by megan | Jul 31, 2013 | About Mormons
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir represents The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes referred to as the Mormon Church. The Choir is based in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, and was established almost as soon as the wagons stopped rolling in the Salt Lake Valley. When the Choir was first started in 1847, it consisted of only a few voices; now, the Choir numbers 360 Latter-day Saint voices.
History of the Choir
Brigham Young, second president of The Church of Jesus Christ, directed a small choir to be formed soon after the Latter-day Saints arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1847. This choir performed for the Church’s first general conference, or church-wide worship meeting, in the Salt Lake Valley. Since then, the Choir has continued to grow and perform for the Church and the world. (more…)
by Delisa Hargrove | May 23, 2013 | Mormons in the News
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often inadvertently called the Mormon Church) love recording and retelling stories of the history of the Church.
Scriptural injunctions reinforce the story telling and recording tradition. In latter-day scriptures, the Doctrine & Covenants (a collection of modern revelations), the Lord commands the Church’s history to be written:
I say unto you that it shall be appointed unto him to keep the church record and history continually; Wherefore, it shall be given him, inasmuch as he is faithful, by the Comforter, to write these things. Even so. Amen. (Doctrine & Covenants 47:3-4)
A Legacy of Story Telling
While crossing the desolate plains from Illinois to Utah in the 1840s, my Latter-day Saint (LDS or Mormon) pioneer ancestors’ journals record days of journeying hardships and evenings of singing, dancing, and story telling. Brigham Young, president of the Church during the Mormon migration westward, encouraged Latter-day Saints to gather around the evening campfire and rejoice together. As they constantly recounted the blessings of the Lord in their lives, the difficult journey became increasingly bearable–one day at a time. (more…)
by byustudent | Mar 18, 2013 | About Mormons
Brigham Young University (BYU) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” As part of their undergraduate coursework, BYU students take multiple semesters of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.
In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures.
In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America. (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names. We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages.) (more…)