At http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/nov2014/lynnette112-2.htm , Lynette asked for info about Mormons. Mormons are often viewed as part of Christianity, since they accept the Gospel story. But they add a lot of things that contradict it too. They believe God was once a man, like you and me, who ascended to his own planet. I have heard some Mormons teach that if you have not heard of Joseph Smith, you cannot be saved. I don't know if that is an official position of the Mormon Church, but many Mormons believe it. They believe in many gods, not just one, a belief that contradicts their own Book of Mormon, a very racist book. Mormonism is rooted in a lot of racism for that matter.
And when it comes to the Book of Mormon - its credibility is horrible. Even the Book of Mormon ADMITS that it might contain some errors! And in fact does. Let's take a look...
SOME PROBLEMS WITH THE BOOK OF MORMON...
The Plates of the BoM
The Book of Mormon was supposedly translates from ancient plates in an obscure language. In 1 Nephi 19:6-7, the Book of Mormon says it might have some errors in it. Interesting! 2 Nephi 25:21-22 says the plates the Book of Mormon was written on would pass to generations "as long as the earth shall stand" - yet today, no one knows where these plates are. So how can the Book of Mormon be trusted when it gives us a "sign" of enduring plates that no one can produce? One of it's errors is that it says Y'shua was born in Jerusalem, instead of Bethlehem.
Other Plates Mentioned in the BoM
1 Nephi 5:10-22 and 19:1-2 tells us that there were plates of brass with the following contents:
- The Torah
- The Writings
- The Prophets
- A geneology from Joseph to Lehi.
1Nep 5:18 says these plates (Tanakh + a geneology not in the Tanakh) would "go forth unto all nations", yet not a single nation on earth knows of the geneology that the BoM discusses here. We're told "these plates of brass should never perish", yet today, no one knows where they are.
2 Nephi 6:1-2 tells us that the geneology mentioned as being within these plates is not included in the BoM. So it's...
- not found in BoM
- not found in any collection of the Tanakh, either on brass plates (that allegedly will never perish) or on a scroll.
Yet we're told that this geneology would "go forth unto all nations" (1 Neph 5:18).
The detail
Let's look in detail at how it describes these plates.
5:10 And after that they had given thanks unto the God of Israel, my father Lehi took the records which were engraven upon the plates of brass, and he did search them from the beginning.
5:11 And he beheld that they did contain
- the five books of Moses, which gave an account of the creation of the world...
- 5:12 and also a record of Jews from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, King of Judah;
- 5:13 and also the prophecies of the Holy prophets, from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah; and also many prophecies which have been spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah.
- 5:14 And it came to pass that my father Lehi also found upon the plates of brass, a genealogy of his fathers; wherefore he knew that he was a descendant of Joseph; yea, even that Joseph which was the son of Jacob, which was sold into Egypt, and which was preserved by the hand of the Lord, that he might preserve his father Jacob and all his household from perishing with famine.
So he found a record here that traced the geneology of the Nephites from Joseph to his father, or grandpfather, or close enough that he "knew that he was a descendant of Joseph".
- 5:16 And thus my father Lehi did discover the genealogy of his fathers......
- 5:17 And now when my father saw all these things, he was filled with the spirit, and began to prophesy concerning his seed;
5:18 that these plates of brass should go forth unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people which were of his seed.
5:19 Wherefore he said that these plates of brass should never perish; neither should they be dimmed any more by time.Now we have an additional description of these plates and a different set that the BoM was allegedly engraved upon in 19:1-2
19:1 And it came to pass that the Lord commanded me, wherefore I did make plates of ore, that I might engraven upon them the record of my people.....
19:2 ... the record of my father, and the genealogy of his fathers, and the more part of all our proceedings in the wilderness, are engraven upon those plates of which I have spoken; wherefore, the things which transpired before that I made these plates, are of a truth, more particularly made mention upon the first plates.So here says that he did not record the geneology on the plates he was writing because it was already included in the first set that included the Tanakh that would "go forth unto all nations" (1 Neph 5:18). It would be a duplication of effort to include the geneologies , since those geneologies were already recorded on the first set of plates that would "never perish". Now if this geneology has "go forth unto all nations" (1 Neph 5:18) as the BoM describes, then we should have as easy time finding a copy of this geneology. So where is it? 1 Nephi 6:1-2 is also saying the same thing as 19:1-2 , that the geneologies were not duplicated in the BoM. I guess there was no need to since those geneologies would "go forth unto all nations" (1 Neph 5:18) He summarized by simply saying...
