The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) forbids the broadcasting of a funeral service on the internet or "in any other way."

The LDS announced details today for Tuesday's funeral services for Jonah Lomu.

The services will take place from 10am on Tuesday 1 December at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' meetinghouse at 15 Robertson Road, Mangere, Auckland.

Family members and friends have been invited to attend at the Robertson Road meetinghouse.

Others who wish to pay their respects are welcome to attend gatherings in four other locations around Auckland where a video feed will be broadcast.

Video recordings and "computer or other electronic presentations" should not be used as part of a funeral service.

Taking photographs, videos or sound recordings are not permitted in any of the five locations during the service.

"Funeral services are some of the most solemn and sacred meetings of the Church," said former president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Boyd K. Packer (1924—2015).

"It is a time of caring and support when families gather in a spirit of tender regard for one another. It is a time to soberly contemplate doctrines of the gospel and the purposes for the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ."

According to the LDS Church handbook members are counselled to avoid practices or traditions that are so expensive or prolonged that they impose a hardship on the living or impair them from proceeding with their lives.

Church leaders and members must seek to make services associated with a person's death "a dignified, solemn and spiritual experience for all who participate".

Services are generally held under the direction of a bishop and may vary between countries but the underlying principles remain universal. According to the handbook "teaching and testifying about the plan of salvation is essential".

The church handbook also gives direction on burials. "Where possible, deceased members who were endowed should be buried in temple clothing.

Where cultural traditions or burial practices make this inappropriate or difficult, the clothing may be folded and placed next to the body in the casket," it said.

"The church does not normally encourage cremation."

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• mormonnewsroom.org.nz
• Image: mormonsinsports.blogs.deseretnews.com

Elder M. Russell Ballard made this remark at a gathering in Argentina last year, but it has only recently come to light in media.

The comment has raised hackles both within and outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Near the end of an hour long address, Elder Ballard said: "Most people don't know where they came from. They don't know why they're here, and they don't know where they're going."

"And if they have a Catholic background, they don't know who God is. They don't know who the Saviour is; nor do they know who the Holy Ghost is."

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Movie-goers who saw "Meet the Mormons" were invited to make a gold coin donation for Caritas.

Proceeds were handed over to Catholic Church representatives at a Latter Day Saints facility in Manukau on February 24.

The film was intended to explain who the Mormons are, not to proselytise.

Elder S. Gifford Nielsen said: "The relationship with our friends from the Catholic Church is getting stronger."

Caritas chief executive Julianne Hickey said: "This experience has enhanced my understanding of what we share and what we have in common."

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Theatres in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupo, Tokoroa, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch screened the movie which was produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and directed by Blair Treu.

The Latter-day Saints' Pacific Area Director of Public Affairs, Richard Hunter, says the movie's release is "a great way for members and guests of the Church to celebrate this year's 175th anniversary of the first Latter-day Saint to arrive in the region."

But, "Meet the Mormons" is not a documentary but an informercial, "meant less to inform than to introduce a sales pitch." says Sean Deans writing in the Salt Lake Tribune.

He says it does not tackle any of the issues faced by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, (LDS) or answer any of the questions about the church raised by those who are not true believers.

" The movie is simply a string of vignettes, all nicely told by director Blair Treu, telling the stories of six members of the LDS Church whose lives and work are influenced by their Mormon faith."

"The movie, like the church's 'I'm a Mormon' ad campaign that it resembles, is great at presenting its six subjects as just regular folks who credit their faith for giving their lives foundation."

"Nothing wrong with that, except there's little that differentiates Mormonism from other denominations."

"There are fleeting mentions of doctrine in Jones' narration — like the Book of Mormon or the fact that Mormons don't drink."

"But there's nothing in the movie about Mormon history, and no discussion of the unique aspects of LDS doctrine about which non-Mormons tend to be the most curious."

Traditional Mormon missionaries are familiar to most New Zealanders. They dress in distinctive way and go from house house in pairs knocking on doors, explaining why their Lord was the one true Lord.

Now the LDS successfully embraced the new media.

The Mormon church's unprecedented experiment in Internet-based proselytizing, has become a wildly successful undertaking and is the subject of a feature story in The Huffington Post.

Last June, thanks in large part to the wave a converts added by internet missionaries, the church announced it would put previously banned tools like Facebook and text messaging into the hands of all its missionaries.

Source

• Scoop
• Scoop
• sltrib.com
• Huffington Post
• Image: byu.edu

Who were these women, and what are their stories?

Smith was already married when he began to set his sights on other women.

His first wife, Emma, had wed the handsome, charismatic religious leader in 1827 with the firm belief that it would be a traditional relationship.

Emma suffered multiple miscarriages during her life and lost several children after they were born.

When her husband began to practice polygamy, she may have felt like something of a failure, according to Jana Riess, a Mormon blogger for Religion News Service.

