally believes in the Book of Mormon as a third scripture, equally as important as the Old and New Testament. This scripture inspires the belief of a second coming of Jesus, as many denominations do, although the difference in this scripture is the fact that the creation of the promised land will be in America. The text describes the journey of prophet Lehi and his family who are warned by God that Jerusalem is to be destroyed and that they must flee to the continent of America. Once there, the family is divided due to conflict over faith and two nations are created from the two sides of the family, the Nephites and the Lamanites. Much of the scripture is filled with the conflict between the two nations, resulting in the destruction of the Nephites and the Lamanites who survived were “among the ancestors of the American Indians”. The texts also claim that after Jesus was resurrected, he appeared to the people in America and establishes his church, with teachings of forgiveness and baptism.

The scripture was published by Joseph Smith in 1830 after receiving a message from the Heavenly figure Moroni where he “translated the Book of Mormon from (the) hieroglyphics” of plates taken from the plates of Delphi which were written by Mormon (a man who lived in ancient America in about 311 –385 AD).

The first clear difference between Catholicism and the LDS Church is the belief of the place of Zion (the heavenly city or kingdom of heaven). The Catholic Zion is believed to be Jerusalem or more accurately the hill in Jerusalem on which the City of David was built. However, the LDS Church has claimed many different places to be a Zion, these being Kirtland, Nauvoo, Zarahemla and most famously Salt Lake Valley Utah, however, Joseph Smith also claims that the entirety of America is a Zion.

A common practice in the LDS church is abstaining from caffeine and alcohol. Unlike Catholicism which allows the consummation of alcohol and other substances, the evangelical church allows the consumption of caffeine and not alcohol and the LDS Church are counselled by their leaders not to drink caffeine or alcohol as part of a health code to live happier lives. The missionary program is also a large part of the LDS community, with 54, 539 full-time missionaries active in 2021, often travelling across seas in order to complete these. The men in the LDS church are further expected to complete a mission, however, it is not compulsory, and the women are also able to complete one. A belief held by the LDS church is that the holy trinity (The father, the son, and the holy spirit) are three separate beings who are “one in purpose”, whilst the Catholic church believes that the Holy Trinity is one person.

The theme of sexual ethics is vastly similar between Catholicism and the LDS church with a frowning upon sex before a heterosexual marriage. The unity purposes of marriage are stressed to a greater extent by the LDS church, but it also expresses the importance of children much like in the catholic church. This is shown in the legislation of birth control, where contraceptives are not banned by the LDS church as they are in the catholic church, but the importance of children is still emphasised. Young members of the LDS church however do not usually have a relationship with someone of the opposite sex until they are 16 years old, and many get married at a young age.