It struck me that Joseph Smith managed to create a tolerable copycat of the actual religion of the ancient Israelites. Plus minus a few things, obviously. Below are some of the similarities.
Temple worship. Not everyone can serve in the Temple.
The Mormon Church sees itself as the ten lost tribes of Israel in-gathered at a new Zion.
Polytheism or henotheism rather than "strict" monotheism. Compare the "gods" in the Book of Abraham. A Queen in Heaven who is the wife of God the Father. This is similar to Yahweh and his Asera!
Anthropomorphic gods. Similar to how Yahweh is sometimes described in the Old Testament.
The Father and the Son (Jesus) are two different gods. The Jews eventually started to believe in a great angel who was a lesser god compared to Yahweh.
Polygamy. Prophets. Special dietary rules.
The second anointing, which makes the leader of the Mormon Church king in the kingdom of God on Earth. This is similar to the coronation of the king of Israel who also became Son of God.
In the Jewish Temple, there was a veil hiding the Holy of Holies. During a Mormon temple ritual, the person initiated is taken "through the veil" but only if he knows the right passwords, which he has to give to "God". (This is actually more similar to ancient Egyptian religion!)
What Joseph Smith missed, evidently, was restoring the primitive Christian Gospel! Jesus supposedly destroyed the veil in the Temple, and obviously did away with Temple worship. This "populist" aspect of Christianity was clearly a departure from Second Temple Judaism. It´s present in Mormonism in the missionary outreach (which is typically Christian), but in many other ways, the Mormons have turned back to a restored Old Testament dispensation...
Intressant tagning. Andra har kallat mormonism för katolicism för nordeuropeer, kanske ligger något i bägge synsätten.
ReplyDeleteJag tror att det stämmer. Det "katolska" inslaget beror säkert på att Joseph Smith var inspirerad av frimureri som i sin tur vurmade för tempeljudendom. Dessutom är ju katolska kyrkan ett slags återuppstånden tempeljudendom, vilket väl var mest uppenbart under medeltiden, när mässorna i kyrkan var nästan hemliga, etc.
ReplyDeleteOch det är bara mormoner som undkommer helvetet:
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/jbNnsiP4Rhg
Det roliga är att mormonerna faktiskt anser att många icke-mormoner hamnar i ett lägre himmelrike. Om jag minns rätt finns det tre nivåer i himmelriket. På engelska kallas de celestial, terrestrial och telestial. Jag tror att tempelmormoner hamnar i den högsta nivån, alla andra mormoner i den andra, och alla rättfärdiga icke-mormoner i den tredje. Bara en minoritet skickas till helvetet.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrees_of_glory
Har ett väldigt svagt minne av att den där tredelningen egentligen kommer från Swedenborg!
ReplyDeleteHan tycks ha inspirerat folk lite över allt.
DeleteSouthpark yrar i sketchen. Jehovas vittnen tror inte alls på helvetet etc.
ReplyDeleteÄlskar dock den den trötte tjänstemannen som säger "Abandon hope, yada, yada yada".
Djävulen verkade trött också!
ReplyDelete