Trinity

TRINITY & OTHER DOCTRINES OF GOD:
PROF. M. M. NINAN
XVIII
Mormonism originated in the 1820s in western New York during a
period of religious excitement known as the Second Great Awakening.
After praying about which denomination he should join, Joseph Smith,
Jr. said he received a vision in the spring of 1820. Called the "First
Vision", Smith claimed God the Father instructed him to join none of
the existing churches because they were all wrong. During the 1820s
Smith reported several angelic visitations, and was eventually told
that God would use him to re-establish the true Christian church, and
that the Book of Mormon would be the means of establishing correct
doctrine for the restored church. Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and other
early followers, began baptizing new converts in 1829. Formally
organized in 1830 as the Church of Christ. Smith was seen by his
followers as a modern-day prophet.
Joseph Smith claimed The Book of Mormon was translated from writing
on golden plates in a reformed Egyptian language, translated with the
assistance of the Urim and Thummim and seer stones. Both the special
spectacles and the seer stone were at times referred to as the "Urim
and Thummim". He said an angel first showed him the location of the
plates in 1823, buried in a nearby hill, but he was not allowed to take
the plates until 1827. Smith began dictating the text of The Book of
Mormon around the fall of 1827 until the summer of 1828 when 116
pages were lost. Translation began again in April 1829 and finished in
June 1829, saying that he translated it "by the gift and power of God".
After the translation was completed, Smith said the plates were
returned to the angel. During Smith's supposed possession, very few people were allowed to
"witness" the plates.
137