There have been many LDS and non-LDS scholars and historians who have noted the similarities between the Mormon belief of eternal progression and the espoused beliefs of the fathers of the early Christian Church, especially in relation to those patristic writings of the first, second, and third centuries A. D.

As noted by both LDS and non-LDS scholars of early Christianity, there exist many references to a more literal belief in deification in the writings of the Church Fathers ( which some LDS and non-LDS scholars and early Church historians claim most closely resemble the beliefs of Mormon Christians than the beliefs of any other modern faith group derived from the Christian tradition ), including, but certainly not limited to, the following:

Packer has advocated that LDS historians should refrain from discussing history that does not promote faith.

" Packer's opinion applied to all historians who were members of the LDS Church: he stated, " One who chooses to follow the tenets of his profession, regardless of how they may injure the Church or destroy the faith of those not ready for ' advanced history ', is himself in spiritual jeopardy.

Many historians consider Woodruff's journals his most important contribution to LDS Church history.

Several LDS and non-LDS historians specializing in studies of the early Christian Church also claim that the Mormon belief in eternal progression is most similar to the ancient Christian defication as set forth in numerous patristic writings of the first through fourth centuries A. D. than the beliefs of any other modern faith group of the Christian tradition.

Several LDS historians believe that the term was used prior to Sharp's mention, and has ties to sympathetic Democrats in Jackson County, Missouri.

Notable contributors include Mormon historians Leonard J. Arrington, and Thomas G. Alexander, former Salt Lake City mayor Ted Wilson, noted non-Mormon LDS historian Jan Shipps, authors Steven R. Covey, Gerald N. Lund, and Richard Eyre, respected scholar and apologist Hugh Nibley, and a few members of LDS hierarchy like Paul Evans, H. David Burton, and Jeffery R. Holland.

Some LDS scholars believe that the forebears of the Nephites settled somewhere in present-day Central America after departing Jerusalem.

" Two LDS scholars, researching weather reports and maple sugar production records, argue that the most likely exact date for the First Vision was Sunday, March 26, 1820.

When discussing the Mormon Christian belief in eternal progression, various Mormon and non-LDS scholars generally refer to a couplet written by Lorenzo Snow, the fifth president of the LDS Church, which states as follows:

It has been noted by several LDS and non-LDS scholars that the LDS expression of this widely-held Christian doctrine is often misrepresented and misunderstood when applied to Mormon Christians.

Because of this alleged misunderstanding, several LDS scholars ( and occasionally LDS authorities and theologians ) have sought to clarify the beliefs of Mormon Christians regarding the subject of exaltation.

LDS scholars, particularly at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University, point out that there are no limitations on these biblical passages and declarations ; those who become as God shall inherit all things.

FARMS ( a research group composed of LDS scholars, but which at the time had no formal connection to the LDS church ) published several articles which examined the Salamander Letter, such as " Why Might a Person in 1830 Connect an Angel With a Salamander?

Because LDS scholars had not yet had an opportunity to compare the corrected edition of the 1944 CoC edition of the Bible version to the original manuscripts, its initial acceptance by LDS Church members was limited.

Some scholars have also, at least in private, been very pleased that the Tanners have made available hard-to-find printed works from early LDS history ... even those scholars who are most critical of the Tanners and their methods have profited, at least indirectly, because the Tanners ' allegations have spurred them to begin their own investigations into vital and still incompletely understood topics .... Jerald and Sandra Tanner have functioned with regard to Mormonism in much the same way that Ralph Nader has functioned with regard to American business ....

On occasion, the Tanners have publicly challenged critics of Mormonism and earned praise from some LDS scholars.

But, the Tanners agreed with Hofmann in saying that the apparent inability of LDS scholars to discern the forged documents was evidence that the church leadership was not divinely inspired.

However, as Whitmer was never directly involved in the translation and Harris was involved for only a brief period of time, LDS scholars consider it unlikely that either of these accounts is as accurate as the accounts of Smith and Cowdery.

Fundamentalists ( and many scholars of Mormon history ) also believe that a primary impetus for the 1890 Manifesto was the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887, a stringent federal law that legally dissolved the LDS Church, disenfranchised women ( who had been given the vote in Utah in 1870 ), and required voters to take an anti-polygamy oath before being permitted to vote in an election.

However, a candidate for the location accepted by several LDS scholars was discovered in May 1995.

Explorations of the textual foundations of the JST began in earnest with the pioneering work of the CoC scholar Richard P. Howard and the LDS scholar Robert J. Matthews beginning in the 1960s.

Notable alumni and faculty include business magnate J. Willard Marriott, author-historian Fawn Brodie, past LDS Church president David O. McKay, communications expert Mark Evans Austad, inventor of the industrial diamond H. Tracy Hall, U. S. Secretary of the Treasury David M. Kennedy, prominent lawyer and university president Ernest L. Wilkinson, former president and CEO of T-Mobile USA Robert Dotson president of Black & Decker Nolan D. Archibald, professional basketball coaches Dick Motta and Phil Johnson, and band and orchestra composer Clair W. Johnson.

Robert Dean Hales ( born August 24, 1932 ) is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( LDS Church ).

In contrast to numerous scholarly analyses of Joseph Smith's translations of the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham that began to appear in the 19th century, explorations of the textual foundations of the JST began in earnest only in the 1960s, with the pioneering work of the RLDS scholar Richard P. Howard and the LDS scholar Robert J. Matthews.