6:1 Chapter 2 And now I, Nephi, do not give the genealogy of my fathers in this part of my record; neither at any time shall I give it after upon these plates which I am writing; for it is given in the record which has been kept by my father; wherefore I do not write it in this work.
6:2 For it sufficeth me to say, that we are a descendant of Joseph.But he did make it clear that there were other plates in which the geneology of the Nephites was recorded in a collection that included the Tanakh.
Racism in the BoM
Black skin is called a curse in 2 Neph 5:21, Jacob 3:3-8, Alma 3:7-9 and it says one who inter-marries is cursed in 2 Neph 5:23, Alma 3:7-9. Alma 3:6 teaches of a group of people who where dark skinned simply because their forefathers sinned! In Omni v24 says Benjamin is the son of Mosiah. In Alma 10:19, it says Mosiah had no son. Mosiah 6:3 and 1:2 say that Mosiah was the son of Benjamin. Both the 1830 and 1981 versions of the Book of Mormon are online at http://www.connect-a.net/users/drshades/changes.htm. Yes, there's two versions because they had to "fix" some things. http://www.saintsalive.com/mormonism/bomchanges.htm talks about some significant changes that were made to the Book of Mormon after it was released (such as deleting racist verses, erroneous verses, etc.)
Ex-Mormon Links
Here's some good mormon links... http://www.exmormon.org/prophet.htm provides a lot of failed prophecies of Joseph Smith.http://www.exmormon.org/ is a great place for a mormon to read. http://www.irr.org/mit/boapage.html explains how
http://www.waltermartin.org/eyewit.html
At http://www.2think.org/hundredsheep/annotated/topics.shtml is the Annotated Book of Mormon that points out an enourmous amount of errors in the Book of Mormon.
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith claimed to translate a work called "The Book of Abraham" that archaeologist now know are pages from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. http://www.lightplanet.com/response/doubt.htm provides an old article on how Joseph Smith once said in 1837 that people lived on the moon.http://www.waltermartin.org/eyewit.html
Mormonism
There's a really good comparison of Mormonism (LDS Doctrine) and the true faith at http://dianedew.com/morm.htm that shows what's wrong with Mormonism from a scriptural standpoint. One of my biggest problems with them is that they believe in many 'gods'. I was once talking to a Mormon who interjected into a conversation "I wonder why the gods did that." Several people were startled by her remark (they didn't know her background) but feeling inspired, I asked her "Are you a Mormon"? She told me she had just come out of the LDS (Mormon) Church. I tried to reason with her about where she thought all these 'gods' came from, but she really couldn't come up with an explanation. I had a Mormon missionary give me a book of Mormon. I read it and took notes on it, which proved useful for proving that it cannot be true. That's about the only thing reading it was useful for.
TEXTUAL PROBLEMS WITH THE BOM
The list below I got from a web site somewhere, but have lost the URL to it. So I'll just quote it herein... Shakespeare is quoted in page 55 (N. Ed. 59) by the old man Lehi, father of both the Nephites and the Lamanites:
"Awake! and arise from the dust, and hear the words of a trembling parent whose limbs ye must soon lay down in the cold and silent grave, from whence no traveler can return."
Of course, it's barely possible there may have been a Shakespeare in those early times -- but from all we have learned of the mental make-up of the Book of Mormon it is hardly probable.
The following "give-away" is credited to the same great prophet Nephi (who supposedly lived circa 600BC), who supposedly lived 600 BC but talks of Yeshua (Jesus) in the past tense, saying:
"And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be
baptized by water, to fulfill all righteousness, O then how much more need
have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water. And now, I would
ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfill all
righteousness in being baptized by water? Know ye not that he was holy? . .
. . Wherefore, after he was baptized with water, the Holy Ghost descended
upon him in the form of a dove. And again: it sheweth unto the children of
men the straightness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which
they should enter, he having set the example before them. And he said unto
the children of men, follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we
follow Jesus, save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the
Father?" p. 110 (N. Ed. 124).Bible Quotes
The BoM quotes the King James (KJV) almost word-for-word, sometimes altering a few things here and there, usually deleting the italicized words. It even reads like the KJV where the KJV mistranslates the Hebrew texts. For example, Note 1 Neph 21:1, where it reads "...he made mention of my name." Whereas the Hebrew text actually says "...he remembered my name."
Shalom,
Joe