Item Detail
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1564
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2
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0
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English
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Joseph Smith and the Doctrine of Little Children
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Provo, UT
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Grandin Book
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Joseph Smith taught that children who died would be resurrected as children and remain so throughout eternity. Children were considered innocent until they reached the age of accountability, although this age was neither specified nor constant. Baptism was a matter of choice, and Joseph Smith's own children were not baptised until ten or eleven years of age. Children did not usually attend church meetings and were not invited to partake of the sacrament. Young men did not receive priesthood ordination at twelve years, as they do now. In various ways, the early followers of Joseph Smith perceived children differently than Mormons do today.