"Imagine what it would have felt like to be her, and see her husband apparently abandoning her to be with others who might be able to bear him children," said Riess.

Church officials could not provide The Huffington Post with a comprehensive list of Smith's wives.

But historians have been able to learn quite a lot about the women by piecing together information from diaries and family histories.

The church's public affairs department directed HuffPost to Todd Compton, a Mormon researcher whose 1997 book In Sacred Loneliness compiles a list of 33 well-documented wives of Joseph Smith — although the total number is likely as high as 40.

Emma was allegedly disturbed by the doctrine on polygamy, which Joseph claims he received through divine revelation.

Her stance put the prophet in the position of having to choose between God's will and his wife's.

As Joseph would later tell it, it wasn't until an angel appeared to him, brandishing a sword and threatening destruction, that the prophet finally agreed to obey the commandment fully. Continue reading

Sources

• Huff Post Religion
• Image: Dear Kitty

The church's teachings had previously portrayed Smith has having been happily married to one woman only.

The revelations of Smith's polygamy came in an essay posted on the LDS church's website, The Telegraph reported.

This followed speculation on the Internet concerning Smith's marital history.

Addressing Smith's wife count, the essay notes that "careful estimates put the number between 30 and 40".

Some of these women were already married to others, while one wife was just short of her 15th birthday.

The church also notes that Smith's multiple marriages caused great pain to his first wife Emma.

"Plural marriage was difficult for all involved.

"For Joseph Smith's wife Emma, it was an excruciating ordeal," the essay stated.

The LDS church disavowed plural marriage in 1890 under pressure from the US government.

Their home territory of Utah was granted statehood as part of the deal, though some breakaway Mormon cults have continued the practice.

According to the essay, Smith was a reluctant polygamist but relented under the threats of an angel which ordered him to obey "the commandment fully".

Smith regarded his fledgling church as a restoration of the "ancient principles" of Biblical prophets such as Abraham, who practised plural marriage.

He also authorised other Mormons to practice plural marriage, it said.

The Church notes that Smith would not have consummated all the marriages as some were "eternity only sealings" - relationships to be taken up in the afterlife.

Smith' marriage to his 14-year-old bride was in this category, the church added, implying that it had never been consummated.

The essay also noted polygamy rapidly increased the Mormon population at a time when the church faced religious persecution and economic hardship.

Sources

• The Telegraph
• Image: Salon.com

They will meet with Prime Minister John Key and a number of Members of Parliament on 25 June.

The visit is being jointly organised by Catholics and Mormons to expose some of the churches' young adults to the leaders of the nation, and also to introduce Mr Key and MPs to the group.

On the day before the visit to parliament, Tuesday 24 June, the group will assemble personal care kits for men at the Wellington Night Shelter, visit the Wellington Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, learn about Caritas, and attend a devotional service in Porirua with leaders from both churches.

Elder Kevin W. Pearson, a member of the Latter-day Saints' Pacific Area Presidency, will speak to the young adults on Tuesday evening, and also participate in the visit to Parliament.

Sister Catherine Jones smsm, Chair of the NZ Catholic Bishops Committee for Interfaith Relations, will also attend the two-day activity and speak to the young people on Tuesday evening.

Source

• The Human Rights Commission
• Mormonnewsroom.org.nz
• Image: Mormonnewsroom.org

If the text is read literally Kolob is a planet geographically close to God or where Mormons go in the afterlife.

In a post on the LDS Church's official website, "Becoming Like God," say that the Latter-day Saints' doctrine of exaltation is reduced in media to a cartoonish image of people receiving their own planets

The writer says few Latter-day Saints would identify with caricatures of having their own planet.

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He said that news of the ban came from a small group of Samoan church members who were unhappy about a 2007 decision to re-organise their congregations in Brisbane.

However lawyer, Olinda Woodroffe, who is representing a group of Samoans from five Mormon wards in Brisbane, says the church does not allow its members to use anything other than English during worship.

She says a 2007 court decision proves that.

"Is he not aware of the decision of the Federal Magistrate Courts in Australia where no one of the Mormon church denied to the court that they stopped the people from continuing their worship in Samoan?"

Woodroffe says the judge found members' ability to worship in Samoan had been removed by the church, but doing so did not undermine their human rights.

After consulting with both groups, the prime minister of Samoa, Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, has emphasised the importance of ensuring that the dispute resolution process now be allowed to progress without further Government intervention, and that justice be allowed to take its course.

The Government will not comment further on the case until the matter has been resolved.

Hamula is due to meet with Samoan prime minister.

Source

• Radio New Zealand International
• Radio New Zealand International
• Talamua Online
• Image: Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saint

Lawyer Leulua'iali'i Olinda Woodroffe who accompanied the delegation to the meeting said the prime minister has promised to write to the Elders in Brisbane and Utah.