* Robert J. Matthews ( born 1927 ), LDS religious educator

* Larry L. Richman-magazine and website publisher for the LDS Church.

* Neil L. Andersen – LDS Church apostle ( born in Logan ; raised in Pocatello, Idaho )

* Quentin L. Cook – LDS Church apostle

* L. Tom Perry – LDS Church apostle, graduate of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University.

A choir directed by Thomas L. Hardee and composed of singers from Huntington and neighboring Cleveland won an Eisteddfod competition hosted by the Scofield Welsh Choir in 1895, and later performed at an LDS general conference in Salt Lake City.

In a speech given at BYU in 2010, Glenn L. Pace, a member of the LDS Church's First Quorum of the Seventy, said, “ Sisters, I testify that when you stand in front of your heavenly parents in those royal courts on high and look into Her eyes and behold Her countenance, any question you ever had about the role of women in the kingdom will evaporate into the rich celestial air, because at that moment you will see standing directly in front of you, your divine nature and destiny .”

* James B. Allen, " The Rise and Decline of the LDS Indian Student Placement Program, 1947-1996 ," Mormons, Scripture, and the Ancient World: Studies in Honor of John L. Sorenson, ed.

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Wirthlin was the son of Joseph L. Wirthlin, who was also an LDS Church general authority, serving as Presiding Bishop from 1952 to 1961, and Madeline Bitner Wirthlin.

A successor to Utah Magazine ( 1868 ), the publication was founded in 1870 as the Mormon Tribune by a group of businessmen led by former LDS Church members William Godbe, Elias L. T.

* Sheri L. Dew, LDS author and president / CEO of Deseret Book, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

An influential non-Mormon Thomas L. Kane, seeking to convince the LDS leadership to establish a volunteer military group ( later known as the Mormon Battalion ), received permission from the U. S. federal government for the group to encamp in Omaha Tribe lands, including the site of Cutler's Park.

* Joseph L. Townsend, author of the words for Choose the Right, hymn 239 in the 1985 LDS Hymnal

* L. Edward Brown ( born 1937 ), mayor of Pocatello, Idaho, member of the Idaho House of Representatives, and leader in the LDS Church

According to LDS Doctrine, Michael the Archangel became the first man on earth, Adam, to experience his mortality.

Some Latter-day Saints ( LDS or Mormons ) believe it to be the language of God.

LDS Apostle Orson Pratt declared that " Ahman ", part of the name of the settlement " Adam-ondi-Ahman " in Daviess County, Missouri, was the name of God in the Adamic language.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( Mormon or LDS Church ) who hold the Melchizedek priesthood may use consecrated oil in performing the ordinance of blessing of the " sick or afflicted ", though oil is not required if it is unavailable.

In Alma Chapter 5, Alma the Younger speaks to the people of Zarahemla in which he asks 50 rhetorical questions which are widely cited in the LDS church.

At the intersection of Columbus Avenue and West 65th Street, Broadway passes by the Juilliard School and Lincoln Center, both well-known performing arts landmarks, as well as a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( the Mormon or LDS Church ), known as the Manhattan New York Temple.

He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( LDS Church ) from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah Territory, United States.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( the LDS Church or, colloquially, the Mormon Church ) is a Christian primitivist church that considers itself to be a restoration of the church founded by Jesus Christ.

LDS theology includes the Christian doctrine of salvation only through Jesus Christ, though LDS doctrines regarding the nature of God and the potential of mankind differ significantly from mainstream Christianity.

Other than the Bible, the majority of the LDS canon constitutes revelation dictated by Joseph Smith and includes commentary and exegesis about the Bible, texts described as lost parts of the Bible, and other works believed to be written by ancient prophets.

He also introduced the church to a full accounting of his First Vision, in which two heavenly " personages " ( LDS interpret them to be God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ ) appeared to him at age 14.

This vision would come to be regarded by the LDS Church as the most important event in human history after the resurrection of Jesus.

Brigham Young led the LDS Church from 1844 until his death in 1877.

As groups ( over 60, 000 ) arrived over a period of years, LDS settlers branched out and colonized a large region now known as the Mormon Corridor.

The standard works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( LDS Church ) are the four books that currently constitute its open scriptural canon, due to the LDS belief in continuous revelation.

The standard works are printed and distributed by the LDS Church in a single binding called a quadruple combination and as a set of two books, with the Bible in one binding, and the other three books in a second binding called a triple combination.

Under the LDS Church's doctrine of continuing revelation, Latter-day Saints believe literally in the principle of revelation from God to his children.

When a doctrine undergoes this procedure, the LDS Church treats it as the word of God, and it is used as a standard to compare other doctrines.

English-speaking Latter-day Saints typically own and study the LDS Church-published edition of the King James Version of the Bible, which includes LDS-oriented chapter headings, footnotes referencing books in the Standard Works, and select passages from the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible.

Though the King James Version ( KJV ) was always commonly used, it was officially adopted in the 1950s when J. Reuben Clark, of the First Presidency, argued extensively that newer translations, such as Revised Standard Version of 1952, were of lower quality and less compatible with LDS tradition.

Though the Bible is part of the LDS canon and members believe it to be the word of God, they believe that omissions and mistranslations are present in even the earliest known manuscripts.

The manuscripts of the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible state that " the Song of Solomon is not inspired scripture ," and therefore it is not included in LDS canon and rarely studied by members of the LDS Church.