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Originally Posted by scripturesearcher
Can someone help me to understand the differences between LDS and RLDS?
I am not a member of either church at the moment, but would like to be able to compare the two before I consider joining either one.
Thanks,
ScriptureSearcher
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The original Church was formed in 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr. He established it and rec'd many revelations for its organization and doctrines.
From the beginning, there were people who, individually or in groups, became disaffected and left. Some of these united to form Churches.
In 1844, Joseph was martyred and shortly thereafter a major rift occurred, as Brigham Young became the new leader for most of the Saints, but other groups split off, following people such as James Strang, Sidney Rigdon, Charles Thompson and Jason Briggs.
After the Church (led by Brigham and the other apostles) left Nauvoo many members who did not go with them simply were leaderless. After Joseph Smith III got a bit older, he felt inspired to start the Reorganized Church, mostly due to the efforts of Briggs and Gurley and some of their associates. Emma (Joseph Smith Jr.'s widow) didn't mind, as long as there was no talk of polygamy, which was probably a key factor in why she and several others did not follow Brigham Young and the rest of the Church to Utah.
The Reorganized Church had some shared beliefs with the LDS (Book of Mormon, JSJr. as a prophet, revelation and continuing prophets) and then some unique beliefs apart from the LDS -- no killing except in direct defense of family (ie, conscientious objectors), and leadership by descent. This last has caused great trouble in the last 50 years, as no more male descendants have been available to take the leadership of the RLDS church.
The RLDS has re-defined Joseph Smith Jr. as not-quite-a-prophet (imo), has redefined the Book of Mormon as an expression of Joseph's belief (instead of an actual ancient scripture), has changed their name to the Community of Christ, has begun to ordain women to the priesthood, and many other things. With each move, more offshoots have formed in protest. This has also happened with the LDS Church, mainly with those that did not agree with the discontinuing of polygamy in 1890. (the FLDS, and Church of the Firstborn, for examples).
Hope that helps.
HiJolly