One of the delegates, Anne Siakisina Hakula, said they were never told the reason for the ban directly.

"We only knew of the ban when one of the Elders was a guest at one of our festivities," she said.

"There, the Elder gave a speech and at the end of it said ethnic languages will no longer be used in services without giving any reasons for the decision."

"There were no talks or negotiations between the stakes and the Elders over the issue," she said.

When they disputed the ban "they threatened to remove our names from the list of LDS members."

The members then turned to the Human Rights Court and no more threats were issued.

Source

• Talamua online
• Image: Talamua online

Missionary Gina Colvin, in a blog on a major Mormon website, also took shots at her own Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints and the way Americans see the world.

She said New Zealand was a secular and morally liberal nation.

This didn't mean we were "going to hell in a hand-basket", she said.

"Few people will bat an eye-lid at gay marriage, many will swear like troopers, wine-drinking is an important cultural institution, and pre-marital cohabitation is the norm," she said.

Colvin, who is a Kiwi but is in Utah teaching missionaries, said they shouldn't freak out because she would rather be with a "group of cursing, wine-swilling, gay-loving, cohabiting New Zealanders than any other people in the world - because, in my decades of experience, New Zealand has a habit of producing the real deal".

She said American missionaries should get used to the fact that New Zealanders did not live in "McMansions".

"On the contrary, that modest bungalow that doesn't sport a 'rest-room' for every bedroom in the house and a basement the size of a football field probably cost more than your McMansion - even with the exchange rate," she said.

"New Zealand is an expensive place to live - period!"

Colvin said missionaries should eat the food they are served in homes and be grateful.

"Food doesn't come in bucket-sized portions for the price of small change."

"It's expensive - so eat that meal that has been prepared for you by that large humble Mormon family in their three-bedroom bungalow - because it represents more than food, it also represents sacrifice."

And after the meal help clean up.

Learn some Maori, she added. Continue reading

Sources

• Stuff
• Image: LDS Church Temples

"I do not want to make any comment regarding the LDS membership until the Council meets again on Friday," NCC Secretary Rev. Ma'auga Motu said on Tuesday.

The Mormon headquarters at Pesega refused to comment for the same reason.

Source

• Talamua
• ldschurchtemples.com

The site, called ‘Salle de Presse Pacifique,' will provide media professionals, bloggers, opinion leaders and the public with news and other resources about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Pacific region.

This website the latest of over 50 that the Mormons have set up around the world.

Elder James J. Hamula says their goal is to help media and others who are not Mormons to understand the Church for what it really is.

"There are close to half a million Latter-day Saints in the Pacific region, who are part of a worldwide membership of over 14 million. Our members work in cities, towns and villages as police officers, teachers, doctors, builders and in many other occupations. We are happy to be part of the fabric of communities throughout the Pacific."

Source

• The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints
• The Church of Jesus Christ of the latter Day Saints

Lomu, 37, who is fighting rejection of a transplanted kidney, was baptised into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Wellington this year, the church has confirmed.

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This is "a strange convergence of developments offering Mormons hope that the Christian nation that persecuted, banished or killed them in the 19th century will finally love them as fellow Christians, " says David V Mason.

"I want to be on record about this. I'm about as genuine a Mormon as you'll find," he says, "a templegoer with a Utah pedigree and an administrative position in a congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am also emphatically not a Christian."

Mason says believing in the divinity of Jesus does not make Mormons Christian by default.

While Mormons and Christians do share this belief in the divinity of Jesus, there is not much in common in what they believe about the nature of that Divinity.

Read David L Mason's op-ed in the New York Times

Dr. David V. Mason is an associate professor of theater at Rhodes College, Memphis.

Image: TGC

The LDS Church has 17 middle and high schools throughout the world, and 15 of those schools are in the Pacific, in Tonga, Fiji, Samoa and Kiribati, and seven of the 15 schools in the Pacific are in Tonga.

The Commissioner of the LDS Church Education System, Elder Paul V. Johnson made this point in an interview with Matangi Tonga during a one-day stop over in Tonga to attend the annual conference of Pacific Principals of LDS church schools.

He said that Tonga has more church schools, because of the large numbers of the Tongan LDS congregation of 15,000.

Source

• Matangi Tonga
• Image: Matangi Tonga

Michael Otterson puts the Mormon position. "Polling data shows that the biggest problem for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that about half the population knows nothing about them," he says.

"Research shows that people have a far better view of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when they know a member personally. There is a point when those people who have seen Mormons caricatured in their Sunday School classes realize that the second-hand prejudices they have learned don't fit with their first-hand experiences with faithful Latter-day Saints."

Read Otterson's column in the Washington Post

Michael Otterson is the head of Public affairs, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Image: The Washington Post